Research

The Church in the Western world has not seen itself as a mission field for many years. Its self perception has been that of the secure sending base for mission. The newness of this experience, the fact that the church in the West has not been in a similar position for centuries, inevitably means that research is a critical element in any missionary enterprise. Just as we would conduct research before sending missionaries to another field, we now need greater understanding of our own setting.

To some extent this agenda was begun with Lesslie Newbigin’s publication, The Other Side of 1984. Certainly since the 1980’s the importance of understanding the mission field of the west has become increasingly apparent to many church leaders. Together in Mission in common with other mission agencies is committed to using some resource to assist in this research task. We have made a senior staff appointment in this area and we see the priorities for research as follows:

Using our students well.
Many Missional Leadership students are required to write a 20,000 word thesis in order to complete their studies. Part of our intention is to use this valuable resource strategically to help build and disseminate a fund of information around mission to the west.

Working with others.
We are well aware that we are not the only people engaged in research and we have a commitment to work with others to ensure that we build a fund of shared knowledge that is wider than any single organisation. We are in the early stages of talking to other mission agencies to see how this might be accomplished.

Becoming aware of missional research.
By using desk based research methodologies we intend to catalogue critical research in mission to the west as we become aware of its availability. We are committed to review key books, articles and research projects on an ongoing basis.

Sharing in research projects.
We have recently become a partner in the Mission to Western Culture project which is attempting to pick up elements of Newbigin’s work in the Gospel and Culture project. This initiative, originally begun by Allelon, is a project operating in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom with multiple partners in each of these lands. Click for link.

Identifying and commissioning research around missional research priorities.
As our research process develops we hope to be able to identify key research needs and locate funding to enable research to take place around these areas.