Tradition or Mission?

An exuberant Fijian welcome -the Kava Ceremony- set the Pacific Island scene on the opening evening of this year’s World Mission Conference at the Hayes, Swanwick. Revd Jimione Kaci, a Fijian minister working as a mission partner in Cheshire, with Revd Solomona Potoga from Samoa, currently in circuit in Walsall, hosted the ceremony. During this the garlanded President of Methodists for World Mission, Dr Peter Fox, was presented with the traditional cup of Kava. Then lively singing and dancing from the Pacific Islands was followed by a ‘map game’ to improve everyone’s understanding of the geography of the area.

Under the title ‘Tradition or Mission’ and using the context of the Pacific region, the conference posed the question, ’In our kaleidoscopic 21st century what place is there for tradition in the Mission of God?’

Opening his keynote address Revd Tom Stuckey said, ‘Drawing on tradition is like playing a game of scrabble. You put your hand in the bag and draw out a letter – which makes it even harder to use the letters you already have. There are none of those helpful universal blanks to draw out, for there is no such thing as pure gospel tradition. Gospel and culture are always muddled up together.’

Mr Stuckey wanted us to think about how much western tradition is a help or a hindrance to mission. ‘Today almost 60% of Christians throughout the world live in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific.’ As this trend looks set to continue, ‘the era of Western Christianity will have passed within the lifetime of most of us.’

The situation is comparable to that facing the Jerusalem Christians in 49AD, who ‘decided to drop most of the traditional Jewish requirements so that non-Jews could become God’s people without becoming Jews.’ Has our Western tradition ‘become an impediment to mission?’

Pentecostalism, which ‘affirms a traditional biblical faith, makes real demands of its members, uses the music, symbols and oral traditions of the poor and retains emphasis on the supernatural,’ is today becoming the predominant form of Christianity. This, he suggests, is because of migration away from rural areas with their traditional communities and a search for a new sense of identity and belonging. ‘It would seem that the future lies with the theologically conservative. How do we respond to this challenge?’

While Christianity in Britain is in an apparently relentless state of decline, a new interest in spirituality is bypassing the churches because outsiders usually have to ‘fight their way through a jungle of obsolete Christian cultural trappings to find out about Jesus’. Like the reluctant Peter in Acts 10 ‘comfortable dwellers in the mainline churches of Britain are being called upon to enter the uncomfortable world of God’s extra mural activities.’ God is calling us to move ‘from the centre to the edges’, to ‘ditch a lot of tradition in order to plant fresh expressions of Church in this new soil.’

In a world in which the future seemed to be increasingly threatened by war, terrorism, famine, disaster and finally, ecological death, what hope was there? Were we simply reaping the consequences of the ‘Western civilising enterprise’ and our ‘lack of enthusiasm in pursuing economic justice for all the nations of the earth?’

God’s rainbow sign in Genesis was a reminder of the covenant relationship between God and his creation and God’s breathtaking trust in us. Mr Stuckey concluded, ‘Mission is first and foremost the mission of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The church’s mission throughout the world is therefore to see what God is doing and joining in. The church is called to be ‘the vehicle of God’s tomorrow not the museum piece of God’s yesterday.’

Some of these issues were looked at in more detail in ten different seminars. Participants could attend three during the weekend. In one, Bishop Michael Doe, General Secretary of USPG, led a discussion on how, if we are to engage more ecumenically in mission, tradition can both hinder and help us.

In another, a Bible study, Dr Kirsteen Kim, tutor at the United College of the Ascension, showed how tradition and technology interact in the Korean Missionary Movement.

Revd Mele’ana Puloka, a Methodist minister from Tonga, currently studying in Oxford, explained to her group how contrasting Tongan and Western beliefs about education affect God’s mission amongst young people today. Revd Brian Macdonald-Milne, a former chaplain and tutor of the Melanesian Brotherhood, described the life and work of this Anglican religious order in the Western Pacific.

Care of the planet featured as an important aspect of mission and in his seminar Dr Robert Bradnock, lecturer and broadcaster, looked at how people in different parts of Asia had adapted to difficult environments. Canon Christopher Rodgers showed how the church of Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia is trying to honour the traditions of its people from different cultures yet remain true to the mission of God.

The question of how tradition affects the work of women was explored by the Revd Femi Cole-Njie of the Gambia, helped by Muriel Rogers who has recently been an Experience Exchange Partner in Fiji.

Current global issues were also addressed. Revd Peter Clark is involved with the STOPAids society in Edinburgh. He showed his group how the Pacific area is affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. In a ‘Make Poverty History’ seminar, Sarah Haggar from the Methodist Relief and Development Fund explained why it was important to tackle poverty by campaigning as well as funding grassroots projects. Dionne Gravesande of Christian Aid urged us to connect faith with current issues through giving, acting and praying in the interests of the poor.

As usual a special children’s programme was arranged by Elaine Robinson and Steve Pearce who shared his recent experience of visiting Papua New Guinea The 240 who attended the Conference represented many different parts of the World Church – including Britain. Amongst the visitors from Africa, the Caribbean, India, Sri Lanka and the Pacific Islands were Revd Titus Lunpum Thang of Myanmar, studying at the United College of the Ascension, and Benny Mwenda of West Papua. Mr Mwenda, a tribal leader in his country, had escaped three years ago after serving for seven months as a political prisoner of the Indonesian government. His presence at the conference, together with members of the Free West Papua Campaign, highlighted the usually forgotten plight of West Papua which sought independence after the Dutch colonisers left and which, because of its rich mineral resources, has been occupied by Indonesia since the 1960s.

Closing worship and communion, led by Revs Jimioni Kaci and Solomona Potoga were a celebration of the Holy Spirit. There were songs from the Pacific, familiar hymns sung partly in Fijian and a hymn composed by the conference musician, Philip Fox ‘Shout with joy to God all the earth’ based on Psalm 66. The offertory, nearly £2000, will be split between the Fund for World Mission and the Rarongo Theological College in Papua New Guinea.

Jo Newell, who has recently spent two years in Samoa, organised an inspiring and thought provoking Conference in partnership with the Methodist Church, the United College of the Ascension, USPG, Christian Aid and Christians Aware.

Details of next year’s conference (June 2nd –4th2006) can be obtained from the MWM Secretary, Meg Bailey, 4, Brompton Road, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, Cheshire SK4 3HH. A fuller account of the 2005 conference will be available in the MWM magazine in the autumn.

Margaret Nicholas
MWM Editor
7, Melbourne Way
Newport
NP20 3RE