Why Study Mission? Pt. 1

I really thought I was done with studying, but it seems it is an inescapable reality when you are a Pastor.  Since I am currently enrolled in a Doctoral program in Intercultural Studies (or Missiology) with Andrews University, I figured it made sense to explain why I chose to study missiology.

J. Edgar Elliston sums it up best, in my estimation, when he writes, 

"Missiology is the study of the Missio Dei [literally, God's mission]. It involves all God has done, is doing, and intends to accomplish His purpose. The specific focus in missiology is to cross barriers for the communication of the good news of what God has done to reconcile humankind to Himself."

     Elliston, Edgar J.. Introduction to Missiological Research Design (Kindle Locations 471-473). William Carey Library. Kindle Edition. (XXIV)

One of my professors, Boubakar Sanou, wrote in his dissertation, 

"Missiology is concerned with overcoming barriers to the full reception of the gospel. Many of those barriers are cultural."

     Sanou, Boubakar. 2015. A Biblical and Missiological Framework for Cross-Cultural Mission: A Case Study of the Lobi Funeral Rites in Burkina Faso, Dissertation Abstracts., edited by Studies Journal of Adventist Mission.

I believe there are many challenges facing ministers seeking to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world.  Among those are the barriers we encounter in sharing the gospel with persons.  People not only give exercises as to why they are not willing to give their lives to Jesus, but they also have significant barriers that ministers, evangelists, bible workers, and anyone actively involved in sharing Jesus with others don't readily see.  These barriers usually become evident when people leave the church in droves.  If these barriers to fully receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior are not adequately addressed, it hampers the discipleship process.  I'll elaborate more as I continue this blog in the coming weeks and months.  

I'm unsure how effectively our discipleship process's missiological concerns are being addressed.  On November 2, 2015, some may recall that the Adventist Review Online edition reported that the Inter-American Division “dropped” 690,000 names from its membership records in a significant Membership Audit.  This was despite its goal of baptizing more than 1 million people over five years.  

The truth is that we have a significant retention problem in our church.  G. T. Ng calls this phenomenon "The Leaky bucket Syndrome."  The term comes from the business world and describes a situation in which firms put customers in a "leaky bucket" by doing little to cater to existing customers while focusing only on getting new customers.  At least, that's what Google says here.  In discussing this problem, G. T. Ng noted that an overemphasis on numbers in our evangelistic thrust gives rise to methodological, ethical, statistical, and theological issues.  I just cited a major statistical case that raised significant global red flags that I believe are merely symptomatic.

It is my intention in this blog to discuss the missiological concerns associated with discipleship and membership retention in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.  I hope the discussion proves helpful to you.