THE "WEAKEST FEATURE" IN OUR WORK
Dr.
Miriam Adeney
Continuing Part-Time Associate Professor of Global &
Urban Ministries at
Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA USA
Re-Published in Global Missiology,
Contemporary Practice, April 2006, www.globalmissiology.org
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Miriam Adeney mentors writers in Asia and Latin America.
She is the author of
God's Foreign Policy:
Practical Ways to Help
The World's Poor and How to Write: A Christian Writer's
Guide. Her book
Daughters of Islam:
Building Bridges with Muslim Women is available in Spanish, French, and Korean. Miriam also teaches at Seattle Pacific University, Regent College, and
Fuller Theological Seminary.
"The lack of high quality indigenous Christian
literature is one of the weakest features of the modern Protestant missionary endeavor," says Jack Graves of the Overseas
Council on Theological Education.
"David Barrett has reported at least 700 global plans
to evangelize the world. We do not know of a single
plan to begin providing basic theological text and
reference books in the 43 educational languages around the globe (serving 85 per cent of the world's population)...A cooperative
effort could address this critical educational need."
But translations will not be enough. Wherever there are
Christian believers, there are kingdom stories that
vibrate to be written. There are mature people with
God-given wisdom. And there is a famine for hearing the words of God in context.
One country may boast graduate seminaries and pastors who
read Greek. Another may pulsate with a young
church and unschooled leaders. In both cases, the Holy
Spirit can empower people to apply the whole counsel of God to their time and place. Imported, translated books cannot do that
well. Trained local writers can.
They will help us avoid "...the homogenizing
pressures of globalization, where the gospel is treated like a
hamburger—exactly the same size, shape, and smell
everywhere in the world," in the words of Filipina Melba Maggay.
PUBLISHING FOR THE CHRISTIAN MIND
We need local books. We also need balanced content. When
publishers ask merely, "What will sell?" we end up with duplicate materials on current hot topics, while other
equally important topics are overlooked..
Good writing must be proactive, not
reactive. It must ask not only "What are the answers?" but also
"What
are the questions?" It cannot merely respond to what
people demand, but must probe whether those are the truly significant issues.
This is done best in community. To select a topic ought
not to be merely the whim of an individual, or the marketing decision of a publisher, but the prayerful choice of a body of
people who live in that context and care for it.
Lanka Bible College in Sri Lanka is not a wealthy school.
Yet for 25 years they have stimulated the
publication of original books both in Tamil and in
Singhalese languages. The faculty regularly discusses what the Church and the world need. After they have chosen a topic, they
select a writer, who may or may not be
on the faculty. They challenge the chosen writer to accept
the task. They provide continuing encouragement. For short writing stints, pastors and alumni can use the library and stay
free of charge in the dorms.
Graduating seniors with promise receive a personal
exhortation to write from the President. This faculty has
