Soft apologetic for Christian mission

Is it Insensitive to Share Your Faith? Hard Questions about Christian Mission in a Plural World James R. Krabill. Good Books, 2005.

A friend recently shared a great piece of wisdom with me: “Meetings are much like movies – in order for everyone to maintain interest, conflict must be introduced.”

Krabill’s book may be just the spark your small group needs to renew everyone’s interest. The conflict he explores can be deduced from the title. Krabill exposes assumptions surrounding Christian mission that many Christians privately question though rarely discuss or debate within their church communities. The purpose is to stimulate discussion, with the hope that the church will become more able to communicate its purpose within its walls and within the cultures where the church finds itself.

The book is not a Bible study per se, but would lend itself to small group discussions. It is comprised of short chapters, each focused on specific questions.

Krabill sees the North American church as caught between two opposing realities of mission. On the one hand, mission revitalizes the church and aids it in visioning God’s redemptive project for the world. On the other hand, there is a growing uncertainty with how mission is facilitated and its appropriateness in today’s multicultural contexts.

The North American church’s discomfort with mission is rooted in three realities: the historical blunders of Christian mission, the doubts raised by the North American worldview, and increasing encounters with people of various faiths. Each of these realities is explored briefly in the first chapter. The following chapters each discuss a specific question or missiological concern such as, “Does God’s big idea still apply?” or “the gospel meets culture.”

I would classify Krabill’s work as a soft apologetic. Krabill speaks from years of first-hand experience (including 20 years with the Mennonite Board of Missions) and diligent research. He offers new insights to familiar approaches to apologetics. For example, he takes the “liar, lunatic, Lord” argument a few steps further by including “legend, lost, ludicrous, and likeable.”

However, Biblical references are infrequent and Krabill appeals to common sense as opposed to a systematic, argumentative approach. More questions are raised than answered. This will stimulate discussion but may leave some asking for more direction.

For those exploring Christian mission for the first time, Krabill’s work is a great introduction to the issues facing the church and its mission. It has the potential to draw conflicts to the surface and help Christians decide on which side of the missional fence they will choose to serve.

Lloyd Letkeman and his wife Carol serve together with Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International as regional mobilizer and short-term missions coordinator for the Central Canada region. They are members at South Park MB Church, Altona, Man.