Mission For The Future

Colonial missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, arrived in India with the grandiose vision of converting the pagans because, like St. Peter (Acts 4:12) and most of the church fathers, they honestly believed that there is no salvation outside the church (extra ecclesiam nulla salus). At the end of the "great Protestant century," however, Christians made up less than 3 percent of the population in India, and the hope of the missionary was nearly shattered. But if one looks at mission in India qualitatively rather than quantitatively, one sees a number of positive outcomes. Missionaries in India, particularly Protestant missionaries espousing the social gospel, in collaboration with a few British evangelical administrators, dared to challenge numerous social evils and even began to eradicate them. The scientific and liberal English education began to enlighten and transform the Indian mindset. Converts belonging to the upper caste, although small in number, laid the foundation stone of Indian theology and an inculturated church using Indian genius. The end of colonialism in India coincided with the painful death of colonial mission theology. Now, the power of the Word of God, extricated from political power, is slowly and peacefully gaining ground, like the mustard seed of the parable. A paradigm shift from the ecclesio-centric mission to missio Dei offers reason for further optimism. In short, the future of mission in India is as bright as the kingdom of God. In today's new context, theologians, despite objections from some quarters, are struggling to discover the Asian face of Jesus, disfigured by the Greco-Roman Church. And the missionary is challenged to become a living Bible that, undoubtedly, everyone will read.

Crisis is an invitation to both prophetic evaluation and new imagination. In this volume, Canadian missiologists and practitioners consider the past and how the past might enable the church to move forward in Christian mission—in the academy, agency, assembly, and the agora. How can the Canadian church welcome different voices from the periphery? What must be done to empower the next generation? How can we respond in light of the injustices done to our Indigenous brothers and sisters? Where does reconciliation fit into the picture? How might we navigate between secularization and fundamentalisms? How ought we move together in mission and in unity across denominational difference? How can we equip laypeople to live their callings faithfully in the agora? How can work in the marketplace be ministry? And lastly, how is the Spirit at work in our contexts in this day and age? These questions (among others) onboard us into the ongoing conversation about the state of evangelical mission in Canada, and each of these essays adeptly lead us into the beginnings of answers to these questions. These essays address how the past informs our future, and how we might answer the prophetic call with both hope and renewed vigor to participate in the mission of God.

This book provides an analysis of university missions over time and space. It starts out by presenting a governance framework focusing on the demands on universities set by regulators, market actors and scrutinizers. It examines organizational structures, population development, the fundamental tasks of universities, and internal governance structures. Next, the book offers a discussion of the idea and role of universities in society, exploring concepts such as autonomy and universality, and the university as a transformative institute. The next four chapters deal with the development of universities from medieval times, through the Renaissance, towards the research universities in the nineteenth century in Europe and the United States. The following five chapters analyse recent developments of increasing external demands manifested through evaluations, accreditations and rankings, which in turn have had effects on the organization of universities. Topics discussed include markets, managers, globalization, consumer models and competition. The book concludes by a discussion and analysis of the future challenges of universities.