Localization and Indigenization of Christianity in the Pacific

Abstract

This chapter explores the mission of nonconformist and dissenting missionaries throughout the Pacific Islands, including the Philippine Islands. A wide variety of Christian denominations have taken root in the Pacific, as well as a great number of examples of localization and indigenization of Christianity, particularly emerging from the wake of dissenting missionary efforts. So, we ask several questions. What kinds of dissenting mission have there been, especially in the Colonial Era, and now in the post-colonial Era? In what ways have the Pacific Islands and Filipino peoples, as agents in their own right, cooperated, resisted, and indigenized and localized the gospel and the church? Finally, what can we learn from these Protestant/dissenting mission histories that contributes to our overall project in this encyclopaedia; that of analysing and explaining the historical, theological, and missiological dynamics of mission from a particular perspective?