Missional Leadership Research Articles

Ontstaan en groei van ’n seminarium aan die Fakulteit Teologie Stellenbosch en ander ontwikkelinge in die teologiese opleiding van die Ned Geref Kerk in die Sinode van Wes-Kaapland.

The article focuses on the developments of theological training in die Western Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) in the last decade. In this era a Seminary was founded to facilitate ministerial formation for the DRC; Uniting Reformed Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of South Africa (ELCSA). The article unpacks the historical, demographic, and especially pedagogical complexities of theological education that aims to build missional leadership capacities. The theology and missional ecclesiology, rhetorical pedagogy and capacity theories are some of the building blocks that the synod utilise to build a new era for theological education.

Persistent Practices? Understanding Continuity and Change in SRSGs’ Leadership of UN Peace Operations*

ABSTRACT In UN peace operations, the special representatives (SRSGs) as heads of mission take on a range of complex, sometimes unfathomable, tasks. This article addresses the question of how individuals influence UN peace operations by focusing on SRSGs who served as heads of two major peace operations and who carried their pre-SRSG experience into their first tenure as SRSG and their experience from that tenure into their second tenure. Thus, the aim is to understand how professional experience influences continuity and change in SRSGs’ leadership practices when leading peace operations. The analysis is grounded in an interview-based approach and informed by a practice-centered approach. The case studies examined here are Alan C. Doss, who served as SRSG of UNMIL and MONUC, and Ellen M. Løj, who served as SRSG of UNMIL and UNMISS. The identified practices of both SRSGs show that certain areas were particularly influenced by experiences from their career paths: (1) mission administration, (2) working with the mission leadership team, (3) interacting with host-state actors, and (4) interactions with UN headquarters. Tracing how practices have been pursued in different contexts provides insights into the influence of individual experiences on UN peace operations and the dynamics of practice internalization.

Reformed theological education and formation

This article will hold up a mirror to the Reformed tradition’s theological education past and present, specifically in the context of the DRC. This paper will also make proposals for the future, peering through the window towards possibilities for theological education and formation and the reformation of Reformed spirituality. The Reformed tradition has always maintained a high academic standard when it comes to theological education and the formation of its clergy. The curriculum used by the DRC, modelled on the European system, still to a great extent reflects the needs of the church decades ago and is challenged by the DRC’s current ecclesiological understanding. A missional church, as portrayed by the DRC’s policy document, requires missional clergy, or missional leadership, and thus theological education that supports this type of formation. This article proposes a more holistic spiritual formation programme that cultivates a sound Reformed spirituality and enables the formation of these missional leaders.

Leadership Formation in the African Context: Missional Leadership Revisited by Samuel Deressa (review)

Leadership Formation in the African Context: Missional Leadership Revisited by Samuel Deressa (review)

Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward a New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership, written by Joseph W. Handley, Jr

Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward a New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership, written by Joseph W. Handley, Jr

Called, Empowered, and Sent, Known and Unknown: A Reflection on Missional Leadership

This issue of Spiritus focuses on Spirit-empowered mission and leadership, dedicated to the work and life of countless Spirit-filled “soldiers” of the kingdom. The movement has produced a host of dedicated leaders whose work is significant. Many publications introduce these figures.1 While Pentecostal-Charismatic “stars” receive both good and bad attention, the real heroes of empowered witnessing are often forgotten. They are the nameless “ordinary” believers who are in the same way called, Spirit-empowered, and sent by the same Lord.

변화된 선교 현장에서 파송의 새로운 이해: 선교 이양의 관점에서

The crisis of the Korean church caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many issues such as many Korean missionaries’ involuntary withdrawal along with their evacuation out of the mission fields and reduction of mission budget. Then, the Korean missionaries may need to deliver their mission leadership and property to the local leaders. However, this would lead us to the new concept of ‘sending’ in the light of the missio Dei (the sending by God) in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era in three ways. Firstly, the new concept of ‘sending’ stimulates continuous sending of missionaries through entry (initiation) and exit (withdrawal) of the missionary followed by re-entrance. Secondly, it identifies the Korean missionaries as pilgrims. Finally, it leads to the equal partnership between the Korean missionaries and the local churches by sending to one another.

Nonprofit capacities and emergency management during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from a Taiwan-based international nonprofit organization.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have been struggling to maintain their operations, while others are able to coordinate with partners to provide programs and services locally and globally. This study explores how NPOs are able to survive and actively engage in local and global COVID-19 responses by investigating the organizational capacities of the Tzu Chi Foundation, a Taiwan-based international NPO. This study employs interview data and secondary data from a variety of sources to answer the research questions. Through this case study, we find that Tzu Chi Foundation's capacity to coordinate local and global COVID-19 issues quickly, broadly, and effectively can be attributed to three main factors: (1) clear mission and charismatic leadership, (2) rich experience of disaster relief and recovery strategies, and (3) committed and active volunteers. Moreover, we find that financial management capacity and adaptive capacity are two crucial kinds of capacity for enabling the Tzu Chi Foundation to survive and continuously engage in emergency responses during the pandemic. We conclude with implications for future nonprofit capacity and emergency management research.

교회의 통합적 선교 리더십에 관한 고찰: 코로나 상황 속에서 교회의 대사회적 리더십 회복의 모색

리더십은 영향력이다. 교회는 사회에 선한 영향력을 끼쳐야 할 존재이다. 미시적 리더십을 다룬 전통적인 리더십이론인 특성. 귀인, 행위, 상황이론과 변혁이론은 각각 한국교회의 대사회적 행동에 적절한 시사점을 알려준다. 한국의 비신자들은 교회가 자기들의 가치관과 문화가 다른 이질적인 집단으로 인식하고, 교회를 색다르게 보며, 교회에 대한 부정적인 이미지가 팽배한 상태이다. 코로나 사태를 맞이 한 한국교회가 사회에 리더십을 회복하기 위해서는 교회의 의식과 태도, 행위의 변화가 필요하다. 하나님의 일하심에 대한 인식의 변화, 선교의 개념과 범위에 대한 인식의 변화, 그리스도인이 사랑을 표현(봉 사)하는 방식과 방향에 대한 올바른 인식, 예배에 대한 포괄적 인식, 이원론적 사고의 극복, 세상을 바라보는 시각의 교정, 새로운 일상에의 적응, 그리고 사회에 신뢰를 줄 수 있는 획기적인 행동의 변화가 필요하 다. 교회는 코로나 사태를 교회와 세상을 향해 하나님께서 주신 새로운 기회로 보아야 할 것이다. 교회를 갱신할 기회, 세상을 선도해 나갈 기회, 선교할 기회이다. 코로나 사태가 인간의 자본주의적 탐욕의 결과라고 해도 교회는 이 위기를 기회로 삼아 세상에 선한 영향력을 가져야 한다.

Missional Church Leadership in the Pneumatological Perspective

This study intends to find missional leadership in the pneumatological perspective by focusing on bibllical, historical, missiological and theological appraoches. God send us to His mission fields and He is also doing mission with us. Missional church is about the nature and purpose of the church. The church is sending public spheres as well as individual people as an alternative community. For this reason, the missional leaders also needs to fulfill the public calling in their public and social roles for mission and evangelism in the Holy Spirit. In this study, I concentrate on a biblical, historical, missiological and theological understanding of the missional leadership through the Holy Spirit. I attempt to deal with the concept of ‘missional church in the missiological perspective. The mission of Trintarian God is crucial for practicing missional church leadership because the Son and the Spirit through the Father are doing mission as missionary God. In the Bible, Jesus’ Great commission is fulfilled in the Holy Spirit. Harry R. Boer recognizes the Great Commission and missions on Pentecost. Roland Allen is an great model of practicing missionary task in the doctrine of the Spirit as a missionary. Craig Van Gelder also develops a biblical and historical approach for a missional ecclesiology in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit encourages the missional church leaders to fulfill God’s redemptive reign in the world. Theologically, Jürgen Moltmann’s pneumatology is important for understanding missional church leadership through the Holy Spirit. He deals with the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit: 1) the church of Jesus Christ, 2) the missionary church, 3) ecumenical church, and 4) the political church. The missionary church emphasizes “Missio Dei in the Trinitarian history.”

Polycentric mission leadership: Toward a new theoretical model: OCMS Montagu Barker Lecture Series: “Polycentric Theology, Mission, and Mission Leadership”

As the world faces rapidly increasing cycles of disruption, challenges, and disorder, mission leaders are stretched to adapt, trying to catch up with the pace of change and provide leadership to further the mission God has given his Church. This paper, presented at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies Montagu Barker Lecture Series: “Polycentric Theology, Mission, and Mission Leadership,” focuses on ways leadership is changing, suggesting a new theoretical model for mission leadership. It reviews the idea of polycentrism through mission history, mission and church organizations, movement theory, and governance, identifying themes of an emerging theory of polycentric mission leadership.

Polycentric Theology, Mission, and Mission Leadership

Though it began with an assumption that there was one universal and normative Christian theology, the modern missionary movement has resulted in the emergence of polycentric theology. As each new centre thinks through the meaning of the faith in contextual terms, it offers a distinctive theology – to the extent that it becomes a question whether any universal theological affirmation can be possible. Meanwhile the theory and practice of mission has been no less radically reshaped by a polycentric vision, with the concept of “mission from the margins” capturing the imagination. A profound openness to others and, ultimately, the deep spiritual discernment that is sensitive to the presence and action of the Spirit of God in our world, is the essential equipment needed for leadership in mission today.

Gatekeepers to Decolonisation: Recentring the UN Peacekeepers on the Frontline of West Papua’s Re-colonisation, 1962–3

This article examines the policies employed by United Nations (UN) peacekeeping leadership and mid-level staff to silence West Papuan anti-Indonesian activists and dismiss the population’s political opinions as immaterial to their territory’s sovereign future. The UN brokered the New York Agreement, legitimising Indonesia’s claims to the region following a decade of international discussions and military skirmishes between Indonesia and the Netherlands over the territory of West Papua. The Agreement vested the UN with sovereign control of West Papua for seven months to facilitate the transition in authority from Dutch colonial rule. Drawing on a multi-archival study of the mission, this article offers depth and balance to previous high-policy-focused scholarship on the dispute, rendering mid-level peacekeepers visible and bringing their role in shaping peacekeeping practices to light. It illuminates how the mission staff dismissed the views of West Papuan representatives in 1962–3 and contributed to the project of disenfranchisement carried out by the Indonesian government. In doing so, the mission leadership decisively participated in the re-colonisation of the population and disregarded rights violations on the ground.

Embodiment, Identity Formation and Missional Leadership: Roots of Theory and Practice in Theological Education

The relationship between theory and practice refracts differently in my journey in practical theology, during which I moved from deductive to inductive approaches, and from New Testament studies to practical ecclesiology and religious leadership. This article offers a conceptual analysis of the theory/practice relationship through the lens of three major concepts that have marked my academic journey. Embodiment focuses on our bodies as the empirical and spiritual locus of human experience and knowledge. Practices and theories emerge in our bodily engagements with the world and one another. Identity formation is the focus of learning processes that shape selves to create personal, social and religious identities that enable us to engage our social and religious worlds. Missional leadership is intent on discerning divine involvement in embodied faith practices in neighbourhoods, communities and contexts. The argument culminates in an agenda for theological education for the next decade.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ВИКОРИСТАННЯ СПЕЦІАЛЬНОГО ПРОГРАМНОГО ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ НА ПЛАТФОРМІ ARCGIS ДЛЯ МОНІТОРИНГУ ЗОН КОНФЛІКТУ

The paper considers the peculiarities of using the ArcGIS platform for all levels of UN missions as a geospatial platform for monitoring conflict zones and planning a potential course of action. The UN mission is responsible for prevention violence (mostly against civilians), and not just for responding where it continues. International peacekeeping organizations to determine the degree of tension in the area of responsibility are using a variety of methods to obtain information from various sources as organs, forces or means for further analysis and decision-making. Monitoring of the zone of military conflict is an instrumental measure and it includes a cycle of information consisting of such links as data collection, processing, information analysis, decision making etc. Today, the information cycle is important for understanding the state of the conflict and deciding on the necessary actions by the mission leadership. It certainly concerns technological progress and information technology in particular. Accordingly, of There is tactical, operational and strategic importance may be as levels of the impact of monitoring quality. The study of existing systems for monitoring war zones in the UN missions needs more detailed attention. And the definition of improving ways such systems on the basis of modern software and hardware solutions at all government levels, taking into account practical experience, formulates the problem and emphasizes its relevance.

Mission Leadership Development in the Chinese Adventist Church: Reflections in the Light of Traditional Chinese Philosophies of Leadership

Different schools of thought have emphasized multiples aspects of leadership, preeminently in the western hemisphere for the last decades (Bennis 1959; Greenleaf 1977; Malphus 2003). As China more decisively steps into the global arena through internationalization of its economy and political influence, scholars are only scratching the surface in exploring the pluralistic styles of Chinese indigenous leadership in both national and international organizations where the Chinese play significant leadership roles (Chen and Lee 2008: xv; Zhang, Chen, and Chen, and Ang 2014). Contextual leadership is essential for the healthy development of any organization and that is equally true when it comes to leadership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in China. As Ma and Tsui denote, “traditional philosophical and cultural roots influence the thought patterns and behaviors of all citizens in a community including its leaders. Hence, leadership practices would reflect unique cultural idiosyncrasies even . . . in a rapidly changing context” such as contemporary China (2015:13). Although western leadership schools of thought have increasingly been studied in Chinese academia and their models applied in organizational settings throughout China since the 1980s, there are still several cultural features from traditional Chinese leadership philosophies playing a significant role in the contemporary Chinese leadership landscape. This article explores cultural leadership aspects among the Seventh-day Adventist Church in China, and how those traits impact the church missiologically, followed by a brief summary of strategies for effective mission leadership development.

Theological reflection as a leadership development practice for the post-Christendom Scottish church: Developing moral convictions and navigating new identities

This paper discusses the role of theological reflection in church leadership development, focussing in particular on missional leadership in a post-Christendom context. It considers the organisational viability of a programme of theological reflection for leadership development, and the particular qualities which such a programme could foreseeably foster.

Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Sending hope to Mars

The Emirates will shortly join the ranks of space-faring nations by sending an orbiter to Mars, aiming to make novel observations and inspire the country, write the mission leadership team.

Single women teachers as missionaries and Women Education Officers in mid-twentieth century British Africa

ABSTRACT This article focuses on British women missionaries and Women Education Officers (WEOs) in British Africa when girls’ education was prioritised in preparations for independence. The marriage bar was removed in Britain in 1944 but remained for WEOs and missionaries. The article explores how they negotiated singleness in their lives and work in the mid-twentieth century. It examines their leadership and teaching in mission and government schools and training colleges, their relationships with other members of the Colonial Education Service and their social lives. Both groups were advantaged by their linguistic and cultural authority and their professional qualifications and experience, but the enforcement of the marriage bar rendered their status anachronistic and they were subjected to deficit discourses of singleness in some circumstances. In essence, missionaries and WEOs negotiated contrasting discourses of empowerment and marginalisation in constructing positive accounts of their lives and work as single women.