This paper is a transcript of a presentation I delivered to the Asia Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission on 31 August, 2024.

I spend much of the talk defining the different terms I was asked to speak about: contexts, indigenous, and a way to rethink missions for today’s (and tomorrow’s) world. I speak about the “outside-in” problem where local Christians are unhelpfully influenced by externally imposed theological ideas, delivered as orthodox doctrine when in fact they are theological concepts developed in foreign contexts. I briefly introduce my expanded Industrial (inidividualist) and Indigenous (collectivist) schema to help explain the benefits of both but the need to let locals lead within any given place. I conclude with a shift from “missions” to “participating in the purposes of God” as a less Industrial way of conceiving the missio Dei.

Audio Only YouTube

This interview is a discussion based on my contribution to the book Re-Imagining Short-Term Missions in a chapter titled, The Mutuality Motivation.

From the interview blurd: what would happen if short-term mission trips were built around values of mutual transformation—instead of the usual top-down, one-way dynamic of “service”? What if Christians in the global north really believed that their brothers and sisters in the global south could help them understand God and the world in new, liberating ways? Or that short-term trips could be opportunities for visitors and hosts alike to be changed and challenged by one another through mutually respectful, coequal exchange?

Subtitle: A Piece of a Conversation.

With this paper I archive my 2 June 2024 response from an email conversation with Stan Nussbaum, a US American independent mission innovator, researcher, and writer with wide international experience. Stan expressed concern that my promotion of Indigenous perspectives in missions may be too dismissive of the existing Industrial paradigm. Stan argued that there remains a place for individualist values in the missions community (and conversation). He spoke of his concerns about Christian nationalism and other nationalisms arising around the world (which an over emphasis on indigenity could inflame). Stan also asked my opinion about a paper he was working on for the US Evangelical Missiological Society, a paper that borrows heavily from Don Richardson’s redemptive analogy concept (e.g. Peace Child), applied to the US cultural context, proposing that the “public awareness campaign” could serve in a similar way as a concept that could convey gospel meaning.

Subtitle: Navigating Participation in God’s Purposes.

A 2024 commission for a chapter in a book that will be a primer on what is commonly called missions, translated and published in Portuguese primarily for a Brazilian audience. It has been lightly edited for reproduction in English here.

In this paper I shift from what is classically known as “missions” by the Evangelical missionary industry to what I consider to be a better biblical rendering as “participating in God’s purposes”. As we do so we seek to co-create New Creation under the Lordship of Jesus in any given context. The global Church faces numerous challenges as it seeks to serve the purposes of God in our post-pandemic generation. From my indigenous perspective, I view these challenges like night-sky constellations that can help guide us toward our ultimate destination of New Creation in our chosen contexts as we participate in the purposes of God to be blessing to our societies and the environment around us.

Subtitle: A Response to Brian Stanley.

Professor Brian Stanley’s preceding article (of the same title) in this edition of the Anglican Journal of Theology in Aotearoa and Oceania (Vol 3.1, April 2024) addressed shifts in missionary thinking up to the 1960’s along the stream that became the Ecumenical movement. In my response I track a continuing ‘decline’ along the Evangelical stream up to the present day. While the word ‘decline’ is used, it should be more accurately identified as a shift (in the Evangelical contexts at least) because missions continues, but not in the classical (post-1790’s) understanding commonly known as the “modern missionary movement”.

My article begins on page 49 following Professor Stanley’s article. The entire edition is linked here because my contribution would make less sense without the context provided by the other articles, especially Professor Stanley’s.

A podcast discussion with Frontier Ventures’ “Missions Drop” released on 10 April, 2024.

Jay discusses the content of his June 2023 blog post with Frontier Ventures’ Andy Bettencourt.

From the original blogpost blurb, “Until very recently it seems, Western Christianity has been solely focused on ‘the dark side of the moon’-a pathological perspective of humanity. We should have no illusions about sin’s devastating effects, but neither should we lose sight of our inherent goodness. Missions needs a shift in perspective towards wellbeing.”

The podcast can be found here: https://themissionsdrop.libsyn.com/site/a-missiology-of-well-being-with-jay-matenga.

Subtitle: A Call For Realignment.

The transcript of a paper presented at the 2023 Global Mobilization Network Conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

In this paper I revisit theological and missiological assumptions that led to the development of the missions mobilisation industry from the mid/late-1990s up until the global pandemic at the start of the 2020’s. The pandemic marks a new era of missions that call into question many of the assumptions that guided the former era and therefore also call for a reimagining of our assumptions about participating in God’s mission. Here I argue that we need to repent of our anthropocentric perspectives of God’s mission and realign ourselves to a pneumacentric commitment: to obedience to the Holy Spirit as the sole determiner of how we ought best to participate in what God is doing.

This presentation is also available as a video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7mkr2GliCk.

The transcript of a paper presented at the 2023 New Zealand Christians in Science Conference, “The Fall in Science and Theology .

In this paper I propose that we should view Sin (capital S) as the capacity to determine what is good and by implication judge between that good and that which is not good. I view this addition to the human condition at the event we commonly call ‘The Fall’ as the problematic source of all interpersonal dysfunction in the world, from marital and familial breakdown to international conflicts. From the theology of the Apostle Paul (in particular but not exclusively) I position the Holy Spirit as an external source available, through allegiance to Jesus, to humans that enables us to overcome Sin in our mission to co-create New Creation as participants in the purposes of God, leading to a consummation when all things will be made new in fulness at the physical return of Jesus.

A paper prepared for the Korean Global Mission Leaders Forum, November 2023 in South Korea. The theme of the gathering is “The Gospel of Hope: Missional Responses to Environmental and Human Calamities”

In this paper I note that we are living at the conclusion of a shift away from the Enlightenment towards something new, generated by questions arising out of the very globalized reality that the spread of the European diaspora and global trade created. From early in the twentieth century, amplified by the second world war, the central question that emerged among those concerned about international relationships and global stability is something like, “how can we all get along?” I contend that an Indigenous understanding of reality opens up a new perspective about God and creation, connecting Christ with creation, which can greatly expand our understanding of God’s mission and our mandate to co-create new creation as a response to the central question. I illustrate this from my walk in the Māori world.

Subtitle: The Transformative Potential of Ethnos, Phyle, Laos, and Glossa for Global Missions Today.

An article prepared for OMF’s May 2023 Mission Research Consultation on the theme of: Ethnicity, Race, the Bible, and Mission. The article is published in OMF’s Mission Roundtable Journal here: https://omf.org/resource/mrt-18-3-dec-2023-one-people-uniting-in-gods-mission/

A long-from article that investigates the significance of the variants of “every, tribe, language, people, and nation” in Revelation, linking them with the antecedents in the Old Testament (and, by implication, the gospel equivalents — all nations, all the earth, all creation). God’s desire for (a representative of) people from all nations to shift from Babylon to New Jerusalem has significant missions implications — which I summarise as the act of co-creating new creation in-Christ. The article starts in Revelation with the ultimate formation of a people from all nations, then considers new creation from all nations, and highlights the challenges of co-creation with all nations (touching on issues of racism and colonisation, etc).

In this talk I identify from the New Testament that the Church’s primary witness to the world is for believers in Christ to live as an “integrated singularity”, by which the world will believe and know that the Holy Parent lovingly sent the Son, the peace-giver. This integrated singularity, revealed in Jesus’ prayer of John 17 by his reference to “make them one as you and I are one”, is achieved not by consensus, agreeing to disagree, or avoidance but by living within the tensions of our differences and processing them well to co-create a new mutually beneficial future. This requires a few core elements such as vulnerable ‘pourousness’ (openness to one another and the Holy Spirit), kenosis (self-giving/yielding), and co-learning and co-labouring in a state of perpetual reconciliation. Easier said than done, but well worth the living sacrifice.

The transcript of a two part seminar presented at the Missions Interlink Australia National Conference, Melbourne July 27 & 28, 2022, “New Times Call For New Ways”.

In this presentation I challenge existing paradigms of the global missions industry, contrasting the differences between an industrial perspective of missions (the industrial rift) and an indigenous perspective (the indigenous shift), with the objective of highlighting gaps for effective counterpointing between the two that can help us strengthen participation in God’s purposes for the world for a new era of what has typically been called missions. I identify each perspective as an epistemé, an ecosystem of knowing, which I have mapped elsewhere on a spectrum between extreme individualist and collectivist ways of knowing the world with a sphere of hybridity existing at the intersection of the two knowledge ecosystems. Focusing on the limitations of the industrial rift is necessarily difficult for existing missions workers to hear. It is important to establish a rupture (exposing gaps) so that the beneficial aspects of an indigenous shift can find legitimacy in God’s global purposes (especially the cross-cultural missions aspect of those purposes) to help us move forward.

A seminar presented to Global Connections UK February 14th, 2022 (via Zoom).

This seminar provides a thumbnail sketch overview of some of the issues arising from my exploration of two global epistemic domains: Indigenous and Industrial, and the significance of these schema to the current state of Evangelical world missions. The title is not meant to suggest that the future of missions will ‘only’ experience changes around the issues of indigeneity, but, since historic evidence shows that world Christianity spreads as indigenous faith, I believe the future of missions will be significantly influenced by centring the local and allowing indigenous values to guide the practice of missions forward into a healthier intercultural experience. other articles listed below, particularly Centring The Local, develop these concepts also, but in slightly different ways.

A missions related forecast originally prepared for the World Evangelical Alliance Mission commission, published 24 December, 2021.

This article proposes a missions forecast update using Mary’s “Magnificat” as a framework to reflect missiologically on the year gone and its potential effects on global missions going forward. The global pandemic continues to frustrate and humble the global missions community around the world. 2021 has been a year of great suffering and set-back in terms of health and well-being, with a resource crisis on the horizon. The stress created by the pandemic has amplified competing social and theological convictions, resulting in increased polarisation. Geopolitical instability is also growing, with potential to be an additional threat to missions strategies. And yet, God’s purposes prevail. The question remains: are we fulfilling or frustrating those purposes?

A paper originally presented at the All Nations Christian College Global Get Together on June 19, 2021

COVID-19 has given the global missions community a great pause for thought and an opportunity for emerging missions thinking to accelerate its influence and lead us into a new way of practicing missions in the era ahead. In this presentation, I articulate how a reorientation of our Biblical understanding of missions can help reframe our practice of missions. I anchor my thoughts on John 17:18-26, a passage that I call The Great Commitment. From here, I argue that our loving unity, integrated into God in-Christ, is the only strategy for our participation in the mission of God that Jesus ever gave. It is by this that the world will believe and know that the Father lovingly sent the Son, and by this the Father is glorified.

An article commissioned by the World Council of Churches’ Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, published in the International Review of Mission, Issue 110.1 (412), May 2021, “Reconciliation As A Missional Task”. The article is reproduced here based on the author’s interpretation of the contract with Wylie. (Source of published article: https://doi.org/10.1111/irom.12322).

This paper, sensing a tipping point in evangelical thought as we emerge out of global pandemic disruption, proposes a framing of church and missions from the collectivist perspective shared by those less affected by the influence of Western industrialization and individualism. It proposes that both the means and the objective of the mission of God should be common unity in-Christ.

A talk originally prepared for the Botany Elim Men’s Group series, “The Faith of Our Fathers” – May 17, 2021.

In Evangelical Christian circles, particularly those dominated by Western perspectives of the faith, our personal heritage does not tend to feature significantly in our understanding and practice of faith in Jesus Christ. We can misinterpret the promise that we are ‘new creations’ in Christ, that the old is gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17), even when we experience evidence to the contrary. It helps to understand that that piece Scripture refers to our relationships with one another, not our relationship with ourselves. In this talk, I explore the implications of our genetic heritage on our identity in Christ, our ‘best contributions’ to the Body of Christ, and the unique blessing we can be to the world around us.

A seminar originally presented at the Mission Leaders Forum, Overseas Ministries Study Centre, Princeton Seminary – April 24, 2021.

The pandemic may have locked down the world, but God’s mission continues. In this transcript I recall the indigenous spread of the Christian faith throughout history and affirms local expressions of the faith as having the most positive potential for societal wellbeing. I introduce Indigenous and Industrial as two complementary values systems in the world and call the global missions community into a new era of integrated cooperation for the sake of God’s glory beyond the boundaries of local church influence.

Neste artigo, faço um chamado à comunidade global de missões para priorizar o local, os receptores hospedeiros do evangelho. Em vez de ‘descentralizar’ a influência do estrangeiro, incentivo a centralização: uma apreciação empática da perspectiva do interno nos relacionamentos de missões transculturais. Argumento que a graça de Deus é vivenciada de maneira diferente entre diversos grupos de pessoas, de modo que a experiência específica ou local possa ser compartilhada como bênção para o corpo universal ou global de Cristo. A interação amorosa em nossos relacionamentos integrados em Cristo é um meio tanto para o amadurecimento dos santos quanto para testemunhar ao mundo, para que eles possam crer e saber.

A message prepared for Rutland Street Church, Christchurch New Zealand – May 10, 2020.

Here I counterpoint two very different authors’ perspectives and argue that they are refering to the exact same things. Luke’s account in Acts 1:8 and John’s recollection of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:18-25. I emphasise that in Acts 1:8 (as elsewhere), when referring to “the end” coming, Jesus references the gospel being declared to “ends of the earth/all the earth/all creation/every creature” as an indicator of scope and promise, not aim or activity per se. The Holy Spirit’s power to witness (Acts 1:8) is the manifest glory of God (John 17:22f), which is the love of the Father for the Son, subsequently revealed by the Spirit through our loving unity as the witness to the world that leads it to know and believe. I posit that this loving unity ought to be seen as The Great Commitment, the actual objective of the mission of God.

An article published in Mission Interlink’s September 2019 BULLETIN following a conversation involving 25 missions leaders from Aotearoa New Zealand at Carey Theological College regarding the future of missions.

Here I seek to add to a global conversation on the future of missions by reflecting on colonial-oriented motivations for missions in the past and suggesting that the future of missions beyond 2020 lay in a more communal orientation. Furthermore, if this motivation is to take hold, it needs to be passed on to the next generation.

A lecture presented at Laidlaw College, Henderson Campus, for the “Culturally Diverse Christian Communities” conference – July 5, 2019.

Here I focus on Christian unity and propose a way to reframe the challenges of difference within world-Christianity, and where Christ-followers from around the world converge in missions groups and culturally diverse congregations. I suggest a vision for intercultural growth as a desirable outcome of unity in Christ, which James the Just says is born of trial but is cause for great rejoicing.

A paper presented at Carey Baptist Graduate School’s Research Conference, in Penrose Auckland on September 20 2018.

Here I posit that the Evangelical church is struggling to remain relevant in the Western hemisphere because Evangelical theology is so closely aligned to, and defined by, rationalism. Setting the industrial/individualist West in one knowledge domain, I propose a way forward from an indigenous/collectivist domain. I introduce whanaungatanga as an interpretive lens that can reveal fresh understanding of our relationships with God, each other, creation and history.

A lecture presented at Laidlaw College’s Research Conference, in Manukau Auckland on August 24 2018.

Here I introduce the concept of epistemé as a way of articulating how we know and are known in the world. I use it instead of ‘worldview’ as a more dynamic way of identifying difference between people with contrasting values. I argue that a middle way between the contrasts should be seen as intercultural hybridity – a desirable and beneficial outcome of living in the tension of difference, generating growth that ultimately results in unified harmony.

A seminar presented at Laidlaw College’s Intercultural Church Conference – May 12, 2018.

Subtitle: “How James 1:2-3 can help fulfil John 17:20-23, by applying kaupapa Maori to help culturally diverse groups work through differences and witness to the world”.

A message presented on Pentecost Sunday in Auckland 2018.

Here I reflect on the Pentecost event when the promised Spirit of God was made available to all believers, reversing the effects of Babel and signalling the new Kingdom with a common language.

Based loosely on the Engels Scale of conversion to Christianity, this article proposes a scale of involvement in cross-cultural ministry to guide those seeking to motivate believers to become engaged in propogating the gospel around the world as God leads them.

Jay’s doctoral thesis: “Mutuality Of Belonging: Toward Harmonizing Culturally Diverse Missions Groups”

The research explicates relationship attributes drawn from life-story narrative interviews with Māori Christians as a Collectivist perspective. Individualist relationship assumptions evident in the missions community are identified from an analysis of post-1990 missions literature that specifically references culturally diverse relationships in the missions community. These attributes and assumptions are then counterpointed to show how each can enhance the other in missions groups.