An East Asia Member’s Mission Forum (MMF) held in Hong Kong from 8-10 April drew 28 participants from the six Council for World Mission (CWM) East Asian member churches who came together physically and online to dialogue, share missional stories, and discern regional trends and challenges while engaging in soulful, corporate worship.
In his greetings to the representatives of the host church, the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China (HKCCCC), as well as the gathered delegates, CWM General Secretary Rev. Dr Jooseop Keum emphasised the importance of the MMF as a platform for East Asian member churches to re-evaluate how missions can be done in the current “catastrophic times,” seeing that Myanmar was rocked by an earthquake in March, with continued aftershocks, and Taiwan continues to grapple with geopolitical tensions with China.
“We need to discuss what our missional goals are in such a catastrophic time as this, experienced by our two member churches [PCM and PCT] in the face of ongoing climate crises, and dysfunctional democracies that grow increasingly threatening to the wellbeing of people in this region today,” said Keum.
“In this context, the way that we show the quality of discipleship as a follower of Christ to the rest of the world is now therefore more important than ever before.”
A call to decolonise mission and power
In response to the MMF’s theme of “Transforming Power,” Dr Kwok Pui-Lan, a Distinguished Scholar from the Episcopal Divinity School (USA), noted in her keynote address that the first step towards witnessing a transformed power is through a determined will to decolonise it, especially in East Asia, where power takes on many forms from political and military to the cultural and symbolic.
Kwok defined power, colonialism, and post-colonial thought through real-world examples and biblical references, drawing attention to the sordid relationship between colonialism and Christianity, and identifying the Roman Catholic Church as the first globalising religious force.
To effect real change, Kwok suggested that the way forward must encompass steps that not only acknowledge and critically analyse colonial histories and power structures but also involve building and galvanising solidarity and collaboration across various social justice movements to transform said structures from within, and lift up voices from marginalised communities towards self-determination and amplification of their perspectives, knowledge, and leadership.
Exploring three sub-themes through East Asian eyes
MMF offered an opportunity to delve further into three sub-themes that evoked strong discussions among the delegates.
Sub-Theme One – Gender, Power, and Leadership
Rev. Dr Lizette Tapia Raquel took the delegates through a treatise on the concept of the unlimited translatability and incarnation of Jesus Christ across various cultures and traditions. She also made a case for the act of resistance that flies in the face of the theology of repentance that prioritises suffering, submission, and sacrifice; she drew on the account in Exodus which she posited is a piece of “resistance text.”
“When God acts to liberate, there is a corresponding human action, and this [action] begins with ‘resistance,’ ” opined Raquel.
Sub-Theme Two – Mission and Migrants: A More Compassionate Caring Church
Rev. Phua Chee Seng, a delegate from the Presbyterian Church in Singapore, touched on the importance of furthering God’s mission through diaspora evangelism that emphasises cross-cultural communication and multicultural interaction with migrant groups.
Phua highlighted the global trend of migration, drawing the audience’s attention to the fact that since 2020, there were more than 281 million people living outside their country of origin, thus providing the opportunity to bring forth new energy for the spread of the Gospel. He followed up with a case study of the efforts by a Singapore church in its outreach to Thai migrant workers.
Sub-Theme Three – Modern-Day Slavery: Challenges Before Church
CWM Deputy General Secretary – Programmes, Dr Sudipta Singh, bookended the sub-theme presentations with a sobering account of the insidiousness of slavery that still pervades in contemporary times.
Singh presented on the many ways that slavery has touched lives through consumption of goods and services that have their roots in the exploitation of people in the global south who are caught in webs of poverty and war.
Quoting Gustavo Gutierrez, the father of liberation theology, Singh exhorted the delegates to participate in the struggle for the liberation of those oppressed by others. “…[by doing] such would be to place oneself in the perspective of the Kingdom,” concluded Singh.
Concerning youth, mission, and AI
Youth delegates were also given the space to expound on the rise of AI and how the phenomena would either drive extensive change in mission outlooks and practices or evolve to become a potentially disruptive element.
The presentation, via the employment of lively discourse, brought forth to the older members of the audience the realities of the extent of influence that AI wields in the fields of content creation and messaging, and provides a cautionary backdrop against its increased, often unregulated usage especially among the younger population in the church.
