Recent interviews with congregational leaders in Thailand suggest a need for reframing some of the concerns commonly expressed in missiological writing on short-term missions (STM). North American writers have expressed concern about the ministerial inefficiency of short-term missions, the attendant de-professionalization of foreign missions, and the potential for STM to encourage dependency among recipients. Interviews with Thai pastors in 2007 revealed a different set of concerns. Many expressed an interest in resourcing for stronger congregational life, a concern that is usually missing from North American writing on short-term missions. Short-term missions were also valued most greatly by leaders whose congregations did not have alternative access to the material and relational resources made available by the visitors. Finally, in contrast to concerns that short-term missions promote dependency, the interviews suggest that many Thai leaders were using the relational networks to access moral and material resources that enhanced ministerial vitality and independence.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, evangelicals employ a brand of anti-syncretism that incorporates a substantial amount of hybridity. This creativity inside a framework of seeming inflexibility is one of the things that helps evangelical Christianity localize while "holding its shape." It also enables conversions to be grounded in idiosyncratic experience while enabling those conversions to present as orthodox. Employing interviews with ethnic Thai and Sino-Thai who have converted from Buddhism to Christianity, the article explores two mechanisms of hybridity that can be observed among Thai evangelicals. Hybridities of extension fit locally specific material into frames that are transculturally shared, while hybridities of transition exploit cognitive and terminological overlaps that facilitate a person's movement across otherwise discrete religious boundaries. Together, these orthodox hybridities give evangelical Christianity a feel of the local while preserving converts' sense of being loyal to a transculturally shared set of teachings.
Material froin an East African churrh and an Asian rhurrh suggests the neressity andpossibility of a new approarh to the training and supervision of short-term missionaries. The two rases suggest viewing these missionaries as "trainees" rather than "helpers," and suggests putting their supervision and spiritual formation directly in the hands of the overseas rhurrhes they serve. A ronrluding discussion explores some of the broader implications of this model f o r cross-cultural church relations.hort-term missions have been receiving increasing attention of late, and appropriately so. Surprisingly, this increased interest in short-term missions has S included little attention to the perspectives, desires, and supervisory potential of the local hosts. Locals often provide guides, translators, food, places to stay, and often the activities that validate the missionaries' presence. They also provide the local long-term presence needed to translate the visits into longer-term ministry gains. There needs, therefore, to be consideration of ways to adapt to the needs and agendas of these local actors, and development of conceptual and practical models that put their efforts to the fore. With a view to addressing that gap, this article details a case where the traditional terms of relationship were reversed, with supervisory power in the hands of the local church rather than the mission, and it considers that case's implications for some concerns that have been raised more generally about short-term missions. Some Issues in Short-term MissionsIn addition to potentially doing practical good, short-term missions are widely thought to transform participants, especially younger ones, by fostering increased cultural sensitivity, spiritual depth, and greater commitment to the cause of world missions (e.g.,
The Thammakai movement in Thailand has won increasing attention over the past decade for its popularity, for the devotion of its supporters and the size of their contributions, and for its links with influential individuals in the Thai government, army, and business communities. This suburban monastery's ability to draw a congregation of 50,000 participants each year for its most publicized annual religious observance is perhaps unprecedented in Thai ecclesiastical history. Thammakai leaders see themselves heading a key Buddhist reform movement to improve the lives of their followers, to strengthen the religion, and to bring prosperity to the nation. But Thammakai's detractors criticize the meditation method around which the movement has been built, deplore the movement's expenditure rates and fund-raising techniques, charge that it uses hypnotic mind-control methods over its followers, and criticize its increasingly acquisitive tendencies. Thai observers of all persuasions have noted Thammakai's skilful use of positive national and religious symbols in its public relations, its abilities in organizing students and young urban professionals to work for organizational goals, and its skill at staging visually and emotionally appealing public displays.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.