Posted by Anthony Adams.

The second in a series of questions about world mission, posed to me by Stephen Murray, church planter in South Africa.

2. Much has been made in missions circles about the shift of the Christian centre from the west to the majority world. How do you think this will or should affect Western mission work in the Majority World?

It will mean that we need to get out of any patterns of thinking ‘west is best’, and discourage those in the majority world from thinking that way too. Too often the flow of resources and personnel has been from the west, but disciples of Jesus Christ in every country need to grasp the importance of global mission and be involved in some way, becoming senders as well as receivers. I think western mission work should be concerned with helping to develop the vision of the majority world church (if they need help!) to go global. If this all leads to less dependence on the west, so be it. Who says the west should be central anyway? There are great strengths in developing mission work from all directions. Different cultures bring different things to the table. One example: church leaders in Albania have been developing a real passion for church planting mission work in Cambodia. Some Brits have been co-operating with them in this, but one of the striking things they found was how much more easily the Albanians could relate to the Cambodians as those from a country that had become poor and downtrodden beneath an oppressive regime. Thinking further – who’s going to reach the Arab world with the gospel? I suspect most Americans and Brits are not going to find it too easy to be accepted to live in the Muslim world in the current climate… post-Saddam and post-9/11. Other believers may well be better equipped. Churches from whatever country, need to co-operate internationally, and develop strategies for reaching out to the world.