• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In
MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission MattersNew
          • Missio Nexus
          • People First HR
          • Members Only Feed
        • Blogs
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mission Advisors
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Alliance for Benefits
    • Bible CertificateNew
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Upcoming Events

          • Webinar: Through the Wall
            Thu Jan 28 2021, 02:00pm EST
          • Three Easy Ways to Drive Innovation
            Thu Feb 11 2021, 02:00pm EST
          • Three Steps to Kickstart Your Fund Development Program
            Tue Feb 16 2021, 03:00pm EST
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missiographics
          • Mission Handbook
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Submit Data for Mission Handbook
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Webinar: Through the Wall
    Thu Jan 28 2021, 02:00pm EST
  • Three Easy Ways to Drive Innovation
    Thu Feb 11 2021, 02:00pm EST
  • Three Steps to Kickstart Your Fund Development Program
    Tue Feb 16 2021, 03:00pm EST
  • Webinar: Innovating Theological Education: How BibleMesh can Prepare your Staff for Ministry
    Thu Feb 25 2021, 02:00pm EST
  • Association Leaders Gathering
    Tue Mar 2 2021, 08:30am EST

View all events »

Topics

author interview Canada CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting Coaching Conference Proceedings COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Evangelism Focus Future Globally Engaged Churches Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Personal Productivity Podcast Presenter Research Security Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached unreached people groups Weekly Roundup Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Accountability in Missions: Korean and Western Case Studies

Posted on October 1, 2012 by October 1, 2012

by Jonathan J. Bonk, editor

Wipf & Stock, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401, 360 pages, 2011, $40.00.

—Reviewed by Gilles Gravelle, PhD, director of research & innovation, The Seed Company—a Wycliffe USA affiliate.

This book is a collection of papers by twenty-five authors, including responders. It is the result of the Korean Global Mission Leadership Forum held at the Overseas Ministries Studies Center in February 2010. The forty-eight participants met to “discuss mission and church accountability, and to examine several cases exploring strategic continuity issues.”

The papers cover a wide variety of areas the authors believe should be subject to accountability. These topics include power, leadership, administration, resources, training, and partnership. There are also discussions about accountability for planning, cultural sensitivity, integrity, generosity, child care, missionary care, awareness of the times, and trust, to name a few.

The book begins with a helpful and sobering historical review of Korean mission history. It is sobering in that readers are reminded of the difficulties and suffering Korean believers experienced in establishing their home country mission and eventually overseas mission. Their resilience in the face of adversity has been remarkable.

Space doesn’t allow for even a glimpse of so many accountability topics, but some of the more salient and recurring themes can be highlighted. The Korean authors relayed why Korean power and leadership accountability is one of their biggest challenges. As Bahn Seok Lee explains, accountability is often challenged by “culturally bound administrative structures.” This results in low accountability in several areas. He, along with other Korean contributors, call for a system of transparency and mutual accountability counter to traditional Korean mission leadership practice.

Accountability models in general is another recurring theme. For example, both Korean and Western authors suggest following a biblical accountability meta-narrative presumably found in scripture. Another author asserts the existence of scripture’s universal principles of accountability, and yet another describes a biblically-based model that applies to all cultures. Some Korean authors are not reserved in criticizing a Western template mode of accountability. Assuming differences in cultural hermeneutical communities, it leaves the reader wondering if such a global biblical model can even be found in a monolithic sense.  

The Forum was for Korean and Western partnerships, but readers of this compilation will likely also view the content through the lens of twenty-first century mission practice in general.

Does the book’s content accomplish the goal mentioned at the beginning? Several cases are examined. The contributors are generally frank and honest with self-assessment, which reveals a great deal about their humility in leadership. If examination is all they were after, then they accomplished their goal. However, I was left with the impression that the Korean and Western mission accountability paradigm was only tinkered with. Two authors (Green and Jung), however, are stand-outs in the area of intentional change. Without their contributions, the book’s content may have come across as mired in talk with no greater purpose other than fixing things here and there.

Check this title:
Ott, Craig and Harold A. Netland, eds. 2006. Globalizing Theology. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

….

EMQ, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 495-497. Copyright  © 2012 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS).  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

 

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 48 - Issue 4

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Join
  • Directories
  • Events
  • Donate

About

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Google+

PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

© Missio Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks