Insider Movements and Outsider Missiology

by Gary Corwin

There is confusion today between process and purpose. That which is a common phase in the conversion of individuals is being made by many into an ultimate objective or strategy. It’s called insider movements.

There is confusion today between process and purpose. That which is a common phase in the conversion of individuals is being made by many into an ultimate objective or strategy. It’s called insider movements.

The inspiration for focusing on insider movements, of course, is the larger issue of contextualization. And there is significant contextualization going on with regard to insider-movement missiology. It is, however, more the contextualization of Western missiology to Western values of success than it is a contextualization of the gospel to the cultures of those being reached.

God often uses the internal work of his Spirit over time to bring about individual conversions and community movements. This is often united with other influences. It may be through a new acquaintance with the word of God, or with a believer, a piece of literature, a radio broadcast, an Internet site or a godly institution. Or it may be through a dream, a vision or some other direct supernatural means.

What has changed is not so much the way God works, but the way his followers are reinterpreting their part in the task in order to ensure success. At the same time that God has used many means and the work of his Spirit to bring about new life in the hearts of individuals, he has instructed his followers to make disciples by faithfully declaring, teaching and living out the full counsel of God. It is the construct of this disciple-making piece that is being changed.

I believe this is simply one more step, and a logical one, in the misguided path that the church growth movement has taken since the passing of leadership from Donald McGavran to others. It went from being a highly beneficial insight into how different peoples interact and respond to change, to becoming a largely mechanistic mindset which has essentially made an idol of success. It seems more at home today with changing its definitions than humbly obeying the Lord’s commands and trusting him for the outcomes.

The cover of a recent missions publication poses the question, “Can We Trust Insider Movements?” The question accompanies the picture of a young woman biting her nails and cowering in fear. I would suggest that it’s not insider movements we have to fear, for they have always been with us in one form or another. What is fearful is the confusion in Western missiology over the difference between a stage in the work that God does directly in the hearts of people, and the strategy of obedience that ought to mark God’s co-laborers.

However, as with any new thrust (and most heretical movements in the history of the Church), there are some major kernels of truth undergirding this new understanding. A key one is the need to not confuse cultural patterns and paradigms of the messenger for God’s universal standard. Those flying the flag of insider movements do well to beat this well-worn drum. The same can be said of the attention drawn to the way God works in the lives of individuals whom he is bringing to conversion—and to how this has overflowed in the lives of others in their social and familial network. Those chanting the insider-movement mantra are also right in pointing out the multiplied unhelpful ways that the term “Christian” is used, particularly as many in the world mistakenly equate it with the decadence and debauchery of the West.

Where these enthusiasts go wrong is in creating the illusion that fostering insider movements is all that is required, and that it’s okay for new Muslim background believers, for example, to continue attending the mosque regularly, confessing the Islamic creed and lining up to say the ritual prayers. This contradicts biblical standards of truth and honesty, as well as the history of God’s work in the world.

There are many Old Testament examples of stark dichotomy between faith in YAHWEH and the religions of the land. There are also many vivid New Testament and Church-age examples that paint a contrasting picture between what is required for true faith—and everything else that pretends to be. Invariably those pursuing true faith had to be ready to, and so often did, die for it. All the apostles, except perhaps John, were martyred for carrying the gospel to followers of pagan gods. The history of the early Church is written in the blood of the martyrs because Jesus, not Caesar, is Lord. It is on this story that we can trace the spread of the gospel into Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

This incessant pursuit of something new—some new key or some new understanding—is misguided at best. Both history and the Word argue that there is something far more central needed—an abandonment of the idols of success in favor of tender but forthright proclamation of the gospel which is conveyed with bold, sacrificial and creative love.

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Gary Corwin is associate editor of EMQ and missiologist-at-large for Arab World Ministries, on loan from SIM-USA.

Copyright © 2006 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

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