Cross-cultural mission has always been a primary learning experience for the church. It pulls us out of a mono-cultural understanding and helps us discover a legitimate theological pluralism that opens us for new perspectives in the gospel. Translating the gospel into new languages and cultures is a human and divine means of making us learn new "incarnations" of the good news.
This book is composed of contributions from young missiolgists from different parts of the world. It is written from the perspective of youth to be a breath of fresh air into more traditional mission thinking and paradigms. The flavor of this new perspective, coming from the younger generation, is "learning from others and from one another" How might traditional sending churches and organizations see themselves as receivers? How might we bring experiences from outside into our own context? What might we learn across geographical borders--North learning from South, South learning North, South learning from South? What might we learn from one another in a process of reciprocity? "Mission as learning" is not just a welcome addendum to mission, but a necessity if we want God's Spirit to reveal to us new dimensions of Jesus as he comes to be known and loved among "every nation, tribe, people, and language."
A church that aims at being "a learning missional church" sorely needs "reflections from young missiologists," in the words of this book's title and subtitle. The reflections are valuable because of the content and substance, because they deal with relevant issues; they are valuable because they depict the church as a "learning organization" cross-culturally; and they are valuable because they raise signs of youthful willingness to challenge and change. In this way these reflections may show the way toward Edinburgh 2110.
