Beyond the Book with Dr. Will Brooks: “Global Engagement in Mission and World Christianity: Asia Pacific”

At Southeastern Seminary, Brooks serves as professor of missiology and associate vice president for Global Theological Initiatives. In the following Q&A, he takes some time to share further about the creation and purpose of “Global Engagement in Mission and World Christianity.”

What was the original motivation for this book’s creation, and who is its intended audience?

There were two primary motivations for the book. The first was to write something that could serve as a textbook for World Christian Studies, which is a growing field that focuses on how the gospel is lived in different contexts around the world. The second was a desire to give voice to our brothers and sisters around the world as they seek to make the gospel known in their unique contexts. Many scholars in Southeast Asia are doing excellent research on issues that are both unique and critical to the church in their context.

Both you and Dr. Copeland have spent a significant amount of time serving overseas with churches in Asia. How have your collective personal experiences shaped the creation of this book?

For both of us, our ministries focused on equipping the next generation of pastors, missionaries, and seminary professors in Asia. We worked closely with our national partners to equip them with critical thinking skills and the ability to teach and write in ways that apply biblical truth to the pressing issues of their contexts. These experiences shaped us in profound ways, especially as we developed a deep respect and love for our brothers and sisters from those contexts, even if they sometimes disagreed with us! We want to make others aware of the issues scholars in that context are examining.

How does the Asian Pacific Church uniquely approach missions?

As this book highlights, there is a shift occurring in global missiology, and Asia is becoming a major sending force for cross-cultural missions. And because their sending contexts and sending structures are different than us in the West, they are often discussing and wrestling with different topics than Western missionaries discuss.

As this book highlights, there is a shift occurring in global missiology, and Asia is becoming a major sending force for cross-cultural missions.

To give one example of this: about 10 years ago I was teaching a doctoral seminar in another language with students from several countries. Since part of a good doctoral seminar is debating key topics, I kept bringing up topics I thought were controversial (at least, they are to Western missionaries), but the brothers in this class would say, “That’s not complicated. We already agree on that topic, but here’s something that’s really interesting  . . .” And they would propose a topic that was not that controversial at all to me. It helped me understand that because their churches are in a different context and at a different stage of sending history, the issues they are currently wrestling with are different.

What are some of the distinct challenges that Asian Pacific missionaries face, and what are some of their greatest strengths?

Some of them are theological: Threats of prosperity gospel or Pentecostalism affect views of the church and the work of the Spirit. These different theological viewpoints can have a big impact on partnerships and mobilization. There are also practical challenges like navigating political environments that are hostile to Christianity.

One unique challenge that one of our chapters touches on was interesting to me. When we mobilize in the United States, we are often confronted with the issue of young people whose parents don’t want them to be sent. In Asia, though, more senior adults are going on mission, and it is their children who are preventing them from being sent!

To their credit, though, Asian Pacific Christians are adept in navigating these challenges, in large part because they are largely a minority religious group in most countries. As a result, they have a deep respect and willingness to work alongside those that they disagree with.

In a single story, how would you encapsulate what matters most in this book?

It’s strange, but sometimes academia can be a lonely place where a professor works alone on lecture notes or doing research on a topic they are interested in. This project was completely different. It started over lunch at a sushi place some years ago when Mike and I talked about some of the doctoral students we were working with and how their topics were very different from what we’d see from students studying missions in the States. That simple lunch conversion led to the initial idea of this book: to build the global church by bringing some of these conversations to a broader audience. Good things happen when we partner together.

What are some ways in which Western believers can partner with Asian Pacific Christians to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission?

The biggest thing that I would say is that Western believers and missionaries need to be better listeners. For a long time we have sent the most missionaries and have set the agenda. In most place in Asia, there is a deep respect for Western missionaries or Southern Baptists in particular because of our legacy of sending to those Christians. But like a parent sending a child to college, we’ve entered a new phase of missions. It doesn’t mean our work has ended, but it does mean that in some situations, we may need to do more mentoring and coaching. Instead of pushing our initiatives or plans, we need to be more collaborative as we work alongside the global Church.

Like a parent sending a child to college, we’ve entered a new phase of missions. It doesn’t mean our work has ended, but it does mean that in some situations, we may need to do more mentoring and coaching.

How were you personally challenged or encouraged while working on this book?

I was encouraged by the authors of the chapters of this book as I listened to their burden to reach others cross-culturally. Though they face significant obstacles, the desire to get the gospel to the ends of the earth drives all that they do. Moreover, the fact that this perspective is from believers who live in what we might consider to be historically missions-receiving countries is even more encouraging. I’m thankful to have been able to see firsthand what God is doing around the world in raising up his Church, and I hope others are similarly encouraged as they read this book.