1. religion and spirituality

HOW TO SHIFT MINISTRY TO NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
FROM THE FRINGES TOWARD THE MAINSTREAM OF
MISSIONS
Philip Johnson
Copyright © 2004.
Draft manuscript only.
For members of the Lausanne Forum 2004 Issue Group 16.
Not intended for wider distribution.
PROLOGUE
I have never met anyone who plays the Appalachian dulcimer,
nor have I ever heard a performance featuring this instrument. So I
am unable to say whether a performance featuring this instrument
would appeal to my musical tastes. It is certainly not a popular
instrument, and perhaps one must acquire a taste for music of this
genre. Unless or until I make an effort to hear a performance of it,
for me the Appalachian dulcimer is a quaint mystery that simply
does not impinge on what I consider to be important interests for
my life.
Nonetheless there are people who enjoy playing it and those
who are enthralled by musical performances featuring the
instrument. For these people the Appalachian dulcimer generates
enthusiasm and enjoyment, the excitement of which is something
that only fellow hobbyists seem to understand.
You may be puzzled. What is the connection between the
Appalachian dulcimer and new religious movements? The
connection is found in an analogy. Those of us who believe that the
subject of new religious movements and alternate spiritualities is
important might be compared to enthusiasts who play the
Appalachian dulcimer. What is exotic in an arcane or esoteric sense
will spark the interest of enthusiasts or hobbyists, but it is not likely
to be recognised as important by those who simply do not share in
or feel the same concerns. What we deem to be significant arises
out of our experiences and interests in the subject. Our selfinterests though are not shared by Christians generally and it takes
a fellow hobbyist to spot another hobbyist.
The following discussion consists of a broad general sweep of
the topic and is not intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive.
The discussion will identify the problem, offer a summary of reasons
why the subject has existed on the fringes, and then propose some
solutions and possible projects that could help change the climate of
opinion in a very favourable manner. The standpoint presupposed in
this essay is that cross-cultural missional approaches provide the
best model for reaching devotees of new religions and alternate
spiritualities (Hexham, Rost and Morehead, 2004). This essay has
been hurriedly produced for the purposes of discussion in the
Lausanne Issue Group exploring religious and non-religious
spiritualities in the contemporary world. My comments are based
entirely on English-language sources, with observations largely
shaped by my Australian cultural context. They do not purport to
apply to the Two-Thirds World contexts. Readers would do well to
recall that we Australians have a reputation for being blunt or direct
in our speech!
I. THE PROBLEM:
The subject of contemporary new religions has largely been of
tangential interest to the Church. This might seem like a very bold
generalisation but I believe there is sufficient evidence to support
my point. New religious movements simply do not loom large in the
mainstream theological, missiological and evangelistic discourses of
churches within industrialised nations. You will notice that I have
used the qualifying word “mainstream”. I apply this qualifier
because I am not claiming that the churches have totally ignored
new religious movements.
There are apologists who are preoccupied with opposing the
beliefs and practices of new religious movements and alternate
forms of spirituality. However, while there are apologists dealing
with the subject and advocating ministry, the stark reality is that
both the subject of new religions and those who minister with
devotees of new religions are essentially marginalised from
mainstream Christian activities.
II. INDICATORS OF MARGINALISATION:
I do not pretend to have assembled here all the plausible
reasons why Christians have relegated new religious movements to
the theological fringes. I have previously discussed some of these
issues in two essays (Johnson, 2000; 2002). However, if some
constructive suggestions for shifting the subject into the
mainstream are to be properly understood, then it is necessary to
consider what factors probably keep the subject on the margins.
Fringe Religions
Perhaps a very obvious and simple point is that new religious
movements seem to begin as sub-cultural or fringe societal
activities. What is found on the margins of society, or as an interest
among a smaller cultural group within a larger host society, by
definition is outside of the mainstream in society. Unless or until a
new religious movement directly impinges on mainstream society –
such as in the sarin gas attacks in Tokyo initiated by the Aum Shin
Rikyo group – there does not seem to be any compelling reason to
be bothered with fringe religions.
This same point is mirrored within mainstream Church life. It
is not until a new religious movement’s actions directly confront
Christian laity and leaders alike, one does not need to be concerned
about them. Sadly, it is often the case that one’s personal interests
in new religious movements are only spurred on after one’s family,
or a parishioner, has been directly touched by a group.
Fringe Studies
As the new religions have emerged on the fringes of society,
so too those Christians who have been deeply immersed in studying
these groups have often found themselves working on the edges of
ministry. The bibliographical evidence in English language
publications from the early nineteenth century until the period of
the First World War, indicates that new religions were criticised
spasmodically by a few clergy, some career apologists, journalists
and various ex-members of groups (Shupe, Bromley and Oliver,
1984). Similarly, the subject was long regarded as a fringe area of
study among scholars in the social sciences.
However, since the 1960s scholars in religious studies and the
social sciences have gradually recognised that the subject is worthy
of serious study. There has been some resistance to legitimating
this field, but it is steadily gaining ground. Academic journals (e.g.
Aries, Culture and Cosmos, Esoterica, Journal for the Academic
Study of Magic, Journal of New Age Studies, Nova Religio, and The
Pomegranate), and conferences devoted to the new religions, the
esoteric and new age, have been established. A few universities
have endowed professorial chairs in esoteric studies (e.g. The
Sorbonne, University of Amsterdam).
Although new religions and alternate spiritualities do not
command the centre of studies in the humanities, nonetheless it
needs to be noted that secular scholarship is rapidly taking notice of
it, and post-graduate dissertations in this field are increasing in
number. Much of this coincides with the emergence and partial
legitimation of new religions and alternate forms of spirituality in
some sectors of pop culture. One might also be tempted to compare
these developments within the contemporary academy with the
esoteric interests and scholarship of Renaissance figures like Pico
della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, Giordano Bruno and others.
Sadly, within Christian circles this field remains on the fringes.
It is largely commanded by non-academic apologists with a small
niche market of pop literature that excoriates new religions as
irrational and demonic. While a few professionally accredited
theologians and apologists do write about new religions, the subject
itself remains disconnected from mainstream ministry and pastoral
concerns.
Amateur Apologists
In my essay in Sacred Tribes (Johnson, 2002), I indicated
that contemporary countercult apologetics is dominated by layapologists. There are positive and negative outcomes to be
discerned in the lay-apologetic.
What’s Positive
On the positive side, the appeal of countercult lay-apologetics
has had an empowering effect on its participants. That is, people
who might not otherwise have their spiritual gifting recognised,
have found their own outlet for personal expression and significance
through establishing their countercult ministries. This is an
important point that needs to be kept in perspective particularly
when we recall the Protestant Reformation principle of the
priesthood of all believers. God can, and certainly will continue to,
accomplish his will through lay-vessels just as much as through
professionals.
In some respects alternate forms of spirituality, including
western folk religion based in divination and magic, can be
understood in part as representing the “protest” of some people at
the hierarchical and institutional forms of church (Ellis, 2004;
Johnson and Payne, 2004). This protest can be understood as a
powerful perception by protesters that church institutions often
disempower and marginalise laity from any meaningful ministry.
It is perhaps ironic then that while many people in their
protest at the church have drifted into do-it-yourself and noninstitutional forms of spirituality, that the primary voice of
opposition in apologetic arguments to these informal spiritualities
likewise has stemmed from lay-Christian apologists who are often
surviving on the margins of ministry. One group “protests” at the
church for its deficiencies and looks elsewhere for nourishment. The
other group consists of marginalised apologists who protest at the
“protesters” for either deserting or criticising the church.
We can also acknowledge that, even within the critical
limitations and weaknesses found in countercult apologetics, God
has nonetheless used various apologists and ministries to here and
there engage in discipling some new religion seekers to follow
Christ.
What’s Problematic
The effectiveness of this outreach is truncated, for new
religions proliferate at a rate that exceeds the numbers of those
deconverted from these groups into faith in Christ. So we must
admit that problematic and negative outcomes can be detected in
the dominance of lay-apologists and scholarly apologists not trained
in missiology tackling new religious movements and alternate forms
of spirituality.
I have identified at least eighteen problematic factors, which
are summarised as follows but not in any order of priority:
1. New Religions Not Classified As Unreached Peoples.
New religious movements and alternate forms of spirituality
have generally been typecast as heretical and a rival to the
church in the quest for converts. One outcome of this thinking
is that the new religions are seen as movements that must be
challenged and condemned. Unfortunately, there has been a
corresponding unwillingness to view them as unreached
people from whose ranks disciples should be made. Put
another way, the tendency is to treat these groups as
enemies, rather than emphasizing the need for missional
responses.
2. Unpaid Bills of the Church. Part of the previous point is
compounded by a general unwillingness to accede to the
sound observation made many years ago by the Reformed
theologian-apologist J. K. van Baalen (1944: 13) concerning
the cults as “the unpaid bills of the church.” Van Baalen did
not coin this expression, but he did pick it up as an aphorism
to signify that the cults exist because of deficiencies in the
ministry and witness of the Church. While there are historical
and sociological factors we ought to bring into any equation to
account for the existence of new religions, there remains
much valuable wisdom in what Van Baalen argued. The
ramification of Van Baalen’s point necessarily disturbs the
status quo inside the Church. It is not easy to critically reflect
on how we have developed blind spots in teaching and praxis
that then creates a spiritual vacuum which new religions seem
to fill. Even more distressing is the thought that these lapses
and deficiencies are imperfectly mirrored in the teachings and
praxis of new religions and alternate spiritualities. Yet, it is far
easier to regard new religions as the enemy, than it is to
engage in the critical self-reflection “what does this movement
say back to the church?” (Cf. Drane, 1999). By marginalizing
the movements as fringe enemies, the apologist by definition
relegates his/her work to the fringes too.
3. Military Metaphors. There are unhelpful metaphors and
analogies and conflict-flavoured vocabulary used by apologists
that perpetuates the image of an enemy that must be
defeated. Consider the tenor of book titles like these: Spirit
Wars, The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back, Dark Secrets of the
New Age, What’s With The Dudes at the Door? Consider how
two scholarly apologists set up a hypothetical dialogue to
demonstrate a point. They create the characters Freddy
Fundamentalist and “Nancy Newage (rhymes with “sewage”)”
(Beckwith and Parrish, 1997: 205). As the character
representing New Age has her surname sounding like
“sewage”, the apologists betray their own contempt for this
spirituality. However, this scathing grammatology effectively
short-circuits any shift in mindset that would treat the
adherent of a new religion as someone who is spiritually fallen
but still bears the marks of the Imago Dei. The rhetoric used
often reinforces a siege-mentality that evokes metaphors of
battle, but never evoking those concerning the Christ as the
prince of peace (cf. Sire, 1980: 18-19). Again, while the new
religions are regarded as an enemy to be repulsed, the notion
of missional work toward them is sidelined or ignored.
4. Poorly Educated Apologists. Lay countercult apologists
generally lack any formal education or training in theology,
missiology and apologetics. Much of the popular apologetic
literature is composed by well meaning apologists whose
grasp of the history of theology, the history of apologetics and
missions is very poor. Thus, their ministry enterprises and
written materials display an amateurish quality that in some
cases is frankly appalling and theologically embarrassing.
5. False Credentials. Some lay apologists claim they have
theological credentials, which on closer inspection may be
discredited because they derive from unaccredited colleges or
“diploma-mills” whose academic value is equivalent to zero.
This problem tends to have two outcomes. One is that those
who hold these credentials parade themselves as experts and
do not take kindly to being called to account. The other is that
the diploma-mill awards only undermine the credibility of the
apologetic enterprise among both new religionists and
academics.
6. Ex-Devotees. Some apologists enter into countercult
ministry as a result of their own spiritual transition from a
new religion into the Church. Whilst we are prayerfully
grateful for their walk with Christ, we should nonetheless be
prepared to insist on accountability and integrity from exdevotees.
Unfortunately
some
celebrated
spiritual
autobiographies (like Mike Warnke’s The Satan Seller) have
been shown to be fraudulent both in autobiographical details
as well as in the “insider” view of what is taught and practised
in a given group (Hertenstein and Trott, 1993; Smulo, 2002).
Sadly, by relying on these discredited testimonies Christians
have framed very hostile portraits of groups and even
contributed to the outbreak of social panics (Ellis, 2000). This
lack of accountability and transparency also perpetuates the
amateurish features of countercult ministry, and further
undermines the recognition of its importance in academic
quarters.
7. Personality Types. A fascinating topic that requires formal
research concerns the personality types of countercult
apologists. A comparative study of countercult apologists and
of those attracted to missional approaches with alternate
spiritualities might yield some interesting results in light of
the marginalisation of ministry to new religions. In the
absence of formal research I can only posit some anecdotal
ideas based on my observations and encounters with
countercult apologists. If apologists were surveyed according
to the Myers-Briggs test I believe that many of the apologists
would fit into these personality types: Extrovert Sensing
Thinking Judging; Introvert Sensing Thinking Judging;
Extrovert Sensing Feeling Judging; and Introvert Sensing
Feeling Judging. My hunch is based on observing apologists in
Internet forums, from their writings, and also on the basis of
those few I have met face to face.
In my experiences I have found some apologists exhibit
rigidity and inflexibility that inclines them to dogmatic black
and white interpretations of other faiths. Some seem to revel
in the adrenalin rush associated with winning heated debates,
and I’ve noted that a few like to assume Internet identities
with cyber-monikers that evoke images of themselves as a
warrior or champion knight. I have also observed a few who
react in a bellicose and bullying manner when colleagues
question their scholarship. These sorts of traits lend
themselves well to the rough and tumble of debunking other
beliefs. Unfortunately, these traits do not readily predispose
the apologist toward missional sensitivities. Apologetic
pugilism may very well repel the broader church population
from paying attention to the subject of new religions. (I
hasten to add here that in highlighting these features I am
not saying that these apologists are all unpleasant people with
no virtuous qualities).
The aforementioned observations of mine can be contrasted
with a different group of people. In Sydney, Australia there is
a core group of people in Sydney who collaborate with me in
outreach to devotees of new religions and alternate
spiritualities. All the core group members have undertaken
the Myers-Briggs test and the results are intriguing. What is
striking about the results is that all our core group members
share similar personality traits, and our Myers-Briggs’ types
are among the smallest within the general population. The
results for our group: Introvert Intuitive Thinking Judging;
Extrovert Intuitive Thinking Judging; Introvert Intuitive
Thinking Perceiving; and Introvert Intuitive Feeling Judging.
(A curious trait we have also observed is that many New Age
seekers are left-handed!). As “Intuitive” types comprise a
small sub-strata in the general population, intuitives gravitate
toward one another but perhaps at the cost of being isolated
from the rest of the church population.
8. Independent Spirit. Lay ministries often operate in isolation
with very little formal connections or structures of
accountability to local churches, denominational bodies or
professional theological networks. The independent pioneering
spirit of Western frontier countries is often reflected in
independent ministry enterprises and personal empire
building that is inimical to accountability.
9. Peer Review. Very little peer review of ministry and
literature occurs, which ensures that the amateur features of
countercult apologetic arguments and ministries are
perpetuated and unchecked. This is reflected in the shoddy
scholarship and illogical arguments used to oppose new
religions in sensationalist documentary films like The God
Makers, The Pagan Invasion and Gods of the New Age. Similar
difficulties abound when lay apologists, and even the
occasional scholarly apologist, indulge in plagiarism rather
than undertaking primary research (Clifford and Johnson,
2001: 25).
10.
Reification. A sizeable proportion of countercult books
can be classified as written by “armchair critics” because the
authors have not undertaken any field research of the groups
they are describing and debunking. One of the problems is
that in the absence of primary research where devotees are
interviewed and primary sources from the religion are directly
consulted, then what the apologist creates on the page about
the group may be of his/her own invention. When readers
accept that portrait and act on it, the portrait is reified. That is
the paper version of reality is projected as if it actually
corresponds with reality. When apologists inaccurately
describe a religious group, then the likely outcome is
reification. This process impedes effective missional work.
11.
Nasty Novels. Laity and pastors alike seem to be
enamoured with Christian fiction, particularly novels that cast
new religions and alternate spiritualities in the role of an
identifiable social and spiritual enemy. This observation is
supported by the massive sales for Frank Peretti’s novels This
Present Darkness and Piecing the Darkness, and the Left
Behind series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. A
forerunner to this was the British brethren preacher Sydney
Watson. Watson, who lived at the end of the nineteenth and
start of the twentieth centuries, composed didactic novels
warning of the deception of groups like Christian Science
(Escaped From the Snare), Spiritualism (The Lure of a Soul),
and Russellism (The Gilded Lie). Watson also provided the
fictional template for LaHaye and Jenkins with his twin
eschatological novels In The Twinkling of an Eye and The Mark
of The Beast.
A close examination of the plots and underlying messages of
these novels reveals all the hallmarks of what Cowan (2003)
refers to as boundary maintenance and propaganda. The
groups excoriated in the novels are roughly equivalent to a
vampire that must be defeated and dispatched. Like an
allegorical morality story, the novels’ plots create a simplistic
cast of “good guys” versus “bad guys”. In some respects it is
akin to the 1950s phenomenon of “McCarthyism” in American
society where suspected communists were a perceived threat
that had to be suppressed. This extreme characterisation of
new religions as the source of Antichristic power in the world
quashes any meaningful prospects that Christians could show
any respect for those adherents of new religions who may be
seeking God. At an intellectual level we must express some
disquiet that the attitudes of Christians toward new religions
and alternate spiritualities are being powerfully influenced by
pop novels.
12.
Ethnocentrism/Paternalism. Much of the Englishlanguage
countercult
literature
is
mono-cultural
or
ethnocentric. By that I mean the focus of attention is
exclusively on heretical movements identified in North
America or Western European contexts. Apologists overlook
the proliferation of indigenous new religious movements found
in East Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Eastern
Europe, and only refer to them if they happen to be present in
North America. There are paternalist attitudes in some
western Christian circles about the “youthfulness” of the
churches in the Two Thirds World contexts. A paternalist
outlook can unwittingly perpetuate a theological hubris and
snobbery about the superiority of the First World churches
over against all other churches. One feature of this
paternalism is that some western Christians then presume
that African, Asian and Latin American Christians have to be
taught by westerners before they will be able to cope with
new religions. An ethnocentric mentality cuts the apologetic
literature off from being enriched by a global perspective on
new religions found on all inhabited continents. There is surely
important wisdom to be found among the churches outside
North America, particularly those in the non-English speaking
cultures.
This neglect of new religions on a global level does a great
disservice to the Body of Christ worldwide, particularly for
those developing nations where apologetic resources may be
scant. Furthermore, it is very rare to find collaborative
apologetic books that rise above the North American context
to include contributors from other nations (Hexham, Rost and
Morehead, 2004). One other negative effect is the influence of
North American countercult literature on other nations by
transferring models that debunk and demonise new religions
at the expense of encouraging missions.
13.
No Holistic Apologetics. The apologetic models that
are principally relied on by lay apologists basically involve
erecting defensive boundaries that creates a monologue inside
the church, but does not stimulate any meaningful dialogue
with non-Christians (Saliba, 1999). These apologetic models
tend to focus on sorting out doctrinal errors, emphasizing
spiritual deception and fraud (Cowan, 2003; Drane, 1998;
Johnson, 2002; Morehead, 2004). However these models only
reflect one angle or perspective found in Scripture, and so the
result is a lop-sided apologia that centres on debunking
others. This constitutes fringe thinking that is disconnected
from a robust, holistic understanding of Scriptural models
about evangelism, positive apologetics, missiology and
pastoral care.
14.
Hyper-Specialisation.
Hyper-specialisation
in
theological education has also contributed to the continuing
isolation of countercult apologetics and ministry to new
religions. Thus disciplines like missiology and apologetics are
kept apart, and even within these twin subjects new religions
are often relegated to the fringes of the curriculum (Hexham,
1992). Ordinands for the ministry therefore are not obliged to
study world religions and new religions as a compulsory
component of their studies. This is highly problematic given
the social reality of religious pluralism within most western
parishes today.
15.
Absence of Missiologists. Professionally trained
theologians and missions specialists have not been prominent
in the study of new religions, which by default ensures that
the subject persists on the academic fringes. These specialists
are the trainers of the church’s next generation of leaders.
However by overlooking or marginalizing the subject of new
religions and world religions, the gulf between the local
church’s missional needs and the social realities of
contemporary religious diversity grows ever wider and
tomorrow’s leaders are bereft of the skills to cope with this
changing context.
16.
Religious Studies Credentials. A concomitant of the
previous point is that there are so few theologians and
missiologists who have acquired formal credentials in a
secular university specifically in the social sciences and
religious studies where the subject of new religions is taught.
The critical skills and insights from these academic disciplines
therefore are not integrated into the apologetic endeavours of
those few professionals who occasionally contribute papers or
books on the subject of new religions and alternate
spiritualities (Melton, 2000; Muck, 2004).
17.
NRMs As Frontiers Of Missions. It should be noted
that current scholarship on new religions and alternate
spiritualities highlights that these groups form new global
sub-cultures (Hexham and Poewe, 1997; Hexham and Poewe,
2004; Melton, 2000). The new religions represent the
pioneering edges of the meeting place between Christianity
and the world’s major religious traditions (Buddhist, Hindu,
Islamic etc). Thus theologians and missiologists need to
recognise that these frontiers set the context for the Church’s
missional engagement for the foreseeable future. To
adequately prepare future pastors and laity alike to live in a
multi-religious context, necessarily means that the subject
must be relocated from the fringes of denominational agendas
and college curricula and brought into the mainstream.
18.
Inadequate Research. Even some of the works
produced by Evangelical academics in this area have critical
weaknesses. A lack of scholarly precision weakens the
apologetic endeavour. It also conveys a poor impression to
scholars both within and without Christian circles that
apologists tend to rush in and make hasty judgments. This
hastiness could be tempered by if more time were taken to
get deeper bearings on the topic and allowing space for very
sober reflections.
An example of the previous point can be found in James
Herrick’s historical account of the rise of esoteric spiritualities.
In it he includes a mere two paragraphs of critical and
dismissive statements concerning the Lutheran astrologerastronomer Tycho Brahe (2003: 46). Herrick accuses Brahe of
offering a “magical view of science”, but fails to locate Brahe’s
work in the context of changing philosophical moods of the
day in science and theology. He nowhere acknowledges
Brahe’s commitment to Lutheran beliefs. When one examines
Herrick’s bibliographical citations on Brahe we discover that
there he has not cited any primary sources (i.e. Brahe’s own
writings). There is no reliance on any specialised scholarly
studies about Brahe’s life and work. He does not refer the
reader to any texts on the history of science in the
Renaissance and Reformation eras. He does not cite any
scholarly works on Reformation history or the history of
Lutheran thought that would assist the reader to understand
Brahe in his own historical context.
Instead, Herrick relies on just one bibliographical reference to
support his argument about Brahe. It is an article from a
popular periodical written by a countercult apologist who has
no formal academic credentials in any of the aforementioned
scholarly fields (the apologist whom Herrick relied on has two
degrees which include a BS in manufacturing engineering and
an M.Div in apologetics and counselling from the now defunct
International School of Theology that was established under
Bill Bright’s leadership). This is an example of how a scholar
can cut corners in writing by not undertaking thorough
bibliographical research. There is also the deleterious effect
that evangelical readers who implicitly trust the author as an
unquestioned figure of authority do not realise that the
interpretation of Brahe rests on such tenuous bibliographical
support.
III. CHRISTENDOM AND FORMULAIC ANSWERS:
Although the structure of western Christendom has long since
collapsed, many Christians seem to behave as if they are still living
in a Christian society. So another set of critical factors that might
impede ministry to new religions can be traced to the lingering
effects of Christendom. Some of those lingering effects that might
have a deleterious bearing on ministry to new religions include:
1. Attractional Church. An urban-geographical model of church
developed in the pre-automotive era when parishioners
walked to church. In that model church services attracted
people who were domiciled in the local community. However
the social realities of contemporary urban living often
undercut the notion of belonging to a group located in the
suburb where one lives. It is in this anachronistic church
model that pastors still apply certain evangelistic and
preaching strategies. One strategy is premised on “attracting”
prospective converts to attend services. In this approach,
evangelistic activity is largely conducted in the safe and
controlled environment of church-owned property. The
mindset that accompanies this approach is that one expects
local non-Christians will come to us. So a corresponding deemphasis then on reaching non-Christians in their own social
settings often prevails. With the expectation that nonChristians will join in, there is scant need to concentrate on
actively engaging non-Christian religionists who never darken
the doorsteps of the church.
However, the stark reality is that the attractional model of the
local church is malfunctioning in nations like Australia,
Canada,
England
and
New
Zealand,
where
many
congregations have aged members with shrinking numbers of
regular adherents (Davie, 1994; Hughes, 1997). One strongly
suspects that the same trends are now emerging in the USA.
David Moberg (1984: 546) has some sagely sociological
advice that needs to be grasped in our highly mobile era:
“Few churches are able to retain successfully an unmodified
program of activities over long periods of time. Social change
cuts across every aspect of the work of the church … the
church must understand much better than ever before its
continually changing social environment and the impact of
that environment upon the lives of people if it is to cope
successfully with the tremendous challenges it faces. If the
church is merely another social institution, not significantly
different in its objectives and activities from others in society,
its services are not particularly needed to meet the
challenges of the present age.”
2. McDonaldisation of Evangelism. John Drane (2000b) has
drawn attention to what he refers to as processes of
McDonaldisation in contemporary churches. By this term
Drane is describing the propensity of contemporary churches
to opt for stereotyped structures, predictable, pre-packaged
forms of worship that are franchised as a “church-growth”
solution. Accompanying these processes is the reliance on
franchised tools and courses in evangelism and discipleship
that are intended to help churches grow but ironically do not
seem to reach those who truly dwell beyond the walls of the
church.
Franchised courses in evangelism and discipleship have
certainly been used by God to revitalise the faith of many who
have attended church over the years. These courses have also
been helpful in reaching the “God-fearers”, those unconverted
people who exist on the fringes of church activities. For all of
these positive outcomes we can give praise and thanks.
However, some sober, honest and searching reflections on the
array of franchised courses now used in Britain, North
America and Australia are warranted (cf. Hunt, 2004).
First, many of these franchised courses have been designed
by Christians who do not appear to have road-tested their
material with a “control group” of non-Christians who
genuinely dwell far beyond the reach of the churches (like
devotees of alternate spiritualities, and those who have never
attended church in their life). The courses are structured
around a pre-packaged topical menu with questions that
Christians feel are important and have worked out answers for
the participants to be spoon-fed without debate. The result is
that these programmes reflect lingering influences of
Christendom.
An example of this is where franchised courses commence
with proofs for God’s existence. Here the creators’
assumptions about the non-Christian west seem to be resting
on the notion that atheism and agnosticism are rampant.
However one need only take note of the broad mass of nonChristians in Britain and Australia who participate in major
religious traditions (such as the various Buddhist groups in
the west), or are exploring esoteric and do-it-yourself forms
of spirituality. These people presuppose there is some
transcendent reality, and thus are inclined toward working
with tools that facilitate contact with the divine. The
modernist era was surely characterised by classic debates
between Christians and atheists. However it is a moot point to
what extent those debates are now central in our current
contexts. If one is going to speak of disbelief in God’s
existence in many cases that disbelief is not about a
transcendent reality, but rather represents a rejection of a
truncated portrait of the Christian view of God.
Second, the sorts of questions that are progressively
answered in these courses are often remote from the
questions many non-Christians are actually exploring. If one
meets up with those who are exploring other spiritualities
(which is where a sizeable proportion of the western world
has headed), then one discovers that they are asking
questions like these:










How can I be the best person I can possibly be?
How can I find my place in the cosmos?
Who am I anyway, and who might I become?
How can I be useful to others?
Where do I find release from my brokenness?
Where do I find peace?
How can I reconnect my soul with the divine source of life?
What values should I embrace?
What spiritual tools work the best and how do I choose
which ones are right for me?
How is it that the cosmos I inhabit, which appears to have
order and design and ought to be harmonious, is so
screwed up?
I have not seen these sorts of questions (and there are many
more) being addressed in franchised courses.
Consider the cultural context of Australia. The sociological
data gathered across the twentieth century repeatedly
indicates a high percentage of belief in the existence of a
supreme deity, but parallel with this high belief is a
corresponding low attendance rate in church. Hans Mol (1971:
302) neatly summed up this ambiguous situation:
“The fact that such a large percentage of the Australian
population does not worship regularly but still ‘believes in
God without doubt’ and still holds the churches and clergy in
high esteem fits the picture of ambiguity. As in Britain the
goodwill towards religion is counter-balanced by a massive
wooliness in thinking about it. Australia seems to be a
Christian nation in search of a religion, or a heathen nation in
flight from one. Most Australians, like Englishmen, are
obviously heathen, but wish they were not.”
Now if one accosts Australian non-Christians with the
following well-known questions the typical response consists
of a mixture of bemusement and boredom: “Is Christianity
relevant?” “Is Christianity boring?” “Is Christianity true?”
These questions are premised on the Christendom order still
existing, with the added presumption that most people simply
need a friendly nudge to attend church.
While these courses seek to overcome intellectual objections
to the Christian faith, the kinds of questions and the forms of
answers given still reflect the era of modernity. For example,
most courses address the problem of evil and suffering, but
rely on a cursory summary of answers derived from C. S.
Lewis’ The Problem of Pain. Now there are some valuable
points that Lewis made and these can still be used. However I
have yet to see any franchised course address the widely held
concepts of karma and rebirth. Many non-Christians now hold
to a modified western view of karma (as mediated through
Blavatsky, Leadbeater and New Age) as a plausible way of
accounting for suffering in the world. Yet the franchised
courses on evangelism do not even recognise how important
karmic explanations have become in the west.
Again, many courses present brief arguments for the
reliability of the gospel records that are derived from Josh
McDowell’s Evidence That Demands A Verdict. Although that
material is valuable and has an enduring place (though some
sceptics have highlighted factual errors in McDowell’s book), it
is inadequate to meet today’s challenges where nonChristians are likely to have read Notovitch’s claims about
Jesus in Tibet, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, and the
Gospel of Thomas. Likewise one cannot simply trot out the
Lord, Liar, Lunatic trilemma in a world where non-Christians
have read Bishop Spong’s views of myth and heard about the
results of the Jesus Seminar where the gospels contain
“legends”.
Another thread that can be discerned in some courses is the
need to refute an imagined view of “relativism”. This gambit
often centres in proving that a statement like “there is no
ultimate truth” is itself a claim to ultimate truth and is
therefore an illogical and untenable position. Another notion
concerning the relativity of truth to culture is sometimes
construed to be a denial of ultimate truth. Doubtless there are
people who take that view.
However, there are more subtle and important points
overlooked in these courses. One key point is that those
seekers who have been influenced by Blavatsky’s Theosophy
will reply to Christian truth claims of exclusivity by saying
“that’s your truth.” Adepts of this approach do not mean that
there is no concept of ultimate truth. Far from it! In this
approach one finds the idea of “perennism”. In this view lying
behind all the cultural accretions of truths expressed in
religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity,
there is a higher synthesis or system of truth that is superior
to these culturally relative religions. That synthesis of course
is Theosophy. Some anti-New Age writers misconstrue
perennism with the view “there’s no such thing as truth” or
with the rarefied views of postmodernists like Derrida. In fact
New Age style spiritualities do embrace metanarratives, and
so cannot be legitimately interpreted as a religious
manifestation of deconstruction theory. Perhaps it is high time
we admitted that Derrida’s postmodernism is by no means a
grass-roots phenomenon (Drane, 2000b; Hexham, 2001).
Third, while some franchised courses are attractively
packaged in video/DVD formats, there remains a fundamental
problem with the communicative style of a forty-minute
monologic, cognitive, non-interactive talk. That style
presupposes a Christendom model where the attention span
for lengthy oral sermons was cultivated in the pre-TV era of
the Reformation. Or put another way the film is simply a radio
broadcast with pictures of the announcer. One need only visit
a Mind-Body-Spirit festival to discover that today’s searchers
eagerly attend interactive workshops where they have guided
spiritual experiences, as well as being free to ask the
workshop facilitator their questions. All too often the
structures and group dynamics of the post-video session
controls or stifles the kinds of questions that New Agers are
likely to ask (such as Jesus’ missing years, Church
conspiracies against the Gnostics, the Da Vinci Code, the
compatibility of astrology with Christianity, the role of women
in the church, etc). What is also problematic is that the well
meaning church groups that sponsor these franchised courses
are not educated in the apologetic issues raised by esotericist
and New Age writers.
What also needs to be grasped is that today’s seekers do not
simply have cognitive or intellectual objections to Christianity.
The burgeoning consumer culture in which do-it-yourself
spirituality flourishes is a portal that opens up access to an
array of spiritual tools and disciplines about which most lay
Christians and pastors are ignorant (e.g. Cabala, tarot,
astrology, feng shui, Reiki, chakras, auras, etc). Seekers are
savvy to both the experiences and the metaphysics associated
with these tools, to which Christians seem to have nothing in
common. If seekers attend a franchised course and bring with
them questions or challenges based on their journey, how can
the courses meaningfully interact with seekers when the
Christian facilitators have no background of relatedness to it?
In Australia we have directed a few New Age seekers into
attending franchised evangelism courses. We have noted from
their own feedback that the programme’s content fails to
connect with their search. The courses address questions that
are over their heads, do not relate to their exploratory
journeys, or concentrate on cognitive issues they are
disinterested in.
We might also anticipate a possible rejoinder offered because
of the current faddish wave of enthusiasm for Rick Warren’s
Purpose Driven Life programme as a potential panacea. This
programme is a product of Southern Californian Christian
culture, which is peculiar to North America and less amenable
to working well with inquirers into faith in other cultures. The
main point I would make though is that none of the
preliminary lessons grapple with life issues that New Age,
Neo-Pagan and do-it-yourself seekers see as crucial.
Now there is an experiential Christian spirituality course that
has been devised in England with New Age seekers in mind,
known as Essence (Frost, 2002). It has many attractive and
valuable features to it covered in a six-week programme, with
material suitable for certain kinds of alternate seekers.
However, lest we fall into the trap of McDonaldised
franchising, it must be noted that even this helpful
programme needs to be adjusted when used in cultural
contexts beyond England.
Fourth, the great fallacy of franchised courses is that one can
create a recipe for evangelism and discipleship that will
operate the same worldwide. By McDonaldising evangelism
the assumption is that “one size suits all” in outreach and
therefore should be replicated. The flaw with this thinking is
exposed by the stark and simple truth that the cultural
contexts of each western nation vary considerably and what
works in London won’t necessarily work in Sydney, Auckland,
Johannesburg and Los Angeles.
To take but one poignant example, in Australia over 3,000
pastors have been trained by the Hybels organisation in the
art of seeker sensitive church services. Out of all those
congregations who have had pastoral staff trained, there is
only one Australian congregation that is successfully
replicating the seeker sensitive model. Quite apart from the
underlying fallacy of McDonaldising the Hybels model, there is
the simple fact that there is a tremendous cultural gulf in
attitudes about church in the USA and Australia. Bill Hybels’
successful model of church is a product of his culture, and
what worked for him there simply does not work elsewhere.
3. Preaching Taboos. Another strategy is that the problem of
new religions can be “cured” by an emphasis on pulpit
preaching and setting taboos for parishioners when
encountering door-knocking adherents of cults. A clear
example of this is presented by a much beloved former
missionary, Rev Dr Graham Miller (1979), in brief notes
prepared on behalf of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.
Miller, a returned missionary from Vanuatu, recommended the
remedy of preaching in these words:
“‘The Church is not in competition with the cults’ declares Dr.
D.M. Lloyd-Jones, ‘she is not in competition with other
religions’. Her role is to get on with the God-given task of
preaching the Word. That is the antidote to all cults, heresy
and dissent.”
To be sure parishioners need to be instructed in sound
teaching and be aware of doctrinal error. Sound preaching
and exegesis of the Word is a high priority for a pastor.
However, in our electronic age it has to be admitted that the
attention span of today’s parishioners is extremely short and
does not easily keep pace with lengthy monologic sermons.
One can seriously query to what extent parishioners have
retentive memories of the sermon’s content once the Sunday
service has concluded.
Moreover, while one can preach against doctrinal error, the
preacher has a corresponding duty to balance this with solid
practical demonstrations on how parishioners can apply what
is taught. The laity needs to be empowered on the specifics of
how to make disciples from the new religions. Laity cannot
deduce that practical application of Scriptural teaching from
the mere rhetoric of sermons. Quality teaching should supply
both information and advice on implementing what is learned.
We should also keep in view our earlier discussion on “the
unpaid bills of the church”. Clearly, preachers must ensure
they present the whole counsel of God, but since theological
and missiological gaps continually exist the teaching ministry
of the churches is prone to human fallibility and failings.
Miller also uses a proof text to direct parishioners to dismiss
adherents of new religions who door-knock. Miller (1979)
states:
“Our people should be shown the apostolic command in II
John verses 9 and 10 and encouraged to challenge every cult
visitor with these verses, keeping a copy of the Bible handy
for this purpose. We are here forbidden to allow them into
our homes (the request which Mormons habitually make) or
to wish them well in their work (which we good-naturedly
tend to do). These two verses, used and used again, could
prove a positive instrument in bringing our people back to
Scripture as the only effective answer for the cults.”
The fundamental weaknesses with Miller’s remedy are that
(a). For many decades (and this includes the year 1979 when
Miller wrote) preachers in Australian Presbyterian churches
have been essentially preaching to the choir (so how are new
religionists ever going to hear the gospel when in the first
place they are not attracted into the local congregation?) and
(b). His evidence for prohibiting contact with non-Christian
adherents at our front doors involves an exegetical fallacy in
understanding 2nd John 9-10. Miller ignores the socio-culturalhistorical context of the first century church meeting in
houses, and assumes that the Johannine advice immediately
correlates to our modern domiciles (cf. Marshall, 1978; Stott,
1960).
To be consistent with Miller’s exegesis we would have to apply
his taboo to almost everyone we meet. We would have to
point-blank refuse entry to our houses anyone who does not
bring the doctrine of Christ, which could include friends,
relatives, neighbours, and tradespeople (any or all of whom
could be Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, New Agers
and so forth) (cf. Martin, 1984: 392).
Furthermore, Miller uses this Johannine text in isolation from
Biblical mandates about compassion, grace, bearing witness,
the lessons one learns from how Jesus treated people, and
the model of the apostles in presenting the gospel. The
dismissing of false teachers in Scripture generally addresses
dissenters found inside the Jewish Temple cultus (Elijah
versus prophets of Baal; Jesus versus Pharisees and
Sadducees) and then in the church (Simon Magus,
circumcision party, Nicolaitans). It is not a prescriptive
remedy for how to handle people of other religions. The net
effect of Miller’s remedy in preaching and proof-text
dismissals effectively mothballs Christians from ever
regarding people in new religions as worthy of being
befriended and discipled — which is an extremely bizarre
viewpoint when one recalls that Miller served as a missionary
in a non-western culture!
IV. INCREMENTAL CHANGES AND REMEDIES:
It is reasonably easy to describe and analyse the problem of
ministry marginalisation. However, I would be guilty of performing a
disservice to the Lausanne Issue Group if I merely offer armchair
criticisms. So in this closing part of the paper I want to point out
some projects that could be undertaken as part of a remedy to the
problems I have outlined.
Our struggles with legitimating missional ministries to new
religions simply reflect the wider problem the Church has in
adapting to and engaging with a whole new era. For just as the
transition from the church of the Middle Ages into the Reformation
brought with it much angst, confusion and dislocation of structures,
we are facing comparable difficulties. This closing section of the
paper then is inward focussed on what can occur inside the church
at both an academic and popular level. There is also an obvious
outward focus that must be acted on, namely shifting from talk
about missions to the actual engagement in missions with devotees
of new religions. However that outward focus cannot be entertained
in this paper.
I believe that the current climate of opinion about ministry to
new religions and alternate spiritualities can be favourably altered. I
do not believe there are any obvious or uncomplicated solutions
that will automatically transform the mainstream tide of opinion. I
am persuaded though that it is possible to work at a slow but
unflinching pace. If the Lausanne delegates can agree on global
collaboration, then we can all effect changes that will have a
cumulative effect long term. If we make an effort to work patiently
for incremental changes, rather than attempting radical traumabased surgery on the church, then in the passage of time we may
indeed alter the climate of opinion to such a degree that our
concerns about alternate spiritualities do indeed become
mainstream in the churches. It is toward that end then that the
following embryonic suggestions and projects are set out, but with
the realisation that none of these proposals are a panacea. Once
again, the suggestions are not in any special order of priority.
1. Professional/Academic Conferences. Lausanne delegates
could undertake to lobby Missions organisations (like the
Evangelical Missions Society) and professional theological
bodies to create a permanent strand on new religious
movements in their annual conferences. For example, the
Society for the Study of Alternative Religious Movements is a
sub-stream gathering that is included under the canopy of the
annual conference of the Evangelical Theological Society. The
advantage of including new religious movements in
professional missiological and theological conferences is that
scholars can interact with one another, keep abreast of
developments, swap papers, and mutually benefit from the
cross-fertilising of ideas.
Although professional academic conferences do not often set
the world ablaze (at least in lay circles), the amateurism that
pervades countercult apologetics needs to be progressively
reduced so that lay-apologists can become proficient in their
ministries. Here scholars can be a positive force by reshaping
the agenda, attitudes and models. Those of us who are
specialising in new religions have much to offer the general
missions community, and the same is true for the missions
community in offering wisdom to the embryonic ministries to
new religions. A fruitful partnership with missions conferences
could help to shift the subject of new religions toward the
mainstream.
In addition to professional conferences operating within
Christian circles, there is a profound need for Christians to
participate in secular academic conferences. For example,
Scholars of New Age (SONA) is an annual academic
conference for secular scholars (sociologists, anthropologists,
phenomenologists,
historians,
etc).
Other
scholarly
conferences include those sponsored by the Centre for the
Study of New Religions (CESNUR), the Australian Association
for Religion Studies (AASR), the American Academy of
Religion, etc. The keen edge of secular scholarship can help
refine and improve the usual short-sightedness found in
apologetic literature that ignores these fields. These
conferences also provide an informal opportunity to develop
relationships with non-Christian scholars.
2. Academic Journals. From time to time essays dealing with
new religions and alternate spiritualities have appeared in
Missions journals (e.g. Evangelical Missions Quarterly,
International Journal of Frontier Missions, Missiology).
However this is an avenue that has not been adequately
exploited. Once again, Lausanne delegates should encourage
one another in submitting essays to missions journals. It
would be helpful to lobby journal editors to call for papers on
the intersection between missions theories and outreach to
new religious movements. Similarly, there is a need to lobby
editors for a “special focus” edition of a journal devoted
exclusively to missions and new religions.
In addition to missions journals, there is a need for
contributions to appear in theological journals (Bibliotheca
Sacra, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, etc)
where the focus would be directed toward theological
questions. I have had a warm relationship with the editor of
the Lutheran Theological Journal who over a period of seven
years has kindly published four of my essays, along with two
from my colleagues. The integration of theological studies
with the study of new religions in journals could also help
bridge the existing gulf between theologians and apologists.
The advent of the e-journal Sacred Tribes: Journal of Christian
Missions to New Religious Movements also opens an avenue
for semi-scholarly discussions and case studies in missional
dialogue and methodological reflection.
There is also another avenue where the presence of
evangelicals seem to be few and far between, and that is in
secular academic journals that deal exclusively with new
religious movements. Aside from Irving Hexham, Karla
Poewe, and J. Gordon Melton, I cannot recall any other
evangelical Christians who have contributed essays in Nova
Religio since its release in 1997. To this one can add in those
academic journals devoted to Religious Studies (e.g. Numen,
Religion, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of
the American Academy of Religion), and specialised journals
dealing with religious traditions like Buddhist studies.
3. Training Kits. A post-Lausanne project that could prove
invaluable is the development of a training kit in missions to
alternate spiritualities. One of the tremendous weaknesses
with existing franchised courses in evangelism and
discipleship is that they reflect the cultural eccentricities of
their creators. I believe that a helpful way forward is for a
global project that partakes of the wisdom of missionary
practitioners from Europe, North and South America,
Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and Africa. A co-ordinated
project that partakes of the cross-cultural wisdom of many
practitioners could go a long way towards eliminating the
McDonaldisation factor of “one size suits all”.
The training kit would need to be designed in format that
encourages the participants to think, interact with one
another, have role plays, and practical exercises where they
leave their comfort zones and interview a practitioner of
alternate spirituality. Ideally the training kit would blend
together theory and praxis in missions, provide a useful
overview of the main contours of alternate spiritualities, and
demonstrate different methods of how to converse with
devotees. The kit would need to be designed with printed
matter and DVD technology in mind, as well as being
developed in several languages. It would also need to be
emphasized in the course materials that the training kit is not
a recipe or formula. The aim of the kit is to equip people but
the course content would have to be very explicit in indicating
that the material cannot be duplicated in the absence of
critical reflection on one’s own cultural circumstances.
One avenue to consider in developing such an ambitious
training kit is to do it in partnership with a couple of major
missions organisations (e.g. Operation Mobilisation, Wycliffe
etc). This could be a helpful way of handling the perennial
problem of funding. The kit could be promoted among
missions organisations as a training tool for their staff, for
other para-church groups (e.g. Navigators, Inter Varsity
Fellowship, etc), and throughout denominational networks.
4. Reframing Classic Christian Topics. There is a glut of
copycat texts that poorly imitate The Kingdom of the Cults,
and appeal to a niche market. Instead of producing more
books that reinvent the wheel, I believe that there are some
other creative ways in which new religions and alternate
spiritualities can be brought before a general reading
audience. Among the sorts of works that are intended for a
broad readership are books that cover explanations of
theology, spiritual disciplines like prayer, healing, faith and
vocation, and social justice issues. These are the kinds of
topics where discussions that take up these themes and
simultaneously interact with new religions.
For example, Clifford and Johnson (1998) produced a popular
theology of the resurrection that positively illustrated the
meaning and power of Christ’s resurrection while also
contrasting it through the prism of New Age and do-it-yourself
spiritualities. With that example in mind, one could easily
produce a popular theology of the creation that brings to life
what the Scriptures teach, while interacting with neo-Buddhist
and neo-Pagan understandings of the creation. Similarly a
theology of wisdom based on Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes,
could interact with neo-Buddhist views of wisdom in the west.
A book exploring the theory and practice of prayer could
easily contrast and interact with New Age approaches to
guided meditations, Islamic Sufi approaches to prayer,
chanted decrees of Elizabeth Clare Prophet and so forth.
Likewise texts exploring divine healing and Christian lifestyle
could readily interact with complementary healing modalities,
sifting out metaphysical concepts at odds with Scripture.
Similarly, there is an increasing demand for practical
spirituality that can be applied in the workplace and with one’s
vocation. In many instances New Age and human potential
workshops have found a niche within the world of business
and industry. Again one could develop texts on practical
spirituality for the workplace that simultaneously contrasts
with the Mormon approach of Steven Covey, the New Age
approach of Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer, and so on.
Social justice issues also lend themselves to an exposition of
Biblical truths that challenges the social visions and policies of
various new religions. For example, ecological questions
immediately opens one up to the Book of Genesis, and a
dialogue with neo-pagan views. Questions concerning poverty
and education from a theological and ethical standpoint could
interact with the radical social visions of Soka Gakkai, the
Raelians, New Age-Aquarian agendas, and Sun Myung Moon.
The debates surrounding the advent of stem cell research,
cloning and
nano-technology
take
us into
Biblical
anthropology and right to life issues, but also brings us into
direct dialogue with the cloning agenda of the Raelians, and
the embryonic Vampire religions that are beginning to
emerge.
The advantage of taking this approach to mainstream
Christian topics is that one can impart genuine Biblical truths
alongside an exploration of discerning the good and bad
elements of new religions and alternate spiritualities. The
reader is doubly assisted by the exercise because practical
truth is received while also learning about new religions.
5. New Bible Studies. The phenomenon of Bible study booklets
can also be brought into the service of missions and new
religions. As with the themes suggested about reframing
classical Christian topics in popular works of theology, so too
Bible studies could be reframed along these lines. Again the
emphasis of such studies is on expositing and applying Biblical
truth but in the light of spiritual alternatives that educates lay
believers. This could help to move the subject of new religions
from the fringe into the mainstream. Here is a short list of
possible studies:

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

OT studies in prophecy, guidance and divination.
Living With Pagans and Astrologers: Insights from Daniel.
The Book of Genesis: Studies in creation, paganism,
Mormonism, and nomadic faith.
Paul’s guide to evangelism and the New Age.
Ecclesiastes and the Buddha.
A similar sort of popular studies on Christian leaders could
also be a vehicle for illuminating new religions, like:




Melanchthon and Calvin on Astrology.
St Patrick’s principles for discipling pagans.
St Cyril and St Methodius’ guide to reaching pagans.
Church Fathers and Other Religions.
6. New primer texts on Missions. A very basic but necessary
way for marrying missiology with new religions is to develop
some new introductory textbooks and case studies in missions
that focus on new religious movements. Encountering New
Religious Movements is one such example of the case study
method combined with some theoretical and methodological
discussion. However there are many other projects that need
to be undertaken, and again here is a list of suggestions:




A book mirroring David Hesselgrave’s Communicating
Christ Cross-Culturally, and Charles Kraft’s Christianity in
Culture, but where the illustrations all centre on the
ethnography and missional communication with Mormons,
New Age, Neo-Pagans, etc.
A book mirroring Paul Hiebert’s Incarnational Mission, but
where the case studies are exclusively on new religious
movements.
A
book
mirroring
Hiebert,
Shaw
and
Tiénou’s
Understanding Folk Religion could be developed to explore
western forms of magical, esoteric, and New Age religions.
Case studies in the history of missions where pioneering
missionaries from previous generations are examined, and
the wisdom gleaned from their work is summarised and
then applied to new religions. For example, case studies on
Patrick, Columba, Cyril and Methodius could be valuable
prisms through which neo-paganism can be studied. Case

studies on Ramon Lull, Samuel Zwemer and Phil Parshall,
could be applied to reaching western-based Sufi groups,
Ahmadiyya Muslims, and Baha’i. Studies on Matteo Ricci,
Robert de Nobili and Karl Reichelt could be used to
illuminate issues in approaching neo-Buddhist, neo-Hindu,
and neo-Confucianist movements in the west.
New books dealing with a specific major world religion,
such as Buddhism, should be developed but where the
focus is not only on the traditions found in Asia. It should
be mandatory to include chapters that treat western
movements (like Friends of the Western Buddhist Order,
the commodification of the Dalai Lama’s teachings, etc).
7. Multidisciplinary books on NRMs. Countercult books are
dominated by doctrinal refutations of new religions with
criticisms largely centred in Christology and soteriology. I
believe that one way to help strengthen the field is for more
collaborative book projects that employ multi-disciplinary
tools (theology, church history, missiology, apologetics,
pastoral
care,
communications
theory,
anthropology,
sociology of religion, phenomenology etc). Projects that
operate on an integrative format stand a good chance of
shifting the subject of new religions into mainstream
academic reading. Books like The New Mormon Challenge are
an instance where reputable and known evangelical scholars
from NT studies, philosophy etc have been involved in
contributing chapters. While the debunking style pervades this
book, still it is illustrative of what can be done if collaborative
projects draw in people across disciplines. It is certainly one
way of joining the dots somewhat between the rather
disparate academic hyper-specialisation of scholarship that
persists in seminaries.
Some of the possible projects that could be undertaken are
listed as follows:


Missional theological texts that brings Christian theology
into dialogue and analysis of the teachings of new religious
movements. For example, a work on pneumatology would
work through Biblical theology and history of theology, and
interact with say Neo-pagan views of an immanent spirit,
Mormon views of the spirit and so forth. Or a work on
Trinitarian theology that is developed opposite Mormon,
Tibetan Buddhist and New Age views of the transcendent.
A replacement volume for The Kingdom of the Cults that is
multi-authored with chapters by missional specialists, and


with methodological chapters explaining missions theory,
communications theory, and so on.
A work on pastoral theology and care that focuses on
ministry with new religions. Such a volume would not be
shaped by the brainwashing-mind control theories, though
those issues should be addressed. Rather the application of
basic types of counselling methods and pastoral care in
meeting with devotees, interacting with families split over
a new religion, etc.
A work on the hermeneutics of scripture in the light of new
religions. All too often the question of hermeneutics is
glossed over in countercult books, and so the subtle ways
in which a group like the Mormons read the Bible are
misunderstood. I have briefly hinted at the hermeneutical
problem in my essay on the Christadelphians (Johnson,
2004). Such a project would meet in the middle ground
between Don Carson’s Exegetical Fallacies and James
Sire’s Scripture Twisting.
8. Analyses of Consumer Pop Culture. Some secular
academics do take quite seriously the phenomena of pop
culture and the emerging consumer culture (e.g. Journal of
Pop Culture, Journal of Film and Religion, Culture and
Religion, Journal of Consumer Culture). It is in the nexus of
pop and consumer cultures that new religions and alternate
spiritualities are finding niches that we can ill-afford to
overlook. Indeed there are fruitful new frontiers into which
missional action can occur.
I believe that consumer and pop cultures offer many different
angles from which creative writing projects could tackle, and
in that process bring new religions and alternate spiritualities
into mainstream discourse in churches.
One approach to take is grounded in the OT prophetic
tradition. Rampant consumerism and materialist attitudes can
be judged prophetically as “bankrupt”. What Christians need
to be helped to see (be they academic or laity) is that
consumer culture is an integral part of the world we live in. It
spread via globalisation, and is also in some respects a
product of globalisation. Consumer culture impacts life and
thought globally, and many western middle class Christians
live lifestyles that are captive to consumerist values.
Beyond the deleterious influences of consumerism inside the
Church, one finds new religions, New Age and other alternate
spiritualities as part of this consumer cultural landscape.
Some of the mainstream links between alternate spiritualities
and consumer culture can be detected in the commodification
of New Age, Wicca and Tibetan Buddhism through products,
courses, and Internet sites. Examples of this include spellboxes as commodities of Wicca; the health and wealth
success packages offered by the Unity School of Christianity,
Anthony Robbins’ books, CDs, magazines, seminars etc.
A different facet to the prophetic angle is cyber-religion. The
entire phenomenon of cyber-religion — that is creating
religion and practising it on the Internet — is another feature
of globalised pop culture. A few examples of cyber-based
religions include:
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Celebrity-based religions, such as those created in the
wake of the death of Diana Princess of Wales.
Satanism (most Satanic groups exist on the web because
their adherents are so thinly distributed around the world).
Neo-paganism and Wicca (where the metaphor of the
worldwide web is invoked as being analogous to the web of
consciousness pagans believe in).
Vampire and Goth religions.
Fan-fiction sites where fans of films, TV shows, or novels
(e.g. Star Trek, X-Files, Dracula) write their own stories
keeping characters alive and give expression to their own
myths, folklore, cosmologies and spiritual beliefs.
Another burgeoning area of pop culture that impinges on the
frontiers of ethical problems concerns the discourses on stemcell research, cloning, nano-technology, and the new
narcissistic behaviour of bodily alterations (botox injections,
plastic surgery, body piercing and tattoos). While some of the
raw edges of these discourses are profound ethical problems,
there is also the consumerist dimension that one can improve
self-esteem and personal significance through physical
alterations. Some new religious movements, like the Raelians,
are deeply committed to myths about science replacing
religion. The Raelians also believe that cloning is essential to
the next evolutionary stage of human history.
The physical alteration of humanity is something embedded in
Gothic myths, particularly those concerned with the “Undead”.
The creation of Frankenstein’s monster occurs in the cultural
matrix where different conceptions of human anthropology
were emerging from both the alchemical traditions of
Renaissance Europe and the Darwinian theories of human
origins. A feature of nineteenth century gothic literature is the
mad doctor or scientist who attempts to recreate humanity in
his own image. In many respects the new scientific thresholds
of cloning and nano-technology provide a fresh impetus for
reflecting on the same issues that nineteenth century gothic
novels explored. One might also reflect on the current pop
cultural pre-occupation with the Undead in film and TV stories
(“Blade”, “Interview with a Vampire”, “Van Helsing”, “Buffy
the Vampire Slayer” etc), and how that interfaces with these
ethical questions.
The “Undead” characters (vampires, werewolves, Wandering
Jew, golem etc) can be found distributed through various
cultures. It can be argued that profound theological and moral
questions run through the gamut of Undead characters. Much
of it centres on whether immortality and eternal life should be
obtained in this flesh or beyond the grave. The myths
associated with the Undead intersect with the notion of being
divinely cursed (think of Cain marked out by God so that noone is allowed to kill him; consider those afflicted with
leprosy, and the vilification of Jews, medieval witches, HIVinfected persons, etc). One also finds blood-motifs that easily
lend themselves to analysis from the standpoint of atonement
theologies. There are new emerging pop cultural spiritualities
centred in the Undead (such as Vampire religion) that
represent another sub-culture of unreached people warranting
missional action.
9. Renovating Theological Education. One long range
challenge in bringing new religious movements into
mainstream Christian discourse concerns overhauling models
of theological education. Earlier in this paper it was noted that
ordinands for ministry are not obliged to study world religions
or new religions in preparation for parish ministry. If this
situation is to change then the priorities and models of current
theological education must be renovated (cf. Drane, 2000a).
There is much ferment among theorists of education about
styles of learning. In some secular universities the lecture
format has given way to seminars where students undertake
preparatory reading, keep a reflective journal, have field
exercises, and combine this with tutorials guided by the
course facilitator. The advent of inter-disciplinary courses also
signals some dissatisfaction with the prevailing currents of
hyper-specialisation in subjects.
What would be helpful is for the emergence of some interdisciplinary approaches to undergraduate theological studies.
For example, a course on the Book of Genesis could be
approached on an integrated and inter-disciplinary model. The
OT lecturer would provide the historical, cultural and
theological background to the book. Then the NT lecturer
would explore the importance of Genesis in the NT. The
theologian would tackle topics like God, creation, fall etc in
systematics and in the history of doctrine. The church
historian would explore how Genesis has been understood by
the Church Fathers and in other epochs. The ethicist would
tease out the ramifications of the teachings found in Genesis
on human rights, ecology and creation and so forth. The
apologist would examine apologetics questions about God’s
existence, evil, and competing views of creation in other
worldviews (like how neo-pagans view creation, how Mormons
view creation, how Jehovah’s Witnesses view creation etc).
The missiologist would examine what principles of crosscultural mission derive from the first eleven chapters, and
then again in the Patriarchal narratives.
This sort of synthesis though on paper appears very involved
could nonetheless prove to be invaluable for students who
after four years of study graduate with intellectual and
spiritual indigestion, and who have not been helped to
synthesize all they learned in their specialised core subjects
(i.e. OT, NT, Theology, and Church history).
If the subject of new religious movements is to shift from the
margins, then some intentional action is required on the part
of theological educators to renovate current curricula. New
religions must be shifted from being an optional elective
subject and integrated into core studies in theology,
apologetics and missions. While such a renovation portends
something of epic proportions, the Church has previously
passed through epic times (the transformation from the
medieval to Reformation being just one case). The question is
whether educators have the courage to tackle this problem,
and with it also comes the willingness to encourage postgraduate students in theological studies to acquire credentials
in secular universities in religious studies.
CONCLUSION:
I believe that more than enough has been said on the subject of
shifting new religions from the fringes and into mainstream
discourse. If some of the projects and suggestions could be taken
up then perhaps over the course of time the climate of opinion in
Christian circles might adjust. The challenge is now before you the
reader to digest and reflect on this discussion and to collaborate
with the other Lausanne delegates in working through these issues.
I look forward to your constructive feedback.
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