Reverse mission is a
Christian missiological concept focusing on the late-20th-century reversal of early missionizing efforts, whereby Christians from Africa, Asia, and Latin America send missionaries to Europe and North America.
History
The modern missionary movement has tended to focus on the late-18th-century
William Carey, as the "father of modern missions", until the early 20th century finding its peak in
Edinburgh 1910
The 1910 World Missionary Conference, or the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, was held on 14 to 23 June 1910. Some have seen it as both the culmination of nineteenth-century Protestant Christian missions and the formal beginning of the modern Pro ...
. The focus of mission was largely a movement from
Europe and
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
to
Africa,
Asia, and
Latin America.
The second half of the 20th century has seen the shift of
world Christianity, from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. However, African, Asian, and Latin American Christians have migrated to the West, bringing with them their Christianity. This has been termed "reverse mission," as it emphasizes the reversal of the direction of earlier missionary efforts.
Reverse missionaries from African countries have sought to reintroduce Christianity to the
United Kingdom, as have Koreans bringing Christianity to the United States.
In 1989, the Third World Missions Association was established in Portland, Oregon, as a forum to train sending agencies of reverse missionaries from Africa, Asia, and Latin American.
Criticisms
Some have criticized the terminology as a rhetoric more than reality, given that the success in mission is less in converting Europeans and North Americans, but in leading immigrant church populations in these lands. Others have noted that the language arose alongside the decolonization of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and has been used to emphasize the shift of power from the West to the majority world.
An alternative paradigm has been suggested in terms of ''return mission'', whereby diasporic Christians in Europe and North America return to evangelize the lands of their ancestral origins, especially in Africa and Asia.
References
{{reflist
Christian missions
World Christianity