Assessment of the past helps one seize emerging opportunities. The Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC) Foreign Mission Board (FMB) radically redesigned itself July 1, 1997, the most far reaching self-assessment since its 1845 founding. The FMB's changes neglected some essential historical precedents. In 1892, a band of FMB missionaries posted with the North China Mission resigned and established their own operation. They held and integrated three core values: indigeneity, incarnation, and responsible autonomy. Baptist historians have dismissed these dissidents because they considered them Landmarkers (an earlier movement that threatened the SBC itself). Later historical inquiry corrected this assumption demonstrating that Landmarkers seized the Gospel Mission Movement to serve its own ends not the reverse. What prorrpted these missionaries to leave their base of support and operate independently? Original sources tell the tale of strong convictions about missions that were more commonly apparent later, in a post-modern era. Gospel Missionism's peers did not listen, partly because of the Landmarkist confusion and partly because they advocated things others were not prepared to hear. The Gospel Missioners found it difficult to sustain their experiment outside the SBC. Hence, survivors gradually reentered the FMB structure, primarily the Interior China Mission. Their influence extended to the next generation of missionaries. Yet, indirectly their values entered the FMB's strategies through outside evangelicals which increasingly espoused similar core values. By 1985, the Board tackled the challenge of the least evangelized peoples. Trustees formed Cooperative Services International (CSI) to accommodate the need. Unwittingly, from within the FMB, CSI embodied Gospel Missionism's core values with more modern emphases. In 1997, trustees restructured the FMB and dismantled CSI. They borrowed its drive and its penchant for streamlined administration, but jettisoned its priority passion for those least evangelized. Only time will tell, but there is evidence that the FMB has reverted and embraced elements of an older paradigm, possibly because it was unprepared to face a postmodern future. This study concludes that the Gospel Missionism movement was a blending of both enlightenment and post-modern missiological ideals. It was an incipient, evangelical version of a post-modern missiological paradigm. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

This thesis addresses a needed shift of paradigm for mission and evangelism within the Southern Baptist Convention. The current model lacks appropriate contextualization in a postmodern world. The proposition of the thesis is that a kingdom model for mission and evangelism is more appropriate for Southern Baptists' commitment to mission. The methodology of this thesis was researching primary and secondary sources, interviews with persons currently involved within the mission of Southern Baptists, evaluation of empirical data, and testing of concepts. In Chapter One, the validity of this thesis is presented with the proposition, the limitations, the purpose, the practical nature, and the modus operandi of the thesis stated. Chapter Two explores the problems of evangelism within the mission of Southern Baptists today. Focus is on empirical statistical evidence and the failure of assumptions, methods, and models currently in practice. Chapter Three examines the birth of the mission and evangelism mandate of Southern Baptists and the subsequent development of a monolithic structure unchanged to the present day. Chapter Four traces the evolution of evangelistic witness within the early church and explores the cultural dynamics of the period. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

Assessment of the past helps one seize emerging opportunities. The Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC) Foreign Mission Board (FMB) radically redesigned itself July 1, 1997, the most far reaching self-assessment since its 1845 founding. The FMB's changes neglected some essential historical precedents. In 1892, a band of FMB missionaries posted with the North China Mission resigned and established their own operation. They held and integrated three core values: indigeneity, incarnation, and responsible autonomy. Baptist historians have dismissed these dissidents because they considered them Landmarkers (an earlier movement that threatened the SBC itself). Later historical inquiry corrected this assumption demonstrating that Landmarkers seized the Gospel Mission Movement to serve its own ends not the reverse. What prorrpted these missionaries to leave their base of support and operate independently? Original sources tell the tale of strong convictions about missions that were more commonly apparent later, in a post-modern era. Gospel Missionism's peers did not listen, partly because of the Landmarkist confusion and partly because they advocated things others were not prepared to hear. The Gospel Missioners found it difficult to sustain their experiment outside the SBC. Hence, survivors gradually reentered the FMB structure, primarily the Interior China Mission. Their influence extended to the next generation of missionaries. Yet, indirectly their values entered the FMB's strategies through outside evangelicals which increasingly espoused similar core values. By 1985, the Board tackled the challenge of the least evangelized peoples. Trustees formed Cooperative Services International (CSI) to accommodate the need. Unwittingly, from within the FMB, CSI embodied Gospel Missionism's core values with more modern emphases. In 1997, trustees restructured the FMB and dismantled CSI. They borrowed its drive and its penchant for streamlined administration, but jettisoned its priority passion for those least evangelized. Only time will tell, but there is evidence that the FMB has reverted and embraced elements of an older paradigm, possibly because it was unprepared to face a postmodern future. This study concludes that the Gospel Missionism movement was a blending of both enlightenment and post-modern missiological ideals. It was an incipient, evangelical version of a post-modern missiological paradigm. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

This thesis addresses a needed shift of paradigm for mission and evangelism within the Southern Baptist Convention. The current model lacks appropriate contextualization in a postmodern world. The proposition of the thesis is that a kingdom model for mission and evangelism is more appropriate for Southern Baptists' commitment to mission. The methodology of this thesis was researching primary and secondary sources, interviews with persons currently involved within the mission of Southern Baptists, evaluation of empirical data, and testing of concepts. In Chapter One, the validity of this thesis is presented with the proposition, the limitations, the purpose, the practical nature, and the modus operandi of the thesis stated. Chapter Two explores the problems of evangelism within the mission of Southern Baptists today. Focus is on empirical statistical evidence and the failure of assumptions, methods, and models currently in practice. Chapter Three examines the birth of the mission and evangelism mandate of Southern Baptists and the subsequent development of a monolithic structure unchanged to the present day. Chapter Four traces the evolution of evangelistic witness within the early church and explores the cultural dynamics of the period. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)