I finished teaching an 8-week course in Theology of Missions at Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary. I wasn’t sure how best to do this, since this is the first time I have taught the course, and it is the first time it has been taught at our school.

So I decided to hit as much as I could in areas relating to Missions Theology that is not necessarily dealt with much elsewhere.  So I broke it up into three major topics, and several minor topics.

Section 1.  Missions Theology as Systematic Theology

• Missio Dei
• Missio Ecclesiae
• Missions in terms of Eschatological History
• Analysis of the Great Commission(s), Great Commandment, and Abrahamic Covenant
• “Spiritual” versus Social versus Holistic ministry
• Interfaith Dialogue and dealing with other faiths
• Views on who is saved

Section 2.  Missions Theology as Contextual Theology

• What is Contextualization and Contextual Theology
• What are the models of contextualization of theology
• What benchmarks are there for orthodoxy of contextual theologies
• Roles of narrative and metaphors in contextual theology

Section 3.  Missions Theology as Reflective (“Pastoral”) Theology

• Action/Reflection in developing personal missions theology
• Case Studies and peer review
• Personal metaphor for missions

We had an interesting term. With 10 in my class, we had a lot of good conversations. We had 10 metaphors given for missions. Some seemed a little strange at first, but made a lot of sense when explained. A couple of them may not meet the strict definition of metaphor… but I am not that strict. If it is useful, it works.  The ten metaphors were:

1. Anchor
2. Builder
3. Water
4. Walking by the Spirt
5. Gathering Toys
6. Mountain climbing
7. Liberation
8. Mountain biking
9. Playing Chess
10. Gardening