In this essay, I am going to describe and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of engaging in missions using the lens of reason, with a brief overview of two other lenses: Tradition and experience. I will present ideas from the perspectives of my father, a missionary and my granduncle, the Right Reverend Datuk Bolly Lapok. Also I will share my experience of dealing with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and Depression through poetry and spoken word and how those platforms impacted many who come across them. The key voices in this essay are Graham Tomlin, Stephen Bevans, Jin Huat Tan and William J. Abraham. The word “mission” is derived from a Latin word “missio” which means, to send, to release or to participate. It is more likely
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This is the view that they both have since they commissioned by their elders through a tradition called “laying on of hands”, or in the Charismatic term, “anointing”. In Anglican perspective, laying on of hands is a tradition that is meant to commission a person in a ministry to be handed over by an elder. This is aligned to the Latin word “traditio” which means, “to pass down” or “to hand over”. Often in mission, the “laying on of hands” tradition is applied when a missionary is sent on a mission, either on a long-term or in a short-term. However, when missionaries are sent to a foreign land for a long-term, they constantly travel throughout the regions and leave in an area for a short-term. This defeats the purpose of laying on of hands. Both my father and my uncle heavily criticized this type of mission which they called “Touch N’ GO” mission – a type of mission that mandates the missionary to pay a visit to a community and address the needs, however, there is a lack of discipleship and in – depth studies of the Gospel with the community. Instead, the community was taught little of the Gospel and the result of their conversion is only limited to the knowledge on the basis of church liturgies. This was actually a tradition passed down from the practices of United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG) and the American Methodist missionaries during the reign of Brooke empire in Sarawak – part of the empire’s plan is to convert the most notorious, cannibalistic and the largest tribe in Sarawak: Iban for the empire’s political advantage against the local rebels. The Brooke empire began to send the first Christian missionary, Francis McDougall who later became the first bishop of the Diocese of Kuching. This is supported by an Anglican
This is the view that they both have since they commissioned by their elders through a tradition called “laying on of hands”, or in the Charismatic term, “anointing”. In Anglican perspective, laying on of hands is a tradition that is meant to commission a person in a ministry to be handed over by an elder. This is aligned to the Latin word “traditio” which means, “to pass down” or “to hand over”. Often in mission, the “laying on of hands” tradition is applied when a missionary is sent on a mission, either on a long-term or in a short-term. However, when missionaries are sent to a foreign land for a long-term, they constantly travel throughout the regions and leave in an area for a short-term. This defeats the purpose of laying on of hands. Both my father and my uncle heavily criticized this type of mission which they called “Touch N’ GO” mission – a type of mission that mandates the missionary to pay a visit to a community and address the needs, however, there is a lack of discipleship and in – depth studies of the Gospel with the community. Instead, the community was taught little of the Gospel and the result of their conversion is only limited to the knowledge on the basis of church liturgies. This was actually a tradition passed down from the practices of United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG) and the American Methodist missionaries during the reign of Brooke empire in Sarawak – part of the empire’s plan is to convert the most notorious, cannibalistic and the largest tribe in Sarawak: Iban for the empire’s political advantage against the local rebels. The Brooke empire began to send the first Christian missionary, Francis McDougall who later became the first bishop of the Diocese of Kuching. This is supported by an Anglican