Mission Among the Peoples:

A Lesson from the Church in Asia

By Jonathan Yun-ka Tan

William Burrows, the editor of Orbis Books, first introduced the term missio inter
gentes (mission among the peoples). He used it in a response to an address by Fr.
Michael Amaladoss (MDU) at the 2001 meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of
America (Proceedings, CTSA, 2001). At that time, he contended that Christian mission
in Asia is already primarily in the hands of Asians, and is better termed missio inter
gentes than missio ad gentes.

Once a missionary, Burrows suggested five dimensions for this paradigm shift. First,
Asian Catholics are already translating the Gospel or incarnating Christ in Asia in the
gentle, loving, persuasive power of the Spirit. Second, most Asian Christians, including
Catholics, understand the religious traditions of Asia not as demonic or evil but as
vehicles of Gods salvific encounter with their followers. Third, the single most critical
item on the Christian agenda is countering the perception that Christianity is imported
and not properly Asian. Failing to overcome this misperception, Christianity will have
a doubtful future in Asia.

Fourth, the task of Christian mission in a plural religious context is to proclaim and
make the world ready for Gods Kingdom. Thus, reconciliation involves not a unity
among religions but a unity among believing persons. Religious unity of all peoples will
be an eschatological accomplishment, one in which the Spirit is active in other religious
ways. Finally, the missio inter gentes paradigm proposes a new kind of missionary
activity that sees other religions not as rivals or enemies but as potential allies,
collaborating and working together against all forms of evil, attachment to wealth and
power, selfishness and exploitation, as well as the social, cultural and political structures
they support.

While the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC) has not used the phrase
missio inter gentes to describe its strategy, the paradigm best exemplifies what the
FABC hopes to achieve in plurireligious Asia. In official pronouncements, FABC
recognizes that religious diversity and pluralism lie at the heart of what it means to be
truly Asian. At its First Plenary Assembly in 1974, the FABC declared this about the
task facing the Church in Asia:
To preach the Gospel in Asia today we must make the message and life of Christ truly
incarnate in the minds and lives of our people. In Asia especially this involves a
dialogue with the great religious traditions of our people. In this dialogue we accept
them as significant and positive elements in the economy of Gods design of salvation.
In them we recognize and respect profound spiritual and ethical meanings and values.
Over many centuries they have been the treasury of the religious experiences of our
ancestors, from which our contemporaries do not cease to draw light and strength. They
have been (and continue to be) the authentic expression of noblest longings of their
hearts, and the home of their contemplation and prayer. They have helped give shape to
the histories and cultures of our nations. How then can we not give them reverence and
honor? And how can we not acknowledge that God has drawn our peoples to Himself
through them?
At its Fifth Plenary Assembly, in 1990, the FABC defined mission in Asia as being
with the people, responding to their needs, with sensitiveness to the presence of God in
cultures and other religious traditions, and witnessing to the values of Gods Kingdom
through presence, solidarity, sharing and word, and therefore, [m]ission will mean a
dialogue with Asias poor, with its local cultures, and with other religious traditions.
Simply put, the task of mission in Asia is a mission among the Asian peoples with their
ancient cultures and deep religiosity on the one hand, and marginalizing life experiences
on the other. While the FABC affirms that the proclamation of Jesus Christ is the
center and primary element of evangelization, it explains that this proclamation means
to live like Christ, in the midst of our neighbors of other faiths and to do Christ-like
deeds by the power of grace.

At the Seventh FABC Plenary Assembly (2000), FABC reiterated the commitment to
the emergence of the Asianness of the Church in Asia, asserting that the Church has
to be an embodiment of the Asian vision and values of life, especially interiority,
harmony, a holistic and inclusive approach to every area of life. For the FABC, the
whole world is in need of a holistic paradigm for meeting the challenges of life, and
together with all Asians, the Church, a tiny minority in this vast continent, has a
singular contribution to make, and this contribution is the task of the whole Church in
Asia. For Asian bishops, the witness of life is the most effective means of
evangelization. They urge Christians in Asia to lives embodying the message of Jesus
and to be inspiring and healing men and women immersed in God. With an increasing
religious pluralism in the United States, there are lessons from the Asian experience that
would be helpful to us.

Tan is assistant professor of Minorities Studies and World Religions at Xavier
University in Cincinnati.