Dr. Martin Erdmann

In the publication "Zeitschrift für Theologie und Gesellschaft" (Journal for Theology and Society) published by the Martin Bucer Seminary (issue 1/2016), Ron Kubsch reviews the book by Harald D. Seubert, Mission und Transformation: Beiträge zu neueren Debatten in der Missionswissenschaft. Appropriately, Kubsch notes in the first two paragraphs of his brief review that missional theology has "caused a worldwide furor" in recent years. Of course, he could have emphasized more clearly that this theology has been perceived as extremely controversial by its critics and continues to generate an explosive mix of differing opinions. The reviewer gives the following as the reason for the fuss that has arisen over societal transformation: "Its proponents derive from the Kingdom of God perspective the church's obligation to transform society, as for example, by working for environmental protection or 'social justice.'"

Societal transformation is complementary to evangelism

As an example of how this contentious debate about the "'pros' or 'cons' of societal transformation" is also being conducted in Germany, Kubsch mentions the convening of the annual conference of the Working Group for Evangelical Mission in Herrenberg on the topic of "Evangelism and Transformation," to which the then-chairman of AfeM Prof. Dr. mult. Thomas Schirrmacher had invited at the beginning of 2013. Ron Kubsch was himself one of the speakers at this event. At that time, he spoke in his lecture, in line with the opinion of two other speakers, the president of the International University of Liebenzell, Prof. Dr. Volker Gäckle, and the evangelist Ulrich Parzany, who became known through "Pro Christ," fundamentally against the transformation of society. Standing on the side of the proponents were Prof. Dr. Tobias Faix, Prof. Dr. Johannes Reimer and Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher. The then chairman of the German Evangelical Alliance and president of the Evangelical Gnadauer Gemeinschaftsverband, Rev. Dr. Michael Diener, although also a proponent of social transformation, took a facilitating role. This is evident from his "Welcoming address on behalf of the German Evangelical Alliance" and from the report of the "listening team" to which he belonged; both texts were published in the compendium of the conference Evangelism and Transformation: two coins or a coin with two sides?  In this compendium, the strategy of the proponents of societal transformation is clearly evident in that they try to downplay or even explain away the fundamental differences between the two positions. In doing so, they strive to make societal transformation plausible as a legitimate complement to evangelism. They argue that as a Christian, one can, indeed must, advocate and practice both. Those who choose only one or the other would impose a corset on the mission of Jesus' church that is far too narrow. Ultimately, one would become guilty before God if one did not take into account the entire range of what Jesus Christ gave his followers as the supreme mission, namely to establish the Kingdom of God in this world. The success of this strategy of concealment, however, produced only superficial results and was short-lived, because the fundamental differences of mutual views cannot be sufficiently glossed over. If this were so, the debate would have ceased long ago, and the publication of Harald D. Seubert's book Mission and Transformation two years after the AfeM meeting would have been unnecessary. The publication of this book unmistakably indicates that the strategy of obfuscation has failed.

Thomas Schirrmacher pretends to have a consensus opinion

The very title of the compendium of the AfeM conference Evangelization and Transformation instead of Evangelization or Transformation suggests that the editors Robert Badenberg and Friedemann Knödler interpreted the outcome of the debate between these two contrary positions as intended by the organizer Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher: a coin with two sides. Nevertheless, the careful reader will not fail to notice that this debate is by no means about two nuanced positions that can be harmonized with each other in a lively exchange of ideas among all those involved in this discussion, but about views that are contrary to each other. But it is precisely this impression, which can easily be gained, that Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher resolutely contradicts in the "Introduction to this Discussion" and in his own lecture "The Biblical Mandate to Save the World – Inwardly and Outwardly - Quite Privately and Quite Globally". At the very beginning of his talk, he quotes approvingly from John Warwick Montgomery's book Christians in the Public Square: Law, Gospel, and Public Policy the following statement, clearly indicating how he positions himself in this debate: "If anyone knows what Christianity really is, he understands intuitively and by definition that it expects its adherents to actively resist social evils and make efforts to alleviate human need."

         Ron Kubsch, in retrospect, describes the purpose of that meeting as one in which people "wrestled over the value and profile of societal transformation." However, that debate was not about defining the value and profile of societal transformation more precisely, but about whether it was relevant at all with regard to the missionary mandate of the church of Jesus. Contrary to the résumé of the two proponents of societal transformation, Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher and Chairman Dr. Michael Diener, there was no convergence of the two conflicting opinions at this conference, if one reads carefully through the presentations of the proponents and critics of societal transformation. Ron Kubsch's concluding statement suggests that he had already agreed with the opinion of his employer Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher at the time: "The volume provides a balanced introduction to the main position of current missiology and is thus an important contribution in the clarification process."

Insurmountable gulf between contrary opinions

One does not have to read meticulously at all through the presentations of the lecture series at the State Independent Theological University of Basel, which have been slightly revised in Dr. Seubert's compilation volume Mission and Transformation, in order to be able to determine immediately that once again two completely contrary opinions are opposed to each other. By no means does it reflect "the main position of current missiology." And thus this volume cannot be a balanced exposition of this one main position. In the end, only one thing is clarified, namely that the so-called main position has to deal with an equally vehemently presented counter-position. The presentations of the lecture series in Basel actually only brought to light once again the fact that the gap between the expressed contrary opinions is insurmountable. Thus the "important contribution in the clarification process" made by this volume can only be that the pretended consensus opinion of Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher and Chairman Dr. Michael Diener has no substance in reality.

         That this is so is also shown by the reaction of Prof. Dr. Peter Beyerhaus, a participant in the AfeM conference in Herrenberg. In the introduction to the "Tübingen Pentecostal Call for the Renewal of a Biblical Understanding of Mission in the History of Salvation," which Prof. Beyerhaus wrote, it says the following:

"On March 1 and 2, 2013, a working conference of missiologists and mission friends took place in Gomaringen near Tübingen under the name Rolf Scheffbuch-Symposium. The sponsor was the International Conference of Confessing Communities (International Christian Network) with its institute Diakrisis."

Eternal salvation replaced by temporal social good

This workshop in Gomaringen, held exactly two months after the AfeM meeting, was organized because Prof. Beyerhaus, as director of the Diakrisis Institute, wanted to clearly express the counter-position to the transformation of society; something he had sorely missed at the AfeM meeting as a whole. Prof. Dr. Gäckle was invited to speak at this event, but sent his apologies. He did, however, allow his well-founded plea against the transformation of society, which he had delivered at the AfeM meeting, to be read aloud. Other missiologists, including Prof. Beyerhaus, spoke unequivocally against the perversion of the missionary task undertaken by the proponents of societal transformation. Prof. Beyerhaus summarized the outcome of the workshop in the Pentecostal call "World evangelization or world transformation?" and concluded the call with the following words:

"The call to renewal in mission presupposes an urgent need for spiritual renewal in churches and missions. At the same time as we offer this encouragement, we address an urgent warning to the entire evangelical missionary movement, especially to the evangelical movement, which is acutely affected by the transformation program: may it beware of falling into a fatal error through a theology of history that is becoming an ideology. After all, as we can see, it substitutes temporal social welfare for eternal salvation and forgets that Christ's kingship is not of this world (John 18:36)."

Ecumenists and evangelicals pull together

The mention of Prof. Dr. Beyerhaus' name is relevant because he was one of those invited by the State Independent Theological University of Basel to give his presentation against societal transformation during the lecture series. It is therefore instructive to quote in more detail his rationale that he gave during this lecture series as a reason why society transformation must be rejected in principle:

"In John 5:24 Jesus assures his followers:

'Truly, truly I say to you: He who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.'

         Lamentably, this genuinely Christological and soteriological understanding of 'life', its key concept, has been lost in the Busan Mission Statement. It has been generalized here into a universal force that could easily be adopted by the followers of any pantheistic religion or ideology.

         This concept of life also underlies the introduction of the notion of 'transformation', which in the Geneva Ecumenical Movement now forms the central task of world mission and evangelism.

         But what must particularly alarm us is the fact that the same thing is increasingly occurring in the worldwide movement of evangelicals. Here there is hardly any difference between the ecumenical and the evangelical understanding of mission today. In Busan, this was even explicitly stated in the greetings addressed to the plenary assembly by the representatives of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and the Lausanne Movement for World Evangelization, who participated as guests. The former, Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, chairman of the theological commission of the WEA, assured the organizers of his full affirmation of the Busan Declaration's theology!"

Conclusion

And thus we come full circle to what was said before. The proponents of societal transformation – in Germany especially Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, President Dr. Michael Diener, Prof. Dr. Tobias Faix and Prof. Dr. Johannes Reimer – try to level the fundamental differences between biblical evangelism and ecumenical societal transformation to such an extent that one is only taken seriously as a Christian within the German Evangelical Alliance if one either does not express the justified objections to societal transformation as the missionary mandate of the church of Jesus or if one repentantly retracts them. The two volumes Evangelism and Transformation and Mission and Transformation can indeed make an important contribution to opening the eyes of those interested in biblical mission to the importance of Prof. Beyerhaus' warning to Christians in German-speaking countries to regard societal transformation as a catastrophic aberration.