Fritz Kling, in The Meeting of the Waters, examines and elaborates on how mission has been changed. In the introduction, Kling used the story of ‘Mission Marm’ and ‘Apple Guy’ to illustrate the changing mission. He describes ‘Mission Marm’ as a dedicated missionary who left her familiar world to focus on a new culture and let go of life in her homeland. On the other hand, Kling describes ‘Apple Guy’ as a flexible guy capable of adapting, multitasking yet lacking commitment, and probably skills. Kling also illustrates the global church today as a boat facing the confluence of two streams: the past era and the globalizing world. In this context, Kling asserts that Christian workers sit between the extremes of Mission Marm and Apple Guy, “…seek to be relevant and orthodox, productive and faithful…” (26).
Kling further outlines and analyzes seven Global Currents which represent the current trends and developments that are affecting the future church and mission:
1. Mercy: The young generation is concern about social justice. This generation, as Kling describes, “serve Jesus by doing justice and helping the poor … and proclaiming the gospel too. They serve others not just to convert them, but because they themselves have been converted” (46). Kling calls this an “evangelism too” approach.
2. Mutuality: Kling argues that mutuality is an important Current to understand, support, and work with Christians all around the world. He reflects that we must look at the world differently and to read the Bible differently. He further concludes that we “cannot view the West, or other country, as the beginning and center of the global church” (82). The global church should learn from each other.
3. Migration: Kling builds his argument from Tim Keller’s urban mission which focuses on world-cities as the “new unreached people groups” (100). Keller sees the importance of reaching major cities. He reasons that big cities are more likely connected to other countries due to the diversity of people from migration. Keller believes that cities “influence suburbs” (103) and takes Paul’s gospel spreading strategy as an example.
4. Monoculture: Kling examines how marketing and media have shifted the culture of countries to monoculture. He sees the need to discern Monoculture and affirms that “The global church today must be both a prophetic protester and an opportunistic creator” (118). He urges the global church to recognize and cultivate how Monoculture shapes the young generation. He further writes that younger generations are influenced by globalization, conformed to the popular trends, and losing their identity. He writes that “Television, markets, sexuality, and ‘New Age’ religions are making it really difficult to figure out truth” (123). He asserts that “wherever Monoculture advances in the form of the global youth culture, the global church should also expect that opportunities will abound for creative, relevant, authentic Christian witness” (124).
5. Machines: Kling explores how technology affects evangelism. Technology has impacted the way we do evangelism today. It comes with a new medium and opportunity to share the gospel, yet there are downsides also that we have to recognize. The internet, for example, is seen as the Holy Grail of ‘building community’, but it is not a neutral medium (144). Kling suggests for the global church to navigate this issue with wisdom and discernment.
6. Mediation: In this chapter, Kling recalls his meeting with Muslims and affirms that his exposure to Islam has made him “a better mediator of Jesus Christ” (169). He asserts that the global church should learn to love and work with others, “be they Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists animists or atheists” (170).
7. Memory: Every nation has distinct histories that have profoundly shaped their society. These may be unseen but affect everything in that place. It leaves the global church with a challenge and Kling suggests that the global church should be “constantly considering how to adapt our approaches for changing societies and individuals” (192).
In his conclusion, Kling emphasizes that “different generations are used by God to serve the world in different ways at different times” (200). He asserts that the global church should be both the “Mission Marm” and the “Apple Guy”.
The ‘Meeting of the Waters’ is probably a good analogy to describe the reality of evangelization in the past and of today. However, Kling failed to examine what causes the phenomenon of the Meeting of the Waters, which also can be a good analogy and further discussion of what is happening with the modern mission.
I found this book to be mostly driven by modern cultures rather than the biblical understanding of mission. Kling was trying to fit into society today and compromising biblical truth. This book was written to give information and to start the discussion, however, Kling was inconsistent in his writing and tended to be one-sided in presenting the discussed issues. He failed to provide any counterarguments for his seven current trend anticipations. His argument about Mediation Current, for example, is clearly biased. He argues based on his ‘encounter’ with some Muslims from other countries and failed to clearly define reconciliation and mediation.
In this book, Kling has overrated mercy. He argued that ministry work must begin with mercy because we cannot ignore the physical needs of the people we serve, and he believes that mercy opens the door for evangelism in places where there are barriers. Kling failed to see that overrated mercy in ministry could result in wrong motives and false converts.
It is true that we cannot ignore the physical needs of those we serve, and that we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves and to do good to all people. However, I would argue in agreement with Hesselgrave as he emphasizes that “the primary concern of our Lord has to do with meeting spiritual needs, not with meeting physical, material, or social needs.”[1] Our priority must be for the spiritual needs of those we serve and to remember that “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
[1] Hesselgrave, David. Paradigms in Conflict (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publication,2005). 136.
