This article examines some historical and missiological contexts of the Western conception of partnership in mission and critiques how partnership fails in the Majority World. It then addresses how power is navigated in patron–client systems. Finally, drawing on the work of Jayson Georges, it offers a contextual approach to redeeming patronage in a missional context and discusses the implications for authentic, intercultural relationships.
BushLLutzL (1990) Partnering in Ministry: The Direction of World Evangelism. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
2.
CrouchA (2013) Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
3.
de FreitasR (2021) The slave is your brother: Koinoniac witness in Paul’s epistle to Philemon. International Journal of Pentecostal Missiology8: 48–61.
4.
De NeuiPH (2011) Speaking of the unspeakable: Money and missions in patron–client Buddhist cultures. In De NeuiPH (ed.) Complexities of Money and Missions in Asia. SEANET Series, 9. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, pp. 127–40.
5.
GeorgesJ (2019) Ministering in Patronage Cultures: Biblical Models and Missional Implications. Westmont: IVP Academic.
6.
LingenfelterSG (2005) Power-giving leadership: Transformation for a missional church. In KraftCHGillilandDS (eds.) Appropriate Christianity. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, pp. 275–90.
7.
OhR (2015) Patron–client dynamics between Korean missionaries and Cambodian Christians. Asian Missions Advance12–19.
8.
PersonsLS (2016) The Way Thais Lead: Face as Social Capital. Silkworm Books.
9.
RichardsERJamesR (2020) Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes: Patronage, Honor, and Shame in the Biblical World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
10.
ShawRD (2010) Beyond contextualization: Toward a twenty-first-century model for enabling mission. International Bulletin of Missionary Research34(4): 208–15.
11.
ShawRDVan EnganCE (2003) Communicating God’s Word in a Complex World: God’s Truth or Hocus Pocus?Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
12.
VennH (1971) To Apply the Gospel: Selections from the Writings of Henry Venn. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.
13.
WallaceDF (2009) This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion about Living a Compassionate Life. New York: Little, Brown.
14.
WilliamsMO (1986) Partnership in Mission: A Study of Theology and Method in Mission. 2nd ed.Springfield, MO: Division of Foreign Missions.
