This book explores modern mission concepts and practices from the perspective of crossing cultures to form meaningful and transformative personal relationships. Relational missions involves intercultural relationships that change the sending church, the missionary, and the mission field. I believe exploring missions in the light of global intercultural connectionalism opens new doors to understanding missions. Connectionalism is a word that denotes relationships, equality of people, and institutional structures that bind people together.

Missions is a well-studied disciple of Christian ministry.Scholars, researchers, and practitioners of missions have researched and developed concepts and practices that can be used for effective cross-cultural missions. This book looks at these mission concepts and practices in the light of global intercultural connectionalism, thus the title, Relational Missions. My goal is to present modern mission concepts in the light of relational connecting, thus producing new understandings about missions. Relational missions elevates missions to a different level, resulting in spiritual renewal for all.

This book does not seek to address all mission theories and concepts, but primarily the ones that seem to be relevant to relational missions. First, this book is for the benefit of missionaries, students of missions from the perspective of developing relationships with those on the mission field. It addresses the role and practice of missionaries. Second, this book is for those exploring the idea of global intercultural connectionalism. This book presents concepts that frame what it means to be in an international (global) church or organization.

The content of this book is based on forty years of experience working as a missionary and as a director of global missions. The spark that initiated this book was a passion for answering the question about what it means to be a global, intercultural, and connected church. This search led me to Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of Intercultural Studies in Pasadena, California, and their doctoral program. I was able to use the doctoral studies at Fuller to better understand global intercultural ecclesiology (the study of the church). My interest in the area of global relational missions was based on my experience as a missionary and mission leader in the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination.

In the 1980s my church’s mission fields expressed that they were not interested in becoming nationalized and separated from the denomination. They wanted to remain relationally and structurally connected.They wanted the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to be a global church. This expressed desire from the mission field started the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and me on a journey to understand what it means to be a global and relationally connected denomination.

I discovered that global intercultural connecting has an impact on how missionaries understand their work and what it means to be a global church. Once I started to study the concept of the interculturally connected church, I realized there was limited information about this subject. Therefore, I wanted this book to provide information about being a global and relationally connected church.

As a director of missions, I think new missionaries (short-term and long-term) certainly need this book. It is also a book for church leaders that want to understand the transformative impact relationship-based missions can have on the mission field and the sending church. The following concepts and practices will inform students of global missions as to new ways to understand and practice cross-cultural ministry.

I was blessed to do my doctorate at Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies later in life. As a result, my studies framed my years of experience and therefore helped me better understand those experiences, the basis for the concepts and practices found in this book. I am profoundly convinced that the intercultural relational aspect of missions is indispensable for success. Missionaries are foremost men and women that connect with others in meaningful relationships. Their relational connectedness is on a global level. The church’s goal, likewise, is to find ways to connect both locally and globally. Missionaries can act as a bridge between cultures that help connect the global family. I also believe the global church concept is a subject that deserves greater attention by mission leaders.

This book is divided into three sections. Those sections are reflected in the subtitle of the book, Concepts, Perspectives, and Practices That Inform Global Missions. The first section looks at different concepts related to the motivation for doing missions. This section frames the theological basis for relational missions. If the church is called to sacrificially invest in missions, and it is, then the church needs to understand why missions is important.[1] The intent of this section is to present concepts that justify the church’s sacrifice for missions. The second section looks at different anthropological perspectives that help students of missions understand some of the social and relational dynamics of intercultural relationships. The intent of this section is to gain a wider perspective about working across cultures and avoiding some of the confusion and frustration of intercultural relationships. The third section looks at mission practices that are related to building intercultural relationships. The intent of this section is to provide students of missions some tools they can use to develop meaningful relationships with people from other cultures.

This book contains many citations. Readers that would like to do a more in-depth study of the ideas in this book will find the citations and bibliography helpful. The citations that use “loc.” are referring to Kindle editions of the book. The Kindle (digital) version either uses page numbers or location (loc.) numbers.