BMS World Mission: A Case Study toward Polycentric Mission Leadership

Rev. Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Ph.D. and Rev. Kang-San Tan, D.Min. Ph.D.

The British Baptist Missionary Society (BMS World Mission) holds a treasured place in the history of the modern mission movement. It was William Carey, often called the father of modern missions, who catalyzed the work with his famous An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens._¹ Carey went to India with the newly formed BMS and the rich history continues to this day. Today, BMS serves in nearly 30 countries conducting legal work, surgery, food programs and education striving “to make Jesus known and share the full life he brings.”²

With the advent of a new era of mission, the BMS board took a bold risk recently in hiring their first non-English executive director. Their goal was to update the society into a modern mission expressing the realities of how the world is changing.³ Tan shares the following imperatives behind the proposals:

BMS is responding intentionally to new mission realities of globalisation/networking, shifts of global Christianity, increased inequalities and marginalisation of poorer communities; each major trend is to be reinterpreted through polycentric (or multidirectional) mission relationships which transcend modern mission paradigms.
We believe BMS will play a more significant and catalytic role as we transitioned into a changed network base approach that celebrates the diversities of God’s missional communities. The results will include influencing other Global Baptists missions within our BWA network relationships to diversify leadership, reduce duplications and grow mission capacities from local contexts.⁴
Together with our global south partners, BMS will seek to build new platforms and prophetic movements whereby local leadership and sustainability become our shared priorities. Our integrity will require a call to change in leadership models, to find new ways to listen to voices from local contexts which will influence our policies and decisions, and thus providing BMS with integrity and credibility in seeking new ways of being a missional people of God and participation in the Mission of God.
Credible global mission will require a reimagining of new structures and models of shared leadership at all levels (Boards, Leadership and Management), whereby strategic policies of BMS will include key voices and perspectives from local contexts.

In a significant proposal to the BMS board, Tan explains the transition from cross-cultural to an intercultural perspective quoting John Corrie:

‘Intercultural Theology’ began in the 1970s as a way of expressing theological mutuality and equality between cultures.” Corrie argues that intercultural mission is characterised as “…relational, mutual, dialogical, open-ended and creates space within which God’s missio Dei can be experienced.” The trajectory of movement in traditional cross-cultural mission tends to be deductive and driven by strategic goals whereas Corrie explains that intercultural mission “…implies a process of understanding that is provisional, more open to change, with a journey that is open ended. …our intercultural aim is a critical dialogue in a listening, self-reflective and learning environment.” ⁵

Tan builds on this move toward intercultural mission by advocating for a polycentric form of mission, a mission that is ‘to, within and from the majority world and that… [has] a clear focus on polycentric sharing in intercultural mission’. He goes further stating that this shift requires a significant change: ‘The new vision requires a new structure and as collaboration is core to the vision, and ownership to be shared by our partners… [to create] a shared space with our partners and a focal point for a number of related activities… The new vision brings with it a new language in which the focus will move from training to preparing, from cross-cultural to intercultural, from partnerships to polycentrism.’ ⁶

In this change, BMS is proposing substantive shifts to better enable their mission to partner in a polycentric manner. This new structure present a case study for the theoretical model of Polycentric Mission Leadership.⁷ Tan was convinced that Polycentric Missiology requires new structures.⁸ “The following principles outline the core of BMS new structure⁹:

Transition from being a UK sending agency towards a partner in transnational alliances of local mission networks embedded in mutually enriching relationships with majority world Christians
Decentralise leadership and management structures, with influence moving from the UK to other parts of the majority world
Embrace a culture of mutuality and learning as part of a polyphonic mission movement, in which we learn to give up power and control, and increasingly appreciate and learn from multiple perspectives outside [the main offices]
Develop the resourcing of specialist cross-cultural mission from the majority world, with a clear commitment to a collaborative learning culture which will drive the development of BMS mission personnel and partners
[Fostering] collaborative learning, with special focus on global missiology and contextual mission.

Tan highlights how this structure will better empower others,

‘This means investing in the establishment of hubs or networks co-owned and co-managed by all participants, of which BMS is only one, and giving freedom to hubs/networks to structure collaboratively their priorities, and identify needs and opportunities. It implies that setting our future strategy will increasingly flow from the outcome of the shared input and influence of Mission Workers (MWs), International Mission Workers (IMWs), Supported Partner Workers (SPWs) and partners in hubs/networks. It also suggests that, while continuing to provide accountability to funders and supporters through monitoring and evaluation, there will be a greater devolving of discussion and decisions on priorities for funding to MWs, IMWs, partners and hubs/networks. In keeping with the shift in emphasis is the invitation for partners to evaluate our performance as we evaluate theirs and a programme of continuing to draw partner representatives into organisational oversight and management.’¹⁰

Illustrating this model, Tan uses the following diagram as a polycentric model for a new training centre:

As can be readily seen, the hub is intercultural mission and learning rather than an office or set of executive personnel. The various hubs or centres that contribute have equal voices and all contribute to the overall capacity building for the Baptist Mission Society. Anticipated outcomes of this model include:

From UK sending agency to Transnational alliances for supporting global south missions
All programmes are co-led and delivered in partnership with contextual leaders
High Quality Programmes with clear plans, monitoring and evaluation to deliver high impact
Grow in multi-ethnic membership and leadership within BMS
A more sustainable model of mission funding beyond British Baptists. Decentred UK interconnected structures with 2 sustainable hubs for resourcing and global leadership. ¹¹

This emerging mission model highlights several features of a polycentric form of leadership. It is inclusive, collaborative, diverse, and leans toward empowering local leadership in an entrepreneurial fashion. As BMS moves forward, key markers of success may hinge on their capacity to rally the mission and its leadership toward this approach as well as the critical relational and communal aspects of drawing out and fostering ownership.¹² In addition to this, Tan highlighted a crucial new dimension that involves language. It is not just leadership shifts that will be required but also a shift in language or a polyphonic approach that speaks and writes differently for a new era of mission leadership.¹³

Acknowledgments

Written by Rev. Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Ph.D. and Rev. Kang-San Tan, D.Min. Ph.D.

References

The Origins of the BMS website: https://www.bmsworldmission.org/heritage/origins/ accessed Dec 18, 2021. Carey, William. An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (19 Oct. 2015), originally written in 1792.
BMS site: https://www.bmsworldmission.org/ accessed Dec 18, 2021
Interview with director Kang-San Tan, via zoom Sept 15, 2021.
Tan, Kang-San. Polycentric Mission Leadership Strategy. Unpublished strategy paper 1.4.2 Agenda. p. 2.
Tan, Kang-San proposal quoting John Corrie, The Promise of Intercultural Mission, Transformation, 2014, Vol.31 (4) 291-302
Tan, Kang-San. Intercultural Mission: A Proposal. August 2021, p. 1.
Handley, Joseph W. 2020 “Polycentric Mission Leadership.” PhD Diss. Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Intercultural Studies: ProQuest; 27745033.
Tan, Kang-San. Polycentric Mission Leadership Strategy. Unpublished strategy paper 1.4.2 Agenda. p. 2.
Tan, Kang-San. Intercultural Mission: A Proposal. August 2021, p. 1
Tan, Kang-San. Intercultural Mission: A Proposal. August 2021, pp. 2-3.
Tan, Kang-San. Polycentric Mission Leadership Strategy. Unpublished strategy paper 1.4.2 Agenda. p. 2.
See key themes or traits of a Polycentric Mission Leadership model here: Handley, J. (2021) “Polycentric mission leadership: Toward a new theoretical model” Transformation Journal, 38(3), p. 225-238
Interview with director Kang-San Tan, via zoom Sept 15, 2021.