Andy McCullough leads the team that leads the Unreached Network, which facilitates good practice conversations in cross-cultural mission across the Newfrontiers family.
I recently had the privilege of visiting a brand-new church plant on the island of Penang, Malaysia which is part of the Regions Beyond family. At the same time, I’m aware of numerous people across Newfrontiers who are seeking to plant churches on islands at the moment.
I think that there are many unique facets to island church planting cross-culturally. In fact, I believe that there are many opportunities to learn from islands more generally in the mission of God.
What follows, then, are some proposed lessons from islands, our teachers.
Super-local contextualisation
Islands develop their own niche ecologies and cultures. This is true with biological micro-evolution; islands are often home to species found no-where else. But it’s also true with cultural evolution – islands have unique foods, or music, or customs and beliefs.
With the gospel, this offers exciting opportunities for localised contextualisation. One thinks of the book “Peace Child” by Don Richardson, who, on discovering a cultural practice among the Sawi people of Irian Jaya whereby warring tribes exchanged children in order to make peace, was able to articulate the Christian gospel using this cultural reality in a way that resonated with local people.
Dialect
Islands often develop their own dialects, even their own micro-languages.
Let’s not forget that the question asked by the crowd in Acts 2:8, precisely translated, ought to read “And how is it that we hear, each one in his own dialect from the place of his birth?”
The goal of gospel proclamation is that the good news of Jesus Christ be articulated down to the localised dialect level of each community. The infinite translatability of the gospel means that God wants to speak, to be spoken to, and to be spoken of, in all the dialects of the earth. As Philip Jenkins wrote, “Pentecost renders all vernaculars equidistant from Jerusalem.”
Hospitality
Islands around the world are famous for their hospitality.
The gospel first came to Malta through a shipwreck – God was so committed to this island not being overlooked that he arranged a storm in order to land the apostle Paul and his companions there.
Acts 28:2 The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.
This verse is powerful, because it speaks of the islanders as barbarians (as they would seem to a shipful of Roman soldiers), and yet these ‘barbarians’ demonstrate “unusual kindness” (Greek: philanthropia).
Maltese hospitality opened them up to receive the gospel. In the same way, when Paul was ready to depart the island,
Acts 28:10 They also honoured us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
Post-colonialism
Most islands have been colonised at some point by external powers. Many islands have been frequently colonised by multiple regional and international empires. In addition, many islands were first introduced to Christianity through the British, or Spanish, or Portuguese or Dutch empires.
This history becomes an inescapable part of island identity. It is essential that we utilise all we are learning about the liberative power of the gospel in post-colonial contexts, that we bring a decolonised missionary approach.
Giving not Using
Linked to the above, islands have frequently been taken advantage of for their natural resources. They’ve often been used for their strategic location (Cyprus famously being called an “air-craft carrier for the Middle East”, Cuba being a key Cold War battle ground due to its location). In more recent times, islands are often used for their natural beauty by the tourism industry (Tenerife, Ibiza, Mauritius, the Seychelles, etc).
Islands have a long history of being used, taken advantage of, rather than loved for their own sake, invested in for their own future, given to for their own good.
Our God, as a giver not a taker, would see his people right these wrongs, invest and serve, “seek the welfare of the city” (Jer 29:7).
Diaspora connections
Young people have always left the claustrophobia of island life to seek a future on the mainland. Brain drain has always been an island reality. As a result, island communities have significant diasporas. The vast majority of these maintain connections with home, through family, through property, through coming every year for a holiday.
Diaspora has always been a powerful vehicle for gospel advance. Acts 11:20 tells us that the Cypriot diaspora who had become believers in Jerusalem, and were scattered through persecution, relocated to Antioch (where there was already a significant Cypriot diaspora) and began to preach the gospel there. Barnabas (also a diaspora Cypriot), went to Antioch to help establish the emerging church. In due course Barnabas was sent from Antioch to Cyprus (his motherland) to carry the gospel there.
In identical vein, in recent times, Cypriots living in London who have come to faith in Jesus have been involved in taking the gospel back to their island.
Today, Filipino Christianity is a global diaspora movement.
Wise church planters on islands will figure out how to recognise the work of God in their island’s diaspora families.
Smallness
Finally, local churches on islands are never likely to become megachurches, as might those in world cities. Islands are about smallness, localness, family, depth, longevity and faithfulness. Islands are not bad places to go in order to be delivered of the prevailing narratives that equate size with success. Islands can teach us the beauty and value of smallness.
Missionaries are learners. Let’s allow islands to be our teachers.
