A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

x- pressed so forthrightly; instead, it is implied by a host of tilings we say and do which indicate that we are not yet ready to trust the leadership God has raised up for his church in these countries. He concluded: Most of us missionaries would pay glowing tribute to the maturing church in the lands where we have served and to the emergence of a true national leadership in it. Of- ten, however, our actions belie our words- It is all too ev- ident that we feel that for some time to come we shall have to hang on tightly to the reins of authority. Mean- while, we grudgingly give in here and there by delegating some responsibility in less important areas, but seldom surrender major elements of the work into their hands un- less we are forced to do it,2* Test of Our Strategy Roland Allen has described the spontaneous expansion of the church as an unexhorted and unorganized activity of indi- vidual members of the church explaining to others the gospel which they have found for themselves; an expansion which follows the irresistible attraction of the Christian church for people who see its meaningful life and are drawn to it by a desire to discover the secret of this life they inwardly desire.*9 Allen questions the effectiveness of highly organized mis- sion institutions. Missionaries, known to be well paid by an organization or denomination to propagate the faith and the expansion of their own denomination, may not always have the contagious dynamic of the Spirit that ignites fire in human hearts. The modern era of missions reflects three typical stages of relationship with national churches: dependency, indepen- 272 MISSIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF CHANGE dency and interdependency. The dependency model, where the missionary was the initiator, overseer, policy maker, evan- gelist and doctor, theoretically ceased with the end of colo- nialism. National churches wanted an independent religious movement under their own direction and control. The word indigenization-which meant the creation of na- tional churches independent from the mission in organization and finances-became the slogan for a period of time. Leader- ship of institutions and programs was transferred to local peo- ple, with the missionary assuming the posture of servanthood. While the model was good, Western administrators and mis- sionaries found it difficult not to develop a "helper-helpee" re- lationship in which the "helper" still defined the need and prescribed the solution.30 Mennonite Brethren, while articulat- ing the "Partnership in Obedience" commitment, in practice lately