Reconceiving Success: Mission as Faithful Witness

Abstract

Explorations of success criteria for church-based missions are abundant, but they are not always helpful in supporting the well-being of practitioners. This article argues for abandoning success criteria in missions and instead viewing missions as a practice of faithful witness. Using David Bosch’s critiques of the evangelical and ecumenical models for missions, the discussion explores faithfulness as prophetic dialogue and witness as an eschatological concept to develop a more supportive approach to local church missions.