Sister Churches: American Congregations and Their Partners Abroad - Hardcover

BAKKER

9780199328208: Sister Churches: American Congregations and Their Partners Abroad

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019932820X ISBN 13: 9780199328208

Publisher: Academic, 2018

The growth of Christianity in the global South and the fall of colonialism in the middle of the twentieth century caused a crisis in Christian missions, as many southern Christians spoke out about indignities they had suffered and many northern Christians retreated from the global South. American Christians soon began looking for a fresh start, a path forward that was neither isolationist nor domineering. Out of this dream the ''sister church'' model of mission was born. In this model, rather than Western churches sending representatives into the ''mission field,'' they set up congregation-to-congregation partnerships with churches in the global South. In Sister Churches Janel Bakker draws on extensive fieldwork and interviews with participants in these partnerships to explore the sister church movement and in particular its effects on American churches. Because Christianity is numerically and in many ways spiritually stronger in the global South than it is in the global North―while the imbalance in material resources runs in the opposite direction―both northern and southern Christians stand to gain. Challenging prevailing notions of friction between northern and southern Christians, Bakker argues that sister church relationships are marked by interconnectivity and collaboration.

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Review:

The rise and development of Christianity in the global South is a major fact of our time, but what is its impact on Christianity in the United States? In this path-breaking study, Janel Kragt Bakker explores a growing 'sister church' movement, which pairs congregations in the U.S. with ones in Africa, Asia or Latin America. What she finds is that in spite of unequal material resources, these sister churches can experience genuine partnership and a mutual meeting of needs. What do the Americans need and gain? Spiritual depth and strength, Bakker says, and strikingly different views of America's role in the world. This is a solidly researched and fascinating look into the new reality of world Christianity-in America. (Joel Carpenter, Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity, Calvin College)

About the Author:

Janet Kragt Bakker is an Independent Scholar (Ph.D., Catholic Univeristy of America, 2010).

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