| Summary: | There has been a growing interest in non-western churches and in their theology and missiology. This thesis addresses one branch of this non-western church, by selecting a group of Evangelical writers in Asia and considering their approach to missiology. The writers are Vinay Samuel (India), Vinoth Ramachandra (Sri Lanka), Hwa Yung and Ng Kam Weng (Malaysia) and Melba Maggay (Philippines). The study argues that the selected writers’ approach to missiology can be described as transformational missiology. The thesis will adapt a framework developed by the non-western missiologist Samuel Escobar at the Iguassu consultation in Brazil in October 1999, to help set this approach to missiology in relation to other evangelical approaches in the post-World War II era. It will consider Escobar’s categorizations of missiology, which look at the influence of European and North American missiology on non-western theologians, suggest the addition of the concept of ‘mission as transformation’ and propose a slightly adapted framework as a constructive way of interpreting the selected writers’ approaches to missiology in Asia. The thesis will argue that the Evangelical writers in Asia who favour transformational missiology do so as a function of both their Asian backgrounds and their Evangelical heritage. Their Asian backgrounds encourage them to deal with the issues that the church faces in its Asia setting by forging an Asian Christian identity and developing forms of the issues that the church faces in its Asia setting by foraging an Asian Christian identity and developing forms of missiology appropriate for Asian contexts. Their Evangelical heritage shapes the traditions of missiology that they draw on and influences how they use the Christian scriptures as a resource in theology. The thesis is organised in three parts. Part one explores the opportunities and constraints that Christians in Asia face in the multi-religious setting and which necessitate the need to develop contextual forms of missiology and to forage Asian Christian identity. Part two considers Escobar’s framework for missiology, and how the Asian and Evangelical backgrounds of the selected writers lead to the adoption of transformational missiology. Part three critiques transformational missiology in relation to Asia and to evangelicals.
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