Indigenous church mission theory

There have been two main Protestant strategies proposed for the creation of indigenous churches: Henry Venn (Anglican, Church Missionary Society) (1796–1873)[2] and Rufus Anderson (Congregationalist, American Board) (1796–1880) simultaneously developed a strategy of Indigenization in response to the extreme paternalism exercised by western missionaries of the early 19th century, particularly in Asia.

[citation needed] John Ross (1848-1915), a Scottish missionary to Manchuria, established indigenous churches along the lines of the three-self principles among those of Korean descent beginning from 1874.

He sought to distance himself from any paternal organizations or denominations[citation needed] in favour of "faith missions"[8] which relied on the support of nationals and individuals.

Filipinos wanted full autonomy, including in the realm of religion, as the 333 years of Spanish rule were marked by the Catholic Church's control over both temporal and spiritual affairs.

His vision and motivation was faith in God's providence, and belief that the Filipino was capable of erecting a self-sustaining, autonomous, and self-propagating evangelical church.

Melvin Hodges (1909–1988), an Assemblies of God missionary to Nicaragua,[10] again popularized the idea in the 1950s with his book, On the Mission Field: The Indigenous Church.

Hodges believed that foreign money creates dependence and establishes paternalistic patterns within mission movements, leading to an unhealthy, anemic church.

In his book Transforming Mission,[11] David Bosch (1929–1992), a Dutch Reformed Afrikaner missiologist,[12] echoed Paul G. Hiebert's suggestion that a fourth "self" needed to be added to the Venn–Anderson framework: "self-theologizing".

[14] Bosch suggested that in order to not fall into the two extremes of syncretism or "Babylonian captivity", self-theologizing must be in dialogue with the universal invisible church.