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to convert overseas peoples and was as such an attendant phenomenon of European expansion. The church was understood as a legal institution which had the right to entrust its ‘mission’ to secular power and to a corps of ‘specialists’ priests or religious. ‘Mission’ meant the activities by which the western ecclesiastical system was extended into the rest of the world. The ‘missionary’ was irrevocably tied to an institution in Europe, from which he or she derived the mandate and power to confer salvation on those who accept certain tenets of the faith.[1]

In this colonial paradigm it is quite right to say that the cross followed the sword. The problem in this approach is not only its theology but also the practice of collaboration with the state government. This had the lasting effect of making people in Asia and Africa sceptical about Christianity. In their encounter with other faiths and cultures, European missionaries learned lessons and gradually changed their opinion about people of other faiths.

The missionary movement of the 19th century which brought about the unparalleled growth and expansion of Christianity to a certain degree abandoned the idea of collaboration with the state government and developed a voluntary Christian mission by forming several missionary societies. Since the missionaries were not directly sent and controlled by the state government, the colonialists and missionaries had different interests. In some places there was bitter conflict between them, but by and large the missionaries profited from the logistics help provided by the colonial structures.[2] Whether the relationship between missionaries and colonialists was good or bad, together they shared the imperial ethos that western values, culture and practices were the only authentic ones to be followed by all people. With this mind-set, both missionaries and colonial administrators could not appreciate other cultures and imposed their own culture on others. Such an approach has created serious problems for mission work throughout history. Though the crusaders were not successful in their mission, the spirit of Christian triumphalism nurtured by western imperialism has continued up to today.

1.1.Pietistic Evangelical paradigm

The Pietistic Evangelical Paradigm is second long lasting paradigm; beginning from the pietistic movement of the late 17^th century through the evangelical awakening of the 19^th century up to the present time. Pietism, rediscovering the tradition of the Reformation, emphasized faith over against reason, disciplined life over sound doctrine, subjective experience of the individual over ecclesial authority; practice over theory.[3]The pietistic movement combined the joy of personal experience of salvation with an eagerness to proclaim the gospel of redemption to all. Its emphasis on the individual rather than society has its strength and weakness.

 The pietistic movement made significant contributions to Christian mission. Even though the first two missionaries to India were sent by a king, missionary work became a voluntary enterprise. Eventually, pietism transformed Christian mission from being a concern of rulers and church hierarchies to being an enterprise of every committed Christian. Pietism ushered in the age of ecumenism in mission in which the fellowship of believers, drawn from various denominations, worked together in the Christian mission. This cooperation transcended national and confessional boundaries.

The pietistic approach was affirmed, strengthened and transformed by the evangelical awakening in Europe and North America which sent out missionaries in large numbers to various parts of the world. Most western historians considered the 19^th century the ‘Great Century’ of Protestant and Catholic mission. Though there are several factors in and outside of the church responsible for the worldwide expansion which made Christianity a universal religion, on the whole the evangelical awakening which gave birth to a large number of missionary organizations dedicated to the task of world evangelization is regarded as primary factor.[4]The internal regeneration of the churches enabled them to grasp the opportunities offered by the favourable external conditions like the colonization of Asia and Africa, new scientific discoveries, which provided better communication facilities and the industrial revolution which expanded trade and commerce.

The watch-word of the Student Volunteer Movement, ‘the evangelization of the world in this generation’ reflects the motif and approach of the Christian mission. The central thrust of this paradigm was proclamation of the gospel with a view to converting people so that their souls might be saved eternally. Emphasis on personal conversion, purity of life, the imminent return of Jesus Christ, loving obedience and discipleship in the evangelical theology of mission was clear evidence of pietistic influence. The theological motif of the 19^th century missionary was both soteriological and eschatological.

The most significant contribution of the evangelical awakening to the Christian mission was the development of voluntarism which eventually brought about the

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[1] Bosch, Transforming Mission, 228.

[2] Michael Amaladoss, ‘The church as servant of the coming kingdom’ in Gerald H. Anderson, James M. Philips and Robert T. Coote, eds., Mission in the Nineteen Nineties (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1991), 14.

[3] Paul Tillich, Perspective on 19th and 20th Century Protestant Theology (London: SCM, 1967), 95-97; David A. Palin, ‘Enlightenment’ in Alan Richardson and John Bowden, eds., A New Dictionary of Christian Theology (London: SCM, 1983), 179-180.

[4] Rodger C. Bassham, Mission Theology 1948-1975: Years of World Creative Tension Ecumenical, Evangelical and Roman Catholic (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1979), 4.