Aotearoa New Zealand Association for Mission Studies

Steve Taylor: 
Mission between global and local:  Eating McDonald’s in a pavalova paradise

 Abstract:

 This paper will attempt to construct a contemporary contextual missiology.  It will use the contrast between two films; firstly, Zeffarelli’s, then Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet as a text to describe our contemporary socio-cultural context.  This description will be grouped under headings of fragmentation, identity shopping and the ethnic edge and will explore how these themes are played out with reference to global and local forces.

 The paper will then offer three mission motifs; creative play, pilgrimage and DJ sampling of gospel and culture.  These motifs will be examined in a dialogue with the Christian tradition and contemporary cultural practices. 

I will suggest that each of these motifs are in continuity with strands of the Christian tradition and offer a missionary vitality to us in Aotearoa New Zealand, caught between the local and the global, between eating McDonald’s and pavalova.

 Note:  This paper will be similar to that presented at the Baptist Mission to New Zealand 2 conference June 19, 2003.

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