Log in to your Account

A conversation with Calum Samuelson

The Rev. Calum Samuelson, Ph.D., serves with TMS Global with his family in Sweden. He attended as part of the Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative and for his expertise in aspects of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.

“For the past several centuries, the move of the gospel message has largely taken place from Western nations to other parts of the globe,” says Samuelson. “However, other movements have also characterized Christian mission historically, such as Christians from the Church of the East in China (Mar Yahballaha and Rabban Sauma) proclaiming the Good News while traveling westward through Baghdad. This type of movement is becoming increasingly common today, with people like my Coptic Orthodox friend leaving Egypt to serve as a cross-cultural witness in Bolivia. These movements typify a mission dynamic and strategy now known as ‘polycentric missiology,’ and it was the subject of many conversations at Lausanne.

“Polycentric missiology, in simple terms, means ‘from everywhere to everywhere,’” Samuelson explains. “More technically, it’s the study of mission efforts originating from multiple places around the world.” No longer are mission efforts centered around one or two primary sending hubs in order to complete the Great Commission, he explains.

TMS Global is embracing "from everywhere to everywhere." But, says Jim Ramsay, president and CEO of TMS Global, it comes with challenges. “It will require rethinking how cross-cultural witnesses (CCWs) are sent and supported globally and locally. Funding, member care, and mission practices will have to change.”

Innovation is key to this transformation. One example is the Across Alliance. This unique partnership connects people and partner organizations from around the world to send, receive, resource, and share cross-cultural experiences across each global region. As a result, non-Americans are being sent out to other parts of the world.

“We’re hoping the Across Alliance will be a way we can begin to operationalize ‘from everywhere to everywhere,’” says President Ramsay.  The Across Alliance is just one innovative effort that TMS Global has launched to adapt to the new mission landscape.

“I think God delights in doing unexpected and surprising things,” says Samuelson. “And I believe God is working through polycentric missions to reach unexpected people in surprising places and surprising ways.”

We are so grateful to partner with you as, together, we seek to reach people who may never have heard of Jesus. Please pray with us that God would do “immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20, NIV).

NEXT Story from the Fourth Lausanne Congress! here