ABSTRACT

The logistical prerequisite does not particularly concern us here, but the other two have some relevance to the theme of the rise of the laity.

The first prerequisite, the recruitment of a corps of competent personnel, leads us to the western understanding of the proclamation of the gospel. Western Christianity, being essentially territorial in conception, had always operated on a territorial understanding of Christian ministry. That understanding was also monarchical: the ordained pastor in his parish. Inheriting this understanding, the Protestant missionary movement took for granted that the missionary, as a preacher of the gospel, would be an ordained minister. The early promoters of mission therefore considered recruitment of missionaries in terms of the sources from which the home ministry was recruited.14