1) A group of 9 Christian university students in Port Moresby debate whether to continue dialoguing with two Mormon missionaries to learn more about their faith and address cultural issues important to locals. 2) The missionaries were able to address questions about ancestry that Christians struggle with from a biblical perspective. 3) The students were unprepared to respond to the missionaries' teachings and argue why Mormonism differs from Christianity, pointing to a need for better discipleship.

1. Case Study 2: Mormons and Evangelicals in Melanesia
By
Phanith Sovann
Thinking Missiologically (MI510)
Dr. McConnell
May 13, 2015

2. Sovann 2
Problem: The conversation between the 9 Christian university students and the two Latter Day
Saints (LDS) elders raise a few issues:
1) Dugi and his group must determine whether or not to invite Elder Steve and Elder Tom
back to their gathering in order to explain more about the Mormon Standard Works.
Essentially, how do Christians embark in an interfaith dialogue with other faiths in order
to understand their viewpoints without compromising the truths of our Christian faith?
2) The LDS elders were able to give an answer to a question that deals with the topic of
ancestry, life and death, which is at the heart of the belief system of the Melanesian tribal
culture. This is a topic that the Christian students themselves have a difficult time
addressing since ‘there is not much Biblical teaching about [their] ancestors’.1
How can
the Christian students begin to evangelize successfully to their village elders by
addressing cultural matters that are pressing from a biblical viewpoint?
3) Dugi and his group were not well-equipped to respond to Elder Steve in a way that is
biblical sound and contest why the Mormon teaching does not align with the Christian
faith. Could this hint at the underlying issue of the lack of discipleship among younger
evangelical believers which affect their response to questions of faith and practice?
Timeline:
In the 1800s, early missionaries and missions groups such as the London Missionary Society,
venture into the South Pacific to evangelize to the “unevangelized” market.2
Port Moresby was imprinted by mission efforts from schools and hospitals. “Missionary
efforts were a major part of the strategy for developing a civil society within the British
Commonwealth” later adopted by Australia (1905-1918).3
Post World War II era, “the city of Port Moresby experienced rapid growth as the capital of
the territory of Papua and New Guinea (1945-1975) and then nation of Papua New Guinea
(1975)”.4
Soldiers, after having served in the South Pacific during WWII, came home with stories that
spurred the “proliferation of missionary activity” in that region in the 1950s. 5
1
Doug McConnell. “Should We Talk to Mormons?” (2014. Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA) 2.
2
Doug McConnell. “Two Questions and Four Laws: Missiological Reflections on LDS and Evangelical Missions in
Port Moresby." (2014. MS. Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA) 1.
3
McConnell. “Two Questions and Four Laws” 2.
4
McConnell. “Two Questions and Four Laws” 2.
5
McConnell. “Two Questions and Four Laws” 1.

3. Sovann 3
By 1980, Christian missionary groups and other groups such as the Latter Day Saints
established the Pacific Islands as a destination for missions. Increase in short-term missions
established in response to the benign approval of the Papua New Guinea government. 6
9 university students gather around the question of “Should we talk to Mormons?” and is
faced with the dilemma of whether or not to continue their dialogue with the LDS Elders and dig
deeper into Mormon Canon of Scripture in order to test its validity against their Christian faith
and determine if the Mormon approach to certain cultural topics is beneficial to their
evangelization efforts among the elders in their village in Port Moresby or not.
Interfaith Dialogue: The encounter between the Christian university students and the LDS
elders demonstrate that interfaith dialogue is an important response while it is just as important
to stay true to the gospel. In his book, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society, Lesslie Newbigin
emphasizes the need for interfaith dialogue, an opportunity to strengthen and test the Christian
faith. He claims that the intent is not to displace the experiences of others but rather to enrich and
be enriched by others for “only an open mind can hope to reach the truth”.7
Moreover, Newbigin argues that “we learn to use our reasoning powers by entering into
the experiences, the discoveries, the debates, and the disagreements of those who have gone
before us”8
In other words, Christians have a responsibility to know exactly what they believe.
Newbigin stresses discipleship especially among church leaders, as an act of mission to the
world. In a time where other religions have prolific missionary effort globally, younger
Christians should not only be equipped with passion and then sent out on short-term mission
trips but also armed by the solid biblical foundation and understanding of God’s mission for the
world and that Gospel in the context of the culture in which they venture to.
6
McConnell. “Two Questions and Four Laws” 1.
7
Lesslie Newbigin. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1989) Kindle File, Chapter
1.
8
Lesslie Newbigin. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1989) Kindle File.

4. Sovann 4
Additionally, Newbigin argues that the Christian faith “has to be sustained in its integrity
by the intellectual vigor and practical courage with which its members seek to be faithful to it—
not be repeating past formulas but by courageously restating the tradition in the light of new
experience”9
Christians serve a living God. The Holy Spirit is alive and operates in the lives of
believers and through the church. It is important for the evangelical church to recognize and
discern the works that He is doing within the local church and the universal church. In
understanding this truth, Dugi and his group will have something more appealing to the
Melanesian elders than the Mormon’s open canon policy that is a true, living, breathing God who
is more than able to move among His people and reveal His will to those who seek Him.
Poverty and Development: It is impossible to understand how Christian evangelicals can be
successful witnesses to the tribal cultures of Port Moresby without unpacking development
concepts that inform Christian missiology and without identifying problems with the modern
worldview that is so prominent in the West.
Paul G. Hiebert’s framework contributes to an understanding of the comparisons between
the worldviews of traditional (more similar in nature to the biblical worldview) and modern
cultures. Worldviews, according to Hiebert, are ways that people form mental categories. He
writes that certain worldviews are built on “clearly delineated Cantorian sets with a finite number
of categories in a domain” which results in ‘the excluded middle’ “where members cannot
belong to two sets at the same time”.10
9
Lesslie Newbigin. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1989) 63.
10
Paul G. Hiebert. Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change. (Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008) 33.

5. Sovann 5
Building upon Hiebert’s framework, Dr. Bryant Meyers writes, “Modernity’s separation
of the physical and spiritual realms is…how we have come to understand Christian witness, and
specifically evangelism, as being unrelated to community development”.11
This phenomenon
leads to a separation between “word, sign, and deed”, which Meyers argues is a foreign concept
in the worldviews of traditional cultures. “The traditional worldview is holistic, with the spiritual
and material worlds interrelated in a seamless whole”.12
Meyers argues towards a more holistic
view of the gospel which encompasses the physical, spiritual, and everything that falls in
between. Concepts of ancestors, spirits, and demons may be seen as “superstition and ignorance”
in the West. However, “most traditional cultures spend a lot of time being concerned about this
unseen world and locate cause and effect there” (as demonstrated by the Melanesian culture’s
belief that their ancestors are still among them).13
By failing to see the gospel and the concept of missiology in a more holistic way,
Christians fail to “hear the community’s story about the unseen world, and we fail to have
answers that, in their minds, adequately take this world into account” which is why Dugi and his
friends found it more difficult to share their faith to the elders in their village.14
“If there is no
relationship between the message of the missionary and the world of the hearer, then there is
little room for a real and lasting response”.15
The LDS elders have a theology that answers to the
cultural concerns of the Melanesians, which is why they are well-accepted.
11
Bryant L. Meyers. Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development. (Maryknoll,
NY: Orbis, 1999) 7.
12
Bryant L. Meyers. Walking with the Poor. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1999) 7.
13
Bryant L. Meyers. Walking with the Poor. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1999) 8.
14
Bryant L. Meyers. Walking with the Poor. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1999) 8.
15
McConnell. “Two Questions and Four Laws” 4.

6. Sovann 6
Ecclesiology: God’s ultimate tool of mission is His body—the church. Michael Goheen argues
in A Light to the Nations, that the best way the church can be a tool for God’s mission is to “live
as part of our culture, and yet as a contrast community we challenge the religious spirits that are
incompatible with the kingdom of God”.16
It is the way that individual believers come together in
worship, preaching, and prayer that glorifies God and directs people to Him.
As Peskett and Ramachandra points out, “Mission is not primarily about going. Nor is
mission primarily about doing anything. Mission is about being. It is about being a distinctive
kind of people, a countercultural…community among the nations”.17
There is no evidence that
Dugi and his eight friends are rooted in a church and are being fed and spiritually nurtured. But,
this would be a good step for them to develop the foundations of their faith. Additionally, as
Goheen argued, the church is to be a contrast community. Therefore, Dugi and his friends should
not be afraid to contest certain ideals of the LDS community that contradicts with the Word of
God in a manner of wisdom and gentleness, only after having studied and understanding basic
foundations of their own faith.
Missiological Approach: As believers, we are called to be the salt and light of the world.
Dugi and his friends have an opportunity to strengthen their faith by conducting interfaith
dialogues with their new Mormon friends. They should continue to do so in hopes to grow in
their own faith. However; it is important for Dugi and his friends to take root in Scripture, have a
personal relationship with God where their spiritual lives are constantly being strengthened, and
have accountability partners as they place themselves as members of a Christian church. In order
to answer to the needs of their culture, Dugi and his friends should explore the work of the Holy
16
Michael W. Goheen. A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2011) 208.
17
Howard Peskett and Vinoth Ramachandra. The Message of Mission. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003) 123.

7. Sovann 7
Spirit which starts by tuning their ears to His voice and seeing that He alone will affirm His
Word with scripture. They must see that God is a holistic God and the spiritual realm is not
foreign to His rule.
Bibliography
Goheen, Michael W. A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical
Story. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011. Print.
Hiebert, Paul G. Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How
People Change. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008. Print.

8. Sovann 8
McConnell, Doug. "Should We Talk to Mormons?" Fuller Theological Seminary:
Pasadena, CA (2015): 1-3. Print.
McConnell, Doug. "Two Questions and Four Laws: Missiological Reflections on LDS
and Evangelical Missions in Port Moresby." 2014. MS, Prepublication Manuscript. Fuller
Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA.
Myers, Bryant L. Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational
Development. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1999. Print.
Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans,
1989. Kindle File.
Peskett, Howard, and Vinoth Ramachandra. The Message of Mission: The Glory of
Christ in All Time and Space. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003. Print.