Jay Mātenga

Jay Mātenga

Dr Jay Mātenga is a contexual theologian of Māori heritage. He serves as the Executive Director of the World Evangelical Alliance’s Mission Commission and Opinion Editor for Christian Daily International. Jay has served cross-cultural missions for over 30 years, with missionary deploying agencies and missions alliances. Jay's passion is to strengthen participation by the people of God in the purposes of God towards co-creating new creation for the glory of God. Jay keeps a monthly blog and other contributions archived at https://jaymatenga.com.

Articles by Jay Mātenga

  • Oceania

    Indigenous lessons for gospel spread today from a context of colonial missions efforts

    By Jay Mātenga

    One of the most successful indigenous gospel movements of colonial missions history was short lived, interrupted by the oppressive ethnocentric Christianity of colonial settlers whose witness failed to match biblical expectations. While outsiders are often powerfully catalytic for the gospel where the gospel is least known, missions is filled with accounts of the gospel spread being hindered by outsider Christians. We can improve gospel effectiveness with greater trust in indigenous/insider beli

  • A global missions leader's reflections on Lausanne 4 - part one of three

    By Jay Mātenga

    Part one of three. The fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (Lausanne 4/L4) was many things to many people. This series is the perspective of one global missions leader. There is much to be celebrated and concerned about the event, and some conclusions are drawn to help the Evangelical Church and its missions walk more confidently and equitably into the future.

  • A gobal missions leader's reflections on Lausanne 4 - part three of three

    By Jay Mātenga

    Part three of three. The fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (Lausanne 4/L4) was many things to many people. This series is the perspective of one global missions leader. There is much to be celebrated and concerned about the event, and some conclusions are drawn to help the Evangelical Church and its missions walk more confidently and equitably into the future.

  • A global missions leader's reflections on Lausanne 4 - part two of three

    By Jay Mātenga

    Part two of three. The fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (Lausanne 4/L4) was many things to many people. This series is the perspective of one global missions leader. There is much to be celebrated and concerned about the event, and some conclusions are drawn to help the Evangelical Church and its missions walk more confidently and equitably into the future.

  • Oceania

    Lausanne Congress 2024: Non-negotiables, secondary issues, and global church unity

    By Jay Mātenga

    The fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization is rapidly approaching. This is the first time Jay Matenga is participating. He notes that a tumult of conversation is already emerging and hopes that participants will keep their eyes on Jesus through a time of robust discussion—maintaining unity in the essentials, liberty on secondary issues, and love throughout.

  • Oceania

    We will let the whole world know: introducing CDI opinion editor Dr Jay Mātenga

    By Jay Mātenga

    Jay Mātenga introduces himself as the new Opinion Editor for Christian Daily International while reflecting on women as influential in the growth of world Christianity. Following the example of the mother of King Lemuel in Proverbs 31, the CDI opinion section will work to amplify voices often silenced in global Christian conversations like women, the disabled, the poor, the persecuted, and other marginalized Christians, to bring a harmonic balance to opinion pieces written by those more privileg

  • Oceania

    Emissaries of the way

    By Jay Mātenga

    The people for whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors have their own responsibilities and privileges. All of which are fulfilled in Jesus, whom they must recognise as their Messiah in order to find satisfaction for their millennia of yearning. As I noted in my previous blog post, we Gentiles are settlers to a well-established faith, the Jews (the blood line of Israel) are indigenous. We are grafted into their story. By Jesus’ blood, which has become our blood by faith, securing our

  • Oceania

    Co-creating safety

    By Jay Mātenga

    Safety is central to our wellbeing. Our sense of safety has an immediate impact on our physical health, emotional stability, social harmony, economic viability, psychological growth, as well as our spiritual maturity. Even the slightest glance at the news or social media today reveals a dramatic increase in instability resulting in a corresponding decrease in a sense of safety, psychologically if not physically.

  • Oceania

    Yielding to gravity (by Jay Matenga)

    By Jay Mātenga

    The text for this month is 1 Corinthians 1:9-10 (NLT), “God will (keep you strong and free from blame), for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into (koinonia) with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.” 

  • Oceania

    Damaging detachment (by Jay Matenga)

    By Jay Mātenga

    Galatians is widely accepted as Paul’s first epistle. It emerged in response to a radical disruption of the Jewish faith following the resurrection of Jesus. Almost 2,000 years on, we can too easily gloss over the shocking nature of this shift, which became a schism, and then an entirely independent religion with unbroken spiritual roots in the history of Israel and Judaism.

  • Oceania

    Nil by force: a word on militaristic tropes in missions

    By Jay Mātenga

    I think missions influencers resort to militaristic tropes because, when it comes to the sharing of our faith, whether local or cross-cultural, we have a motivational problem. To get more believers ‘committed’ to evangelism, ministry, and missions, influencers too easily twist Scripture to promote a militant activism, casting the ‘great unwashed’, ‘pagan’, or ‘heathen’ as ignorant slaves of our enemy (sin, the powers of darkness, and the Devil) needing to be rescued (by force, if necessary, e.g.

  • Oceania

    Whose side are you on?

    By Jay Mātenga

    I love the way Peterson’s Message Bible renders the question and response: Joshua asks, “Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies’?” and the response was, “Neither. I’m commander of GOD’s army. I’ve just arrived.” I launched my 2023 World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission Leader’s Missions Forecast from this passage. For my January 2024 post, I’ll repeat the introduction of that essay in the hope that it encourages you to take the time to read the rest.