Why decolonise mission?
We need to reclaim the gospel from the entanglements of empire, says Dr Harvey Kwiyani
I wrote a book entitled Decolonizing Mission because I believe the mission of Jesus liberates. It does not colonise.
by Harvey Kwiyani
In Decolonizing Mission, published later this month, I explore why Christian mission must be disentangled from the legacies and logic of imperialism – entanglements that have been central to the expansion of Christianity since the 1400s.
While that may make historical sense – especially to those of us on the receiving end of empires’ violence – the deeper reason I write on this theme is theological. I am convinced that the gospel of Jesus Christ fundamentally subverts the very idea of empire. The good news is not imperial. It does not conquer. The mission of Jesus liberates. It does not colonise.
This conviction is grounded first in Scripture, particularly in the ministry of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus begins his public ministry with a bold proclamation:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18–19)
This is not a vague spiritual ideal. It is a radical challenge to the economic, political, and religious systems of Jesus’ day – systems built on inequality, control, and exclusion.
In first-century Judea under Roman rule, proclaiming good news to the poor and freedom to the oppressed was dangerous. Jesus was not merely comforting souls – he was confronting empire. By invoking the Jubilee vision of Leviticus 25, where land was returned, debts forgiven, and captives freed, Jesus announced a new social order rooted in God’s justice and mercy. The people in the synagogue understood this. That’s why they were enraged.
This is the gospel I seek to reclaim – a gospel that resists the logic of conquest, domination, and superiority.
When Jesus extended this liberating vision beyond Israel to outsiders like the widow in Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian, his audience responded with violence. His message threatened their sense of religious and national entitlement. It still threatens the powerful today.
Jesus against empire
In the context of first-century Palestine, the social and political implications of Jesus’ messianic mission involved a nonviolent subversion of Rome’s imperial logic.
Through acts of healing, inclusion, prophetic critique, and the proclamation of God’s kingdom, Jesus directly challenged systems of power, privilege, and oppression.
He announced a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36), where greatness is defined by servanthood (Luke 22:25–27), enemies are loved (Luke 6:27), and the poor are blessed (Luke 6:20).
This is the gospel I seek to reclaim – a gospel that resists the logic of conquest, domination, and superiority.
The mission drift of history
And yet, throughout much of history, Christian mission became aligned with the very powers Jesus opposed.
From Constantine’s fourth-century embrace of Christianity to the colonial ventures of the modern era, mission too often served empire. It baptised conquest. It legitimised cultural erasure. It justified economic exploitation.
The true mission of God has always relied on love, humility, vulnerability, and the Spirit’s power.
To be clear, not all missionaries embraced this entanglement. Figures like Bartolomé de las Casas in the 16th century, or later Joseph Booth in the 1890s and others actively challenged the abuses of empire. They advocated for indigenous dignity and sought to distinguish gospel proclamation from colonial ambitions.
Even so, the broader legacy of complicity cannot be denied. It must be confronted. It must be lamented. And it must be transcended.
Mission without empires
This is why I write about decolonising mission. Because Jesus never preached an imperial gospel. In Decolonizing Mission, I trace historical vignettes that show how the gospel has never required conquest to spread.
From the beginning, Jesus entrusted this movement not to kings or soldiers but to the marginalised and overlooked, colonised people like his Galilean disciples. The true mission of God has always relied on love, humility, vulnerability, and the Spirit’s power.
I dream of a global mission movement of Christians from formerly colonised lands as well as the rest of the world. A mission that proclaims good news in the spirit of Luke 4:18. A mission where the poor are centred, the oppressed are set free, and the kingdom of God is revealed not through power, but through love.
This, I believe, is the task of the church today: to proclaim a post-imperial gospel. A gospel that resists baptising privilege. A gospel that stands with the poor. A gospel that disrupts injustice, embodies compassion, and embraces the non-coercive love of Christ.
An invitation
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a tool for expanding empires – it is a prophetic summons to dismantle them. It proclaims that the love of God liberates, heals, and decolonises. To be faithful to God’s mission in the world today, we must decolonise mission.
If this resonates with you, if you share this longing, I invite you to read Decolonizing Mission and join millions of us in reclaiming a gospel that is good news not only for the soul, but for the world.
For more, subscribe to Harvey’s Substack: Global Witness, Globally Reimagined
