One of my favorite books is "The Gospel Blimp and Other Modern Parables". It is by Joseph Bayly and has a lot of great stories that challenge our notion of our faith. A number of these stories are (HAPPILY!!!) available online at http://www.ccel.us/howsilently.toc.html#Eleven One of these stories is Ceiling Zero. In this story some people …
Month: July 2011
Perspectives in Relief and Development
There has been a lot of concerns about Christian missions and its role in RELIEF and in DEVELOPMENT. Much of this is in the area of perception. Here is some variety with regard to perspective regarding these forms of social ministry. 1. Perspectives regarding the relationship between these forms of social ministry and "spiritual" ministry …
Which Training “Pays”?
Great quick article on the "Worst-Paying College Degrees of 2011" from Monster.com. These numbers were based on things in the USA. But I doubt things elsewhere drift too far from this. Rather than repeat the article (which is linked above anyway), consider the following from this top 10 list: Working and caring for the young …
Missional Living
I know the term "missional" is a bit... faddish. But an obvious value in it is that it breaks away from the excess baggage attached some other terms such as "missions" and "missionary". When we talk about missions, we start talking about strategies, and contextualization, and organizations. When we talk about missionaries, we start talking …
Modern Parables
We rely on the parables of Jesus... and in many ways, rightly so. As God's Word, and the words of our Savior and example, the 50 some parables of Christ should provide a foundation from which much of our Christian thought and practice is built off of . But that does not mean that the …
Power of Parables
One of the problems of not getting a real liberal arts education (most of my education is in Mechanical Engineering and military leadership), is limitations in communication and the arts. One of these is in the role of parables. When I was young going to church, parables were defined as "earthly stories with a heavenly …
Missionary Money Support
I probably should look at more forums, blogs, and such more than I do. However, did come across a nice forum thread on the issues regarding missionary support and church support (and control?) of missions. It has numerous perspectives... all of which are worth thinking about. http://www.puritanboard.com/f71/missions-funding-35179/ Take a look.
Missions, Numbers, and Pointy-Haired Bosses
Numbers matter, on some level at least, but I believe we all know that numbers are highly limited in their ability measure what matters. I remember a Dilbert Cartoon (November 21, 1994) where Dogbert suggested that corporate health can best be measured by employee turnover rate. The “pointy-haired boss” (PHB) noted that their turnover rate …
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Who is the Contextualizer
Missions commonly today focuses on the idea that contextualization is necessary. Contextualization is the enculturation of the gospel message. A Christian 1st century Greek did not, and should not live like a Christian 1st century Jew. The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 recognized Unity within Christ while maintaining Diversity in Culture. Today, in missions we …
Community Development and Nehemiah
I wrote an article a few years ago called "Wholistic Ministry and Nehemiah." One of the central points was that we often think of development backwards. I pointed out that Nehemiah worked to create change in a specific order.It is strange that when people think of Nehemiah, they focus on "THE WALL". While it is …