About 5 years ago, in 2017, I first learned about George Lisle. Before that I had taught Missions History and I "knew" that the Judsons were the first (major) American international missionaries, and that William Carey was the first Baptist international missionary. But then I found out that a decade before Carey, and before Adoniram …
Continue reading Book Review and Reflections: George Lisle: A Faith that Couldn’t be Denied
Back around 2014 or so I began writing a book on Theology of Missions. I took some of those for a class I was teaching n Mission Theology. After completion of the class, I got all excited about finishing the book. However, then I was asked to teach a class on Interreligious Dialogue. Being in …
The church exists for mission. As Christopher Wright says, 'Jesus did not give a mission to his church; he formed a church for his mission.' Without the mission, a church is not a church; it's just a group of disobedient Christians hanging out. The church is a movement before it is an institution. And the …
Continue reading Disobedient Christians Hanging Out Together Quote
I want to focus on one reason for failing to adapt to a new culture, but before I do, I suppose I should list some other reasons first. #1. Unintentional Ethnocentrism. This is the belief that "Our Way is the Only Way." This may be unintentional because the person comes from a monocultural setting, perhaps, …
Continue reading Maintaining Otherness. Why Do People Fail to Adapt to a New Culture?
I recently finished reading "Thriving in the City: A Guide for Sustaining Incarnational Ministry Among the Poor," by T. Aaron Smith. Aaron and his wife Ema serve as missionaries to the urban poor in Manila, Philippines. Even though they serve in the Philippines as do my wife and I, we have actually not met in …
Continue reading Book Review: Thriving in the City, by Aaron Smith