The book “Character Theology: Engaging God through His Cast of Characters” by Tom Steffen and Ray Neu, published 2024, is a book that I highly recommend to missionaries, church leaders, and theologians alike, despite the frank admission that the book is not really written for me. I think I need to explain this. If it …
Category: Book Review
Brief Book Review: “The Global Gospel” by Werner Mischke
I have been reading "The Global Gospel: Achieving Missional Impact in Our Multicultural World" by Werner Mischke (Mission One, 2015). I have found it to be a valuable book. It seems to have two primary inter-related thrusts. The first is to recognize that the Gospel very much is tied to Honor/Shame cultures in terms of …
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Book Review and Reflections: George Lisle: A Faith that Couldn’t be Denied
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 …
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Book Review: Thriving in the City, by Aaron Smith
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 …
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Book Review: “Encountering the History of Missions”
The book, "Encountering the History of Mission: From the Early Church to Today" by John Mark Terry and Robert L. Gallagher, is part of the Encountering Missions series of books. It was published in 2017 by Baker Academic. I strongly recommend it for anyone interested in Christian missions--- especially Evangelical Christian missions. I don't have …
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On My Bookshelf at the Moment
I am in the US right now so I like to think of it as a good time to catch up on reading. That hasn't been as true as I would like it to be. Nevertheless, I have been making some progress. Here are the one's I am pushing through. #1. Becoming a Missional Family; …
Review: Cross-Cultural Servanthood— by Duane Elmer
I want to say that this is the best Christian Missions book I have read in a long time. The problem with that is that I have been rather blessed in having read a lot of good Missions books lately. Maybe it is better to say that it is "THE MOST READABLE, RELEVANT, AND QUOTABLE …
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Christian Missions and Pastoral Care
Christian Missions seems so opposite to Pastoral Care. Christian Missions is usually linked with proclamation and apologetics. Pastoral Care is more tied to listening and eductive learning. Christian Missions usually seeks to change others. Pastoral Care is usually more focused on empowering others to change themselves--- or at least understand themselves better. But there are …
Book Review: “Encountering Theology of Mission” (Ott, Strauss, Tennent)
The book, Encountering Theology of Mission: Biblical Foundations, Historical Developments, and Contemporary Issues by Craig Ott, Stephen J. Strauss, with Timothy C. Tennent, is the best Missiology book I have read in quite some time. I just finished reading it about 2 hours ago, so I don't think this will be a carefully crafted review... …
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Book Review. “A Higher Purpose for Your Overseas Job” by Roberto Claro.
I have been reading a book “A Higher Purpose for Your Overseas Jobs” by Roberto Claro (a pseudonym). Also had the opportunity to attend a one-day seminar led by the author. Strangely, I had assigned the book to my missions students before, but had not really taken the time to get into it personally. I …
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