I am teaching a History of Missions class at Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary. Again, I have been struck at two streams of missions work. The first might be called "Power Missions." The other might be called "Weakness Missions." Others have written on this (at least one that I know of), but I feel that not …
Category: Encounters in Mission
Consideration of four (4) encounters in missions. Truth, Allegiance, Love, and Power.
Religion and Problems of POWER and CONTROL
I am left with a belief that these numbers on poorly advertised presentations from an (admittedly) obscure compiler suggests that this topic is a BIG concern. Oh sure, it could be that the hits are from fully secularized individuals who, to feel good about their god-free life choices, like to look up pages on people …
“Prophecy” and a Confession, of Sorts
I was talking to my son about a logical glitch I have in a couple of my blog posts from a few months ago. He suggested that, instead of fixing them, I put a blog post about them. In one post, I was complaining about a self-styled "prophet" from America, who had made a "prophecy" …
On the Theme “Walking With” : A Missions Theology. Part 6
This last section looks at Missions from the standpoint of Missions practice. As such, it is not, strictly speaking, drawn from the theme "Walking With." Rather it is dialogue between practice and principle. I believe that the basic principles flow from the Biblical understanding of "walking with." Reviewing: God (as drawn from the OT) relates …
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Cleansing the Church’s “Court of the Gentiles”?
I would like to pull together three fairly unrelated things. Layers of Culture, the Layout of the Temple in Jerusalem, and Christian outreach. First. Layers of Culture. Linwood Barney showed layers of culture. Inmost is ideology, cosmology, and worldview. The figure for this is below. These are the least visible cultural characteristics. Out from that …
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Ghosts, Truth Encounter, and Things that go Bump in the Night
Occasionally, I watch these ghost hunter or ghost buster shows on TV. Some (I will call "ghost hunters") claim that they are being objective... but clearly they are hoping to find evidence of the paranormal, thus evidencing the inadequacy of a naturalistic view of the world. The others (I will call "ghost busters") also claim …
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Ambivalent Reflections on Spiritual Warfare
I often find myself on the side of downplaying "spiritual warfare" and "power encounter." I see myself doing this not so much because I see these as purposeless. I have seen missionaries working in particularly difficult places coming down with horrible maladies. I am not sure I can simply chalk that up to stress and …
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Is Religion Good, Bad, or Both?
Religion Stencil (Photo credit: murdelta) It has become popular to attack religion... even by religious people. Many Christians say they are not religious; they simply follow Christ. Some Christians say that Christianity is "Not a Religion, but a Relationship." Christianity is not alone in this. The imam in our neighborhood would say that Islam is …
Richard Stearns Quote on Wanting to “Enlarge Your Territory”
The following is an excerpt from Richard Stearns book "The Hole in Our Gospel" (Thomas Nelson, 2010, p. 40-41) Referring to the book, "Prayer of Jabez," Stearns wrote: The gist of the book was that if we would truly pray for God to bless us in this way, to be used by Him for the …
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Quote from Philip Jenkins and Timothy of Seleucia
This is an extended quote from Philip Jenkins' book, "The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-- and How it Died" (HarperOne, 2008). I suppose it may be a longer quote than normal copyrights approve. But I do heartily recommend getting the book for …
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