Celtic Cross. Image via Wikipedia History The Peregrini (exiles) were Celtic monks who chose to follow the call of Christ by leaving their monasteries behind and traveling to different parts of Europe to share the Gospel, disciple new believers, and educate. The most famous Celtic missionaries were typically Irish, but they came from many Celtic …
Category: Encounters in Mission
Consideration of four (4) encounters in missions. Truth, Allegiance, Love, and Power.
What View Should The Christian Take of Non-Christian Religions?
<Much of this article is discussed more in Sir Normal Anderson's book "CHRISTIANITY AND WORLD RELIGIONS: THE CHALLENGE OF PLURALISM"(starting around page 169)> “What view should the Christian take of non-Christian religions-…- as systems that profess to mediate salvation?” Anderson describes three broad viewpoints. To provide real-world illustration of these options, I am using the …
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Balance in Christian Leadership
A lot of times in Christian circles, we focus on the extremes. Extreme faith, extreme dedication, extreme charisma, extreme courage, etc. There is a place for that... and I suppose, it is reasonable that the heroes of the faith are often people of rather extreme temperaments, even (perhaps) collectors of personality disorders. They are people …
In Evangelism, Positive is Better than Negative
I was reading a web article about Campus Crusades for Christ. I generally like CCC, although, like any group, there is plenty of room for criticism. The same could be said about Bill Bright, its founder. The article was pretty negative, but it had this quote made by Bill Bright: "If they're Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, …
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Classic Quote: Roland Allen
A Quote from Roland Allen in "Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours. A Study of the Church in the Four Provinces" chapter 5 (ca 1912). "St. Paul did not convert or attempt to convert people by working miracles upon them. He did not attract people to Christianity by offering them healing. He did not heal …
Power Encounter, Love Encounter, and Pandemic Love
One of the two most popular posts on this blog is: From Power Encounter to Love Encounter In that post, I argued that the common missiological model of encounters, Truth Encounter, Allegiance Encounter, and Power Encounter, is flawed. Power Encounter, the challenging of the powers of evil with the power of God for missiological purposes …
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Confession as a Mission Method?
Christians tend to downplay the concept of public confession. Christians tend to emphasize confession as personal and private. Even among those churches that practice the rite or sacrament of confession (penance), they accomplish it in a private chamber between an individual and a priest. The one who confesses need tell no one else, while the …
The Cross or the Sword? Part 1
Cover via Amazon Christianity was a peaceful faith for the most part for many centuries. As the church became institutionalized and nationalized there was a tendency to link the church to the military and to coersion. With Charlemagne, the gloves came off. With his Grandfather (Charles Martel) having to fight off Muslim invaders, and his …
From Power Encounter to Love Encounter
<A related, follow-on article is Power Encounter, Love Encounter, and Pandemic Love.> In Missions there is often 3 types of "encounters" discussed. Charles Kraft, in particular, has a lot in this area and include: Truth Encounter Allegiance Encounter Power Encounter Truth Encounter is the challenge of God's truth against the various lies that are encountered …
Another Kind of “Power Encounter”
Missionary Tom comes in and wants to start up a new ministry. Where does he go to get manned with the most competent, driven people? To other local ministries, of course. Tom has more money and so can lure the best people away from other local ministries. Maybe Tom’s group is effective, maybe it isn’t. …