A friend of mine put this thought on his FB page: "A nation dies when its people are taught to hate their own history, heritage and culture." My first thing was to react pretty negatively to this. After all, I was raised in a setting of American Exceptionalism, with a bit of xenophobia mixed in. …
Continue reading How Should a Missionary Feel About His/Her Own Culture?
I preached first Sunday of Advent sermon on "Real Hope." Some of the sermon does relate to the realities of doing mission (at least from the perspective of my wife and I, so I will share it here. This was preached at our Home/Sending Church. https://bobandceliamunson.wordpress.com/sermons/a-real-hope-advent-sermon/
I have written some on different forms of Christian counseling. My wife is a Board Certified Clinical Chaplain and Board Certified Pastoral Counselor, as well as a Diplomate in Pastoral Supervision. Obviously, she is more of an expert on this topic than I am, but I am the one who likes to write. Anyway, I …
I was talking to a missionary friend of mine who is involved in what is one of the largest Evangelical Churches in the Philippines. He mentioned something interesting to me that I did not know. He said that that particular church was founded by missionaries but those particular missionaries specifically made a point of not …
Continue reading Should Missionaries Fund Their Church Plants and Schools?
One of my favorite books in the Bible is Habakkuk. In it, the prophet (Habakkuk) is trying to figure out when is God going to take care of all the evil that is happening in the Kingdom of Judah. God responds to the effect that, 'Don't worry. I am sending in the Babylonians and they …
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
Gailyn Van Rheenen lists fen common roles or activites of long-term missionaries in one of his books on missions <Gailyn Van Rheenen, Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies, 2nd ed. (Zondervan, 2014), Chapter 6>: (1) Traditional church planting in unreached areas (Pioneering) (2) Training local church leaders in order for a church planting movement to …
What does it take to be a great missionary? I think there are different types of missionaries and there are different ways they can be seen as good. Innovator. Barnabas. Some missionaries do something that is highly innovative and as such establish patterns that guide missionaries long after them. Barnabas appears to be a great …
I am presently putting together a "max-flex" course on Missions History for a Bible College in the United States. I am using "From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya" by Ruth Tucker (2nd edition). It utilizes a biographical approach primarily, with themes and chronology taking on a secondary role. I have mentioned my concerns about biographical histories--- …
Referring to the focus of studying missionaries in mission history-- An added bonus was the lively cast of characters. I have often wondered as I have studied missions history if there is any other field of endeavor that has been peopled by such a "crazy" lot. Many of them were, it seems to me, more …
Continue reading Crazy Missionaries?— Quote from Ruth Tucker