Good (hopefully) mission quotes
"The Finality of Christ" is a book written by Lesslie Newbigin in 1969. It was published by SCM in England, and John Knox in the United States. The author is actually listed as Lesslie Newbigin: Bishop of Madras, pointing to his role as an Anglican bishop in India at the time. In a sense, the …
Continue reading The Finality of Christ (1969). A Book Review of Sorts
"The question: are there few that be saved? is one that Jesus declined to answer. It is a question which seems to fascinate many Christian minds today. There are, on the one hand, those who seem anxious to keep the doors of hell wide open so that there may not be any lack of funds …
Continue reading “Are There Few That Be Saved?” Quote of Lesslie Newbigin
Justinian Von Welz, a Protestant missiologist before all but a few Protestants even thought much about Christian Missions, wrote a treatise in 1664. The English translation of the title is "Christian and Sincere Admonition to All Orthodox Christians of the Augsburg Confession Concerning a Special Society through which with the Help of God Our Evangelical …
Continue reading Guidelines for Protestant Missionaries, from 1664
When we consider the missionary task, one potential danger (which happened so often during the colonial days and still happens in some areas today) is that the recipients of the gospel elevate the missionary, the missionary's culture, or even the missionary's theology to an exalted status. Because the missionary is often sent from a place …
Max Warren, 1904-1977, served long as the General Secretary of the Church Missionary Society. He wrote considerably on inter-religious dialogue, and mission theology, among others. He believed in the three-fold task of the missionary. I assume he drew it from the three-fold task of Jesus in Matthew 4:23 "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their …
Continue reading The Cross and the Three-Fold Task of the Missionary
I am teaching a course, "Foundations of Holistic Ministry," at Seminary. This week, we are going to talk a bit about ecological concerns and ministry. Therefore, I thought I would quote a bit of Peter Illyn (1958-2020). I will state my bias. That a concern for the common good trumps the pursuit of personal freedom, …
Continue reading Quote by Peter Illyn– Evangelical Enviromentalist
Quote from Philip Yancey As I think about Individual Christians I know, I see some people made incomparably better by their faith, and some made measurably worse. For every gracious, kind-spirited, forgiving Christian, I can point to a proud, mean-spirited, judgmental one. In my own experience, those who strive the hardest and believe the more …
"Nowadays in the church sober-mindedness has won the day. Evangelicals are responsible citizens whom most people appreciate as neighbors but don't want to spend much time with. Theologians with long faces lecture on 'the imperatives of the faith'. Television evangelists with every hair in place (often dyed) confidently name the Antichrist, predict the end of …
Continue reading The Flawed and Failing Church— Yancey Quote
Here is a quote from Gary Corwin, on “Mission Hype.” “The presence of too many examples to cite of exaggeration and truth shading by leaders of mission organizations has troubled me for years. The hubris evident in the predictions and pronouncements concerning the year 2000, for example, was breathtaking. We should know better and do …
Until about 48 hours ago, I had not heard of Hadrian Saravia (1530-1612. Dates vary slightly). He was a Protestant leader who was involved, among other things, in the translation of the King James Version Bible. He was, apparently, the only non-Englishman who worked on the translation--- supporting the translation of the first third of …
Continue reading Hadrian Saravia. 16th century Protestant Mission Theologian