For those who don't know, "holistic ministry" is Christian ministry work that seeks to form a balance between what might be considered as "spiritual ministry," such as evangelism, discipleship, worship, sacraments, church planting, church growth, and so forth, with "social ministry." Social ministry can be defined many ways but may include meeting physical needs, social …
Category: Social/Medical Ministry
What Makes Pastoral Care and Counseling “Pastoral”?
I am teaching an online class, "Introduction to Pastoral Care and Counseling" for seminary students in Sierra Leone. The students had a great question: Why call it "Pastoral Care and Counseling"? Why not simply call it "Care and Counseling"? This is a more fleshed-out version of my response to the class. "Pastoral" comes from the …
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In Missions, Awesome Stats Can Be a Big Problem
Many years ago, my wife and I were involved in medical mission events in the Philippines. At these events, we would also evangelize. I would track the responses. Commonly, around half of the people who come would "say the Sinner's Prayer," which in Evangelical circles is often equated with converting from unsaved to saved. Should …
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Integral or Holistic Ministry
I have written on Holistic or Integral Ministry or Missions before. I prefer the term "Holistic" but there are many who prefer the term "Integral" and I suppose that is fine. I used to be an engineer so perhaps my dislike for the term "integral" relates to its use in calculus. Anyway, I have often …
When Your Dissertation Cannot Be Your Specialization
Back years ago when I was attending Asia Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary (ABGTS), I wasn't sure what my specialization would be. Actually, I originally thought about going with a Doctor of Missiology. Later, however, I decided to switch to Doctor of Theology (ThD) with a focus on Missions. Topically, I originally wanted to do my …
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Evangelical Environmentalism
I have been reading "Environmental Missions" by Lowell Bliss. It has been a good book. But I have been struggling a bit with two or three issues that Bliss goes over quite a bit. I do think there is a healthy place for Evangelical Environmentalism. I know this is a bit controversial especially in the …
How Might Missiology Speak to Pastoral Counseling and Chaplaincy?
Background. I serve in a missionary (cross-cultural minister) capacity in the Philippines. I got my Master of Divinity degree taking all the mission courses that were in the schedule... and a couple that were not. In my early years, my wife and I were active in doing medical missions events, children's group outreach, and some …
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Christian Ministry: Priority without Duality. Part Two
If you haven't yet, please read PART ONE first. While tensions rose between more theologically liberal and pluralistic views of missions with more conservative and exclusive views, things hit a bit of a boiling point in the 1960s. With the IMC becoming incorporated into the World Council of Churches, there was a rapid move away …
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Christian Ministry: Priority without Duality. Part One
It has been a long argument in Evangelical circles about how to relate "spiritual" ministries and "social" ministries. For centuries the two seemed to have a relatively peaceful (even if, perhaps, unexamined) coexistence. The church is supposed to deal with the spiritual needs of its community, AS WELL AS the physical, relational, and often economic …
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Is Prayer Ever the Wrong Tool?
I had some interesting comments from one of my students. I had written down that in our interactions with people of other faiths there are times when prayer may be an inadequate, or wrong, tool. I am not sure that this student was arguing that prayer may, in and of itself, be inadequate. He was …