The following is a quote from the book by James F. Engle and William A. Dyrness, "Changing the Mind of Missions: Where Have We Gone Wrong?" (InterVarsity Press, 2000). Who can fault legendary evangelist Dwight L. Moody, who captured the mood of evangelicals at the end of the nineteenth century in his declaration, "I look …
Category: Social/Medical Ministry
The Church and “Pandemic Love”
Pandemic Love, by Charles E. Moore, is one of my favorite articles. I had found it a few years ago on http://www.plough.com. It is the website for the journal "Plough Quarterly." But I can't find the article there anymore. Then it was on http://www.barclaypress.com. But I can't find it there either. FORTUNATELY, around 5 or …
The IMB Mission Statement and Holism
I facilitated a lecture on Social Ministry. The students' readings were: Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishing, 2009). Jerry Ballard, “Missions and Holistic Ministry” in World Missions: The Asian Challenge: A Compendium of the Asia Missions Congres, '90 (Asia …
Missionary Orphanages
I don't quote TWEETS very often... but I really like one from Craig Greenfield. (@craigawauros). He is the head of Alongsiders International. "One of the reasons Western missionaries are so quick to start orphanages in the Non-Western world is that our own lock of community prevents us from seeing the importance of community and extended …
Quote on Spiritual Disciplines (and the Great Commandment)
There is a quote that I like that I put on one of the other blogsites I manage-- the one for our counseling center, Bukal Life Care. It is on Spiritual Disciplines, and the concern associated with two extremes (one I am calling "The Individualist" and the other, "The Activist"). They are associated with emphasis …
Continue reading Quote on Spiritual Disciplines (and the Great Commandment)
Ministry Presentation
Powerpoint that shows a small amount of our ministry work from 2003 to 2013.
Tertullian, Love Feast, and Social Ministry
Excerpt from Tertullian's 39th Apology The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honor not by purchase, but by established character. There is no buying and selling of any sort in the things of God. Though we have our treasure-chest, it is not made up of purchase-money, as of a religion that …
Continue reading Tertullian, Love Feast, and Social Ministry
Christian Growth as Inward, Outward, Upward
The book "Encountering Theology of Missions" by Ott, Strauss, and Tennent, has been a very beneficial read for me. One section I especially like is where they look at missions in terms of "Kingdom Communities." They could have said "Church," but I suppose they wanted to avoid people who picture the idea of church too …
Continue reading Christian Growth as Inward, Outward, Upward
HCICD — Holistic Church-Initiated Comdev
Years ago when I was looking into a topic for my dissertation, I wanted to study, utilizing grounded theory, HOLISTIC CHURCH-INITIATED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, in the Philippines. In the end, I dropped it. I switched to studying Christian medical missions events here in the Philippines. The main reason for this was that I had trouble finding …
Consciousness One Two Three
Harvie Conn wrote the book. Eternal Word and Changing Worlds: Theology, Anthropology, and Mission in Trialogue back in 1984, based on lectures he gave at Fuller Theological Seminary. It has been noted by multiple people, that Conn was limited by a tendency to use rather unclear language. That is one reason I have tended to …