<Decided to place a post that I put on our family website here. https://bobandceliamunson.wordpress.com/> US at least, most houses have more than one entrance. The side door or garage door is commonly used by family members--- the family door. Often the front door, seeming the main door of the house, is used less and is …
Continue reading What Does Your Church’s Front Door Look Like
In Evangelical circles there has been a strong emphasis on the "Great Commission." Of course, as I have noted numerous times, there are several presentations of the Great Commission. The two most popular (again, in Evangelical Circles) are in Matthew 28 and in Acts 1. Acts 1 is popular because it points to the outward …
The following is an excerpt of a chapter that I am writing for a compilation of works that relate the Filipino theology. Along with writing one chapter, I am co-editor. Hopefully it will be available by the end of the year. It is a bit unusual in that close to half of the book is …
Continue reading Excerpt from my Chapter on Localization of Theology
I have been working on a couple of articles. One of them I decided to remove a large section. I will include it here. Most of it comes from parts of my books on on Interreligious Dialoge and Theology of Mission (using some of the work of David Hesselgrave, Stephen Bevans, and Paul Hiebert). Theology …
This post really won't make too much sense until you read PART ONE Here are a few things regarding Faith Missions that I see as Good and Bad. The Good. 1. Missionaries have long been charged with being in it for the money, so Faith Missions avoids that issue. We see it in many ways. …
Continue reading My Ambivalence Regarding “Faith Missions.” Part Two
I have always had mixed feelings regarding what has been called "Faith Missions." In fact probably my general feeling about it is actually more negative than positive. It is, however, hard to explain this even to myself since my family and I are involved in Faith Missions. But first, I should explain what "Faith Missions" …
Continue reading My Ambivalence Regarding “Faith Missions.” Part One
The following is s from a chapter I am writing on Localizing Theology. I decided to talk about "Flavors" of Localized Theology versus "Theories" or "Models" of Localized Theology (I will use "LW" forward). The reason is that if one speaks of Models of something, there is the temptation of people to assume that one …
St. Anselm (1033-1109 AD) had a well-known motto--- "fides quaerens intellectum." This is Latin and translates as "Faith Seeking Understanding." This can be seen as a good explanation of Theology. I believe that Theology must draw from a place of Faith. One can study Christian Theology without having Christian faith. However, that should be thought …
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
I was looking at the Five Marks of Mission (of the Anglican Communion) as well as Five Purposes of Church, as described by Rick Warren in Purpose-Driven Church. The Five Marks of Mission are: To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom To teach, baptize and nurture new believers To respond to human need by loving service …