I did a class at Faith Bible College (Norfolk, VA) a few years ago. Sadly, they no longer exist, so I strung the presentations together into one file. These were not meant to be shared without an instructor talking through it so I apologize if it is a bit incomplete in parts. Also because they …
Tag: christian missions
Christian Missions and the Three Flaws of Thanos
Before I start talking about missions and its awkward relationship to Thanos, I must clarify that I am speaking of "Movie-Thanos." Others have noted this, but Thanos in comics was very different. I used to collect comic books, and one series I collected was "Captain Marvel." This was the Captain Marvel of the 1960s Marvel …
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Reflecting on Myself and Christian Missions Education
I just finished reading a book on teaching missions. The book is "Equipping for Global Mission: Theological and Missiological Proposals and Case Studies." It is edited by Laura P Saunders, Gregory Mathias, and Edward L. Smithers. It is published by William Carey Publishing in 2024. This is not a review of the book (though I …
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782AD 1st Millennium Missions History. Interfaith Dialogue
Patriarch Timothy I lived from around 740AD to 823AD. For a little over half of his life he served as Patriarch of the Church of the East (780 - 823). Supposedly, in 782 he had a discussion of religion with Caliph Al-Mahdi (reigning 775-785). In some ways this appears to be the earliest (or at …
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Should “Fallen” Missionaries be Restored?
Mike Winger put a video on Youtube that addresses the question on whether Pastors who have fallen morally should be restored to ministry. It is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlmF6pLZJE. He brings up numerous issues (13 in all) that should be addressed when it comes to this issue. I found it interesting and relevant. His answer of …
How Might Pastoral Theology Speak to Missions
I just finished a post on the opposite--- "How Might Missiology Speak to Pastoral Counseling and Chaplaincy." So now I would like to suggest the value the opposite way. One challenge the the direction of Pastoral Theology informing Missions is that in a sense it has happened before. Back in the 1960s, a form of …
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What Four Characteristics of Missions Would I Want to Share If People Actually Read What I Write?
The title above is not some sort of passive-aggressive complaint about the number of "clicks" on my website. Actually, it is very much the opposite. Although my views here are teeny compared to what so many get on Youtube, X, Tiktok, or whatever, I have been pretty excited by my dozens of views per day …
Three Phases of Christian Missions (from one perspective at least)
I was listening to Darrell Whiteman (missiologist/anthropologist) on the Missiology Podcast. He was talking about how the average time a missionary (he prefers the term "cross-cultural witness") is 7 years... and yet he believes that it takes around 10 years to truly be effective. That can be a problem. For me and my wife, I …
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Mulling Weakness Missions
I am considering writing a book--- or maybe only an article, we will see--- on a model of missions that embraces Weak, Small, and Poor as positive, even defining, characteristics. In line with that, I was looking a bit at Mission from a Position of Weakness by Paul Jeong (American University Studies Series 7--- Theology …
The Unappetizing Worm and the Squid Game
Photo by Sippakorn Yamkasikorn on Pexels.com I did a lot of fishing when I was young. Truthfully, I did not care for fishing all that much. I enjoyed hiking and exploring, but fishing only allowed one to do those things for a short while followed by hours of sitting or standing in a hot sticky …