Some mission organizations are highly controlling, built on a strong hierarchal system with precise policies limiting resources and activities. Some mission organizations are far more relaxed-- limited accountability, and opportunities given for missionaries to show their own initiative. Saint Boniface ("Apostle to the Germans") Image via Wikipedia My own mission board, Virginia Baptist Mission Board …
Tag: christian missions
In Praise of Ignorance (?)
I love a good quote. This is good because it makes one think. "When someone is honestly 55% right, that's very good and there's no use wrangling. And if someone is 60% right, it's wonderful, it's great luck, and let him thank God. But what's to be said about 75% right? Wise people say this …
Some Thoughts on Culture, Communication, and Missions. Part 2
<Continuation from Part 1> The Cultural Game Another popular form for looking at culture is in the form of game or play. Some people who promote this model are Johan Huizinga and Wolfhart Pannenberg. The following is not following their ideas. I am just pointing out that the analogy of culture and play is not …
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Missiological Implications of the Symbolic Understanding of Baptism
<Note: I take a more Baptist understanding of Christian baptism (although I am certainly more open-minded than some). Thus I understand baptism as primarily symbolic rather than sacramental or salvific. However, I think most all Christians would agree that there is a strong symbolic aspect to baptism. As such, hopefully there are thoughts here worthy …
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Is Asian Christian Theology a Thing?
A couple of common, and related, themes in missions today are "contextualization" and "self-theologization." The first says that to make the Word of God accessible to a culture, it must be translated into that culture, not only in language, but in symbology (in its many forms) as well. To do this, one attempts to minimize …
The Joy of Failure in Missions. Part II: Response
A. Failure has a strongly positive role... it can help us learn more about ourselves. John Maxwell in Failing Forward, lists several common reasons for failure: Poor people skills. (#1 Cause) It’s about relationships. Negative attitude. Pessimistic, half empty. Can’t see opportunities… only sees problems. Bad fit. Find what you are made to do. I …
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The Joy of Failure in Missions: Part 1. Analysis
Key Point #1. Failure Analysis is beneficial to us. My father was a mechanical engineer whose expertise was in the testing and failure analysis of roller bearings. When I was younger, I was also a mechanical engineer. When I was working on my Master's Thesis, I was testing pultruded GRP composites for creep rupture (don't …
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Missions: A Self-Reflection
One of my favorite books is "The Gospel Blimp and Other Modern Parables". It is by Joseph Bayly and has a lot of great stories that challenge our notion of our faith. A number of these stories are (HAPPILY!!!) available online at http://www.ccel.us/howsilently.toc.html#Eleven One of these stories is Ceiling Zero. In this story some people …
Power of Parables
One of the problems of not getting a real liberal arts education (most of my education is in Mechanical Engineering and military leadership), is limitations in communication and the arts. One of these is in the role of parables. When I was young going to church, parables were defined as "earthly stories with a heavenly …
Missions, Numbers, and Pointy-Haired Bosses
Numbers matter, on some level at least, but I believe we all know that numbers are highly limited in their ability measure what matters. I remember a Dilbert Cartoon (November 21, 1994) where Dogbert suggested that corporate health can best be measured by employee turnover rate. The “pointy-haired boss” (PHB) noted that their turnover rate …
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