I have long struggled with defining (Christian) Missions and (Christian) Missionary. I don't really have a problem with modern formulations of "Mission." I find the Missio Dei understanding of Mission in terms of God's overall plan of ministry in the world is pretty good (there are of course different specific flavors of the definition). However, …
Tag: missionary
Maybe a “Cross-cultural Minister”?
In our Mission Research class it came up a second time. Should there be missionaries serving here in the Philippines? After all, if over 90% of Filipinos self-identify as Christians, are they needed? If one identifies missionaries in terms of the Biblical role of apostle-- evangelist and churchplanter-- they are unnecessary in much of the …
Some Thoughts on Culture, Communication, and Missions. Part 4
Taking the ideas of Part 1 through 3 further (see links below), I would like to extend it to Incarnational Missions. See the figure below (Figure 6) Figure 6. Incarnational Missions Modification In this case N, S, and C stay the same (natural world, society, and culture respectively). P again is the people group in …
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Four “L”s from Missions History
Successful missionaries, mission programs, and mission movements in Christian history seem to have four characteristics. They don't always have all three, there is a priority to them. Now some that have been numerically successful (such as the invasion and subsequent colonization and "Christianization" of South America) fail to meet the criteria of sound Christian missions, …
Pastoral Care and the Missionary
I am scheduled to teach a two-week course at Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary (www.pbts.net.ph) this April as part of its Summer Institute. Basically, it is an 8-week course shoved into two weeks. I am not sure that "Pastoral Care and the Missionary" is the name the course will finally settle on, but I like it. …
Parable of the USS Truett (and Missionary Member Care)
Strange title. Anyway, and I may have put this story in a blogpost before, many years ago, I was on an inspection team of the USS Truett. The USS Truett was a Knox-class Frigate in the United States Navy. While on board, only for a couple of days, I was talking to a petty officer …
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The Future of “4F” Missionaries?
What is a “4F” Missionary? As far as I know, this is something I coined, but the idea is well established around. This is tThe traditional missionary of the 19th and 20th centuries. I am going to start with 3F because it works better for a Venn Diagram... but we can add the fourth later. …
Proactive Availability for Christian Missions Thoughts
I have written on this topic before, but here are a few more targeted thoughts. How can a family be prepared for Christian Missions, even before being sure that they are going to go? 1. Food. Don't just feed children on spaghetti and hamburgers (speaking to Americans here). The world is full of good food. …
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In Search of a Real Missionary?
The following is an excerpt from Successful Mission Teams: A Guide for Volunteers by Martha Van Cise (New Hope Publishers, 1999) Excerpt from pages 145-147. A good book, definitely worth owning. "When my husband and I were serving as full-time missionaries in Haiti, we took a group of volunteers to a remote area in Northern …
Should a Christian Missionary Ask for Financial Support?
Corrie Ten Boom, in her book “Tramp for the Lord”, speaks of how she used to ask for financial support for her work. However, at a certain point in her ministry, she believed God told her to stop asking for money. She goes on to say that she got two letters close to the same …
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