“What is the Impact of Globalism on Contemporary Christian Mission?”

Occasionally, I contribute to Answers.com. When I do, it is because I am really bored. This is one of my better answers I guess (although reading it, I probably should clean up the grammar sometime. Link and answer below: Question:  What is the Impact of Globalization on the Contemporary Christian Mission? A. The "Southern Shift" …

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Perspectives in Relief and Development

There has been a lot of concerns about Christian missions and its role in RELIEF and in DEVELOPMENT. Much of this is in the area of perception. Here is some variety with regard to perspective regarding these forms of social ministry. 1.  Perspectives regarding the relationship between these forms of social ministry and "spiritual" ministry …

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Is Pastoral Counseling Compatible With Missions

I consider myself to be a missionary. However, my biggest single role is the administrator of a counseling center. There are forms of counseling that are distinctly evangelistic. But “normal” pastoral care, counseling, and chaplaincy typically works within the “faith context” of the client/patient, and assumes (to a large extent) that the person already has …

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The Back Door of Faith

There is a big disagreement as to whether someone can “lose” their salvation. Jesus seemed to set up a stark separation between those that were in God’s hand and those where weren’t. John certainly expressed doubt that the elect could ultimately be deceived. On the other hand the writer of Hebrews seemed to suggest that …

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Missionary Methods: St. Barnabbas’ or Ours?

Roland Allen's classic book, "Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours?" is an important book that examines how we do missions. It certainly has good points. If I wanted to be honest about it... the obvious answer to the question of Roland Allen is "Ours". That is because we always need to tailor our methods to …

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Missions Starts at Home. Part II

Curiously, a previous post, "Missions Starts at Home" has gotten an awful lot of hits. The problem is, perhaps, that my title was confusing. Missions to me is a wholistic educative process of transformation. The Matthew version of the Great Commission says that we are to Make Disciples... or create learners. Part of this process …

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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 …

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Missions and Government

We have certainly seen the challenges of having too close of a friendship between Church and Civil Government. In the US, it shows itself in strange ways: -Tax-exempt status for religious organizations (including churches) is related to not taking sides in elections. It seems strange that churches think it is acceptable to disconnect themselves from …

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Missional Churches and Missionary Churches

Missional churches are churches that are driven to support world-wide missions through resources and manpower. Missionary churches are churches started by missionaries. Are they the same thing? Protestant churches have only been in the Philippines (where I live) for a little over 100 years. A large number of Protestant churches are 1st generation missionary churches. …

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Six Areas of Missions Expectations Dissonance

Some of the following I have personal experience with as pertaining to missionaries and missions. Others I have heard from others. One major challenge in missions is the various expectations that come from others as to what your role and activities should be.  Here are a few (in no particular order): 1.  Money.  People on …

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