In 754 AD, St. Boniface died. He was killed by Frisian robbers. I must admit that, although there is much to commend him in terms of missional fervor and even in terms of innovation (such as supporting women serving in a missionary capacity), I find him rather unlikable. The main thing is his active support …
Continue reading 754AD 1st Millennium Missions History. Death of Boniface
I have struggled in my own heart and mind regarding the issue of Power and Powerlessness in the Christian Life and in Ministry. I have heard so many preachers who love to talk about receiving the POWER of God (and Yes, they will emphasize the term completely out of proportion to its value, in my …
Occasionally, I watch these ghost hunter or ghost buster shows on TV. Some (I will call "ghost hunters") claim that they are being objective... but clearly they are hoping to find evidence of the paranormal, thus evidencing the inadequacy of a naturalistic view of the world. The others (I will call "ghost busters") also claim …
Continue reading Ghosts, Truth Encounter, and Things that go Bump in the Night
I often find myself on the side of downplaying "spiritual warfare" and "power encounter." I see myself doing this not so much because I see these as purposeless. I have seen missionaries working in particularly difficult places coming down with horrible maladies. I am not sure I can simply chalk that up to stress and …
Continue reading Ambivalent Reflections on Spiritual Warfare
I was writing an article on crisis care within the context of the story of Elijah. It occurred to me how generally useless is miracles (as they are popularly identified). There are different ways to define “miracle” of course. However, I am using the most common, although doubtful, definition. That is, a miracle is a …
In some previous posts, I have looked at Saint Boniface as a traditional model for Power Encounter. He used Ecclesiastical power (orders from the pope) and Political power (letters from Charles Martel) to go into pagan German villages and (among other things) desecrate pagan shrines (a clash of Divine power). I have questioned the value …
I have been a bit down on "Power Encounter" as a missiological method... especially in this blogsite. Power Encounter has been popularized by Charles Kraft whose understanding has been affected by his work in West Africa. He found the animistic beliefs there made the people receptive to Christianity marketed in terms of power. And perhaps …
One of the two most popular posts on this blog is: From Power Encounter to Love Encounter In that post, I argued that the common missiological model of encounters, Truth Encounter, Allegiance Encounter, and Power Encounter, is flawed. Power Encounter, the challenging of the powers of evil with the power of God for missiological purposes …
Continue reading Power Encounter, Love Encounter, and Pandemic Love
<A related, follow-on article is Power Encounter, Love Encounter, and Pandemic Love.> In Missions there is often 3 types of "encounters" discussed. Charles Kraft, in particular, has a lot in this area and include: Truth Encounter Allegiance Encounter Power Encounter Truth Encounter is the challenge of God's truth against the various lies that are encountered …
Missionary Tom comes in and wants to start up a new ministry. Where does he go to get manned with the most competent, driven people? To other local ministries, of course. Tom has more money and so can lure the best people away from other local ministries. Maybe Tom’s group is effective, maybe it isn’t. …