Blog
This Monthly Missiological Reflection is my attempt to synthesize understandings of Latin America derived from a semester of study while teaching in Abilene Christian University’s campus abroad program. During that semester, I taught a class entitled “Religion in South America.” Before and during the course, I read extensively about ...
Missiology: The Mother of Theology
Some years ago systematic theologian Martin Kahler wrote the often-quoted statement that mission is “the mother of theology.” Theology, said Kahler, developed as "an accompanying manifestation of the Christian message." In other words, theology was formed when church planters and waterers (1 Cor. 3:6 ...
All missiological decisions must be rooted, either implicitly or explicitly, in theology so that they mirror the purposes and mind of God. Frequently, however, missions practitioners take the theological foundation of missions for granted. Paul Hiebert writes:
Too often we choose a few themes and from there build a simplistic ...
From consuming caterpillar to pollen-carrying butterfly: What an amazing metamorphosis!
Hatched from a butterfly egg, the caterpillar consumes large amounts of leaves and fruit. Its task is to eat and grow--to consume and expand--shedding various shells as it grows large enough to pass beyond the larva stage of development.
When ...
Hatched from a butterfly egg, the caterpillar consumes large amounts of leaves and fruit. Its task is to eat and grow--to consume and expand--shedding various shells as it grows large enough to pass beyond the larva stage of development.
When ...
I have been surprised by the extraordinary response to the last Monthly Missiological Reflection (MMR) entitled Transplanted and Contextualized Churches.
Responses from Asia, Africa, and South America
One Asian leader wrote that although he has been taught about Contextualization in seminary, almost all the churches he has visited in Indonesia ...
Responses from Asia, Africa, and South America
One Asian leader wrote that although he has been taught about Contextualization in seminary, almost all the churches he has visited in Indonesia ...
Before my first visit to a "Three-Self" (official) church in China, I wondered, "How will I understand what is going on without knowing the Mandarin language and the Chinese culture?" During this particular service, however, I was surprised to hear translated Western songs and observe worship patterned after traditional Western ...