Book Excerpt: Is “Incarnational” the Best Way to Describe Christian Mission?
The following article is an excerpt from Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert’s book What is the Mission of the Church?, forthcoming from Crossway in late 2011. This excerpt comes from chapter 2, “What in the World Does Jesus Send Us Into the World to Do?” and is printed here by permission.
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A Church Questionnaire for Supported Missionaries
By Andy Johnson
In an effort to annually assess our missionary workers' needs and activities, Capitol Hill Baptist Church sends the following questionnaire to all of the workers it supports directly or indirectly through the International Missions Board. CHBC's overall evaluation of a missionary is based on lots of other factors, including our personal relationships with the workers. But this form helps inform us about special needs and changes in the workers' activities that we were not already aware of.
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Cultivating a Culture of Missions in a Small Church
Pastor, have you ever thought to yourself, "My church is so small, we cannot do much for missions, especially overseas missions"?
If so, I have news for you. Small churches are not exempt from the work of missions, nor should they want to be.
My church, Grace Baptist, does not have all of the resources often associated with congregations heavily vested in missions. But, by God's grace, here's how we have become increasingly committed to advancing the cause of Christ around the world:
1) EXPOSITORY PREACHING
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Sending Overseas Missionaries in Community
If love for one another within a local church distinguishes us as Christ's disciples (John 13:35)…
if there is a uniqueness to the display of the gospel through the local church (1 Pet. 2, 1 Cor. 14)…
if we desire to model the communal elements of discipleship for new believers in unreached nations…
doesn't it makes sense to send people in community to engage in mission, even in overseas mission?
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Putting Contextualization in its Place
Contextualization is one of the hottest topics in missions today. Simply put, contextualization is the word we use for the process of making the gospel and the church as much at home as possible in a given cultural context.
American Christians have a tendency to think of contextualization as something missionaries and overseas Christians do "over there," and then they worry about how far non-Western churches go in their contextualization efforts. However, every Christian alive today is actively involved in contextualization.
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Pragmatism, Pragmatism Everywhere!
By Andy Johnson
A friend and I were riding in his car after lunch vigorously discussing a controversial topic in missiology, and with good reason. We served together on the board of trustees for a mission sending organization, and a number of board members had become concerned about a particular book on evangelizing Muslims. The book was popular, but it seemed to undervalue the Bible and be misleading in its treatment of the Qur’an.
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Missions Partnerships from the Home Church's Perspective
By Andy Johnson
This is not a generation that likes institutional, impersonal connections. We like to be personally engaged, community-oriented, and connected.
Missions is no exception. Mission leaders today talk about the desire among churches for more direct, personal partnership with international gospel workers.
On the whole, I think such desires are very good. However, like anything in a fallen world, these partnerships can be done well or done poorly, resulting in fruit or frustration, respectively.
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Missions Partnerships from a Field Worker's Perspective
Partnerships are all the rage these days. Churches want to partner with missionaries, and missionaries have reasons to partner with local churches. But how should churches and missionaries decide whom to partner with?
In order for there to be a healthy partnership between a local church and missionaries on the field, I propose that a church and a missionary must share fundamental agreement about theology and methodology. But before I dive into that, let me back up and examine the very idea of partnership first.
WHAT IS A PARTNERSHIP?
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Lying, Hostile Nations and the Great Commission
Can missionaries traveling to a country that's hostile to Christianity and the Great Commission lie about their reasons for coming? Can they point to a secondary purpose for coming?
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How to Get Businesspeople into Missions
Missions isn't just for pastors and missionaries. Missions should be supported by the whole church. God has gifted his church with a variety of gifts for carrying out the Great Commission and glorifying him.
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