Missions

 

Thinking Carefully About Missions

 

Pragmatism, Pragmatism Everywhere!
by Andy Johnson

Putting Contextualization in Its Place
by a missions strategist for Central Asia

Lying, Hostile Nations, and the Great Commission
by a missions strategist for Central Asia

 

Missions Partnerships Between Church and Field

 

Missions Partnerships from the Home Church’s Perspective
by Andy Johnson

Missions Partnerships from a Field Worker’s Perspective
by Ed Roberts

 

How Three Churches Put Missions into Practice

 

Sending Overseas Missionaries in Community
by George Tissiere and C. Bug

Cultivating a Culture of Missions in a Small Church
by Tom Ascol

Developing Missions Networks Without a Denomination
by Jeremy Pace

 

A Missions Toolkit

 

How American Christians Can Help Christians in Zambia
by Conrad Mbewe

How to Get Businesspeople into Missions
by the executive director of Access Partners

Guidelines for Deciding Whom a Church Supports
by Andy Johnson

A Church Questionnaire for Supported Missionaries
by Capitol Hill Baptist Church

 

Recommended Missions Resources

 

Book Review: An Introduction to the Science of Missions, by J.H. Bavinck
by Andy Johnson

Book Review: Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, by John Piper
by Robin Weekes

Book Review: Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours, by Roland Allen
by Caleb Greggsen

Book Review: A Window on the World, by Daphne Spraggett
by Tim Cantrell

 

Not-so-Recommended Missions Resources

 

Book Review: Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World, by David Garrison
by Ed Roberts

Book Review: The Camel: How Muslims Are Coming to Faith in Christ, by Kevin Greeson
by Doug Coleman

 

Editor’s Note:

A country can only export what it manufactures. That’s a pretty basic principle. But now apply that principle to the topic of missions: if generations of American churches have been characterized by pragmatic church growth principles, what would you expect to see characterizing their overseas missions endeavors?

Okay, so maybe American missions work is driven by the same kind of pragmatism that characterizes so many American churches. Is that really such a big deal? Well, stop and consider the differences between planting pragmatically-driven churches in America versus planting them in most Majority World contexts. Such churches in America have the luxury of building themselves upon the foundations of a culture imbued with several hundred years of Christian influence and ethical norms. Fill a room with nominal Christians, as pragmatically-driven churches do, and you still have a dame that looks half way decent. She’ll dress up alright.

Now build that same church with those same pragmatic principles, yielding once again a room filled with nominal Christians, but do it in a country with strong traditions in polygamy, or animal sacrifice, or ancestor worship, or Islamic chauvinism, or Hindu castes, or nepotistic social structures, or so on. Build it on the shoulders of leaders who didn’t grow up in Sunday School and were not groomed in seminary classrooms with tall genealogical trees, where orthodoxy, even if it’s doubted, has been defended in book after book after book. What should we expect of this church? I’ve been around the Majority World block enough times to suspect something very different, indeed.

Philip Jenkins and now others have checked the stats and told us that global Christianity is moving South and East. But are they talking about “Christians” saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? Some would probably tell me that these questions are rooted in arrogant, West-centric assumptions. But am I allowed to raise questions?

Andy Johnson kicks off this 9Marks eJournal by pointing to the problem of pragmatism in missiology today, which is the primary concern we want to raise. The pseudonymous “Ed Roberts” and “Doug Coleman,” both workers in sensitive contexts, review popular but problematically pragmatic resources. Yet another anonymous overseas worker thoughtfully engages the related subjects of contextualization and lying. Both of these articles are highly recommended.

More practical matters are described in the articles on partnerships and what three churches are actually doing. Really practical matters are provided in the tool kit. Conrad Mbewe’s especially is a must read.

In all this, we pray that these articles and the recommended resources help your church more faithfully engage with God’s work around the world.

—Jonathan Leeman

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