Missions
Showing 101–150 of 295 results
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Gospel And Pluralism Today
$30.00Add to cartContributors
Acknowledgments1. Introduction: The Legacy Of Newbigin For Mission To The West
Scott W. Sunquist
2. Newbigin In His Time
Wilbert R. Shenk
3. Newbigin’s Theology Of Mission And Culture After Twenty-Five Years
William R. Burrows
4. Community And Witness In Transition: Newbigin’s Missional Ecclesiology Between Modernity And Postmodernity
Veli-Matti Karkkainen And Michael Karim
5. Holistic Theological Method And Theological Epistemology: Performing Newbigin’s Plurality Of Sources In The Pluralist Context
Steven B. Sherman
6. Honoring True Otherness In A Still-Antipluralist Culture
Esther L. Meek
7. Pluralism, Secularism And Pentecost: Newbigin-ings For Missio Trinitatis In A New Century
Amos Yong
8. Evangelism In A Pluralistic Society: The Newbigin Vision
Carrie Boren Headington
9. What Does It Mean For A Congregation To Be A Hermeneutic?
John G. Flett
10. Asian Perspectives On Twenty-First-Century Pluralism
Allen YehAuthor Index
Subject IndexAdditional Info
Toward the end of the twentieth century, Lesslie Newbigin offered a penetrating analysis of the challenges of pluralism that confronted a Western culture and society reeling from the dissolution of Christendom. His enormous influence has been felt ever since. Newbigin (1909-1998) was a longtime Church of Scotland missionary to India and later General Secretary of the International Missionary Council and Associate General Secretary of the World Council of Churches.The first installment in the Missiological Engagements series, the essays in this volume explore three aspects of Newbigin’s legacy. First, they assess the impact of his 1989 book, Gospel in a Pluralist Society, on Christian mission and evangelism in the West. Second, they critically analyze the nature of Western pluralism in its many dimensions to discern how Christianity can proclaim good news for today. Finally, the contributors discuss the influence of Newbigin’s work on the field of missiology. By looking backward, this volume recommends and advances a vision for Christian witness in the pluralistic world of the twenty-first century.
Contributions from leading missiologists and theologians, including:
William Burrows
John Flett
Veli-Matti Karkkainen
Esther Meek
Lamin Sanneh
Wilbert Shenk -
Beyond The Local Church
$18.00Add to cartForeword
Introduction
1. The Power Of A Balanced Anatomy
The Biblical Genius And Design For Apostolic Structures And Movements
2. Limping Or Leaping Through Time
The Encouragement Of Apostolic Missionality In History
3. Mother Teresa Wasn’t A “Para-Catholic”!
Why “parachurch” Is A Dirty Word
4. So What Is “Apostolic”?
The Oft-neglected Essential To Authentic Missionality
5. Holy Discontent And Sanctified Ambition
The Apostolic Imperative Of Ephesians
6. Setting Visionaries Free
Pioneering As A Second Decision Entrepreneur
7. Finding Second Decision People
How To Engage And Release Apostolic Leaders
8. Running Together!
The Exponential Leverage Of Interdependence
9. Movements Of God
The Extraordinary Results Of Apostolic Gifting Lived Out In Apostolic Structures
10. The Momentum Of Movements
To Kill Or To Multiply, That Is The Question
Conclusion: Be A History Shaper
AcknowledgmentsAdditional Info
Many people have given up on the church. But that doesn’t mean that they’ve given up on God or Christianity. In many cases, it was merely that local church congregations were not the best context for missional people to live out their sense of God’s call.The good news is that God is raising up vibrant movements of Christians in a vast array of vocations around the world: disciple-making ministries, missions, relief and development, social activism, advocacy and much more. These are all strategic ways to live for the kingdom-in venues beyond the local church.
Wherever movements of the gospel have occurred, visionary people and apostolic structures have been essential. Mission leader Sam Metcalf shows how God has always worked through entrepreneurial individuals and organizations that launched out in fresh ways. He gives biblical and missiological foundations for missional movements, showing that what has often been called “parachurch” is an equally valid manifestation of the church. Affirming the strengths of apostolic personalities, Metcalf shows how they can be deployed to cross cultural barriers, renew secular societies and transform the nations with the power of the gospel.
God may be inviting you to join what he is doing around the world. Answer the call and discover how God can use you beyond your imagination.
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Apostolic Church Planting
$18.00Add to cartPreface
Introduction
1. What Is Church Planting?
2. How’s Your Ecclesiology?
3. Practices Of Team Members
4. Pathway To Planting
5. Stages Of Planting
6. Planned Role Changes
7. Church Multiplication Cycle
8. Methods
9. Where To Begin?
10. Pastoral Development
11. Strategy Development
12. Ethical Guidelines
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
About The AuthorAdditional Info
Church planting is not just about gathering new communities of people who are already Christians. In the book of Acts, church plants begin with sharing the gospel. Planting churches flows naturally out of making disciples.Missionary church planter J. D. Payne explains the process and stages of church planting, with biblical foundations and practical steps for planting teams. He provides a pathway for the multiplication of disciples, leaders and churches. Here are church planting strategies and activities that are simple, highly reproducible and can be implemented by ordinary team members, not just by charismatic leaders.
This guide can be used for planting in contexts among any given people group, domestically or internationally. It is an ideal resource for teams to work through together as they follow God’s call in their community.
Read more: http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=4124#ixzz3ZOJH0pFd
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Rescuing The Gospel From The Cowboys
$25.00Add to cartIn Memoriam
Preface
1. The Creator’s Presence Among Native People
2. The Colonization, Evangelization And Assimilation Of First Nations People
3. Sweating With Jesus: Stories Of The Native Experience
4. A View From The Hill: Emerging Native Expressions Of The Jesus Way
5. From Colonization To Contextualization
6. Looking Down The Road: The Future Of The Native Church
Acknowledgments
Editor’s Tribute To Richard Twiss
Glossary
Acronyms
Appendix A: Final Words On Indigenous Education And Theology
Appendix B: What Should We Call You?
Appendix C: Boarding Schools
Bibliography
NotesAdditional Info
The gospel of Jesus has not always been good news for Native Americans. The history of North America is marred by atrocities committed against Native peoples. Indigenous cultures were erased in the name of Christianity. As a result, to this day few Native Americans are followers of Jesus. However, despite the far-reaching effects of colonialism, some Natives have forged culturally authentic ways to follow the way of Jesus. In his final work, Richard Twiss provides a contextualized Indigenous expression of the Christian faith among the Native communities of North America. He surveys the painful, complicated history of Christian missions among Indigenous peoples and chronicles more hopeful visions of culturally contextual Native Christian faith. For Twiss, contextualization is not merely a formula or evangelistic strategy, but rather a relational process of theological and cultural reflection within a local community. Native leaders reframe the gospel narrative in light of post-colonization, reincorporating traditional practices and rituals while critiquing and correcting the assumptions of American Christian mythologies. Twiss gives voice to the stories of Native followers of Jesus, with perspectives on theology and spirituality and concrete models for intercultural ministry. Future generations of Native followers of Jesus, and those working crossculturally with them, will be indebted to this work. -
Fully Engaged : Missional Church In An Anabaptist Voice
$18.99Add to cartMission happens when congregations fully align themselves with God’s purposes. As the missional church movement matures, Anabaptists bring a time-honored theological tradition, a contemporary spiritual vitality, and practical stories of witness to the conversation. How are churches and individuals living out Christ’s call to engage locally and globally? And how is it changing them in the process?
Featuring the voices of missional Mennonite leaders, Fully Engaged offers stories and analysis about how mission is taking shape in local congregations and contexts. A diverse chorus of Anabaptist pastors and laypeople explores the roots, tools, and applications of the missional movement. From nurturing church planting to creating a missional culture to preaching for missional engagement, Fully Engaged offers insights and ideas for churches looking for direction.
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Making Disciples Across Cultures
$24.00Add to cartCulture affects how we make disciples. We often unconsciously bring our own cultural assumptions into ministry and mission, not realizing that how we think and operate is not necessarily the best or only way to do things. In today’s global environment, disciplemaking requires the cultural humility and flexibility to adapt between different cultural approaches.
Charles Davis, former director of TEAM, provides a framework for missional disciplemaking across diverse cultural contexts. He shows how we can recalibrate our ministry efforts, like adjusting sound levels on a mixer board, to accommodate different cultural assumptions. With on-the-ground stories from a lifetime of mission experience, Davis navigates such tensions as knowledge and behavior, individualism and collectivism, and truth and works to help Christian workers minister more effectively.
Ministry teams, church planters, pastors and missionaries working interculturally at home or overseas can be part of God’s movement of making disciples. Discover how the body of Christ grows in the unity and diversity of the global church.
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From Dependence To Dignity
$26.99Add to cartThe church of Jesus Christ finds itself at a very unique moment in history. The average Christian living in the “economically advanced countries” enjoys a level of prosperity that has been unimaginable for most of human history. At the same time, over 2.5 billion people in the Majority World (Africa, Asia, and Latin America) live on less than $2 per day, with many of these people being Christians. Ironically, it is amongst the “least of these” in the Global South that the global church is experiencing the most rapid growth.
All of this raises profound challenges to the global church. How can churches and missionaries in the Majority World effectively address the devastating poverty both inside their congregations and just outside their doors? How can churches in the economically advanced countries effectively partner with Global South churches in this process? The very integrity of the global church’s testimony is at stake, for where God’s people reside, there should be no poverty (Deuteronomy 15:4; Acts 4:34).
For the past several decades, microfinance (MF) and microenterprise development (MED) have been the leading approaches to poverty alleviation. MF/MED is a set of interventions that allow households to better manage their finances and start small businesses. From remote churches in rural Africa to the short-term missions programs of mega-churches in the United States, churches and missionaries have taken the plunge into MF/MED, trying to emulate the apparent success of large-scale relief and development organizations. Unfortunately, most churches and missionaries find this to be far more difficult than they had imagined. Repayment rates on loans are low and churches typically end up with struggling programs that require ongoing financial subsidies. Everybody gets hurt in the process: donors, relief and development agencies, churches and missionaries, and–most importantly-the poor people themselves.
This book explains the basic principles for successfully utilizing microfinance in ministry. Drawing on best practice research and their own pioneering work with the Chalmers Center, Brian Fikkert and Russell Mask chart a path for churches and missionaries to pursue, a path that minimizes the risks of harm, relies on local resources, and enables missionaries and churches to minister in powerful ways to the spiritual and economic needs of some of the poorest people on the planet.
The insights of microfinance can play a tremendous role in h
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1 Gospel For All Nations
$19.99Add to cartThe Bible tells us what to believe–the gospel. Did you know it also shows how to contextualize the gospel? In One Gospel for All Nations, Jackson Wu does more than talk about principles. He gets practical. When the biblical writers explain the gospel, they consistently use a pattern that is both firm and flexible. Wu builds on this insight to demonstrate a model of contextualization that starts with interpretation and can be applied in any culture. In the process, he explains practically why we must not choose between the Bible and culture. Wu highlights various implications for both missionaries and theologians. Contextualization should be practical, not pragmatic; theological, not theoretical.
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Me To We
$20.99Add to cartChurches with front doors that open up mission fields rather than buildings.When Christians answer the clarion call to be missional, too often it is primarily to feel good or to grow in their own faith. But ultimately we remain unsatisfied because, in the end, it’s still about “me”-my church, my faith, my salvation. Then sometimes inspiration dries up.
We forget that Jesus is the head of the Church, which exists at God’s pleasure and disposal. God is birthing a new Social Gospel, meant to reclaim mission and justice ministries as prime directives for the Church, and not with the naive thinking of the 19th or 20th centuries.
What are the characteristics of this new Social Gospel? There is an expectation that mission is “with” and not “for” others. There is an acknowledgement that tolerance is not a dirty word and we have to find a peaceable way to live in our intercultural world. It carries the Wesleyan impulse to change the world by working to build God’s kingdom in this world. It offers the grace and salvation of Christ to those in need, believing that none are free unless all are free. It means that we feed the hungry, educate to poor, and equip the powerless in tangible ways.
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Christian Mission And Economic Systems
$21.99Add to cartChristian mission in the twenty-first century has emphasized endeavors that address poverty alleviation, business as mission, marketplace ministry, rural/urban development, microeconomics, and Christian attitudes toward money and consumerism. However, neither the macroeconomic circumstances in which the church does such ministry nor the assumptions that believers have absorbed from the larger economy have been adequately explored.
Christian Mission and Economic Systems gathers scholars, experts, and practitioners to address the relationship of Christians to the economic systems in which they are embedded and do ministry, and to evaluate the different cultural and religious dimensions of both micro- and macroeconomic systems around the world from a kingdom perspective.
Practitioners doing business as mission will grow in their understanding of the significance of local economic practices. Students and academics will benefit from the critical assessment of the intersection between micro- and macroeconomic systems in the contexts of specific ethnographic circumstances. Missionaries and churches will glean new insights on the difference that being a Christian makes to economic life. NGOs, nonprofits, or other Christian organizations doing work related to markets will benefit from a challenge to their previous understandings. Since work for the kingdom always takes place in some kind of an economic environment, this book will equip Christians in a variety of capacities to be more effective in their ministries.
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Lessons Learned In The Lions Den
$14.99Add to cartLessons Learned in the Lion’s Den shares the journey of one missionary family as the father is detained in a predominantly Muslim country in Africa. Daniel Waheli’s time spent in prison is ripe for building intimacy with the Lord in the midst of confusion, suffering, and uncertainty. The accounts of his wife and two young children offer a glimpse into the inner life of the family during this trying time. The heart of this story is not a man imprisoned, but a family united-in hope, love, and a pressing desire that God be glorified in all things. In a world where mission strategies come and go and often fall short of being effective, Waheli distills his experience into twelve principles for building character to better serve the Lord and persevere in His call. Whether you are a pioneer among unreached people groups or simply a Christian hungry to see Jesus glorified in your daily life, these tried and true concepts will prepare you to endure in the face of hardship.
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Slippery Paths In The Darkness
$21.99Add to cartA primary concern amongst missiologists is presenting the gospel in a way that is culturally relevant without adulterating the essential truths of the message. The ability to appropriately contextualize this message is the difference between establishing an indigenous Christianity as opposed to introducing syncretism. In this compendium of presentations and papers, the issue is addressed with regard to the idea of covenant relationship with the Lord. Drawing from interdisciplinary research across continents, Tippett examines the syncretistic religious behaviors eminent at the time of his writing that threatened to fracture this covenant relationship- from eastern personality cults in India to scientology in Australia, from satanism in the United States to animism in Mexico. While his research only spans a set number of years, Tippett provides timeless insights for a global church burdened with the Great Commission call in an increasingly pluralistic world.
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Out Of The Dust
$14.99Add to cart“Don’t waste your pain,” says unlikely missionary Avis Goodhart. She didn’t – and neither should you. Despite a background of childhood abuse, dyslexia, and marital infidelity, Avis took her first international mission trip at age fifty. The church, school, and orphanage she later founded in northern Peru, all products of both her pain and her radical obedience to the Lord, have brought thousands of others out of the dust. This compelling story of an ordinary woman who serves God in extraordinary ways will challenge, inspire, and empower you to: * Eliminate excuses from your life * Recognize that in God’s kingdom, availability matters more than ability * Allow your pain to produce – not prevent – your obedience * Serve the Lord with the same abandon shown by one unlikely missionary
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Dont Throw The Book At Them
$19.99Add to cartDon’t Throw the Book at Them addresses one of the most vital issues in contemporary missions. It is a manual for cross-cultural missionaries and national church leaders ministering in societies based on oral rather than written communication. Harry Box, former missionary and researcher in Papua New Guinea and among the Aborigines of Central Australia, explains the distinct characteristics of oral societies, how they differ from literacy-oriented societies, Jesus’ ministry to oral communicators, and why effective presentation of the Christian message demands that Western Christians change their approach to orality. The book goes beyond case studies and analysis, allowing the reader to develop a detailed plan for communication.
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Age Of Global Giving
$13.99Add to cartThe dynamics of globalization and the speed of change have created greater complexity for Western missions. The Age of Global Giving provides accelerated learning for donors, church leaders, agency leaders, and mission workers. As a result, donors can achieve greater outcomes with deeper satisfaction in their giving and their voluntary work. Ministry workers can develop improved vision, values, and strategies that go further in creating sustainable impact and align with the donor values of today. It’s a new day in the relationship between donor and recipient, and it’s just in time because global mission is in dire need of this kind of cooperation.
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Starting Missional Churches
$22.00Add to cartAll mission is local–the people of God joining the work of God in a particular place. In Starting Missional Churches Mark Lau Branson and Nicholas Warnes introduce us to seven missional churches and explore what it looks like to be salt and light where you are.
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Theology From The Trenches
$26.00Add to cartWhile urban pastors devote time and energy to all the typical demands of ministry, they also grapple with challenges endemic to city life. Achieving a measure of balance amid these competing demands and responsibilities can be daunting. Using his experiences as a pastor in urban settings for nearly three decades, Roger J. Gench offers pastors a close look at the challenges that come from being involved in urban ministry.
Throughout, he integrates memoir, sermons, and essays on social ministry, and reflections on the theology and spirituality of parish life. In each chapter, Gench offers his own stories and reflections and then invites readers to consider the relevance for their own ministry. Urban pastors will not only find themselves relating to Gench’s experiences but will also uncover practical help for their ministry.
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Being Church Doing Life
$18.99Add to cartEvidence now suggests that contextual church plants have an important role to play in church growth. There is an increasing international interest in these new and different forms of church, often known as ‘Fresh Expressions’ or ’emerging church’. Author Michael Moynagh is a member of the UK national Fresh Expressions movement, a remarkable initiative that has attracted widespread attention around the world. In this inspiring volume he shares practical and comprehensive advice on how to start and grow new churches – however small – in every context of life. This popular introduction emphasizes practical aspects, telling many of the great stories that have emerged through practitioners. It will enthuse and help church leaders and individuals to start and develop these communities; and advise them on how to help them grow to maturity and become sustainable.
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Message Worth Dying For
$15.99Add to cartPastor Michael and Diane Meagher released their youngest child to attend Bible College in 1996, and boarded a jetliner to begin their new lives as independent missionaries among an un-evangelized tribe in the bleakest, most unforgiving wilderness on earth. They had two dollars in their pockets, two donated airline tickets . . . and one indescribably powerful God who had called and prepared them to reach precious lost souls in north-central Siberia, Russia.
They were compelled by hearts flaming with the compassion He had instilled in them and a shared faith forged in the crucible of decades of tribulation, deliverance from myriad dangers, and the forsaking of all earthly frills and baubles that might distract them from their purpose.
They were deemed unqualified and unfit by two dozen mission boards and dismissed as crazy by casual onlookers, self-appointed counselors, and even fellow soldiers of the faith.
The odds were severely stacked against them and their enemies and detractors were legion. They had no promise of financial support, no safety net, and no sanctuary. Once they set foot on that plane, there was no turning back. To an uttermost part of the earth, they were resolved to carry a message worth dying for: this is HIStory and their story …
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Introducing Christian Mission Today
$50.00Add to cartMission–a driving force in the long Christian story–today is often cast as the embarrassing relative of tall-steeple religiosity. In our wider culture it’s now tucked in the endnotes of book-club histories or forms the ghostlike ellipses in the six o’clock news. But in Christian Mission Today, Michael Goheen brings the vibrant history, motivation and challenges of Christian mission to the fore. Through the centuries Christian mission has always been recalibrating, retooling and reevangelizing. It has repeatedly taken surprising turns as it is carried along by the Spirit of God. Goheen’s introduction to mission’s biblical, theological and historical dimensions engages the present and anticipates the future. As he unfolds the major issues of the global and urban, the pluralistic and wholistic contexts of mission today, he lays the ground for engaging in God’s great kingdom enterprise. This full-scale text incorporates the keen missional insights of Lesslie Newbigin, David Bosch and other formative thinkers. It will be a valued resource not only for those involved crosscultural contexts but also for those engaged in reevangelizing the West.
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Health For All
$17.99Add to cartWhen Dan Fountain and his wife arrived in the Congo in 1961, the challenges to effective medical missions seemed overwhelming. As the only doctor for a quarter of a million residents of the Vanga Health Zone, and with nothing but a dilapidated mission hospital and an undertrained staff to run it, Dr. Fountain turned to prayer, innovation, and local partnerships to meet the vast needs of his area.
Health for All tells the story of an ever-increasing vision-from curative care to community health, from a barely functioning hospital to a network of successful health services, from a lack of qualified workers to a local residency training program, from biomedical reductionism to whole person care, from cultural stalemate to worldview transformation. Dr. Fountain’s insights into health and wholeness have changed countless lives and communities. Part memoir, part history, part textbook, Health for All is the legacy of a man who patterned his life and labor after that of the Great Physician.
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New Parish : How Neighborhood Churches Are Transforming Mission Discipleshi
$22.00Add to cartWhen . . . faith communities begin connecting together, in and for the neighborhood, they learn to depend on God for strength to love, forgive and show grace like never before. . . . The gospel becomes so much more tangible and compelling when the local church is actually a part of the community, connected to the struggles of the people, and even the land itself. Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens and Dwight J. Friesen have seen–in cities, suburbs and small towns all over North America–how powerful the gospel can be when it takes root in the context of a place, at the intersection of geography, demography, economy and culture. This is not a new idea–the concept of a parish is as old as Paul’s letters to the various communities of the ancient church. But in an age of dislocation and disengagement, the notion of a church that knows its place and gives itself to where it finds itself is like a breath of fresh air, like a sign of new life.
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Incarnate : The Body Of Christ In An Age Of Disengagement
$20.00Add to cart14 Chapters
Additional Info
The story of Christianity is a story of incarnation–God taking on flesh and dwelling among the people he created. God appointing and sending people as his body, his hands and feet. Disciples of Jesus bearing the good news even as they bear the marks of his passion. Whatever Christianity is, it is at least a matter of flesh and blood and the ends of the earth. And yet so much of contemporary Christian culture is rooted not in incarnation but in escape–escape from the earth to heaven, escape from the suffering of this world, escape even from one another. Christianity is increasingly understood as something personal, conceptual, interior, private, neighborless. If Jesus was God incarnate, the church is in danger of being excarnate. Michael Frost expertly and prophetically exposes the gap between the faith we profess and the faith we practice. And he offers new hope for how the church can fulfill its vocation: the hands and feet of Christ to one another and to our neighbors, to the ends of the earth and to the end of the age. -
Think Kingdom Be Family
$19.99Add to cartThe Think Kingdom-Be Family Initiative (TKBF) is a biblically-grounded, research-based, and relationally-delivered discipleship approach to identify the elements that characterize missional families and to effectively mobilize them. Many families lack a corporate sense of mission. As a result, churches need to embrace the challenge of mobilizing families according to their collective identity and purpose in Christ and His mission. In the end, this qualitative research demonstrates that a new way of being and doing is possible through redemptive family wholeness, characteristics, and mobilization.
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Deep Sea Canoe (Revised)
$12.99Add to cartThis updated version of Tippett’s 1977 The Deep Sea Canoe describes a significant but often overlooked aspect of the expansion of Christianity in the South Pacific, that of South Sea Island believers who carried the gospel from one island to another in their deep sea canoes. It is a well-researched study by one who knew the islands and their people, a man known by the Fijians as one who spoke their language.
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Missionary Family : Managing Stress Effectively
$15.95Add to cartHundreds of missionaries go home each year due to stress affecting themselves and/or their families. Hundreds of others remain on the field but struggle with reduced effectiveness from bearing the burden of stress. The Missionary Family: Managing Stress Effectively provides sound biblical and practical principles to help missionaries and their family members manage stress and become more effective in ministry. An integrated approach, these principles touch causes, effects, and management techniques in each part of the human being-spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral.
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Global Member Care 2
$28.99Add to cartGlobal Member Care: Crossing Sectors for Serving Humanity, the latest book from the O’Donnells, is part of
an ongoing effort to help a diversity of colleagues keep current with a globalizing world and the global field
of member care. This second volume in the Global Member Care series encourages readers to connect and
contribute to various international sectors on behalf of mission/aid workers and humanity. The book’s 35
chapters include a wealth of practical resources: guidelines, codes, resolutions, perspectives, principles,
case examples, videos links, human rights instruments, and more. Get ready to venture into the heart of
global issues and opportunities-from the trenches to the towers and everything in between! -
Recovering The Full Mission Of God
$35.00Add to cartIs our gospel witness too small? Should the gospel be proclaimed in words only? Or should we preach the gospel in deeds&mdashand when necessary use words? Or are we missing something in playing the witness of words against deeds? If you are concerned about evangelizing the post-Christian West or the world beyond, you have probably debated this issue. And evangelical instincts drive us to Scripture. In Recovering the Full Mission of God, Dean Flemming joins biblical scholarship with missionary experience as he surveys the Old Testament and then looks closely at the New Testament and the early church. Flemming shows how the three strands of telling, doing and being relate in the mission of God and his people. Here is a book in touch with the missional realities of our time and grounded in the missional vision of biblical revelation. It gives us a clear vision of the rich and multifaceted nature of “gospeling” the kingdom of God.
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More Screams Different Deserts
$19.99Add to cartMore Screams, Different Deserts is another invitation to join Sue on her adventures in cross-cultural living and biblical studies that have helped her along the way. With twenty-seven years of experience in cross cultural ministry, Sue realizes that joy and perseverance are essential for thriving in life and ministry. Her stories and insights encourage women to look to Jesus, our only hope wherever we live. Stories, ranging from one corner of the world to another, include discovering a forgotten museum,
protecting her children from chocolate, visiting a camel market, and meeting wild pigs on a nighttime walk. God has been her refuge, and his Word held her steady when all she really wanted to do was run away and hide. Questions and resources at the end of each chapter will help readers think through personal application and find additional help. -
Missional Discipleship : Partners In Gods Redemptive Mission
$17.99Add to cart“Where does discipleship end and evangelism begin? How does one fit with the other?
Joining the two together properly is a challenge. Both are important and both are necessary.Missional Discipleship offers a holistic vision that effectively incorporates discipleship with evangelism. Thoroughly Wesleyan in its emphasis on God’s ever-present grace and the possibility of human response, this approach demonstrates that education and formation go hand-in-hand with mission and witness.
Written by a cadre of scholars and seasoned ministers, this book is an accessible resource to assist pastors and leaders as they introduce to their churches and small groups the vision of mission discipleship. With topics ranging from service and compassion to discipleship and the family, this invaluable guide encapsulates what it means to engage a community of faith in embodying the gospel and equipping Christians to participate in the restorative and redemptive mission of God in the world.”
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Missional Quest : Becoming A Church Of The Long Run
$17.00Add to cartIntroduction: Before The First Step
Part I: Fostering A Missional Mindset
1. The Starting LinePart II: Fostering A Missional Posture
2. Stop And Go
3. AD 30 All Over Again
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor
5. Home, Work And God’s Mission
6. Where Everybody Knows Your Name
7. Launching Pads
8. Follow The Follower
9. Have A Great Trip
Appendix
EndnotesAdditional Info
When Christ calls people, he invites them on a journey-a journey taken together in community. We have reached a point in history, however, when we think of the church as a fixed place where isolated individuals show up, consume a Christian message, drink some coffee, and get on with their lives. The times demand, and the gospel proclaims, that we recover our identity as a church that is a people on a quest for the kingdom of heaven, formed intimately by a loving God and called onto a long journey for the sake of our neighbors and our world. In The Missional Quest you’ll learn how to take your church on a long run, and how to sustain yourselves and one another along the way, through the power of God for the sake of the world. -
Environmental Missions : Planting Churches And Trees
$24.99Add to cartEnvironmental Missions defines an emerging category in missions, one that takes seriously
both the mandate to evangelize the world and the responsibility of caring for God’s good earth.Lowell Bliss was a traditional church planting missionary in India when his best Hindu friend there died of malaria. This was just one of the events that led him to reexamine the politically charged term “environment,” understanding it now as simply “that which surrounds those we love, those for whom Jesus died.” In other words, the church is called to reach not only vulnerable people but the space in which they live and breathe.
Pointing to the narrative of Scripture and the history of missions, Bliss shows us that the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for the whole creation, that we must unite two traditionally separate endeavors to fulfill the entirety of God’s commission, and that the challenge of the environmental crises of our day is also one of our greatest opportunities to reach the least reached with the love of Christ.
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Searching For The Indigenous Church
$13.99Add to cart“This book bubbles up out of the heart of a man who has been on pilgrimage in Central Asia’s heartland. He has walked the dusty caravan trails he writes about in this perceptive and challenging book . . . . I’ve walked beside him as together we’ve sought to see Christ plant His church among an unreached Central Asian people group . . . . Gene will challenge you to radically rethink what we mean . . . when we speak of indigenous churches.” -John Lee (pseudonym), Missionary, Central Asia
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Road To Bau
$21.99Add to cartAlan Tippett’s publications played a significant role in the development of missiology. The volumes in this series augment his distinguished reputation by bringing to light his many unpublished materials and hard-to-locate printed articles. These books-encompassing theology, anthropology, history, area studies, religion, and ethnohistory-broaden the contours of the discipline.
English missionary John Hunt and Tongan missionary Joeli Bulu served in the Fiji islands in the 1840s. Their lives were intertwined as they faced the social issues of island warfare, cannibalism, and the ills brought to the Pacific by traders and those involved in the labor trade. In this fascinating two-volume book Alan Tippett first provides the biography of Hunt, then together with Tomasi Kanailagi gives us the thoroughly researched and annotated autobiography of Joeli Bulu.
Twenty years as a missionary in Fiji, following pastoral ministry in Australia and graduate degrees in history and anthropology, provide the rich data base that made Alan R. Tippett a leading missiologist of the twentieth century. Tippett served as Professor of Anthropology and Oceanic Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Tomasi Kanailagi was born in the Fiji Islands, and ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Fiji. He served with the Bible Society in the South Pacific, holding a Diploma of Theology from the Melbourne College of Divinity, and a Bachelor’s degree in Divinity from the Pacific Theological College. Doug Priest, PhD, served as a missionary for seventeen years in Kenya, Tanzania, and Singapore
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Minnesota Mom Volume 3
$14.95Add to cartThis is the story of a 1960s Minnesota mother who struggles to keep up with three small children and housework. Barely able to cope, even with all the modern American conveniences, she panics when her husband begins to talk about pursuing missionary work.
Nothing could have prepared Pat Stendal for her adventure in Christian missions – with mule-riding lessons, sleeping in hammocks in the jungle, and traveling with sick children. A surprise new baby with special physical needs caused Pat to wonder how they would ever manage. Here she was in a new country, needing to learn an entirely new culture while facing overwhelming obstacles – only to learn that the entire time God was simply showing her and her family that His grace is indeed sufficient. And was it ever – their family ministry has been blessed to see thousands of souls won for Christ, and hundreds of thousands of books and Bibles distributed. -
Crisis And Hope In Latin America
$35.99Add to cartThis book provides a panoramic yet thorough study of kingdom advance in Latin America. Part one examines the historical, socio-political, and religious context. Part two probes into post-conciliar Roman Catholicism, the charismatic movements, contextualization, and social responsibility. Part three explores the implications for churches and mission agencies.
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Come And See
$17.99Add to cartThe mission of the Church is to introduce the person of Christ to individual human beings who by faith enter into communion with God. This does not involve adapting information to a particular context, but rather establishing the context prescribed by God for the presence of Christ wherever we happen to be among the peoples of the world. Contextualization, then, creates a new invitational core context which is host to the presence of the divine person. This is defined with the help of the gifts of ecclesial Tradition, which enables conditions that facilitate communion, and which thus helps us engage the world.
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Expectations And Burnout
$16.99Add to cartMissionary women have high expectations when they respond to God’s call; of themselves, their mission agencies, host cultures, churches, co-workers, and even of God. These expectations are often times impossible to fulfill and can lead to mental and physical exhaustion. Eighty percent of missionary women feel they have come close to burnout, whether they were married or single, traditional or tent making, new or experienced. In Expectations and Burnout: Women Surviving the Great Commission, Sue provides research and surveys from the field while Robynn lends her own personal experiences to demonstrate how burnout can happen and how God can bring life from ashes. Join them as they explore how to develop realistic expectations and yet maintain faith in our sovereign God who continues to accomplish the impossible.
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Rethinking Hindu Ministry
$13.99Add to cartHindu traditions are diverse and complex. Simple summaries of Hindu beliefs and practices lack appreciation for the allure which captivates Hindus themselves. This collection of papers from seasoned practitioners observes Hindu traditions and Hindu ministry from new angles, introducing new perspectives on ministry in Christ’s name that are relevant far beyond the Hindu world. Broad conceptual pictures are presented along with detailed practical advice and introductions to remarkable Hindus who surrendered to Christ and wrestled with the meaning of following Him in their Hindu families. This is the first book to turn to for pointers on sharing Christ with Hindus.
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Come Quickly Dawn
$28.99Add to cartThe book offers a unique reading experience. This fully integrated hybrid is both a fast-paced novel and an incisive training tool. It equips one to evangelize in a way that spreads like measles, to make disciples who actively obey Jesus, and to multiply churches or cells. The best way by far to prepare an effective shepherd or church multiplier is to do it as Jesus and Paul did it: take apprentices with them to where the action is happening. Come Quickly Dawn takes you on such an experience. Its simulated trip conveys one out of a familiar comfort zone to a setting similar to that of many peoples among whom God is working powerfully, as in the book of Acts.
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Too Valuable To Lose
$34.99Add to cartDoes God really care about His servants? Yes! Do we care for our people who are serving the Lord in cross-cultural ministry? The Reducing Missionary Attrition Project (ReMAP), launched by World Evangelical Fellowship Missions Commission, seeks to answer that question in this important study. This book utilizes the findings of a 14-nation study done by ReMAP and will help supply some very encouraging answers.
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Profiles Of African American Missionaries
$29.99Add to cartIn 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau shows that there are 42 million people who identify themselves as African-Americans. Of the 42 million, there are an estimated 20million who self-identify as Christians. Of this number, very few leave the United States and go to other countries as missionaries. The reasons for the absence of African-American missionaries are varied and in some respects understandable, yet we are all called to be engaged in the Great Commission.
Profiles of African-American Missionaries features the few who have answered the call. This collection of stories shares the lives and contributions of several African-American missionary pioneers dedicated to reaching the lost for the sake of Christ. Readers will be inspired by the commitment of these missionaries who devoted their lives to the foreign fields, with the full knowledge that God would be with them always as Christ promised. You will be challenged to take a look at your own life and consider a response to our Lord’s command to make disciples. -
Literacy Bible Reading And Church Growth
$18.99Add to cartThe story of Christianity from apostolic times to the present reveals that in virtually every country of the world a Bible-reading laity was an important factor in the growth of the church, both numerically and spiritually. The importance of the Bible in actual history is a challenge to the church today.
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To All Nations From All Nations
$67.99Add to cartSharing the Good News might be understood as the prime directive of the Church from its earliest times, but the Church soon discovered unforeseen obstacles and its own set of temptations, including its lust for power and domination. Although the gospel might be joyfully offered, it was not always received in the same spirit. And the Church was not always gracious with dissent and criticism. Even so, it continues to reach out to the least, the last, and the lost-attempting to bring them into the family of God. But for mission to be effective today, it must take advantage of indigenous resources and recognize its limitations as well as its gifts. This book broadly introduces prominent missionary practices and major historical figures using three perspectives. First, it takes into account the missionary activity proceeding from the margins rather than only discussing the center of theological and ecclesial activity. Second, it narrates the cross-cultural, cross-confessional, and cross-religious dynamics that characterize Christian missionary activity. And third, it emphasizes that much missionary activity is generated by national rather than international missionaries. The text concludes with a chapter on the postmodern and postcolonial world.
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Comprehensive Approach Yet One Message
$16.99Add to cartDr. Berhanu Arsse presents thorough research and careful consideration on proven methods of effective Christian evangelism to Muslims in the United States. This is a rich resource for any Christian who has not been able to find the right techniques for reaching those that come from or are in a religion and culture so distinct from their own. This book feels as though it is the forerunner of a new class of thought that will reshape the current of the Gospel from how it is currently spread. Interesting and unique subject matter – the researched topic is far from ubiquitous in bookstores, which well set it apart from other religious non-fiction. It is also intriguing to consider that so much thought and purposefulness has been dedicated to evangelizing amongst Muslims when many probably (and some perhaps without realizing it) feel that the religion and culture are so strong it cannot be penetrated. Due to its genesis from research, the book is extremely well organized and meticulously documented. The value of paying for this book will be completely obvious to any person who would be interested to learn the information contained within. It is of a very high caliber and will be regarded as such due to the author’s diligence and hard work in presenting this book. It is excellent that the author explains how evangelism and social transformation became separated and why they belong together. This is central to Christians fully emulating the Christ they claim and is not nearly discussed as much as should be. Dr. Berhanu Arsse is a founder and Executive Director of Caris International. A certified teacher, he holds undergraduate degree from Ethiopia, M.A. in cross cultural Ministry from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, TX, and earned Ph.D. in Missiology from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN. Dr. Arsse speaks in Universities, mission seminars and conferences. He is now a pastor, and coordinates multi-nation evangelistic outreach. Dr. Arsse, his wife Ayantu, and their son Kayo live in Columbus, OH.
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Insanity Of God
$14.99Add to cartThe Insanity of God is the personal and lifelong journey of an ordinary couple from rural Kentucky who thought they were going on just your ordinary missionary pilgrimage, but discovered it would be anything but. After experiencing life in places where it looked like God had turned away completely and was clueless about the tragedies of life, and after losing their teenage son in the mission field, the couple knew that their faith would never be the same.Nik recalls that, “God had always been so real to me, to Ruth, and to our boys. But was He enough, for the utter weariness of soul I experienced at that time, in that place, under those circumstances?
” It is a question that many have asked and one that, if answered, can lead us to a whole new world of faith.
How does faith survive, let alone flourish in a place like the Middle East? How can Good truly overcome such evil? How do you maintain hope when all is darkness around you? How can we say “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world” when it may not be visibly true in that place at that time? How does anyone live an abundant, victorious Christian life in our world’s toughest places? Can Christianity even work outside of Western, dressed-up, ordered nations? If so, how?
The Insanity of God tells a story-a remarkable and unique story to be sure, yet at heart a very human story-of the Ripkens’ own spiritual and emotional odyssey. The gripping, narrative account of a personal pilgrimage into some of the toughest places on earth, combined with sobering and insightful stories of the remarkable people of faith Nik and Ruth encountered on their journeys, will serve as a powerful course of revelation, growth, and challenge for anyone who wants to know whether God truly is enough.
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Pauls Missionary Methods
$35.00Add to cartVeteran scholar-missionaries Robert L. Plummer and John Mark Terry edit this collection of entry points into the missionary methods of the Apostle Paul. With contributions from Michael Bird, Eckhard Schnabel and Craig Keener, this volume examines Paul’s missionary methods from the perspective of Paul’s activities in the first century and the perspective of his ongoing impact on missions today. The first part of the book examines Paul’s environment, activity and teaching. The second portion investigates the application of Pauls methods and principles to modern missionary work. The occasion for this book is the centennial of Roland Allen’s Missionary Methods: Saint Paul’s or Ours?, a classic in the field which Paul’s Missionary Methods enthusiastically engages with.
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Your Minds Mission
$8.00Add to cartYour mind has a mission. Sometimes it might seem like Christians just want your body–to serve or go. Or it might seem like they just want your heart–to emote in worship or commit to a cause. But that’s not all. God invites us to love him with our minds as well. Being holistic, global Christians means that we need to think well about the world around us. Greg Jao roots our pursuit of the discipleship of the mind in our allegiance to and love for Jesus. Because Jesus is Lord of all, our intellectual engagement is a way we can bring all things under Christ. Jao addresses common myths that result in a passive engagement of our intellect with our faith. He provides key disciplines for Christian discipleship of the mind, how we can love God with our minds in community, obedience and humility. With practical application and formational activities throughout, this guide offers concrete ways to integrate the life of the mind into a life of mission and ministry. The Christian mind is a missional mind. Discover how you can use your mind to extend the glory of God throughout the world. Includes questions for group discussion.
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Western Christians In Global Mission
$22.00Add to cartPreface: An Invitation To A Journey
Introduction: Questions For The Journey
Part 1: Where Are We Now?
1. The State Of The World
2. An Appraisal Of The North American Church
3. An Appraisal Of The Majority World ChurchPart 2: Moving Forward
4. Biblical Continuity
5. Posture Of Humility
6. Purposeful Reciprocity
7. Sacrifice–Not Just Generosity
8. Partnership Equality
9. Listening To Our Non-Western Brothers And Sisters
10. United Together–So That The World Might KnowConclusion: Responding To The Invitation
Bibliography
Appendix: Letters To The North American ChurchAdditional Info
The world has changed. A century ago, Christianity was still primarily centered in North America and Europe. By the dawn of the twenty-first century, Christianity had become a truly global faith, with Christians in Asia, Africa and Latin America outpacing those in the rest of the world. There are now more Christians in China than in all of Europe, more Pentecostals in Brazil than in the United States, and more Anglicans in Kenya than in Great Britain, Canada and the United States combined. Countries that were once destinations for western missionaries are now sending their own missionaries to North America. Given these changes, some think the day of the Western missionary is over. Some are wary that American mission efforts may perpetuate an imperialistic colonialism. Some say that global outreach is best left to indigenous leaders. Others simply feel that resources should be focused on the home front. Is there an ongoing role for the North American church in global mission? Missions specialist Paul Borthwick brings an urgent report on how the Western church can best continue in global mission. He provides a current analysis of the state of the world and how Majority World leaders perceive North American Christians’ place. Borthwick offers concrete advice for how Western Christians can be involved without being paternalistic or creating dependency. Using their human and material resources with wise and strategic stewardship, North Americans can join forces with the Majority World in new, interdependent ways to answer Gods call to global involvement. In this critical age, the global body of Christ needs one another more than ever. Discover how the Western church can contribute to a new era of mission marked by mutuality, reciprocity and humility. -
Serving With Eyes Wide Open (Revised)
$18.00Add to cartShort-term mission trips are great ways to impact the kingdom. Yet they can lack effectiveness because of mistakes or naivetServing with Eyes Wide Open is a must-have book for anyone doing a short-term mission or service project, whether domestic or overseas.