Many missionaries are plagued by doubt. Not usually about the message. At...
WHERE: To People Groups?
Over recent decades a certain theory has grown to be the informed, missions-minded Christian’s default answer to the question: WHERE does the Great Commission send us? The people-groups-focused understanding of the Great Commission goes something like this: ‘The Gospel is to be taken to all the different ethnolinguistic groups of the world; the priority of […]
WHO > WHERE
It is becoming increasingly common to hear Christian leaders say something like this: ‘the problem in modern missions is that the church is sending missionaries to all the wrong places.’ Contrary to impressions I may have given with my previous posts, I do not think that. The hang-up in the Great Commission is not primarily […]
A Grateful Christmas Post
Merry Christmas to everybody! Just wanted to say a huge ‘thank you’ to all of you that have contributed toward our church-planting project. Almost half of the money needed for the entire first year of the two new church plants has already been given. This is a huge blessing and encouragement to us, and helps to […]
WHERE: Some Clarifications
There is no surely no more accurate test of a writer’s ability than the way he is understood by his readers. So, yeah, I stink. Anyway, my point is missed… The feedback I’ve gotten from the last couple posts is good, but those who are disagreeing with me are the ones I’m trying to agree […]
WHERE: Not Everywhere Is In ‘Huge’ Need
When I say, ‘we should send missionaries to all needy places,’ some people hear me saying, ‘we should send missionaries everywhere.’ Or in other words, the answer to the WHERE question is that all WHERE’s are equally needy, equally valid targets for missionary efforts. But I definitely have some doubts about that… Montana was mentioned […]
The WHERE of Missions
What differentiates one mission field from another? In other words, is there any difference in being a missionary in South America and being a missionary in the Middle East? In China and in Western Europe? Is one more ‘real’ missions than the other? Last week, my friend suggested two big answers to that question: 1. […]
Church Buildings: the Neighbors
Why rent on the bottom floor? It seems most house church problems are neighbor problems. So when renting a house (residential space), it is important to pick a place where you think you can minimize disrupting neighbors with your services. The easiest way to do this is to minimize the number of neighbors. If you […]
Church Buildings: Commercial or Residential
When looking for a house for your church in China to meet in, the first big choice you’ve got to wrestle with is what kind of a house you want to meet in. While it is still common for unregistered churches to meet in houses, more and more seem to be moving toward commercial spaces. […]
Two New Churches Starting!
Two young men in our church are starting new churches this month! This is so thrilling for us, and I hope you will rejoice with us. Both of these guys have been working with me closely for about three years. They have served as assistant pastors for the past year or so. They have witnessed, […]
Church Buildings: the Real Estate Agent
Our church has had to look for houses several times during our time here. We’ve rented all kinds – commercial, residential, high-rise, ground-floor, fixer-uppers, and like-new – and we’ve learned a little bit about what is conducive for church services. We’ve looked at dozens and dozens of houses during our long quests to find the […]
The Gospel in China 
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