In the first post about the ‘people groups’ interpretation of the Great Commission, we said that it depicts the ethnic groups of the world as the target or ‘hoop’ of our missions efforts. To be successful by this plan, we must aim to evangelize some from each and every people group on the planet. In […]
Tag Archives: missionary
Why Learn Chinese?
Seems that I’ve been talking to a lot of people about language learning lately. So thought I’d try to assemble some of those conversations into a blog post. I live in one of the mission fields where the vast majority of missionaries do not learn to speak the native language. There are at least a […]
Church Planting Movements: Viral or Bust
I’ve been thinking about starting a business. But here’s the thing. I don’t really want to start a small business. If I start a business, I’d like it to be, like, a massively successful online start-up. That way I can sell it to Facebook or Google or someone after a few years. Probably for more […]
Love-forged Missionary Strategies
When an older person sees my wife and I out with our daughter, almost without exception they tell us, ‘Enjoy her… it goes by so fast.’ Why do they feel the need to tell us that? It’s the voice of experience. They don’t know where their own time went. They can’t help but remind us […]
Category Creation
John Piper tweeted (yes, that’s a word in my vocabulary now) yesterday, “Harder and just as urgent, alongside contextualization, is category creation.” Almost all modern missionary training emphasizes the importance of contextualized ministry. That is, as we enter another culture, we must give careful thought to how to communicate the Gospel so that it is […]
Missionary Crutches
I was back home in China this past week. Still fighting some final skirmishes with jet lag. But a great trip – got to spend lots of time with the pastors and with the good group of young men who are preparing for pastoral ministry. Taught through 2 Timothy a couple hours a night over […]
Missions: Westerners Need Not Apply?
I am finding more and more that people like me (middle-class Americans) are considered ill-suited candidates for church-planting missions to foreign fields. I try not to take it personally (I just close my eyes and pretend it’s just sixth grade all over again and my friends are choosing me last for a baseball team – […]
Is Missional Living the ‘New Legalism’?
A recent post by Anthony Bradley laments what he sees as the establishment of a fresh form of legalism: the push for Western Christians – especially in the suburbs – to live ‘radically’ and ‘missionally.’ He talks about encountering Christian brothers and sisters who struggle with feelings of inadequacy and futility as they work to […]
The Role of the Foreign Missionary in China
Recently I had the privilege to teach a modular course at the Our Generation Training Center in Georgia. The OGTC provides the best missionary training that I know of in the States. I personally have benefited immeasurably from the teaching and challenge of the missionary team associated with the OGTC. Whenever I meet a student […]
7 Reasons to Get to the Mission Field Before You’re 30
1. Languages are hard to learn It is very rare to meet a missionary who learned another language later on in life. A foreign language is not an opponent you want to underestimate. It will handicap you for the rest of your ministry unless you take it down early. Facing the challenges of learning a […]
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