EMQ

I wonder if in our approach to missiological research we may have missed a few crucial steps in the process.

This article is a response to “Courage in Our Convictions: The Case for Debate in Islamic Outreach” by Jay Smith, January 1998, EMQ.

This article is a response to: “Courage in Our Convictions: The Case for Debate in Islamic Outreach” by Jay Smith, January 1998 EMQ.

In missiology we talk about the “10/40 Window,” referring to the large number of unreached people groups living between the latitudes of 10 and 40 north of the equator. The “15/45 Window” refers to people with AIDS, since most cases of HIV infection and AIDS occur between the ages of 15 and 45.

Few missionaries forget the day they arrive on the field. It generally ranks right up there with The First Kiss, The Day Kennedy Was Shot or The Truth about Santa.

When I went to the emergency room of the Vanga Evangelical Hospital in the Congo one morning in 1996, I saw a strange looking man lying on one of the beds. The head nurse told me, “This is Mr. A. He is Egyptian, and he is very sick.”

Not long ago at a city park in Central America, Patrick McDonald spotted a group of 30 street children. Then he saw workers with a Christian ministry show up and begin working with them. Then another group of workers arrived, then another, all within half an hour, all targeting the same children.

I thought I had prepared myself adequately for my first term on the mission field. I was willing to humble myself to the level of a child to learn a new language.