EMQ

The tranquil cornfields of central Illinois stretched on mile after mile along Route 150 west of Peoria. Suddenly, a bizarre black-and-white sign MURPHY GO HOME popped up from the greenery. How unneighborly, I thought about the good farmers of Illinois.

Church planting within Muslim societies presents a major challenge for Christian missions. As the year 2000 approaches, mission agencies are scrambling for strategies suitable for reaching Islam with the gospel.

Much of missionary methodology has been subject to a type of faddish cycle. The cycle begins when missionaries are exposed to a new technique that has captured the fascination of the Western missiological world.

Moody magazine recently devoted much of an issue to the subject “What’s Ahead for Missions?” The series of articles, which presented a mixed picture at best, addressed some serious concerns plaguing world missions today:

One of my teammates in the Philippines, anticipating his first furlough, worried that if some of his supporters really knew how we did ministry, they might drop him.

In June, 1996, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution calling upon its churches to direct “energies and resources toward the proclamation of the gospel to the Jewish people.” American Jewish community leaders reacted with howls of alarm. Some in the SBC appeared to break rank.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

A college friend of mine who became a physician was turned down for missionary service because he flunked the board’s physical exam. He had only one kidney. Another board, however, accepted him for work in Zaire, where he served with distinction for 35 years.