EMQ

The over 1200 delegates and observers from 35 countries who gathered together at the International Congress Center in Amsterdam, Holland, for the European Congress on Evangelism August 28-September 4 very likely did not return home disappointed. There were, without a doubt, those who would have had strong recommendations and concrete advice regarding improvement of the Congress program and its presentation to the delegates.

The worst insult one can give any institution is to call it irrelevant. I have been asked by educational experts, “What are you doing to keep Sunday school from being irrelevant?”

As the Latin American Church emerges toward full maturity, it is experiencing some severe growing pains. Two of these, theological articulation and ministerial training, affect the foundation of the church and the edification of the church. The third, evangelistic impact, influences the extremely important matter of the extension of the church.

At various times we have been asked if we are prepared to receive missionaries who wish to “do their thing.” The answer would be an unequivocal yes, if we could assume that one’s “own thing” was the exercise of his spiritual gifts and was consistent with the program of God, i.e., the building of his church.

As Warren White waited for his appointment with the visiting regional secretary of his mission, he thought again of all the reasons for which he had come to Asia to begin with; were they still valid now?

The effectiveness of newly discovered techniques, advanced and specialized tools, and highly educated personnel is totally dependent upon the strategy devised to use them. Problems of strategy are frequently at the root of personnel dropouts, sloppy, subpar work, unusual degrees of conflict between field leaders, and field programs that are achieving little if any success.

How do churches grow in the many varied societies of earth? Church growth research seeks to answer this basic question by the use of many tools – intellectual tools that have been developed for the most part by the social sciences of history, sociology and anthropology.

Give us a chance to live! We want to learn! We need food and shelter to survive! The agony is personal. The needs are individual.

Outside mainland China there are about thirty million Chinese. Twenty eight million can be located in South East Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Nearly four million are political refugees. The majority form the ruling clique in the Republic of Taiwan. A million refugees are now happily settled in the British Colony of Hong Kong.

Because we’re not invited. It may have something to do with the custom in our society of separating age groups. The age groups designated to listen to missionaries are the middle-aged and the old.