EMQ

For simplicity’s sake, permit me first to characterize the missionary of the seventies in a five-fold manner: (1) He must be rooted in Christ; (2) he must be anchored in the Word; (3) he must be filled with the Spirit; (4) he must be related to the church; (5) he must be geared to the times.

The most pressing need of the church in Asia today is for adequately trained and deeply committed national leadership in the life and service of the church. This crisis in national leadership is being felt particularly in the sphere of theological training in view of the increasing restrictions on foreign missionary work in most countries in Asia.

The Kalahari Mission is young in years but has been active in growth and development of its own life style in the Christian community. It has been the avowed purpose of this work to allow the church to be truly indigenous, not only in its finances and government but in every aspect of its life.

Since the chief concern of this article is the differential in the growth rates between the missionary society oriented churches and the lower-class churches, it is now time to look at these missionary churches.

The claim of God’s Holy Spirit on an individual’s heart regarding commitment to service is certainly a most sacred and cherished matter. However, the way in which a potential missionary candidate finds his place of service is often characterized by some as a sort of “mission board roulette.”

The claim of God’s Holy Spirit on an individual’s heart regarding commitment to service is certainly a most sacred and cherished matter. However, the way in which a potential missionary candidate finds his place of service is often characterized by some as a sort of “mission board roulette.”

Some years ago in the city of Shikarpur, West Pakistan, a blind Christian evangelist and I were invited to meet with some of the Muslim religious leaders in the courtyard of a neighborhood mosque.

The relationship of evangelical Christianity to the middle classes of Latin America is a new field of study, although the same problem has been debated for several decades in the English and German speaking world.¹ This is a relationship which some would call bondage.

Has anybody here seen a missionary? It is much easier to spot one than it is to define one. They have been engaged in a variety of tasks from auto maintenance to evangelism, from school teaching to administration, from medical work to translating the Scriptures. But still the question remains: What is a missionary?

The decade of the 60s saw the development of what might well be considered the first Latin American Protestant theological movement. We are referring to the group of thinkers related to the Latin American Commission on Church and Society (ISAL)1, and, through this commission, to the World Council of Churches.