By Elsen Portugal | About 50 years after evangelical missions started among the Xerente people of Brazil, singers and other musicians started composing their own songs. These compositions blended traditional Indigenous elements with aspects of popular music typical of the region. This fusion is a result of the cultural shifts that occurred over many years.
By Bronwen Cleaver | The Altai people of southern Siberia have a rich artistic history. A local Bible translation team studied local art forms to see which ones could be used to convey passages of Scripture from the Psalms and Judges. The result was a worshipful rendition of biblical passages performed using local arts. This deeply resonated with local audiences while also affirming the value of the Altai culture.
By Juan Arvelo Montero | After repeatedly failing to communicate the gospel to the Basque people, God showed me that the arts offer a key to open hearts. The arts are a crucial form of gospel communication that move people’s emotions in a way that only sharing information does not. This makes it a powerful discipleship and evangelism tool.
By Rocelyn A. Madinger | After personally experiencing the power of the arts in my own life, I’ve discovered how the arts can be helpful and transformative tools for workers to bring the good news to oral cultures. The arts reflect the values of and dynamics in a community, bridge generations, and aid in discipleship. They also provide avenues for the hearers of the gospel to creatively and meaningfully express their understanding of the gospel, their growing faith, and their worshipful response to God.
By Jhonny A. Nieto Ossa | Finding and encouraging Indigenous cultural expressions that harmonize with Christian faith rather than bringing in and teaching established Western cultural expressions has proven to be a far more effective means to spread the gospel. As Indigenous arts are encouraged, they are reshaping global Christianity and fulfilling God’s diverse, multicultural vision of the body of Christ.
By Steve Taylor | Contextualizing theology is challenging, and discernment is needed to know the difference between biblical truths and cultural beliefs. Local and outsider perspectives can benefit these discussions. A three-step framework used by the Thai Christian Thinkers group offers helpful guidance on how to do this well.
By George Dumitrascu | Over two billion people identify as Muslims worldwide. Due to globalization, they live across the world and are our neighbors and co-workers. This makes it even more important to understand their context. Approaching Muslims with the gospel from an individualist perspective is often unsuccessful. A shift in approach to a family-based incarnational ministry using a contextualized house-church model could improve missions outcomes.
Our church-planting team attempted to help financially struggling new believers in our emerging church. Our results mirrored so many other stories when we first started a home construction company and later started a grocery co-op: Both times, we failed.
In The Great Dechurching, authors Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan Burge present a thorough examination of dechurching in the United States, investigating the departure of approximately 40 million adults from regular church attendance over the past 25 years.
Church planting among every people group is at the center of God’s mission. Ken Davis’ book, Foundations for Fruitful Church Planting, connects church planting with global mission.
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