A Second Look: Editorial by EMQ Editor Gary Corwin

Juan is a farmer and the lead elder of a small village church in the high Andes. Kofi teaches theology at an African seminary and is writing several articles for a new contextualized Bible Encyclopedia.

“Retiring and shy” as used here refers to something else—the fact that a growing number of missionaries who have retired or are in the process find themselves “shy” of needed resources.

The great lesson of history is that we seldom learn the lessons of history.

The scriptures are full of admonitions and promises related to waiting upon the Lord. Countless sermons have been preached on it, and many thousands of troubled hearts have been encouraged by references to the subject.

It has come into clearer focus for me lately that many of the breakthrough phenomena of our time (evangelically and missiologically speaking) can be traced directly to the ascendancy of post-modern thinking.

There is confusion today between process and purpose. That which is a common phase in the conversion of individuals is being made by many into an ultimate objective or strategy. It’s called insider movements.

Something truly remarkable is happening in the world today. Authoritarian structures of every kind may have finally met their match. From Berlin to Baghdad, Kiev to Cape Town, and Beirut to Beijing, the world is incredibly and irreversibly being changed.

It was not long ago that ministry adultery and family idolatry received a lot of attention in mission personnel circles as the most common shortcomings of the builder and boomer generations respectively.

There are few phrases more frequently spoken in church and mission circles than “church planting.” There also are few subjects around which ministry mavens work harder to be distinctive.

Any American who wasn’t on Mars for the past year is aware of the enormous impact Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, has had on the entertainment industry and the cultural and political life of North America.