A few of my students worked through 24 missionary prayer letters. We were searching for attitudes of all kinds that might show up in such letters. Our research was limited to one letter per missionary.
Believe it or not, surveys of mission organizations and their publications show that the most vital link between a mission and Christians in the sending church is the individual missionary’s prayer letter.
“The mission field” at home is becoming increasingly responsive to evangelism and church-planting. This article tells how the Southern Baptists have carried out an effective ministry among U.S. ethnic groups.
Here are some warnings and guidelines from one of the early boosters of theological education by extension, who still believes in its potential for development of the church.
The sense of God’s leading can be achieved in field elections. Conflicting human appeals can be resolved by spiritual preparation before and during the balloting.
“Nonprofessional missionary” scares more than a few professional missionaries. Public appeals for students to consider working in business, education, government or industry overseas – while being a “missionary” on the side – are met with red caution flags by the full-time professional missionaries.
Most missionaries are aware of the increasing array of communications media equipment available. They are in the business of communicating the gospel by any and all means available.
The author claims “indigenous” is a bad word if it prevents Christians in one country from sharing with fellow believers in another country. Writing from the perspective of India, he says traditional self-support policies hurt and hinder the churches there.
Missionaries have long defined the indigenous church as one that is self-propagating, self-governing, and self-supporting. Envision the indigenous church as a three-legged stool, with the three “selfs” forming the legs.
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