Articles

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.

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.

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.

After one year of preparation, the Chinese Congress on Evangelism convened November 9-13, 1970, on scenic Grass Mountain (Yangmingshan) just a few miles from downtown Taipei, Taiwan. It was a historic gathering for the Chinese church as 390 participants attended, representing some 50 different Protestant groups.

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.

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.

Through more than five years of prayer and planning, many factors have converged, in the providence of God, to bring about the establishment of the China Evangelical Seminary.

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.

The concept of “the indigenous church” is widely emphasized today. But how much do we hear about the indigenous mission agency? The task of church planting is fairly well known. But what about the art and science of mission planting? We study the strong and weak points of different types of church policy.

Missions are doing something to nationalize the churches. A spot check by Evangelical Missions Quarterly reveals some interesting developments.