We hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of indigenous churches, churches that are truly “home-grown” and reflect the values and culture of the people.
For several years now, I’ve relied on Thomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree to help me understand some of the overall dimensions and major themes of the post-cold-war world.
Our generation is seeing fewer and fewer missionaries spend their entire missionary career in one place.
None other than Her Excellency, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, president of the Philippines, introduces this extensive report on the amazing Filipino diaspora.
When I began my missionary career in the Philippines in 1986, making a long-distance telephone call was a major project. Very few private homes had telephones so there weren’t many people to call anyway.
Expatriate workers can, sometimes unknowingly, dominate the people they work among. Rather, they should listen to them.
In one week I heard three references to the importance of nationalization in mission. During a meeting, one of our missionary staff said, “If our sole purpose for being on the mission field is nationalization, then…” Later, another missionary asked, “Isn’t nationalization our primary reason for being a missionary?”
How many people from your church have gone out of the country on a short-term mission trip in the last five years? Make a quick estimate. Now, how many of them are preparing to be career missionaries?
With eighty-two million inhabitants, Germany continues to be a desperate mission field in need of thousands of new churches. The good news is that over 1,500 new churches have been planted in Germany in the past ten years, with a total membership of well over 100,0001 (“In Deutschland wurden…” 2004, 16).
This hefty book is the product of a three-year study of John 4:1-42 by 120 groups from all parts of the world.
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