In this survey Armour describes the spread of Islam, the first Christian response from criticism to martyrdom and the largely—though not exclusively—“deformed image” of Islam in the medieval West.
You’ve been in church planting for twenty-one years and you’re still alive (and smiling) to talk about it?” I chuckled inside. “This is one informed mission’s chairman,” I thought. “I not only survived, I’m living my missionary dream come true.”
Three hours outside of São Paulo, Brazil in the small town of Monte Verde, sixty Brazilians and other Latin Americans are training to become the next wave of missionaries to the 10/40 Window from “The Radical Project.”
If you were to ask pastors and informed lay persons of most churches if they have a missions program, most would answer in the affirmative.
Costa Rica’s church is big on outreach but small on discipleship, and that has led to a “backdoor phenomenon” with as many as half of new believers deserting evangelism. A quarter of Costa Rican evangelicals believe they aren’t called to share Christ because that’s the leader’s job.
As a young pastor, I spent an afternoon with an elder of our local church who meant to encourage me after a particularly difficult season of ministry. “The Lord wants us to be faithful,” he said, “not successful.”
Alister McGrath woke me from my globalized stupor in Starbucks in Singapore with the question “Will the twenty-first century be better for Christians than the disastrous twentieth century was?” In less than 175 pages the author explores this question with surprising clarity and astonishing breadth.
The Western church and missions need to fully awaken to the church in Africa. Historically, the Western church seems like a teenager in contrast to the long and complex history of the African church.
One of the most challenging tasks for Western missionaries to Africa is fitting into the local rhythms of money management. At the core of the misunderstandings that often develop is the mutual obligation and interdependence that shapes African life but clashes with Western independence.
Most missions operate in areas with high unemployment, no employment opportunities and low job skills. Often when missions incorporate business into their ministry, they begin to lose the ministry aspects and become focused on the economics.
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