Church was a form of religion, but life transformation wasn’t taking place on a consistent basis. We questioned the purpose of the church, our call, and if church planting and missions was really working.
Many churches may be satisfied with defining “a church for all peoples” as meaning, “a separate church for each people group.” But I found it increasingly difficult to justify this position.
The paradigm shift in missions from a primarily Western to a now-global phenomena is profound and far-reaching, particularly for the leadership of traditional mission agencies.
In the 1970s, about the time that I started paying attention in our youth group Sunday School class, we studied Fritz Ridenhour’s book about world religions: So What’s the Difference? In those days, however, most of us thought of people of Jewish faith, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Muslims as exotic “over there” people. They lived in far-away places with unusual foods, attire, and worship centers. I daresay there was no one in our suburban youth group who actually knew a follower of these religions.
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