Rethinking Indian Missions for a Changing World
By Isac Soundararaja | India is poised to play a significant role in global missions beyond its borders, and India’s diaspora will be a major part. Yet fully participating requires rethinking strategy and collaborating with global partners. This brings into view the necessity of Global North and Global South partners learning to work more closely as peers in global mission.
The Afghan Initiative: A New Model for Mission in an Age of Migration?
By Scott Brock | In August 2021, many people fled Afghanistan when US troops withdrew. Afghan believers were a vulnerable group amongst them. Seeing a unique opportunity for Afghan believers to both escape danger and serve as global workers in the US, a local church and ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelism) partnered to bring a group of Afghan believers to the US on religious worker visas.
Adapting Our Approaches for a Mobile World
By Daniel Råsberg | Traditional insider-outsider categories in missions fail to address the complexities of migrant ministry. Relationships, consistency over the long term, cultural bridges, and embracing fluidity of roles are key to navigating varied diaspora contexts. We must rethink static models and humbly collaborate across cultures to minister effectively.
God’s Mission Story Centers on Fellowship
By Collin Cornell | Does God’s faithfulness end when our usefulness runs out? While most Christians would deny this, the way we tell the story of God’s mission reveals otherwise. This places a significant question mark over God’s faithfulness, and it threatens our spiritual formation and our evangelistic integrity.
Missionaries as Needy Patrons
By Tamie Davis and Moyra Dale | Patronage relationships are common in many cultures. Western missionaries in these environments are often viewed as patrons by default. This can be an uncomfortable role. However, when we understand how reciprocity works in these contexts, we can participate in ways that strengthen local relationships.
Leading with Beauty
By Grant Klinefelter | Do we know the story of what God is doing today? Often, we know how God has worked in the past and we have hope for what God will do in the future. But do we really know what God is doing here and now in the present? Across America, giving to missions is declining. And across the West, missionary attrition is rising. I believe one reason for this is that we have not done well telling stories of what God is doing around the world today.
Loren Cunningham’s Legacy: Transforming Missions
By Charis Jackson and Lynn Green | To say Loren Cunningham reshaped missions is not an overstatement. It’s a fact. From the vision of waves turning into young people on every shore, to the last catalytic call to see every native tongue have an oral translation of the Bible, Loren was a man who loved the Lord and inspired peoples from every nation to join in on the adventure of God.
Polycentric Missions Should Include the Church
By Ellen Livingood, Matthew Philip, and Scott White | Immense global changes are affecting every aspect of missions. Missions models are getting flatter. And local churches are increasingly engaging in aspects of missions previously reserved only for mission agencies or large NGOs. Polycentric alliances offer a way for a wide range of mission participants, including churches, to work together to address missional challenges.
The Nigerian Church and Global Missions
By Adeoluwa Felix Olanrewaju | The Nigerian church has been engaged in cross-border and cross-cultural missions for more than 150 years. Since then, it has played an important and growing part of the global missions movement. And Nigerians are eager to play a bigger role in collaboration with global partners.
Building Bridges Between Local Churches and New Neighbors
By Sara Miller* | Church leaders and organizations are grappling with the changing dynamics of the American church. However, the fields remain – calling for tilling, sowing, and harvesting. And the nations are here at our doorstep. Global workers who have already lived and served cross-culturally are uniquely equipped to help churches engage these nations and serve cross-culturally here in the US.