Mission and Evangelism

The context in which the Church carries out its mission at the beginning of this millennium gives us a dual image of a disintegrating world, prone to divisions, and yet having a desire for unity and harmony. This unity and harmony within the Church is all the more important as they depend on the successful completion of the mission of the Church.

Defining and understanding the Church's mission in the present context is particularly important because the Church was not brought into existence by God through Christ and the Holy Spirit, just to be an end in itself. In the present article it is highlighted that the attitude or disposition with which the Church fulfils its mission is of particular importance.

Permanently available for ministry, the Church does not seek to dominate society nor to fulfill its goals, however, it adapts its work without altering/deviating from the main given direction. Note, God has never demanded ‘heated’, thrilling, and crowded church programs! What God wants from His people and Church, is to know Him more closely. In order to accomplish this, we need a complete reform in worship, edification, evangelism and preparation, which in many cases has been confined to ‘arid’ formalities, lacking the essence.

A number of recent books examine the presentation of the gospel through the lens of honor-shame. This article assesses some of the arguments given in these books to see what they have to say is of valuable and what should be questioned from the perspective of anthropology, the Bible, language, and mission history.

Missionaries seek to be credible to the people whom they try to influence with the message of the gospel. Although Christ first and foremost calls missionaries to be humble servants who love and serve him, empirical evidence from the behavioral sciences indicates that missionaries who are perceived as experts, who attract people to themselves, and, most importantly, who are trustworthy are most likely to be deemed credible. To be perceived as experts, missionaries need to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic and to speak with confidence. To be perceived as attractive to others, missionaries should have frequent contact with others, demonstrate appreciation to others, and take care with their physical appearance. To come across as trustworthy, missionaries need to demonstrate long-term integrity, trustworthiness, open communication, and concern for others.

This publication is a collection of essential tools for practical ministry in jails and prisons. It includes scores of Christian ministries and other faith-based organizations that offer free Bibles, books, literature, and other important resources for correctional chaplains.

Kejadian 2:18-25 1 adalah sebuah bukti mendasar bahwa Allah sendiri yang telah menghendaki dan membentuk suatu rumah tangga. Rumah tangga yang berasal dari seorang laki-laki bernama Adam dan seorang wanita yang telah diciptakan dari rusuk laki-laki bernama Hawa. Dari permulaan penciptaan inilah Allah kemudian menempatkan cikal bakal rumah tangga harmonis Adam dan Hawa dalam Taman Eden. Namun rumah tangga yang telah Allah bentuk kemudian rusak karena Iblis membuat Adam dan Hawa jatuh dalam dosa (Kejadian 3: 1-24) dan saling menyalahkan. Akibat dari dosa telah membuat hubungan rumah tangga mereka dan hubungan dengan Allah menjadi tidak "harmonis." 2 Akhirnya mereka diusir dari taman Eden. Bahkan anak yang dilahirkan oleh Hawa dikemudian hari memiliki hubungan yang tidak harmonis, hal ini terbukti dari kisah Kain dan Habel (Kejadian 4: 1-16). Ironisnya, dampak dari rumah tangga yang telah rusak tersebut tidak hanya dialami oleh Adam dan Hawa tetapi juga oleh generasi-generasi selanjutnya sampai saat ini. "Rumah tangga yang tidak harmonis sering menimbulkan keributan yang berujung kekerasan bahkan pembunuhan yang dialami oleh para isteri maupun anak-anak." 3 "Akhirnya hubungan rumah tangga berakhir bukan karena dipisahkan oleh maut, tetapi karena perceraian dan anak-anak menjadi korban." 4 1 TUHAN Allah berfirman: "tidak baik, kalau manusia itu seorang diri saja. Aku akan menjadikan penolong baginya, yang sepadan dengan dia." …, tetapi baginya sendiri ia tidak menjumpai seorang penolong yang sepadan dengan dia. Lalu TUHAN Allah membuat manusia itu tidur nyenyak; ketika ia tidur, TUHAN Allah mengambil salah satu rusuk dari padanya, lalu menutup tempat itu dengan daging. Dan dari rusuk yang diambil TUHAN Allah dari manusia itu, dibangun-Nyalah seorang perempuan, lalu dibawa-Nya kepada manusia itu. Lalu berkatalah manusia itu: "Inilah dia, tulang dari tulangku dan daging dari dagingku. Ia akan dinamai perempuan, sebab ia diambil dari laki-laki." Sebab itu seorang laki-laki akan meninggalkan ayahnya dan ibunya dan bersatu dengan isterinya, sehingga keduanya menjadi satu daging. Mereka keduanya telanjang, manusia dan isterinya itu, tetapi mereka tidak merasa malu. 2 Harmonis berasal dari kata harmoni yang berarti pernyataan rasa, aksi, gagasan dan minat; keselarasan; keserasian : harus ada antara irama dan gerak. Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia Pusat, (Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama 2008), hal. 484. Rumah tangga harmonis berarti rumah tangga yang sleras dan serasi antara suami, stri dan anak-anak karena setiap anggota rumah tangga telah menjalankan tugas dan tangung jawabnya dengan benar. 3 Istilah yang sering muncul dalam media masa adalah KDART: kekerasan dalam rumah tangga. 4 Senin 23 Oktober 2017 diberitakan bahwa Nafa Urbach dan Zack Lee telah resmi bercerai. Mereka menikah pada tanggal 16 Februari 2007 di Gereja GPIB Immanuel Jakarta Pusat.

Toujours d’actualité dans notre monde occidental déchristianisé, la pastorale des recommençants peine à exister dans la vie des communautés chrétiennes, plutôt indifférentes à ces baptisés éloignés de l’Église. Il s’agit là d’un vrai problème ecclésiologique à éclairer. La pastorale des recommençants ne contiendrait-elle pas justement un ferment de conversion missionnaire des communautés chrétiennes ?

Church planting is often seen as the best way to grow the church numerically. However, there is surprisingly little research examining this claim in any detail, and the research that exists turns out to be not very well-founded or unclear in terms of sources, definitions, and so forth. Recently, research has been conducted in three small Reformed denominations in the Netherlands, comparing older and younger churches with regard to converts and returnees. The results show that the younger churches gained approximately four times as many converts and five times as many returnees as did older churches. Three explanations seem the most plausible: younger churches are more often in good demographic locations, they spend more time and energy on outreach, and their leadership is more entrepreneurial.

The Pentecostal movement is facing an identity crisis. Any discussion of the doctrine of evidential tongues, if it is to be meaningful, must face this fact. This crisis is the product of an historical process which has been at work since the middle part of this century: the assimilation of the Pentecostal movement into mainstream Evangelicalism. This process of assimilation, although gradual and unobtrusive, has significantly impacted the theology and practice of both the Evangelical and Pentecostal movements. And, while it is the Pentecostal movement, which now
finds itself at a strategic crossroads of self-definition, the direction it takes will inevitably impact the broader Evangelical world. The following essay will seek to describe the origin and nature of this self-identity crisis, outline the central questions which have emerged, particularly as they relate to evidential tongues, and suggest how Pentecostals might constructively face these challenges.

The multicultural church matches a need in our society. In the “Foreword” to Manuel Ortiz’s book One New People: Models for Developing a Multiethnic Church, Harvie M. Conn crystallizes this point: "In a day of fear and mistrust the multiethnic (or multicultural) church is a sample of recomposition in Christ. E pluribus unum (“One out of many”) is a visionary slogan in politics; in the multiethnic church it is a response of the Holy Spirit to culture wars. It is well worth more than a quick glance by a fracturedsociety seeking unity in too many superficial solutions, and by a church that often doesn’t realize the treasure it has been given."

The multicultural church prepares us for a picture of eternity. “And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain,and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev.5:9).

Pedagogical Idea:

Evangelist [is] used in a general sense of anyone who proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ… The evangelist… moved about in different localities, preaching the [gospel] to those who had not heard the message before.  Once such had put their trust in the Lord, then the work of the pastor-teacher begun.  He would remain with them, training them further in the things pertaining to Christ and building them up in the faith.  [Therefore, the artistes’ work of evangelism should be supervised by guardians or pastors].

This paper studies evangelism and social concern at the community of faith. It shows the way Christian communities implement faith and action around spiritual principles, values, and virtues.
On one side, the study shows how Pentecostal believers build Christian communities mostly among the poor and marginalized, and on the other side, how Catholic faithful  approach social action, opting for the poor. This paper offers viable alternatives that bridge both positions on behalf of Christian mission in Latin America.

Background: Paul was on his third missionary journey in Miletus about 48 kilometers south of Ephesus.  Paul had sailed past Ephesus because he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem before the day of Pentecost.  From Miletus, he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church and gave them a farewell speech.  Believers involved in evangelism can learn a lot from Paul’s style of ministry.

Evangelist [is] used in a general sense of anyone who proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ… The evangelist… moved about in different localities, preaching the [gospel] to those who had not heard the message before.  Once such had put their trust in the Lord, then the work of the pastor-teacher begun.  He would remain with them, training them further in the things pertaining to Christ and building them up in the faith.  [Therefore, the artistes’ work of evangelism should be supervised by guardians or pastors].

Simply reading this book (and related links) in its entirety will define you if you choose. Understanding the meaning of life is the human quest and forms a foundation for psychological well-being. The purpose of religious and philosophical systems is to discuss and provide a comprehensive meaning of life including values and beliefs often taken for granted by individuals who are easily socialized. A clearer understanding of these values and beliefs, and assisting individuals to engage in this process of clarification, can help to form a foundation for personal mental health and healthy relationships. The presentation given here is intended to introduce the values and beliefs communicated by Jesus of Nazareth and his earliest followers. He is arguably the most influential person in human history.

Tujuan penulisan karya ilmiah ini adalah: Pertama, Nyanyian Kemenangan Iman berguna untuk mengubah hidup pribadi seseorang untuk dapat menjadi lebih baik dari kehidupan yang lama kepada kehidupan yang baru atau lahir baru. Kedua, Nyanyian Kemenangan Iman berguna untuk dapat menyadarkan umat dari setiap kesalahan yang telah dilakukan. Ketiga, Nyanyian Kemenangan Iman berguna untuk menguatkan umatnya dalam menghadapi persoalan dan masalah hidup saat ini yang semakin hari semakin jahat. Keempat, syair dari Nyanyian Kemenangan Iman memiliki makna dan tujuan yang sangat mendalam dan mempengaruhi kehidupan setiap pribadi. Kelima,Nyanyian sebagai sala satu sarana yang digunakan A.B. Simpson dalam menyampaikan firman Tuhan kepada orang-orang yang belum mengenal Tuhan.


Kata Kunci : Pengaruh, nyanyian, A.B. Simpson, pelayanan, relevansi, GKII

En el virreinato del Perú, desde las primeras décadas de la Colonia,
las diferentes órdenes religiosas que se encargaron de
concretar la misión evangelizadora cumplieron una importante
función respecto de la castellanización de los indígenas. En este
artículo pretendemos sentar las bases de la castellanización de
los indígenas del común del virreinato del Perú en manos de
los misioneros de la Compañía de Jesús, una de las principales
órdenes religiosas de esta región.

In this book Steve Johnstone brings together the Reformed doctrines of Covenant Theology and the subject of evangelism. How should the covenants of Scripture, and their insights into God's single plan of redemption throughout history, inform the actual content of an evangelist's Gospel today? And how can our preaching as evangelists be enriched by the covenants of Scripture?

For fruitful evangelism and people movements, we should use the terms, concepts and teachings, including of “merit-making" and "grace" of karmic peoples in leading them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and follow Him in networks of micro-communities called “house churches networks” (HCN) which adopt this understanding of faith.  Any diversion from this “radical contextualization” approach has been a major reason for the failure to effect Christward movements among karmic peoples, especially Buddhists.

Tujuan penulisan skripsi adalah untuk menjelaskan pengaruh Injil terhadap karakter anak marginal usia 6-12 tahun diYayasan Mitra Kasih Bangsa Makassar. Adapun hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan sebagai berikut: Pertama, pemberitaan injil di Yayasan Mitra Kasih Bangsa ini sudah berhasil  di lihat dari kesadaran anak-anak akan dosa. Kedua, karakter anak-anak sudah mengenal injil dapat di katakana cukup baik walaupun masih ada tidak jujur. Ketiga, bahwa pengaruh pemberitaan injil di yayasan ini kepada anak marginal sangat berpengaruh pada karakter mereka. Hal ini di lihat dari indikator; disiplin, jujur, tanggung jawab,taat pada peraturan. Keempat, bahwa pengaruh pemberitaan injil pada anak marginal ini sangat berpengaruh, mereka sudah mengerti akan dosa, upah dosa, bahwa kita tidak dapat menyelamtkan diri sendiri, sudah tahu bahwa keselamatan hanya oleh anugrah,mereka sudah tahu bagaimana hubungan kita dengan Tuhan.Dulu mereka tidak tahu berdoa sekarang mereka sudah mulai giliran berdoa.Kebanyakan dari mereka berdoa harus melalui bunda Maria, sekarang sudah mengerti bahwa kita bisa langsung berdoa pada Tuhan Yesus.

Kata Kunci: Pengaruh, Pemberitaan, Injil, Perkembangan, Karakter, Anak, Usia 6-12 Tahun.

The promotion of religious freedom and the general pervasion of pluralism across the globe necessitate the need for Christians to review how they evangelize among people of other faiths and those of no faith. One of the mechanisms that has gained prominence in this regard is the promotion of the concept of interfaith dialogue. This article examines areas of convergence between this concept and evangelism through literature study. Following an interpretive approach, the study determined that both concepts have a distinctive but complementary relationship, both promote mutual respect and consider intercultural communication and contextualization. Written from the Christian faith perspective, the article argues that both evangelism and interfaith dialogue could be used by Christians to further God’s mission in contemporary society. As interfaith dialogue promotes neighborliness, the article recommends that it should be embraced by adherents of all faiths. As it has been written from th...

Growing international migration and urbanization trends have led to substantial concentrations of recent immigrants in gateway cities. These cities have a high proportion of foreign born residents and can exhibit hyperdiversity with many different cultural identities or hybridization of individual identities as new residents acculturate to the new
context. This presents challenges for models of contextualization for church multiplication. Through construction of a form of critical contextualization (incarnational ecclesiology) a new approach to research within gateway neighborhoods which can generate new options for holistic mission can be envisioned within these hyperdiverse
communities and their associated transnational social fields. The new research methodology that is developed is titled: interaction mapping.

During the infamous Nanking Atrocity, some Western businesspersons and missionaries established the Nanking Safety Zone to protect about 250,000 refugees. When the Japanese army was pressing on Nanking, Minnie Vautrin, an educational missionary from the United Christian Missionary Society, took charge of the Ginling College campus. As one of the 25 refugee camps, Ginling provided shelter to about 10,000 women and children in late December 1937—the hardest time during World War II in China. With her neutral identity of American nationality, Vautrin seriously struggled with Japanese soldiers when they were seizing Chinese women for rape from the campus; thus, she helped many women avoid the possible fate of sexual violence and slaughter. The Chinese people promoted her as a " Goddess of Mercy " , in the Chinese language a " Living Buddha " (Huo pu sa) or " Guanyin Buddha " (Guan Yin pu sa). The Chinese central government awarded her the Order of Jade (Cai Yu xun zhang). Drawing from Vautrin's diaries and other original materials, this paper narrates this Christian female missionary's moving story in humanism, evangelism, and internationalism. Her devotion to the Chinese refugee women and children made her an eyewitness to the Nanking Massacre, a rehabilitator of refugee sufferings, and a mental and bodily victim of disastrous war.
Keywords: Nanking Massacre; Minnie Vautrin; humanism; evangelism; internationalism; World War II; refugee camp

La historia de los misioneros anglicanos que llegan al Chaco argentino a principios de siglo XX dista de ser suficientemente conocida. A medida en que pasan los años, aparecen nuevas fuentes y materiales que nos permiten reconstruir poco a poco la experiencia anglicana y en particular su relación de tantos años con los pueblos indígenas chaqueños. Entre otros muchos emprendimientos exitosos de los religiosos anglicanos, este trabajo analiza la suerte efímera de la única misión con población pilagá, llamada justamente Misión Pilagá, abierta a fines de 1935 y cerrada en 1939. La estación fue epicentro de diversos conflictos entre los criollos vecinos y los pilagás, así como también de enfrentamientos entre los indígenas y las fuerzas militares tanto argentinas como paraguayas. Se analizan, en consecuencia, las razones del fracaso de la misión.

A paper discussing Paul's understanding of social relations based on Philippians 2:5-11. It explores how Christ's example shapes social relationships in Philippians and the Pauline Epistles. Contemporary readers are challenged to live lives patterned on Christ.

Jesus wants us to keep to the essence and foundations of His ministry for the great commission that was before the church formed and apply these methods in all of our Christ centered churches for heart first then peaceful house second and church third.  We have the church as first and we need hearts of people building people for Christ first, then we need peaceful homes of the church members hosting what Jesus calls the peaceful house and then our brick and mortar churches have a new model being third.  When you read this know that it applies to any history of the church, missions, and any discipleship processes taking all back to the essence of Jesus doing His ministry.  So know we must return to the foundation Jesus demonstrated and know why and how we have strayed from the foundations Jesus payed for us to do.

This grounded theory study examines the motives for relationships between local churches and missionaries: What motivates churches to enter into a relationship with a missionary, to continue this relationship, and to end it? Similarly, what motivates missionaries to begin, continue, or end relationships with a local church? We used purposive stratified sampling to select 17 missionaries and church mission leaders to interview for this study. We performed semi-structured interviews with both groups to discover their understanding of why they form, maintain, and dissolve relationships with each other. Multiple motives influenced all participants. These motives can be broadly categorized as either relationship-focused motives or task-focused motives. Furthermore, the task-focused motives can either be centered on specific goals shared by churches and missionaries (e.g., starting a reproducing church among a specific people group) or on specific processes (e.g., evangelizing or feeding the poor). Although all participants had multiple motives, each participant emphasized some motives over others. The motives present in each party influence many aspects of their relationship, including their communication, financial involvement, and the purpose of the church's short-term mission trips to the missionary's setting. In contrast to social exchange theory which provides a framework to understand conditions under which a relationship will be maintained or ended, the Multiple Motive Theory of Church and Missionary Relationships goes further; it describes specific motives that exist which influence whether a relationship begins, continues, or ends.

The year was 1914. Walls came crashing down as several European countries ignored their geographical boundaries and soldiers invaded their neighbors' lands. Hostilities were in full swing. It was the beginning of World War I. That same year, the American poet laureate, Robert Frost, wrote a poem titled "Mending Wall."1 It tells the story of two neighbors who make an annual ritual of walking the fence along their common property line. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," observed Frost, "That sends the frozenground-swell under it, and spills the upper boulders in the sun...." We've all seen it. You pile a bunch of rocks, one on top another, and the next time you pass that way, something has shifted. You can't figure out when it happened. No one will ever admit to moving these rocks. But there they lie, scattered "boulders in the sun."

Japan has an almost 470-year history of Christian proclamation since Francis Xavier’s arrival in 15492 though the Christian faith was prohibited from 1639 to 1868.3 Japan’s current Christian population is only 1,955,729 (1.54%) out of 126,995,411 and its evangelical population is 596,498 (0.47%), which represents 30.5% of the whole Christian population) according to Operation World. 4 Among manysuggested reasons hindering Japanese’ conversion to the Christian, especially evangelical, faith is the popular practice of ancestor veneration, which “has been an important aspect of religious practice in Japan for centuries.”5

The Azusa Street revival is regarded as the cradle of the modern Pentecostal movement with over 500 million Christians around the world today. Pentecostals are grateful for the well-known leaders such as William Seymour and William Durham, but also for lesser-known leaders like Cenna Osterberg, a Swedish-American Pentecostal evangelist who worked with both of these men. Her evangelistic work followed her throughout her life, including the planting of what became the Swedish Evangelical Free Church of Los Angeles.

The provocative “Nazareth Manifesto” spoken by Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry have sparked controversy and debate from the moment he pronounced them and seemed bound to do so until his return.  In this paper, we will examine “the poor” in the larger context of the Nazareth Manifesto and the implications for us as the church, the body of Christ in our world today.  The poor are those captives and oppressed that need liberation, the blind who need sight, and all those who need to know salvation in Christ and the proclamation of God’s favor over their lives.  Our examination of the mission to the poor, then, will be viewed through the lenses of seeking kingdom justice, sharing kingdom resources, and empowering and equipping the saints for the work of kingdom and God’s glory.  We will also observe some living examples that embody these principles serving God’s kingdom in Bolivia.

The writer’s religious heritage, the Stone-Campbell Movement is deeply rooted in anti-denominational theory and rhetoric. In a widely distributed tract entitled Neither, Catholic, Protestant, Nor Jew, the anti-denominational sentiment is expressed, “Using the New Testament as our blueprint we have re-established in the twentieth century Christ’s church.  It fits no modern label.  It is not just another denomination.”  Generally, this antagonism has prompted a vitriolic posture that has been empty of the ideological rationale beyond denominational theory.  Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify the ideological origins of American denominationalism.

In the spring of 2019, the author utilized an email survey consisting of two questions to ascertain the opinions of eighteen indigenous leaders who have received equipping and resourcing from Western leaders sent through Spiritual Overseers Service (SOS) International (www.sosinternational.us). The recipients were invited to elaborate on the intrinsic and long-term value of equipping leaders within their spheres of influence. This article comes from three sources: these responses, the author's thirteen years of experience training indigenous ministry leaders as a full-time pastor, and his fifteen-year leadership of the global Christian equipping ministry known as Spiritual Overseers Service (SOS) International. The author is well-acquainted with each indigenous leader and international trainer/equipper who responded to the survey and are cited in this writing.

ABSTRACT
This dissertation suggests that Acts 17:16-34 is intended by Luke as a paradigm for evangelism among the biblically illiterate and seeks to identify the methodology that is set forward as a paradigm. In the first section, two arguments against seeing Acts 17:16-34 as a Lucan paradigm are examined. Chapter two examines the arguments of those who claim that this speech is in no way an example of Pauline preaching but is rather the work of Luke or some later redactor. It is argued that there are no ultimately persuasive reasons to accept this view of the reliability of the speech. Chapter three presents the ideas of those who believe that the speech was a failure on the basis of issues such as the small number of converts and insights from the early Chapters of 1 Corinthians. These commentators believe Paul later repented of the approach he took at Athens. Again the essay examines these arguments and ultimately concludes that there is no reason to see the speech as anything other than successful. Section two asks what example Acts 17:16-34 sets for readers. Commentators have differed over their understanding of what Paul is doing here. Some argue that the speech represents a work of assimilation with Greek philosophy, others a critique of Greek idolatry and other groups some combination of the two. This essay will argue for a contextualised critique methodology. It sees critique as Paul’s primary purpose in the speech but acknowledges the way that his message is contextualised to be understandable to his hearers.