Ministering to Returning Soldiers

Yesterday I listened to a podcast of a great episode of Speaking of Faith, originally from 2006.  Krista Tippett interviewed Chaplain Major John Morris about his role in ministering to soldiers during and after war (listen to the program or read the transcript here).  He started out with a very evocative description of Easter 2004 [...]

Pray for Persecution???

Here is an excerpt from John Piper’s book, “Finally Alive” -
What Will It Take Today?
What will it take so that thousands of Christians in our churches become passionate about telling the gospel to unbelievers? One of the reasons we don’t do it as much as we should is that life in America is so entertaining [...]

Blast from the Past: An Old Bibliotheca Sacra Journal Article from 1951 Chiding Pentecostals for Being a “Small” Denomination

In my research for my thesis, I came across the following from BSac—V108 #429—Jan 51—pps. 46-47
Is the Pentecostal Movement Pentecostal?
Part 1 – Roy L. Aldrich
The first statement to be examined is the assertion that the modern Pentecostal movement is “a second, or fuller, realization and fulfillment of Joel 2:28–29” than was known previously. If the [...]

John Piper: Rejoice over the reach of world Christianity, but don’t be complacent

From his recent sermon, The Legacy of Antioch:

Meet the Global South
Let’s review the situation of the world today in regard to the spread of Christianity, and what this new term Global South means. The Global South refers to the astonishing growth of the Christian church in Africa, Latin America, and Asia while the formerly dominant [...]

Balanced Spirituality According to St. James

James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
I am preaching on this text this coming Lord’s Day (8/31/09). After reading Matt Harmon’s ( Grace Theological Seminary) “ten theses for further discussion” from his [...]

The tricky balance between evangelism and social justice

Matt Harmon of Grace Theological Seminary posted “ten theses for further discussion” from his talk about the relationship between the kingdom of God and social justice.  You can find them here and here.  This is something that I’m quite interested in.   Here are some that I thought were particularly well-said:
2. We must allow biblical and [...]

Interview With Chinese House Pastor

Christianity Today also published Rob Moll’s short interview with the pastor of a Chinese urban house church in May 2008.  His answers to two questions emphasize some important themes that have come out in the small amount of reading that I’ve done on Chinese Christianity:
What do everyday Chinese think about Christianity?
The people in China are [...]

Rob Moll’s Portrait of Chinese Christianity

Christianity Today editor at large Rob Moll gives a general history of the modern Chinese church in this article from May 2008.  Like some of the other articles that I’ve read on this subject, Moll describes the repression of the Cultural Revolution and the massacre in Tiananmen Square as important points for the Chinese church.  [...]

More on Chinese Christianity

There was a Desiring God post that I missed from March that provided an overview of developments in Chinese Christianity and linked to a couple of interesting resources.  Seth Magnuson writes this summary followed by an eye-opening statement about mission-minded Chinese Christians:
The overall atmosphere for our brothers and sisters in China still varies from day [...]

Mission trip to Bundibugyo, Uganda

I returned from a two-week trip to Uganda on July 25. I did not have time to post updates while I was there, so I’m catching up now that I’m back in the U.S. The first update can be found here. New updates here.

Another perspective on the growth of Chinese Christianity

Chuck Colson’s BreakPoint from yesterday quotes from Pastor Hong Yujian, who argued that the Tiananmen Square crackdown helped the growth of the Church.  This was the key passage for me:
“Many people are beginning to realize that they in themselves have nothing praiseworthy,” Pastor Yujian said. “The end of human efforts is the beginning of God. [...]

Short Term Missions

Last week, the Desiring God Blog posted on short-term missions throughout the week.  This is the wrap-up with links to their different posts.  The major messages that came through were that those going on short-term missions must have a servant’s attitude, take care that their efforts don’t harm the poor and the local Christian efforts [...]

Calvinism in China

Andrew Brown, blogging at the Guardian’s website, writes about his conversation with Rev. Dr. May Tan, who seems to be a Chinese Christian from Singapore.  She explained that Reformed Christianity is growing rapidly in China among university students, which contrasts with the growth of Pentecostalism among the poor of Africa and Latin America.

And in China, [...]

Remembering Ralph Winter

Ralph Winter passed away to be with the Lord He so diligently and zealously served…the Lord for which He sought to increase the purchase of His ransom in the call to mobilize missionaries, etc. His edited book, “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement”, was one of the most influential books I [...]

Missionaries, their courageous faith & devotion to the great commission

We recently had the priviledge to attend a dedication of a new plane that MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) http://www.maf.org/, a local training hub for missionaries old, new & to be.  They train families in vast & various ways for their venture into areas of the country they will soon discover is alien to them.  There [...]

The Suburban Megachurch Youth Pastor…Gagggg

All I got to say is that I strived to be genuine and authentic in my time of youth ministry. The youth needed to hear about Jesus more than what movies I watched, what games I play, what sort of clothes I am wearing, etc.  The youth pastors that made the [...]

Thoughts and Questions on Global Christianity

The idea of Christianity crossing cultural boundaries fascinates me.  We’ve seen it since the beginning of course, with Jewish, Middle Eastern, Greek, Latin, and Germanic Christians all coming into the fold within the first four centuries of the church’s existence.  And all of these catergories are certainly too broad.  The most interesting issues for me [...]

Global Christianity: The Cross in Southern Sudan

I have been teaching an introductory course on the history of Christianity using Mark Noll’s Turning Points as our textbook.  This Sunday’s lesson focuses on the modern-day reality of global Christianity, brought about both by missions and the “indigenization” (or adaptation to local cultures) of the Gospel.  Noll agrees with what I usually hear that missionary activity [...]

Mission trip in the summer

My family and I are planning on going on a mission trip to Uganda in July. Details are here.

The Effects of International Aid

On Wednesday night, I listened to a great episode of public radio’sSpeaking of Faith.  Krista Tippett interviewed Kenyan journalist Binyavanga Wainaina about his perspective on international aid to Africa (you can listen to it or read the transcript if you want to).  He said that aid from both government and private sources are is oftentimes more about the giver [...]

Thoughts on the Missiological Intent of Pentecost …and F.D. Bruner’s “A Theology of the Holy Spirit: The Pentecostal Experience and the New Testament Witness”

Bruner, F.D. (1998). A Theology of the Holy Spirit: The Pentecostal Experience and the New Testament Witness. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.

It is in Luke’s interest as he develops the Pentecost events in Acts 2 that the meaning of Pentecost be found not in the interior spiritual life of the disciples nor even in the [...]

Brokeness

Romans 8: 23-27- “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already [...]

Open a Thrift Store for Jesus

 Here is a picture of Pastor John Piper browsing through a new thrift store. The store “Hidden Treasures” will designate 75% of the profits in the support of missionaries (http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1191_hidden_treasures_thrift_store/). I love it!!!
I have long shopped at thrift stores for various products and find it a win/win proposition. By God’s grace, I one day hope [...]

“Emotional Calvinism” reaching Muslims in Turkey

                    
I was pleased that Christianity Today focused an article on Christianity in Turkey, “Jesus in Turkey” (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/january/12.25.html?start=2). The article notes that Turkey is rich in the Christian tradition as the Apostle Paul planted churches there and such. When it came under Islamic rule in 1453, the percentage of Christians started to decrease. Recently, Turkey has [...]

My Response to Some Gracious Mormons

The following is my response to a couple posts from respectful and thoughtful Mormons. Their comments are found at:  http://endued.wordpress.com/2007/12/20/does-mitt-romney-have-any-integrity-even-newsweek-is-questioning-his-tactics/
Ty and Kenneth, Thanks for your thoughtful response. I have had past experiences with LDS folks as well and I have the utmost admiration for their way of life, love for family, and love for country. It [...]