About Missions – Advancing Native Missions: Recent Episodes
About Missions – Advancing Native Missions
I really enjoy rooms with large windows. The sunlight and often the view raise my spirits. Focusing away from myself and my immediate work also relieves stress on the eyes and the mind. The 10/40 Window functions in much the same way. This rectangular geographic area stretches from North Africa through the Middle East to […]
Making the Case: Three Points In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the example of Jesus in encouraging native (indigenous) missionaries to carry the message of the Gospel to their own communities. Here we examine three points that I believe make the case for the native approach to missions. Point #1: God is […]
Jesus Calls the First Native Missionary — Mark 5:1–20 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. – Mark 5:1–2 After a long and storm-filled night crossing the Sea of Galilee, Jesus […]
A lot of people stumble into the new year exhausted and relieved, thinking, Whew, isn’t it great to be done with last year? It’s true that 2021 brought more stress, turmoil, and uncertainty. We’re surrounded by stubborn problems, new challenges, and growing fears. But as Lamentations 3 says, the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. […]
It has often been observed that a person’s last words convey great significance. Whether someone is dying or leaving not to return, they weigh carefully what they say. Final words will be remembered, treasured, and have lasting value. With this in mind, it is important to consider our Savior’s last words before He went back […]
If Messianic Jews in Israel are believers in Jesus, why don’t they call themselves Christians? That’s a very good question with an equally good answer. Let’s begin with definitions. The term “Messianic Believer” or “Messianic Jew” has been used frequently to describe followers of Yeshua (Jesus) in Israel. At the same time Messianic is used […]
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a children’s choir performed an 18th century Christian hymn in Chinese. Professional snake charmers in India play it on their wind instruments. While on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee sang it as they suffered. And Civil Rights marchers in the 20th century sang it for protection from danger. A […]
Maybe you’ve heard the term “10/40 Window” in a sermon or from a visiting missionary, but you came away unsure about what the term really means and why it matters to you. It can seem like the kind of technical jargon only used by missions experts. Many people feel this way, so here’s a very […]
What are the most important verses in the Bible? Every person who reads it may come away with a different answer, but some passages of scripture certainly act as “keys” of sorts: they help us understand the meaning of the biblical narrative as a whole. When it comes to missions, Christians often point to the […]
“Aliens!” “Traitors!” “Infidels!” These are labels Christians bear in three countries where persecution is at its peak. But something else is happening too. Read on to find out. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi desires to make India a completely Hindu nation, and Christians have felt the pressure from his government and their communities. Militant Hindus […]
“How does ANM choose its native ministry partners?” I have been asked this question many times. It’s a logical question, given the numbers: ANM has 263 ministry partners in 83 countries. The full answer is actually very complicated, full of formal guidelines and protocols. So here’s the simple version. It has been said that ministry […]
“Targeted violence and hate crimes against the Christian community in India continued unabated in 2018.” This grievous, straightforward statement opened the 2018 Violence Against Christians in India Report, which recorded 325 incidents of Christians being “targeted using violence, intimidation, or harassment.” The report, published by the Religious Liberty Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, […]
When violence fills the news cycle or hits close to home, Christians must ask how we are to think and act biblically in response. It is far too easy to go numb or sink into despair. Earlier this year, I found myself re-examining this difficult question in light of the grievous loss of life through […]
Unreached, unengaged, adoption, people group… It’s easy to get lost in specialized mission vocabulary at the 2018 Finishing the Task Conference. Finishing the Task is a network of missions organizations dedicated to establishing ministry work among every people group in the world, particularly the so-called “unengaged unreached people groups.” If you’d like to know a […]
“no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark” – from “Home” by Warsan Shire, a British-Somali poet; quoted throughout There are now more than 68 million people globally who have fled their homes to escape the shark mouth of persecution, violence, hunger, and terrorism. That is the largest number of dislocated […]
There is no one-size-fits-all description for an unreached people group. They come in all sizes—from a few hundred members of isolated tribes in South America and Southeast Asia to groups of millions spread around the world. So what is the largest unreached people group? The Shaikh people have a global population of over 236 million. […]
Suppose someone asked you, “Can you name a famous person who lived as a refugee or an exile in a foreign land?” Who would you think of? Perhaps the Dalai Lama? Albert Einstein was a refugee from Nazi Germany. As was Anne Frank, who hid in the Netherlands until her death. In church history, we […]
You’ve probably heard about a group of people called the Rohingya in the past year. They have been named the most persecuted minority group in the world, and they are regularly in the news, but who are they? The Rohingya are a Muslim tribal group who have lived in Rakhine State in Buddhist Myanmar (previously […]
Did you know that among the many codes of law in the ancient Near East, only the Bible contains specific legal protection for aliens? Ancient codes such as those from Babylon and Sumeria included protection for the most vulnerable members of society: the poor, widows and orphans. However, only God’s law adds protection for the […]
In July 1974, at the invitation of Billy Graham, more than 2,000 Christian leaders from 150 countries gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the Congress on World Evangelization. It was at this historic meeting that Dr. Ralph Winter first introduced the groundbreaking vision for a people group approach to missions. (“Why Do We Talk about People […]