Journal of the Evangelical Missiological Society

The "New" Comparative Theology as New Frontier in Interreligious Engagement and Christian Witness

2025-01-30T17:46:05+00:00

This paper argues that the ‘new’ comparative theology is a mission practice at the frontiers of evangelical missiology that accords well with a 'truth pursued' approach to evangelism and mission. To make my case, I explore the need for comparative theology, considering the persistence of non-Christian religions; its history and distinguishing features, defined by a ‘bold humility’ toward religious Others; its function as a mission practice facilitating two-way contextualization; and its potential as a form of Christian witness, illustrated through an example of the ‘new’ comparative theology in the longstanding Christian-Muslim debate about the nature of divine revelation.

Frontier Mission in a Time of Geopolitical Conflicts

2025-01-18T23:24:57+00:00

We are in a time of geo-political conflicts and uncertainties. The global pandemic seems to be finally over, but the increasing tension between Taiwan and China, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East have cast more shadows upon the world. Today the world is facing the challenges of plague, wars, natural disasters, and its consequences. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…A time to plant and a time to uproot… a time for war and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,2, 8, NIV) This paper aims give a brief survey on how the geopolitics impacts frontier mission, as well as to answer two key questions as churches and organizations seek to fulfill the calling of reaching to the end of the earth: First, when conflicts or wars take place on the mission field, should the field workers stay or leave on the field? Second, is it worth it to send field workers to a conflicted zone where the stakes are high? This paper is based on biblical study, reflection on current events, church history and personal experiences of serving in a war-torn country amidst geopolitical proxy war in the Middle East for years.

Equipping for Frontiers in Missions: Trauma and the Resurrection

2025-01-17T16:52:05+00:00

Though death and suffering are universal, some vocations increase the likelihood of repeatedly encountering such events; missions is one such vocation. These circumstances violate God’s design for his image bearers and often severely impact a person’s perceptions of self and the world he inhabits. Therefore, these experiences can lead to a variety of disruptions designated as trauma. In spite of risk factors common to many fields, formal missions training in the church and academic institutions sometimes overlooks preparation for suffering or awareness of trauma. Sending and supporting workers, especially in unreached contexts, should include preparation for heightened risk, and theology is essential as part of that process. In particular, the twenty-first century church should consider a key theological emphasis of the first-century church: the hope of resurrection applied to suffering on mission. This article’s thesis is that preparation for missional service should include a robust understanding of the doctrine of bodily resurrection with application to suffering and trauma. This argument is developed in two movements. First, I describe trauma’s prevalence in missions and the role of plausibility structures in trauma. Second, I examine the apostle Paul’s plausibility structure for bodily suffering and resurrection in the context of missional endeavors. I conclude with several suggestions for application in pre-field training.

“Church Planting as Improvisation”: Learning Spirit-led, Principled Flexibility from Effective Practitioners in the Middle East

2025-02-02T01:19:06+00:00

The frontier mission community has often debated various models of contextualization and church planting, with vigorous advocacy, and equally-vigorous criticism, of specific models to reaching the unreached. However, such debates have often neglected the diverse and changing contexts across the globe—and sometimes within the same country or city—which requires a more flexible, adaptive framework for participating effectively and faithfully in God’s mission among the least reached. This paper draws upon analysis of my research on five recent examples of church plants among BMBs (Believers of Muslim Background) across diverse contexts in the diverse, dynamic region of the Middle East. These diverse examples of contemporary church formation in difficult contexts suggest to us a picture of church planting, not as a formula or model to be implemented, but rather as an activity of collective improvisation. Drawing upon jazz theory and the reflections of fruitful church planters in the Middle East, I argue that skillfull participation in the mission of God among the least reached is best conceived of as the collective, improvisational synergy of the Holy Spirit, initiative of local believers, and wise outside disciple-making within a principled framework. Replacing a “church
planting as formula implementation” image with “church planting as collective improvisation” image better assists us in learning from church-planting trends, effective local-expat partnership, partnership with local believers, and effectively adapting our church-planting efforts to diverse and rapidly changing frontier people groups.

Motivating the Next Generation in the U.S. to Missions

2025-02-12T16:36:59+00:00

While motivating the next generation in the U.S. to Missions, is not really a new concern for missiology (every generation has had its challenges); the context today is unique. As a college professor of missions, along with shifts in the type of students who are taking missions classes; I am also concerned as I am also seeing far less interest in studying missions that 20 years ago. In light of these changes, this paper surveys a variety of reasons that seem to push younger generations away from global missions’ engagement. It will explore the reality of changes in demographics as the younger generation in the US is increasingly diverse in culture, ethnicity, and other factors. Rather than throwing our collective hands up in despair, we are called to understand the challenge before us from which we are educating and recruiting for missions. Thus, the focal question of this paper is “What challenges and opportunities are present in motivating younger generations to career service in Missions?” And “What positives can be found amongst the younger generations?”

Review: Missiology with Power: A Missing Dimension in Intercultural Ministry by Charles H. Kraft

2025-03-03T16:34:16+00:00

Review of Kraft's latest book

Review: Unreadable: Another Book You Probably Won't Read by Don Barger and Grant Lovejoy

2025-03-03T16:50:45+00:00

Review of Barger and Lovejoy book Unreadable