Journal of the Evangelical Missiological Society

Review of Reading Hebrews and 1 Peter from Majority World Perspectives

Collin Cornell — 2025-09-30

A review of Reading Hebrews and 1 Peter from Majority World Perspectives.

Developing a Leadership Training Model for Churches

Esther Theonugraha — 2025-09-30

A review of Developing a Leadership Training Model for Churches.

The Iranian Christian Diaspora: Religion and Nationhood in Exile

Phil Hopkins — 2025-09-30

A review of The Iranian Christian Diaspora: Religion and Nationhood in Exile.

Is the Missions Textbook Doomed?

Kenneth Nehrbass — 2025-09-30

Concerns about the costs of textbooks, and the neglect of their use, are driving university leaders to consider alternatives to traditional publishers. This study examined 315 coursebook requirements, representing 249 unique titles in 112 courses from 35 institutions. I compared the frequency of authors, titles and publishers to the available missiological books that have been published by nine major publishers. This comparison reveals which concepts are represented in the courses, and which concepts are not covered. The study also looks at the mean cost of textbooks per course and the mean age of texts, as well as the percentage of textbooks that are authored by the professor of the course, and the percentage authored by women, a person of color from the USA, or someone from a non-western country. The findings of this study are that the use of missiological textbooks remains strong. A broad scope of the available missiological literature was selected as required reading for courses in spring 2024, meaning there were no widely used texts or “celebrity authors.” Despite the broad selection of readings, some themes of missiology—whether longstanding or emerging—were absent from the required reading.

The Missiological Implications of the Resurrection of Jesus Among an Increasingly Secularized World

Justin Owens — 2025-09-30

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is profoundly the cornerstone of the Christian faith. However, its missiological implications have widely been ignored by the average churchgoer. While many will attest to the resurrection as an integral part of one’s salvation, applying the resurrection to mission efforts has, unfortunately, been lacking. Secularism has been on the increase in Europe for some time and has now rapidly begun to influence even one of the most churched areas in the United States presenting new challenges for mission and evangelism. With secularism’s pretense for science and historical facts, utilizing the established historical evidence for the resurrection as a missiological springboard affords even the average churchgoer a common epistemological ground for which to engage an increasingly secularized world with the gospel. This articlle briefly examines the established historical evidence for the resurrection and illustrates how these evidences can be used missiologically in evangelistic outreach efforts as well as illustrate the power of the resurrection in more holistic mission endeavors.

Systematic or Narrative?

John Paul Curry — 2025-09-30

The church in the Western World has not only seen decline in church attendance, but has also seen a shift in long held moral stances. Within the same congregation, there are often differences issues such as same sex attraction or abortion between different generations. Culture in the West has clearly shifted, but what accounts for this change within religious institutions, even within Evangelical Christianity? Within this article I reflect on the concept of the social imaginary as presented by Charles Taylor in his book A Secular Age, and how story has helped lead to this shift we have seen. Utilizing research from books, journal articles, and data from polls I reflect upon the impact which story has on an individual, society, and the future, and how stories have impacted the social imaginary of Millennials and Generation Z. I have found that story plays a central role in shaping thought processes and moral standpoints . I discuss how the church can learn to utilize story in the realms of evangelism and apologetics as well as moral formation. In addition to utilizing story, the church should also teach young people critical thinking skills so that they may be able to process the stories which they are receiving.

Foundations for Asian-American Discipleship

Soo Min Park — 2025-09-30

This contextual theological study addresses the gap in Asian-American discipleship by employing a contextual theological approach, focusing on integrating Asian cultural traits with scriptural principles. Utilizing insights from Bryan S.K. Kim, Donald R. Atkinson, and Peggy H. Yang, the study examines key cultural traits including collectivism, conformity to norms, emotional self-control, family recognition through achievement, filial piety, and cultural humility in contrast with American values. By proposing a framework of Christian marginality, the research aims to provide a foundational model for effective Asian-American discipleship. This approach seeks to enhance the development of culturally relevant discipleship strategies within the field of Asian-American ministries in the context that embraces all Asian-Americans from various ethnic heritages.

Developing Chinese International Students as Evangelists

Daniel Kiat — 2025-09-30

While developing local evangelists is broadly identified as a missional priority, particularly within "Church planting movement" and "Disciple making movement" literature, there is little evidence-based study on doing so amongst Chinese international students (CIS). Successful development of CIS evangelists in an Australian university campus fellowship, Joy in Jesus Fellowship (JJF), was investigated through a combination of 10 semi-structured interviews (4 CIS evangelists, 4 evangelism trainers, and other involved parties) and documentary evidence, while considering the question, "How may CIS best be equipped and motivated to effectively share the gospel with other CIS?" CIS became evangelists within a group featuring a pervasive focus on evangelism, formation of a leadership group committed to personal evangelism, and support for CIS in caring relationships. These factors appeared to integrate well with the high-context communication and collectivistic tendencies of Chinese culture. Consistently teaching clear and easily-accessible steps in evangelism also aided CIS to engage in gospel sharing. CIS’ effective adoption of a "Western" gospel presentation challenges the necessity of specifically contextualized evangelism content, indicating that other factors were more significant in CIS’s evangelistic development. JJF’s evangelists’ use of invitation as an initial step also challenges the dichotomy between "missional" and "attractional" evangelism. Further research is recommended involving similar cases of developing evangelists, and longer-term studies including post-graduation maintenance of CIS evangelists.