Justin posted this list of questions by Douglas Wilson for father’s to interrogate ask their daughter’s potential boyfriends suitors. I really liked number twelve about the guy’s GPA in college (!). Read them and consider whether or not they are questions you would ask. Why or why not?

1. Tell me about your spiritual background. What was your church upbringing like? At what point did your spiritual experience become real to you? Have you ever had a period of spiritual rebellion?

2. When was the last time you read through the entire Bible? The New Testament?

3. Do you attend worship every Lord’s Day?

4. Describe your parents’ marriage for me. What are the most valuable lessons you have you learned from your parents? [In cases of divorce, or other severe marriage problems] What did you learn from these problems? Have you learned what not to do? [In cases where dad wronged mom] What did you do to support and encourage your mother?

5. What is your relationship like with your dad? With your mom?

6. If I were given a fly-on-the-wall glimpse of a typical conversation that you might have with your mom, would you agree that this will likely be the way you will be treating my daughter ten years from now? Why or why not?

7. How many brothers and sisters do you have? How do you get along them?

8. What kind of worker are you?

9. How many jobs have you had in your life, and what did your bosses think of you? Were those bosses sorry to see you go, or glad to see you go?

10. What do you believe God has called you to do vocationally? Ten years from now, what you believe you will be doing?

11. What steps have you taken to reach that goal?

12. What was your GPA in college? How come?

13. How much money did you make last year? Do you pay your bills on time? How much debt have you accumulated? Read more…

Has anyone read The Forgotten Ways, by Alan Hirsch?  It looks very interesting in its proposed retooling of current paradigms and expressions of N American church.

Aaron recently asked for my recommendations on missiology texts, so I thought I would post for anyone to check them out. Aaron, please feel free to specify, if you are interested in a particular aspect of missions and missiology. I will try to recommend texts from several different angles. I will leave many out but include books that I have found particularly insightful or helpful. Feel free to add to the list!

In no particular order:

1) Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues, Paul Hiebert – a diverse collection of chapters with profound insights in every one, ranging from contextualization to metatheology. (this is one of my favorites)

2) From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, Tucker, a biographical study of the history of missions.

3) Whose Religion is Christianity?, Lamin Sanneh – a dialogical presentation of questions and concepts that rightly and wrongly undermine Western trends in missions. Sanneh is not an evangelical but is a profoundly insightful African missiologist.

4) The Mission of God, Chris Wright – a great biblical theology of mission by a fine scholar, missionary, theologian and Englishman.

5) Transforming Mission, David Bosch – a massive work that I have barely cracked

6) The Next Christendom, Jenkins – a look at the present center of gravity in global Christianity in the south and east

* Non-Western: Kuwame Bediako, Lamin Sanneh, Kosuke Koyama, R. S. Sugirtharajah, Rene Padilla

**Anything by Newbigin, Andrew Walls, Charles Kraft, Ralph Winter

I just checked out two new books published in 2001 and 2006 respectively: Figured Out: Typology and Providence in Christian Scripture by Seitz and Concepts of Mission by Oborji.  Anyone who likes academic biblical theology should check out Seitz in general and specific.  Oborji is an African Catholic missiologist who reviews recent missiology from an historical perspective. JRWoodward will appreciate the chapter on Missio Dei.