Tag: missions

Ralph Winter Dies

Posted on May 23, 2009

On Wednesday, May 20, 2009, Ralph D. Winter passed away at age 84 after a long bout with multiple myeloma. Perhaps the foremost missiologist of our time, he was the founder (in 1976) of the U.S. Center for World Mission (part of William Carey International University) in Pasadena, California; the International Society for Frontier Missiology (which also publishes the International Journal of Frontier Missions); and the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, a class (and textbook) that educates the laity about what God is doing in the world today. He had recently just finished editing the fourth edition of this textbook. HT: AY

Ralph Winter was a remarkable man. His ground-breaking missiology pushed the modern missions movement ahead in the areas of unreached people groups, mission structures, and missions strategy. I had the privilege of getting to know him during a visit to Gordon-Conwell, where his daughter and son-n-law live (Todd Johnson) and work at the Center for Global Christianity. I was charged with escorting him around and having some meals with him. It was a great time. We discussed theology, missions, and theological education. He has left quite a legacy of advancing the gospel among the nations. May we follow strong after him in our pursuit of Christ-centered mission. Read some of his great articles here.

Re-up Your Missional for 2009

Posted on December 17, 2008

It is frequently noted that evangelism is local witness and missions is global (cross-cultural) witness. Does the missional church movement erase this distinction? If everyone is a missionary, then shouldn’t local churches reach local cultures? 80% of deployed missionaries are sent to already evangelized areas. Roughly 30% of the global population is unevangelized and largely untargeted by so-called missional churches.

In other words, missional churches aren’t really being missional. They are evangelizing locally but not globally. If the missional church movement is to truly participate in the mission of God, it must engage in cross-cultural missions in order to plant churches where no local witness exists. Consider re-upping your missional for 2009 by going overseas, supporting indigenous pastors, sending a cross-cultural missionary, or targeting unreached peoples in your city or town.

For more on this see Keeping the Global in Missional

Missio ad Gentes

Posted on October 15, 2008

Being a “missionary” in North America is common parlance among church planters and missional advocates, and though center of gravity of global Christianity has certainly shifted to the South and East, I don’t think that puts the West on an even mission field with many non-Western places. To be sure, we should all redemptively engage peoples and cultures with Pauline missionary passion, but more than passion is at play in planting missional churches.

In order to effectively mobilize and strategize for the global glory of God, it seems that the missional movement needs to hold missio Dei in one hand and missio ad Gentes in the other.

Read the rest here…

Should Missionaries Recieve Special Attention?

Posted on June 28, 2008

This is something I have wrestled with for some time. As a short-term overseas missionary and friend of many long-term overseas missionaries, I have struggled in labeling all my missional buddies in the U.S. as “missionaries.” Perhaps this is a pride-infused hold over from Christendom models of mission or perhaps it springs from a deep respect for those who cross cultural and linguistic barriers that rise much higher than those of domestic “missionary” activity. Let’s face it, church planting in the U.S. is hard but very often it is not cross-cultural or cross-linguistic. In fact, it is very often close-cultural and close-linguistic. The men and women who surrender such cultural and linguistic comforts for the sake of the gospel are missionaries of a different stripe. Very often, they are those who risk and give their lives for the sake of the gospel, and are given special honor in Scripture (Rev 6; 3 John 1.6-7).

Ross Appleton, missionary in preparation to the Middle East, has claimed that “missionaries get too much press” and that they should not be treated as a “spiritual elite.” Ross has some good, God-centered thoughts on the whole enterprise and motivation for mission. I have debated this larger issue of missionary nomenclature for domestic disciples at greater length based on Chris Wright’s definitions of “mission” and “missionary” here. Though I have embraced being a missional disciple, a missionary in Austin, I still retain a deep respect for those who have sacrificed much more than I have.