INTRODUCTION Mark Knoll, in his book, ‘The new shape of world Christianity: How American experience reflects global faith,’ states that Korean evangelical Christianity has been over-influenced by American Christianity. Jonathan Bonk also states that “The Korean church’s famous stress on formulas for numerical growth and the resulting corporatization of ecclesiology has given rise to serious…
Author: master
AN OVERVIEW OF REFUGEES, MIGRATION, MINORITIES AND MISSIONS IN HONG KONG, PLUS OUR PRAYER NEEDS
REFUGEE AND MIGRANT Although it is becoming increasingly common to see the terms ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ used interchangeably in media and public discussions, there is a crucial legal difference between the two. Confusing them can lead to problems for refugees and asylum-seekers, as well as misunderstandings in discussions of asylum and migration. Refugees are specifically…
RITUAL AS WORSHIP: TOWARDS AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN WORSHIP IN ASIA
Worship in Asia should not be tied to assumptions and values, imposed from the outside. Rather Christian worship in Asia should utilize rituals intended to ensure meaningful worship empowered by the Holy Spirit who enables people to be who God created them to be in the pluralist contexts Asian Christians find themselves. Beyond worship, the…
EDITORIAL: MISSION CHALLENGES PAST AND PRESENT
“Missiology is the area of practical theology that investigate the mandate, message, and mission of the Christian church, especially the nature of missionary work.” Christians who are commissioned to implement Christ’s Great Commission must understand not only the message of the gospel they preach, but also the environment the message is to be preached and…
MATTEO RICCI: AN ITALIAN JESUIT PRIEST WITH A HEART FOR THE ORIENT
ABSTRACT Matteo Ricci was born on October 16, 1552 in Macerata, Italy just a few months before the death of Francis Xavier. He joined the Society of Jesus on August 15, 1571. He became burdened for mission in the Orient under the influence of Alessadro Valignani. This burden grew into love and service for the…
PROBLEM-SOLVING IN MISSIONS
Missionary work has always had its fair share of problems, and so this article covers the application of general problem-solving skills in missions and draws on my 25 years experience relating to technology in missions and a decade prior to that of more general missions experience. The article’s focus is not so much on prayer,…
FILLING THE GAP: EARLY MODERN REFORMED MISSIONS BEFORE THE 1800s
INTRODUCTION Contributions made by the Reformed Church are inconsistently portrayed in missions history. Historical researches on Reformed accomplishments concerning missions are either sparsely available or non-existent before the 1800s. Instead, there is a time gap between the Protestant Reformation to the arrival of the Moravians and the German Pietists from the University of Halle. This…
RITUAL AS WORSHIP: TOWARDS AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN WORSHIP IN ASIA
Worship in Asia should not be tied to assumptions and values, imposed from the outside. Rather Christian worship in Asia should utilize rituals intended to ensure meaningful worship empowered by the Holy Spirit who enables people to be who God created them to be in the pluralist contexts Asian Christians find themselves. Beyond worship, the…
KOREAN MISSION CHALLENGES IN THE PHILIPPINES and Opportunities for Korean-Filipino Mission Partnerships
The Korean missionaries started coming to the Philippines as early as late 70’s. They came with enthusiastic hearts to evangelize, plant churches and train pastors and missionaries. I give thanks to God for the sacrificial labors and generous investments that Korean churches, mission agencies and missionaries have made in advancing the Great Commission in the…
MINISTERS AS SERVANT LEADERS “DIAKONOS” IN SECOND CORINTHIANS
Biblical leadership is servant leadership. There is nothing more inconsistent than to separate the concept of Christian leadership from servanthood vis-à-vis the ministers of God/Christ whether in the OT or in the NT. The Bible clearly portrays leaders as servants—hence, servant leadership. This is made clearer by Jesus himself, who said: “The kings of the…