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The Bisa people of Nabwalya, Zambia love their culture and gladly celebrate all their traditional festivals. This book presents exciting research into Kusefya pa ngena, rituals through which the Bisa elect ancestors for veneration. The Bisa speak freely of how their belief in ancestor veneration does not conflict with their worship of God. For them, the two work hand in hand. Traditional practices are considered vital to the community because they enhance life, reinforce cultural values, and explain life events. Those questioned said ancestor veneration should continue because it benefits current and future generations. For example, their most celebrated ancestor, Kabuswe Yombwe, when petiti...
The purpose of this study was to describe how the North Korean refugee understanding of evil can shape missionary practice in the Korean Peninsula. The central research question guiding this study was, How do North Korean Christian refugees describe evil based on their lived experiences? Twelve North Korean Christian refugees were interviewed. The findings indicated that North Korean Christian refugees understand evil as the oppression of the vulnerable, primarily due to human activities, and as exemplified through governmental actions, human trafficking, and sexual violence. This study also discussed how North Korean refugees understand evil in light of theology, specifically teleology and ...
Lesslie Newbigin’s concept of the congregation as hermeneutic of the gospel has been used for over thirty years to discuss the overlap of mission and ecclesiology. This book provides the contextual background to the congregation as hermeneutic of the gospel, then discusses the important components of this concept and how they connect with Newbigin’s lifetime of writings on the nature and identity of the church. Within this discussion, there are three key elements to Newbigin’s ecclesiology as it pertains to the congregation as hermeneutic of the gospel: the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the local congregation, the kingdom of God and the local congregation, and the local congregation within itself. These three components can be found throughout Newbigin’s discussions about the nature of the church ranging from the 1940s until the 1990s. Pulling all these components together and showing how they shed light on Newbigin’s intended meaning by calling the local congregation the hermeneutic of the gospel for their society provides a new interpretation of this concept that will both strengthen and challenge contemporary uses of this concept within the church today.
Congregations are increasingly developing partnerships as a way of engaging directly in global missions. One of the most common ways they do this is forming relationships with congregations in other parts of the world. This book looks at the reasons that churches seek out missions partners, how the partnership phenomenon developed, and what beliefs, concepts, structures, and practices inform the healthiest mission partnerships. With insights drawn from a survey of churches from across the country and around the world, this book provides data-driven insights to guide the practice of international congregational partnerships.
Given the consistent challenge of Islamist acute violence, particularly in Nigeria, this monograph attempts to respond to the question: How can Jesus’s followers pattern response to violence after Jesus’s model demonstrated in his triumph over death, evil, sin, and violence through staurocentric pathways? And how can Jesus’s followers in Nigeria adopt the same staurocentric model in order to not only overcome acute violence within the country but also to extend hands, heads, hearts, and homes of staurocentric forgiveness, hospitality, and other practices toward Muslims? In this study, I posit that peacebuilding contextual theology be grounded on the mystery of the cross (σταυρός...
Cross-cultural partnerships in today's global environment are both challenging and necessary. Misunderstanding and miscommunication often lead to conflict between culturally diverse groups. Christians must understand and evaluate their own culture, the culture of others, and the text of Scripture itself, while remaining faithful to Scripture and relevant to culture. Unmediated tensions combined with relational isolation lead to a myriad of problems. This study proposes cross-cultural missional partnership as a relationship that mediates these tensions, thereby encouraging mutual, faithful engagement in the mission of God. Cross-cultural tensions may never disappear, but within a healthy partnership, partners can assist one another in understanding and responding faithfully to Scripture. Partners help one another more faithfully interpret and apply Scripture, leading to obedience to God's will and engagement in God's mission within unique and diverse contexts.
The persecution of Christians is on the increase worldwide. In Nigeria, persecution has had an immense impact on the religious, economic, and social life of Nigerians, especially in northern Nigeria. Many Christians are concerned about how to properly respond to such oppression. This book meticulously examines contemporary responses to persecution alongside biblical and historical experience using the theoretical framework of Fight, Flight, and Fortitude. The writer is convinced that if Christians respond to persecution properly the gospel witness will be strengthened and bridges for peaceful interrelationship will be built in communities experiencing religious and cultural diversity.
Noel Perkin, a banker-turned-missionary, led Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM) for more than thirty years (1927-59). His life exemplifies the missionary zeal historians have noted within the early Pentecostal movement. Perkin's experience of the Holy Spirit and his experiences as a missionary in Argentina led him to create systems intended to empower others to fulfill Christ's commission to make disciples of all nations. Perkin's empowering leadership played a significant part in AGWM's remarkable growth into a leading Pentecostal mission-sending agency which currently sends over 2,000 missionaries to 140 countries. As one of the principal architects of AGWM's missiology and operation, Perkin transformed a two-person office relying on envelope boxes for its accounting system into a well-structured, strategic mission agency and laid a foundation for AGWM's continued growth. Empowering Spirit, Empowering Structures uses the foundation of a biographical study to examine the concept of empowerment through Perkin's life and the impact that Perkin and his missiology had and continues to have upon AGWM.
Paul's discipleship agenda was defined by his native Jewish apocalyptic worldview. The novelties of his thought--namely, the death of Israel's Messiah, the unique gift of God's Spirit, and the intentional mission to the gentiles--seem to be framed within the common Jewish eschatological parameters of the day of the Lord, the judgment, the resurrection of the dead, and the messianic kingdom. Moreover, for Paul this eschatology was the primary driver of discipleship--comforting in the midst of tribulation, anchoring the gifts of the Spirit, and informing divine mission. Paul thus discipled the gentiles into the hope of Israel.