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In 1975, Vietnam, united under communism, fell behind a bamboo curtain. Many feared the worst for churches there. But fifteen years later, churches, especially among Vietnam’s ethnic minority mountain peoples, suddenly exploded in number and vitality.
The greatest crisis is being separated from Christ. In the constant swirl of human suffering, the church has long wrestled with appropriate responses. As crises come and go, the need for the church’s theological, missiological, and practical readiness remains, so that people not only survive but thrive in the context of a crisis. Practicing Hope brings together global scholars and practitioners who share and think broadly about the church’s mission in a world rife with crises. Rather than harmonizing the voices of the contributors to provide general guidelines for generic crisis response, Practicing Hope allows the reader to hear multiple perspectives on complex issues such as sustainabi...
Volume 2 of Christianity and Freedom illuminates how Christian minorities and transnational Christian networks contribute to the freedom and flourishing of societies across the globe, even amidst pressure and violent persecution. Featuring unprecedented field research by some of the world's most distinguished scholars, it documents the outsized role of Christians in promoting human rights and religious freedom; fighting injustice; stimulating economic equality; providing education, social services, and health care; and nurturing democratic civil society. Readers will come away surprised and sobered to learn how this very Christian link to freedom often invites persecution. What are the dimensions of persecution and how are Christians responding to that pressure? What resources - theological, social, or transnational - do they marshal in leavening their societies? What will be lost if the Christian presence is marginalized? The answers to these questions are of crucial relevance in a world awash with religious extremism and deepening instability.
This book offers an analysis of the historical, theological, and social conditions that give rise to the growth of pentecostalism among contemporary Vietnamese evangelicals. Emerging from the analysis is an understanding of how underprivileged evangelicals have utilized the pentecostal emphasis on divine intervention in their pursuit of the betterment of life amid religious and ethnic marginalization. Within the context of the global growth of pentecostalism, Vietnamese Evangelicals and Pentecostalism shows how people at the grassroots marry the deeply local-based meaning dictated by the particularity of living context and the profoundly universal truth claims made by a religion aspiring to reach all four corners of the earth to enhance life.
In recent years, the Vietnamese diaspora, including some of whom are Protestant Christian Việt Kiều, have returned to their natal homeland of Vietnam in large numbers. This book investigates the phenomenon of the Protestant Christian Việt Kiều who have returned and reestablished belonging in Vietnam with a missional purpose and the perspective of non-migrant local Protestant Christian leaders as a case study of diaspora missiology. It is based upon doctoral research utilizing in-depth interviews which sought to answer the following questions: 1) What are the motivating factors of Protestant Christian Việt Kiều returning to Vietnam for mission-related purposes? 2) What has been th...
What has led to the church's vibrant growth throughout the Global South? Brian Stiller identifies five key factors that have shaped the church, from a renewed openness to the move of the Holy Spirit to the empowerment of indigenous leadership. Discover the surprising story of the global advance of the gospel. And be encouraged that Jesus' witness continues to the ends of the earth.
Tap into the power of the Divine. Learn how to forgive—and be forgiven. Everyone knows that forgiveness is a virtue and a key to emotional, spiritual and even physical well-being. But learning how to actually forgive—or to accept forgiveness, as the case may be—is a sacred art few of us have mastered. It doesn’t have to be that way. Writing from personal experience and her broad knowledge of many faith traditions, Marcia Ford offers a new perspective on forgiveness and reconciliation, an approach rooted in the Spirit that can be learned by anyone no matter how deep the hurt. Through real-life examples, penetrating reflections, scriptural references and practical suggestions, Ford out...
The first systematic global study of how Christians respond to persecution, presenting new research by leading scholars of global Christianity.
Authors from eighteen countries give us their perspectives on biblical principles and cultural expressions of spirituality particularly as the church engages in God’s mission. The anthology of texts enriches our understanding of the depth and the meaning of being spiritual and the diversity of forms to live out the Christian faith. The issue today is how spirituality should direct and guide a daily life as followers of Jesus in the engagement in the mission of God. No doubt that it has to do with our inner life and our relationship to God, but it is in showing our love and concern to others that we prove our love to God, according to the Apostle John (1 John 4). Mission without spirituality will only be a human effort to convince people of religious theories. Spirituality without a missionary involvement of the church will not express God’s desire that the transforming gospel reaches every person. This book will help you rethink your understanding of what is spiritual, revisit your own spiritual journey, and appreciate the different forms of spirituality as they are described and performed around the globe.
Persecuted gives documented accounts of the persecution of Christians in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and former Soviet nations. It contains vivid stories of men and women who suffer abuse because of their faith in Jesus Christ, and tells of their perseverance and courage.