Simply ChurchPhoto credit: Amy Lloyd (Creative Commons) Jesus was sent by the Father to fallen mankind because of God's love for people. (John 3:16) Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has sent me, so I'm sending you." (John 20:21) As we connect with the Father's heart, he will send us out to touch the… Read More
I’m reminded of a story about D.L. Moody. Someone once criticized him for the way he brought everyone to the front to respond to the Gospel. “Well, how do you do it?” Moody asked. The man had no answer because he wasn’t leading anyone to the Lord. Moody’s response: “I prefer the way I do… Read More
Photo credit: david a lea (Creative Commons) When I was a new Christian, the group of believers I was part of participated in many forms of evangelism. We were trained by some of the best organizations in the Christian world. We went door-to-door, we distributed tracts, we told people about the Four Spiritual Laws, we… Read More
This story used to motivate me to reach out to my friends who didn’t know the Lord. It comes from Things as They are: Mission work in southern India by Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), a missionary from Ireland who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur. She worked for 55 years without a furlough,… Read More
Roger and Brooks Thoman train and coach leaders in several developing countries, to multiply disciples and simple churches. The poor are empowered as part of the process of disciplemaking assisted by strategic investments in projects that are pioneered and managed by national leaders. Their ministry site can be found here, and Roger’s blog, Simple Church… Read More
Photo credit: Alvaro Canivell (Creative Commons) What does Jesus think about missions? The Great Commission was given by Jesus to the eleven disciples after his resurrection. Here’s the Matthew version: Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them… Read More
"The dirty little secret of missions is that we are sending missionaries all over the world who have not demonstrate the ability to make disciples who can make disciples. Most have not seen or participated in effective models of church-planting or discipleship at home, but we send them out in the hope that going cross-culturally… Read More
The last two post have looked at the good and the bad of missions. Now the ugly! We have friends in India whose best church planters (and their churches) have been “stolen” by Western missionary organizations offering to pay them more money. The lure of money in a very poor culture is often difficult to resist.… Read More
Photo credit Stijn Vogels (Creative Commons) Tony and I have been privileged to travel to various countries in all five continents and to see missions at work first hand. First the good: I was brought up, in a Christian sense, on the biographies of those on the mission field. I learned from Hudson Taylor… Read More
Photo credit: Abdallah (Creative Commons) For some time now, I have been pondering the question, "What does it look like for simple/organic churches to get involved in mission?" I'm referring here to the role of what is usually known as "the missionary"–one who is called to leave their own culture and live in another nation,… Read More