I was delighted to hear voices from the missionary world speaking to the issue that has become serious in the procedure begun by Wheaton College to terminate the employment of Lrycia Hawkins, because the school thinks that her statement that Muslims and Christians worship the same God conflicts with the school’s faith commitment. In a […]
Tag: missions
Unless there is a direct or indirect Christian ethos in government, we will not survive as a democracy. (M. A. Raju) A couple of weeks ago, I posted regarding the contribution of 19th century Protestant missionary work to the rise of democracy. That point was demonstrated by the extensive research of Dudley Woodberry, as reported […]
In secular western societies today, proselityzing missionaries are viewed very negatively, but Robert Woodberry (son of J. Dudley) has demonstrated conclusively, through massive research, that one of (if not the) major contributing factors to the rise of democracy was the work of 19th century Protestant missionaries with a focus on conversion. I find this exciting. […]
Jesus said: “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). He has been doing this for almost 2 millennia now, and the process has made an extraordinary study for church historians. I was impressed anew by the complexity of this work of our Lord, earlier this […]
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Calvinism and Christian Missions
Michael Horton’s presentation Michael Horton devotes chapter 7 of For Calvinism, to an inspiring defense of Calvinism against the charge that its doctrines discourage missionary activity and prayer for it. History Horton begins with a historical survey of missionary work by Reformed churches. In the Reformation era, both Lutheran and Reformed churches were landlocked and […]
Gospel exclusivists frequently express grave concern that, if Christians were to believe that God saves some people who do not hear the gospel from a human messenger, they would become unwilling to make the costly sacrifice that the missionary mandate requires of Jesus’ followers. Since reaching accessibilist convictions myself, I have taken that concern seriously […]
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Brother Yun, the “heavenly man”
I have just finished listening to a reading of Paul Hattaway’s biographical book, The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun. I won’t describe the life of Brother Yun at any length but, if you want more details, there is a good recap of the story at Songs of Scripture. I […]