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"Cross-cultural contextualization of the Gospel is
simply knowing how to start the Gospel message from a
place of common understanding with our audience
...knowing how to relate the Gospel message in a
language and form that is meaningful to its
listeners...[and] knowing how to bring the person to a
full understanding of Christ's work on the cross" (p.
260).
Roland Muller writes this book in the context of Muslim
cultures, but the principles are relevant to missionary
work in every context.
As the title suggests, the book addresses the three
major factors affecting the receptivity of the Gospel.
The last section on "The Community" should be read by
every pastor in America today. The insights and
implications in that section alone for the American
church are huge.
Every missionary should read this book before he
or she goes to the field. But if you're already there,
get it anyway and read fast. Here are just a few
highlights from the book:
1) Top Priority Tools for Missionary Success (Redemptive
Analogies, Chronological Bible Teaching, and Three
Worldviews)
2) Five Criteria for Examining another's Worldview
3) Cultural "Minefields"
4) The Biblical Origin of Worldview and suggested
biblical, evangelistic approaches to each worldview
5) Six Spiritual Development Categories
6) The Three Fundamentals of an Arab Society
7) Initial Church Planting Steps for the Novice
Missionary
Roland Muller has authored three other missions books:
1) Missions: The Next
Generation
2) Missionary Leadership by Motivation &
Communication
3) Honor & Shame
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Missionary Morale |
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You can encourage your
missionaries by...
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Writing and asking them if there is
anything you could send them (e.g., books, sermons,
periodicals, and maybe some non-perishable food items).
Praying for your missionaries and
letting them know that you are doing so.
Helping them secure housing and a
vehicle prior to their returning home on furlough.
And hosting a grocery shower for a
returning missionary family.
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WORLD EVANGELISM MINUTE
"electronic epistle"
January 2008
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Greetings,
Consider the following four excerpts as a brief (and
incomplete) reality check on the global status
of Christianity:
"Despite Christ's command to evangelize, 66% of all humans
from AD 30 to the present day have never even heard of His
name.
"At a steady rate over the last 20 centuries, in all 239
countries, 71 million Christians have been martyred -
killed, executed, murdered - for Christ.
"286 million people in approximately 6,900 languages have
no access at all [to Scripture].
"The country with the fastest Christian expansion ever
is China, now at 16,500 new converts every day" (the
above statistics were cited in the IBMR, vol.
32, No. 1, Jan 2008).
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Please pray for Michael and Kristen Carter as they
participate in an eleven month missionary internship in the
country of Mongolia.
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Lessons from a Dead Church
According to J. Herbert Kane, there were four reasons for
the disappearance of the church in North Africa. What
happened?
"It was never truly indigenous.
It was too closely identified with
Latin culture and Roman power; congregations were
composed of mostly Latin-speaking people in and around
Carthage; (the church never really took root in the
native soil).
"They failed to give the Scriptures to the
people in their own tongue. They
were available in Latin, but no translations were ever
made into the language of the Punic people or the
Berbers.
"Theological controversies
had sapped the energies of the church. Theologians were
preoccupied with fratricidal warfare.
"The loss of evangelical faith and fervor among
the Christians was another factor. Church
members had long since left their first love and were
Christians in name rather than fact" (A Concise History
of the Christian World Mission, Baker Book).
If you happen to hate history, make an exception here. God
expects us to ponder the pitfalls of the past (1 Corinthians
10:11; Romans 15:4; Ecclesiastes 3:15; Daniel 5:22). Don't
fail to learn the lesson from a disappearing church.
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"Fifty-eight percent of the U.S.
adult population will never read another book after high
school and forty-two percent of U.S. university graduates
will never read another book" (www.bookstatistics.com).
"Studies show that the majority of
the world learns best by 'oral' (relational, verbal and
nonlinear) means" (JAARS, 2008).
"Only about 2 cents out of every
dollar given to local churches in North America gets used
for denominational world missions" (Oct 27, 2007, World
Magazine).
"For every career missionary serving
overseas, there are more than sixty mission-trip
participants [short-termers], nearly all of them
untrained" (IBMR, vol. 32, No. 1, Jan 2008).
When asked, "How likely would you
yourself be to consider volunteering for short-term
mission service in a country where Christians are
routinely persecuted, jailed, or killed?" Nearly seventy
percent of those Christians who were polled (Aug 2007,
www.NationalChristianPoll.com)
could not affirm a personal willingness to go.
You can never be too
small for God to use; you can only be too big!
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