This book takes a new look at the impacts of Christianity in the late-nineteenth-century China. Using American Baptist and English Presbyterian examples in Guangdong province, it examines the scale of Chinese conversions, the creation of Christian villages, and the power relations between Christians and non-Christians, and between different Christian denominations. This book is based on a very comprehensive foundation of data. By supplementing the Protestant missionary and Chinese archival materials with fieldwork data that were collected in several Christian villages, this study not only highlights the inner dynamics of Chinese Christianity but also explores a variety of crisis management strategies employed by missionaries, Christian converts, foreign diplomats and Chinese officials in local politics.

Climate Church, Climate World argues that climate change is the greatest moral challenge humanity has ever faced. Hunger, refugees, poverty, inequality, deadly viruses, war-climate change multiplies all forms of global social injustice. Environmental leader Reverend Jim Antal presents a compelling case that it's time for the church to meet this moral challenge, just as the church addressed previous moral challenges. Antal calls for the church to embrace a new vocation so that future generations might live in harmony with God's creation. After describing how we have created the dangers our planet now faces, Antal urges the church to embrace a new vocation, one focused on collective salvation and an expanded understanding of the Golden Rule (Golden Rule 2.0). He suggests ways people of faith can reorient what they prize through new approaches to worship, preaching, witnessing and other spiritual practices that honor creation and cultivate hope.

The Japanese and the Jesuits examines the attempt by sixteenth century Jesuits to convert the Japanese to Christianity. Directing the Jesuits was the Italian Alessandro Valignano, whose own magisterial writings, many of them not previously translated or published, are the principle source material for this account of one of the most remarkable of all meetings between East and West.
Valignano arrived in Japan in 1579. In promoting Christianity, he always sought the support of the ruling classes, but an important part of his strategy was also to have the missionaries adapt themselves thoroughly to Japanese customs, etiquette and culture. He was insistent that they must master the Japanese language, and he brought to Japan a European printing press, which turned out grammars and dictionaries for the missionaries, and works of instruction and devotion for the Japanese Christians.
Following Valignano's death, Christianity was proscribed and missionaries banished from Japan. This does not detract from his remarkable achievements. He understood perfectly well that foreign missionaries by themselves were not capable of converting Japan to Christianity, and one of his principal concerns was the training of Japanese Jesuits and priests, and breaking down the barriers between them and the Europeans. Few people have ever been more acutely aware of, or grappled more determinedly with, problems in Japanese-Western relationships.

Every year, an estimated 1.6 million Americans participate in short-term mission trips, spending over one billion dollars figures that have increased exponentially in the last two decades. About one third of U.S. congregations sponsor such trips each year. While they are referred to as mission trips, many trips focus not on conversion or evangelism, but on service projects building a playground, providing medical care, or serving free meals to the poor. Short-term mission participants have a genuine desire to transform conditions of poverty, yet they don't always know how to go about it; many people involved in short-term mission work virtually reinvent the wheel when they design and plan their service projects. Making a Difference in a Globalized World: Short-term Missions That Work is a guide to leaders of such trips. The book presents clear insight and research from anthropologists and development professionals, and encourages individuals to lead mission trips that make a greater impact on the communities that they are serving. The text provides: .a framework for planning short-term mission trips; .foundation for planning; .personal anecdotes and case studies; .and practical suggestions for volunteer opportunities. This handbook is a vital resource for any potential mission volunteers or organizers."

The church has been called to participate in God's mission in the world. But without a robust, biblical sense of the Spirit's action, how can we be sure we're fulfilling that call? Gary Tyra employs a biblical theology of the Holy Spirit to deepen and inform our understanding of life as the church, the people of God. Since the church's mission to and into the world is both evangelistic and prophetic, the task calls for the working of the Spirit in our preaching, proclamation and service. Tyra brings together both charismatic and evangelical emphases resulting in a theological and practical synthesis that is richer than when either is taken separately.

Members of the church of the Nazarene believed that they were taking up John Wesley's mandate to take the message of holiness around the world. This resource provides a detailed case study of an American denomination's work in Asia during the first three-quarters of the twentieth century. The church's philosophies and policies of mission, unique in their attempt to build an international church rather than national churches, were developed and implemented through missionary leaders. Topics include the establishment of schools and hospitals, the organization of ecclesiastical forms and structures, and the success of church leaders. This book will be of interest to historians interested in the history of missions, American religious history and American-Asian relations, and missiologists.

Fireweed, always the first flower to spring up and bloom in ruins and burned-over places, is Elizabeth Geitz's metaphor for evangelism that comes from the heart. It is the motivation that makes some Christians eager to welcome the stranger and invite people into their churches, while others hang back. In this prequel to "Entertaining Angels: Hospitality Programs for the Caring Church," Geitz explores this missing ingredient in Christian hospitality, reminding us that in a multi-faith world where Christians wish to honor the validity of other religious paths, we may hesitate to talk about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Her book helps both individuals and communities to understand what holds them back from evangelism and discover the path that is right for them. This book unfolds in three sections. In the first we look at the factors that inhibit our evangelism, including the awareness that we live in a pluralistic world and do not wish to offend those with other faith commitments. Geitz offers both reflection and exercises to help us discover our own motivation for evangelism. Part 2 addresses the question of context. Where does evangelism take place, and for whose benefit? To what sort of communities do we invite those to whom we reach out? Section 3 focuses on the uniqueness of Christian hospitality and describes the nuts and bolts of newcomer ministry and the programs needed to sustain Christian hospitality in a pluralistic society. It includes workshop and group process material.

Methodism played an important part in the spread of Christianity from its European heartlands to the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Pacific. From John Wesley's initial reluctance, via haphazard ventures and over-ambitious targets, a well-organized and supported Wesleyan Society developed. Smaller branches of British Methodism undertook their own foreign missions. This book, together with a companion volume on the 20th century, offers an account of the overseas mission activity of British and Irish Methodists, its roots and fruits. John Pritchard explores many aspects of mission, ranging from Labrador to New Zealand and from Sierra Leone to Sri Lanka, from open air preaching to political engagement, from the isolation of early pioneers to the creation of self-governing churches. Tracing the nineteenth-century missionary work of the Churches with Wesleyan roots which went on to unite in 1932, Pritchard explores the shifting theologies and attitudes of missionaries who crossed cultural and geographical frontiers as well as those at home who sent and supported them. Necessarily selective in the personalities and events it describes, this book offers a comprehensive overview of a world-changing movement - a story packed with heroism, mistakes, achievements, frustrations, arguments, personalities, rascals and saints.

Christianity Today Book Award Winner ASM (American Society of Missiology) Book of the Year Award Named one of Ten Outstanding Books of 2016 for Mission Studies, International Bulletin of Mission Research This up-to-date textbook features global perspectives on current Christian engagement with Islam, equipping readers for mission among Muslims. Evelyne Reisacher, who has worked extensively with Muslims in Europe, helps readers move from fear to joy as they share the gospel with Muslims. Reisacher surveys areas where Muslims and Christians encounter one another in the twenty-first century, highlighting innovative models of Christian witness in everyday life. Drawing on insights from global Christianity, this survey takes account of diverse conceptions of Muslim-Christian relations. The book may surprise those who believe mission among Muslims is nearly impossible. This is the first book in the Mission in Global Community series, which reframes missiological themes and studies for students around the common theme of mission as partnership with others. Series authors draw upon their own global experience and that of their global colleagues to illumine present realities and chart a course into the future. Series editors are Scott W. Sunquist and Amos Yong.

Bold claims. Answers which many are searching for today. This is Jesus in his own words, using metaphors and pictures which are concrete, simple and profound. Meaning: what is the meaning of life? I am the bread of life. Enlightenment: where can I find light? I am the light of the world. Freedom: how can I be truly free? I am the door, Evil: isn't religion evil? I am the good shepherd. Destiny: is this life all there is? I am the resurrection. Reality: what is ultimate reality? I am the way. Value: how can I make my life count? I am the vine. Time: how can we escape being finite? 'I am.' Bold claims - and they are also true. The 'I am' sayings of Jesus are highly relevant. Jesus is uniquely qualified to meet our deepest needs and answer our biggest questions. Find out for yourself.

The rulers of the overseas empires summoned the Society of Jesus to evangelize their new subjects in the 'New World' which Spain and Portugal shared; this book is about how two different missions, in China and Peru, evolved in the early modern world. From a European perspective, this book is about the way Christianity expanded in the early modern period, craving universalism. In China, Matteo Ricci was so impressed by the influence that the scholar-officials were able to exert on the Ming Emperor himself that he likened them to the philosopher-kings of Plato's Republic. The Jesuits in China were in the hands of the scholar-officials, with the Emperor at the apex, who had the power to decide whether they could stay or not. Meanwhile, in Peru, the Society of Jesus was required to impose Tridentine Catholicism by Philip II, independently of Rome, a task that entailed compliance with the colonial authorities' demands. This book explores how leading Jesuits, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) in China and Jose de Acosta (1540-1600) in Peru, envisioned mission projects and reflected them on the catechisms they both composed, with a remarkable power of endurance. It offers a reflection on how the Jesuits conceived and assessed these mission spaces, in which their keen political acumen and a certain taste for power unfolded, playing key roles in envisioning new doctrinal directions and reflecting them in their doctrinal texts.

This is a collection of fifteen provocative essays by a cadre of international authors that examine the nature and shape of the Communion today; the colonial legacy; economic tensions and international debt; sexuality and justice; the ecological crisis; violence and healing in South Africa; persecution and religious fundamentalism; the church amid global urbanization; and much more.

It's always been tough. Whether you are serving the Lord as an office worker, a doctor, a missionary, or a teacher - if you put your head above the parapet you will get shot at. Sometimes you will get hit. This book is for all who have found themselves in the line of fire. Dr Marjory Foyle draws upon her extensive clinical experience and her work as a missionary to address a range of important topics: Depression; Occupational stress; Interpersonal relationships; Parental and home-country stress; Singleness and marriage; Children; Burnout; Caring for Christian workers.

A collection of original essays by leading scholars in the field, In God's Empire examines the complex ways in which the spread of Christianity by French men and women shaped local communities, French national prowess, and global politics in the two centuries following the French Revolution. More than a story of religious proselytism, missionary activity was an essential feature of French contact and interaction with local populations. In many parts of the world, missionaries were the first French men and women to work and live among indigenous societies. For all the celebration of France's secular "civilizing mission," it was more often than not religious workers who actually fulfilled the daily tasks of running schools, hospitals, and orphanages. While their work was often tied to small villages, missionaries' interactions had geopolitical implications. Focusing on many regions - from the Ottoman Empire and North America to Indochina and the Pacific Ocean - this book explores how France used missionaries' long connections with local communities as a means of political influence and justification for colonial expansion.
In God's Empire offers readers both an overview of the major historical dimensions of the French evangelical enterprise, as well as an introduction to the theoretical and methodological challenges of placing French missionary work within the context of European, imperial, religious history, and world history.

This book examines how in defending Asian rights and their own version of Christian idealism against scientific racism, missionaries developed a complex theology of race that prefigured modern ideologies of multiculturalism and reached its final, belated culmination in the liberal Protestant support of the civil rights movements in the 1960s

This study examines one aspect of American women's professionalization and the implications of the cross-cultural dialogue between American woman missionaries and Japanese students and supporters at Kobe College between 1873 and 1909.

Through focusing on the unintended by-products of New England Puritanism as a cultural transplant in the Levant, this book explores the socio-historical forces which account for the failure of early envoys attempts to convert the native, population. Early failure in conversion led to later success in reinventing themselves as agents of secular and liberal education, welfare, and popular culture. Through making special efforts not to debase local culture, the missionaries work resulted in large sections of society becoming protestantized without being evangelized.

An invaluable resource for postgraduates and those undertaking postdoctoral research, this book explores a seminal but overlooked interlude in the encounters between American Protestantism and the Levant. Using data from previously unexplored personal narrative accounts, Khalaf dates the emergence of the puritanical imagination, sparked by sentiments of American exceptionalism, voluntarism and "soft power" to at least a century before commonly assumed.

A thankless task or a waste of time. Two ways people use to describe the Christian training of children. You don t have to feel that way! In this book you will find encouragement, practical help and Biblical principles. King David is used as an example to follow David said Come ye children, harken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord Spurgeon says You are not ashamed to tread in the footsteps of David, are you Thus Spurgeon encourages the reader to imitate our Biblical fathers. You will also go away with a new vision of the importance of the work in which you are involved. C. H. Spurgeon shows us that telling young people about Jesus is the most important task given to anyone, be they parent, teacher or youth leader.

Subversive Spirituality links the practice and study of Christian spirituality with Christian mission. It develops a twofold thesis: grace, spiritual disciplines, and mission practices are inseparably linked in the mission of Jesus, of the early church, and of several historical renewal movements, as well as in a contemporary field research sample; and amidst the collapse of space and time evidenced by our culture's increasingly hurried pace of life, more time and space are needed for regular solitary and communal spiritual practices in church, mission, and leadership structures if Christian mission is to transform people and culture in our time. This requires a subversion of the collapsed spatial and temporal codes that have infected our Christian institutions. Jensen employs methods and approaches from a variety of academic disciplines to explore both spirituality in terms of space and time and mission in terms of deed and word. Specifically, Jensen examines the spirituality and mission of Jesus, the early church, the apostolic fathers, Origen, the Devotio Moderna, the early Jesuits, David Brainerd, and several women in 19th century Protestant missions. He considers the spirituality and mission that have arisen within the postmodern generations born after 1960. Based on the theological, historical, cultural, and field analyses of this study, a model for spirituality and mission is proposed. The model addresses the contemporary collapse of space and time and appears to have widespread applicability to diverse cultures and eras. Jensen's model is applied to the pluralistic and postmodern milieu of North America with recommendations for spirituality and mission in church, mission, and educational structures. A derivative model for teaching and practicing spirituality and mission in the academy, which also has application for non-formal leadership development structures, is also proposed.