* Ways to help Episcopalians articulate and feel comfortable about speaking of their faith with others * Builds upon the Jesus Movement and evangelism initiatives in the Episcopal Church Today, in a rapidly changing religious landscape, the structures of Christendom-which once almost automatically instilled faith in generation after generation of believers-are gone. For faithful Episcopalians, it has become essential to learn how to "tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love." This is especially important for those generations born after the Baby Boom, which are experiencing the rapid rise of the "nones"-people who have lost their faith, or who have no faith at all. The time to speak, to share our faith, is now. Kit Carlson offers a road map for those who want to learn to speak about the faith that lives within them. Speaking Our Faith will help them put words to their own experiences of God, create their own statements of belief, and to begin to have compassionate, caring conversations with other people about spirituality, belief, and Jesus Christ.

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.

The history of the United States has been deeply determined by Germans throughout time, but hardly anyone has noticed that this was the case in the Southwest as well, known as Arizona/Sonora today, in the eighteenth century as Pimeria Alta. This was the area where the Jesuits operated all by themselves, and many of them, at least since the 1730s, originated from the Holy Roman Empire, hence were identified as Germans (including Swiss, Austrians, Bohemians, Croats, Alsatians, and Poles). Most of them were highly devout and dedicated, hard working and very intelligent people, achieving wonders in terms of settling the native population, teaching and converting them to Christianity. However, because of complex political processes and the effects of the 'black legend' all Jesuit missionaries were expelled from the Americas in 1767, and the order was banned globally in 1773. As this book illustrates, a surprisingly large number of these German Jesuits composed extensive reports and even encyclopedias, not to forget letters, about the Sonoran Desert and its people. Much of what we know about that world derives from their writing, which proves to be fascinating, lively, and highly informative reading material.

In this collection of essays, anthropologists of religion examine the special challenges they face when studying populations that proselytize. Conducting fieldwork among these groups may involve attending services, meditating, praying, and making pilgrimages. Anthropologists participating in such research may unwittingly give the impression that their interest is more personal than professional, and inadvertently encourage missionaries to impose conversion upon them. Moreover, anthropologists' attitudes about religion, belief, and faith, as well as their response to conversion pressures, may interfere with their objectivity and cause them to impose their own understandings on the missionaries. Although anthropologists have extensively and fruitfully examined the role of identity in research-particularly gender and ethnic identity-religious identity, which is more fluid and changeable, has been relatively neglected. This volume explores the role of religious identity in fieldwork by examining how researchers respond to participation in religious activities and to the ministrations of missionaries, both academically and personally. Including essays by anthropologists studying the proselytizing religions of Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, as well as other religions, this volume provides a range of responses to the question of how anthropologists should approach the gap between belief and disbelief when missionary zeal imposes its interpretations on anthropological curiosity.

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.

This book presupposes that pastors and seminarians deeply desire to answer the question of all questions: how do I make disciples of Jesus Christ? The Great CoMission: Making Sense of Making Disciples is a helpful guide for pastors in the field, yet "meaty" enough for seminarians in the classroom. In The Great CoMission, readers will encounter useful principles for discipleship and solid biblical theology for ministry. This unique book approaches the Great Commission from a rite-of-passage framework, therefore allowing for serious consideration of the internal mechanisms of Matthew 28:16-20 by focusing on the relationship between initiation, instruction, and Jesus' promise to be with the church to the end of the age. Morton writes from a Wesleyan, cross-cultural, and missiological perspective, avoiding the popular method of using the Great Commission merely as a holy launching pad for retelling the story of a mega church.

This book presupposes that pastors and seminarians deeply desire to answer the question of all questions: how do I make disciples of Jesus Christ? The Great CoMission: Making Sense of Making Disciples is a helpful guide for pastors in the field, yet "meaty" enough for seminarians in the classroom. In The Great CoMission, readers will encounter useful principles for discipleship and solid biblical theology for ministry. This unique book approaches the Great Commission from a rite-of-passage framework, therefore allowing for serious consideration of the internal mechanisms of Matthew 28:16-20 by focusing on the relationship between initiation, instruction, and Jesus' promise to be with the church to the end of the age. Morton writes from a Wesleyan, cross-cultural, and missiological perspective, avoiding the popular method of using the Great Commission merely as a holy launching pad for retelling the story of a mega church.

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

Each one of us knows the frustration of seeing people we know going down the wrong path or living beneath their purpose. Many of us have reached out, encouraged, even argued with people we care about, on how to live a better life. If we are honest, we may even be frustrated at ourselves, or at least in our ability to make a difference in their lives. In Let Your Voice Be Heard, Jack Redmond shares how anyone who follows Christ can help others connect with Jesus. When this happens, true life transformation can begin to take place. When you share God's love story with others, you not only speak life into people but also invite God's Power into their lives. You were made to win souls! Let Your Voice Be Heard will teach you to walk in new vision and power. It will inspire you to know it's time to end excuses and to share your life! By reading Let Your Voice Be Heard, you will learn: that walking in relationship over time can help people move closer to Jesus. how to share your faith. how to overcome fear. that winning people to Jesus is a process that you can help people with. that God's will is for people all around you to come to know Him. Jesus gave up His life so that others could gain theirs. Each day we are surrounded by people who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. The only question is, "Will you Let Your Voice Be Heard?"

A Place Called Braverly is a charge for the women of God to live brave, dream bravely, and influence bravery because the Father created them to be women of courage. Too often, women allow shame, lies, and doubts to hold them captive to fear, forgetting that the Father's design-for women to live with bold purpose and daring dreams. Every day, the cafe and sewing center Braverly seeks to empower and train women from oppressed people groups on the Thailand/Myanmar border, but its heartbeat extends well beyond Mae Sot. Inspired by the work being done within Braverly's walls, A Place Called Braverly is filled with the vulnerable stories of two missionaries: Kate Berkey and Kristy Mikel. A Place Called Braverly journeys through Scripture as well as Kate Berkey and Kristy Mikel's personal stories to discover what it looks like to live bravely-saying yes in the everyday, dreaming beyond limits, and influencing and encouraging bravery in others as followers of Jesus. Within the pages of A Place Called Braverly, readers will interact with creative writing pieces, artwork created by women from Braverly, and unique ways of connecting with the Father. In the end, Berkey and Mikel hope to demonstrate how this heartbeat is more than just the mission of a ministry in Thailand. It is the battle cry for all women.

More than ever, North America is being flooded by people from all around the world, many of them here illegally. How should the church respond to these sojourners among us? In Strangers Next Door professor of evangelism and church planting J. D. Payne introduces the phenomenon of migrations of peoples to Western nations and explores how the church should respond in light of the mission of God. As we understand and embrace the fact that the least-reached people groups now reside in (and continue to migrate to) Western countries, churches have unprecedented opportunites to freely share the gospel with them. This book includes practical guidelines for doing crosscultural missions and developing a global strategy of mission. It also highlights examples of churches and organizations attempting to reach, partner with, and send migrants to minister to their people. Discover how you can reach out to the strangers next door by welcoming them into God's family.

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.

DO I NEED TO BE SAVED? God is holy. No sin will ever enter his presence, for "righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne" (Psalm 97:2). Humanity is sinful. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sin separates all people from God. "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you" (Isaiah 59:2). It is impossible for humans to save themselves. "By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight" (Romans 3:20). CAN I BE SAVED? God sent his Son to be your Savior. "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). The living Savior invites sinners to receive him. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Forgiveness of sins and salvation can be yours today. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). HOW CAN I BE SAVED? Agree with God that you are a lost sinner unable to save yourself. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and ask him to be your Savior. "To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). Confess the Lord Jesus Christ. "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life" (John 5:24).

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.

The 2013 Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year in Evangelism Everybody loves a good story. In an age when prepackaged gospel formulations leave people cold, well-told Bible stories can be used powerfully by God to touch people's hearts and draw them to himself. After ministry in both Western and non-Western contexts, church planter Christine Dillon has discovered that Bible storying is far more effective than most other forms of apologetics or evangelistic presentations. In fact, non-Christians actually enjoyed storying and kept coming back for more. Storying provides solid biblical foundations so listeners can understand, apply and respond to the gospel, and then go on to fruitful maturity in God's service. This book includes practical guidance on how to shape a good story, how to do evangelism through storying and how to lead Bible discussions. With particular insights for trainers and those working in crosscultural contexts, this guide provides you with concrete steps for sharing the Story that everyone needs to hear.

Addresses the experience of Jesuit missionaries, teachers and writers along the peripheries of the Habsburg lands, which stretched to Moldavia, Ukraine, Serbia and Wallachia, and which was continually riven with ethnic tensions. The time scale of the study is from the "high tide" of the Society (often labeled "the first multinational corporation") in the fourth decade of the seventeenth century, until its suppression in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV. The book examines several of the communities situated along the periphery and the records that they left behind about their interactions with the local populations. It constructs a vivid picture of Jesuit life on the frontier that is built up in mosaic fashion and livened by compelling anecdotes. The Jesuits of Royal Hungary exercised a baroque expression modeled after the larger western cities of the Habsburg lands, which was a fragile splendor in part defined by the need to defend Catholicism from the hostility of Orthodox, Lutherans, Calvinists, and others.

Jeffrey P. Greenman and Gene L. Green edit this collection of essays from the proceedings of the 2011 Wheaton Theology Conference. The essays explore the past, present and future shape of biblical interpretation and theological engagement in the Majority World. Leading scholars from around the world interact with the key theological issues being discussed in their regions. In addition, some theological voices from minority communities in North America address issues particular to their context and which often overlap with those central in Majority World theology. Contributors include Vince Bacote, Samuel Escobar, Ken Gnanakan, James Kombo, Mark Labberton, Terry LeBlanc, Juan Mart?nez, Ruth Padilla DeBorst, Lamin Sanneh, Andrew Walls, K. K. Yeo and Amos Yong.

It's easier than you may think to make intelligent replies to skeptics - with a little training. Answering Skeptics covers all the major objections in chapters that are both compact and compelling, with helpful summaries. If you find yourself reaching out only to lapsed Christians, your horizons are about to broaden. Engage agnostics, atheists, and members of the world religions with confidence.

It's easier than you may think to make intelligent replies to skeptics - with a little training. Answering Skeptics covers all the major objections in chapters that are both compact and compelling, with helpful summaries. If you find yourself reaching out only to lapsed Christians, your horizons are about to broaden. Engage agnostics, atheists, and members of the world religions with confidence.

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.

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.

An introduction to missiological Christian leadership. The book's focus is on the need to empower and equip the people of God to carry out God's mission in the world. Exploring principles of leadership, it suggests practical skills and stimulates further discussion. The emphasis of the book is on theological engagement with practical issues, and each chapter gives concrete, applied illustrations of the theological approach.

The Salvation Army is nowadays viewed with fondness, but William Booth's evangelical crusade of the 1880s and early 1890s sparked violent riots led by an opposition group, the Skeleton Army. These riots caused destruction to property, injury to many people and, on occasion, loss of life. Spreading across the South and West of England, the Skeleton Army's aim was to eject Salvationists from their towns. Rather than facing repercussions themselves, however, it was often the peaceful parading Salvationists who were imprisoned. In With God on Their Side, James Gardner follows the spread of violence in the context of the popular conservatism of late-Victorian England, with close study of particular towns creating a rich tapestry of historical narrative that will be of interest to scholars and enthusiasts alike. The motives and actions of both groups are considered, along with the subsequent shift in the Salvation Army's focus towards social welfare. It is this shift that enabled the organisation to grow into the treasured charity we know today, and helped transform William Booth from one of the most vilified men of the nineteenth century into its saint.