In 1794 a group of Russian Orthodox missionaries landed on Kodiak Island, Alaska, with the intent of preaching to the native Americans, baptizing those who would accept the Christian life and developing for them both academic and agricultural schools. Of this initial effort there survived one monk, Father Herman, who lived among the Aleut people for forty some years and earned the loving nickname of Apa, or "grandfather." Father Herman had a fiery temperament and was often heatedly involved with local authorities concerning the rights of the local natives, who were constantly violated by explorers and foreign authorities. Father Herman's gentle admonition, sense of humor, strict asceticism and care for the physical needs of the natives left a memorable legacy.

In this charming volume, author and illustrator Dorrie Papademetriou captures the divine spark that shone in the monk Herman and reflects it across the pages. The world of Apa and the Aleuts comes alive in illustrations of northern lights, Kodiak bears, giant cabbages and angel's wings. Best of all, readers are warmed by the words of this human heart aflame with divine love.

In A.D. 597, St Augustine arrived at Canterbury from Rome to preach the gospel to the English; in the same year St Columba died on Iona. Their activities were part of a longer pattern of Christian mission in and around the British Isles and extending to the Continent, that stretched over four hundred years. This book charts the story of this mission and outlines the theology and belief that emerged in the Church in Britain. It therefore embraces both the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon dimensions of that Church, highlighting notable saints such as Martin, Patrick, Gregory the Great, Bede and Boniface. The story ends with the mission of English Christians to Germany and the Low Countries and the work of Alcuin. The Revd Douglas Dales is Chaplain of Marlborough College and author of numerous books on Anglo-Saxon church history and theology as well as other topics, including 'Dunstan: Saint and Statesman' and 'Living through Dying: the spiritual experience of St Paul', both published by the Lutterworth Press. 'Dales concentrates on the fascinating lives of missionaries from 400 to 800 to illustrate their thought and motivation. He examines the theology of the early missionaries through critical analysis of their own works, letters and early lives.' Barbara Mitchell, History Today 'A clear and agreeable account, informed by much recent scholarship, of the conversion of Britain and Ireland, and the English missions to the Continent. This is History informed by theology, but theology remains in the background. A useful addition to the range of introductory guides to be recommended as it succeeds in displaying the history of conversion in Britain and Ireland as a continuous story.' T.M. Charles Edwards, English Historical Review

Just like a space shuttle struggles and strains to re-enter the earth's atmosphere, so those returning from living overseas can find themselves confused and in a state of panic at coming home. While people anticipate that going overseas will require major changes in their lifestyles and thinking, few anticipate the difficulties they will face upon return. Intended to aid the re-entry process, this encouraging, and insightful book deals with these important subjects: adapting to the passport culture identifying areas of potential struggle dealing with the emotional challenges finding a new job, a new place to live, learning the social mores returning is not coming home it is leaving home facilitating a smooth transition for those on the receiving end Expatriates, missionaries, mission executives, mission pastors, mission communities, and supporters interested in easing the re-entry experience will benefit greatly from this book.

'Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews' offers fresh answers to unresolved questions by employing that branch of social psychology known as social identity theory. Who were the addressees? With the categories of social identity theory, this study argues that the addressees arranged the world into two groups: 'us' and 'them'. They understood their group, the 'us', to be the 'faithful'. They understood 'them' (a symbolic outgroup of 'all others') to be the 'unfaithful'. Faithfulness, then, is the primary identity descriptor for the addressees and plays an essential role throughout the text. How did the addressees understand the faithfulness of Jesus? The author of Hebrews describes the faithfulness of Jesus as 'prototypical'. The faithfulness of all others is described in relation to Jesus' faith, and together they are integrated into an ongoing narrative of devotion. What is the meaning of the promised 'rest'? Utilizing a model of present temporal orientation, the study interprets the dynamic relationship between the 'antecedent' faithfulness of many witnesses and the 'forthcoming' promised rest of the addressees. The addressees of Hebrews were encouraged to 'understand their futures by looking to the past.' What is the purpose of the text? Social identity theorists explain that groups with a negative social identity have two broad options: social mobility or social change. The study concludes that the author of Hebrews provides internal constraints in order to prevent social mobility. Marohl uses social creativity (an aspect of social change) to provide a positive social identity for the addressees. 'Marohl's welcome study represents an accomplished application of social identity theory to the text of Hebrews. His methodological attentiveness is mature and responsible, resulting in an articulate analysis that recognises the faithfulness of Jesus to be the theological centre that informs the socio-religious programme advocated by the author of Hebrews.' - Bruce Longenecker, University of St. Andrews Matthew J. Marohl teaches New Testament at Augustana College, Illinois and is the author of 'Joseph's Dilemma: Honour Killing in the Birth Narrative of Matthew'.

In May of 1868, Elizabeth Bingham Young and her husband of only fivemonths, Egerton Ryerson Young, began a long journey from Hamilton,Ontario, to the Methodist mission of Rossville, at Norway House. Overthe next eight years, Elizabeth supported her husband's work atRossville and then at the newly founded mission of Berens River, on theeast shore of Lake Winnipeg. In these remote outposts, she gave birthto four children, one of whom died in infancy, acted as a nurse anddoctor, and applied both perseverance and determination to learningCree, while also coping with poverty and a chronic shortage ofsupplies, both in the mission and in the community it served. WhenElizabeth died, in 1935, she left behind various reminiscences, notablyan extended account of her experiences at Norway House and BerensRiver, evidently written in 1927. Her memoirs offer an exceedingly rareportrait of mission life as seen through the eyes of a woman. Elizabeth's first child and only surviving son, also namedEgerton Ryerson Young but known in his youth as "Eddie,"was born at Norway House in 1869. Cared for by a Cree woman almost frominfancy, Eddie spent his early childhood immersed in local Cree andOjibwe life, culture, and language, in many ways exemplifying theprocess of reverse acculturation often in evidence among the childrenof missionaries. He, too, left behind hitherto unpublishedreminiscences, one composed around 1935 and a second dictated shortlybefore his death. Like those of his mother, Eddie's memoriescapture the sensory and emotional texture of mission life, a life inwhich the Christian faith is implicit rather than prominently ondisplay, while also providing an intriguing counterpoint to hismother's recollections. Like all memoirs, these are refractedthrough the prism of time, and yet they remain startling in theirimmediacy. Together, the writings of mother and son-conjoinedhere with a selection of archival documents that supplement the mainnarratives, with the whole meticulously edited by Jennifer S. H.Brown-afford an all too uncommon opportunity to contemplatemission life from the ground up.

Beginning with a 'Street Nativity Play' that didn't end as planned, and finishing with an open-ended conversation in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, "Being Interrupted" locates an institutionally-anxious Church of England within the wider contexts of divisions of race and class in 'the ruins of empire', alongside ongoing gender inequalities, the marginalization of children, and catastrophic ecological breakdown. In the midst of this bleak picture, Al Barrett and Ruth Harley open a door to a creative disruption of the status quo, 'from the outside, in': the in-breaking of the wild reality of the 'Kin-dom' of God. Through careful and unsettling readings in Mark's gospel, alongside stories from a multicultural outer estate in east Birmingham, they paint a vivid picture of an 'alternative economy' for the Church's life and mission, which begins with transformative encounters with neighbours and strangers at the edges of our churches, our neighbourhoods and our imaginations, and offers new possibilities for repentance and resurrection.

In the decades before colonial partition in Africa, the Church Missionary Society embarked on the first serious effort to evangelize in an independent Muslim state. Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther led an all-African field staff to convert the people of the Upper Niger and Confluence area, whose communities were threatened or already conquered by an expanding jihadist Nupe state. In this book, Femi J. Kolapo examines the significance of the mission as an African-rather than European-undertaking, assessing its impact on missionary practice, local engagement, and Christian conversion prospects. By offering a fuller history of this overlooked mission in the history of Christianity in Nigeria, this book reaffirms indigenous agency and rethinks the mission as an experiment ahead of its time.

Key Christian leaders from a variety of countries and cultures share Bible teaching and personal testimonies in the context of: 'God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself'. An excellent contribution to the church worldwide which deserves to be read and referred to again and again. Guaranteed to enlarge your vision of what God can do and what you should be doing.

The Problem of God explores answers to the most difficult questions raised against Christianity. A skeptic who became a Christian and then a pastor, author Mark Clark grew up in an atheistic home. After his father's death, he began a skeptical search for truth through the fields of science, philosophy, and history, eventually finding answers in the last place he expected: Christianity. In a winsome, persuasive, and humble voice, The Problem of God responds to the top ten interrogations people bring against God, and Christianity, including: Does God even exist in the first place? What do we do with Christianity's violent history? Is Jesus just another myth? Can the Bible be trusted? Why should we believe in Hell anymore today? Each chapter answers the specific challenge using a mix of theology, philosophy, and science. Filled with compelling stories and anecdotes, The Problem of God presents an organized and easy-to-understand range of apologetics, focused on both convincing the skeptic and informing the Christian. The book concluding with Christianity's most audacious assertion: how should we respond to Jesus' claim that he is God and the only way to salvation.

The Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference was the most famous missions conference in modern church history. A century later, five conferences on five continents displayed the landscape of global mission at the dawn of the third millennium: Tokyo 2010, Edinburgh 2010, Cape Town 2010, 2010Boston, and CLADE V (San Jose, 2012). These five events provide a window into the state of world Christianity and contemporary missiology. Missiologist Allen Yeh, the only person to attend all five conferences, chronicles the recent history of world mission through the lenses of these landmark events. He assesses the legacy of Edinburgh 1910 and the development of world Christianity in the following century. Whereas Edinburgh 1910 symbolized Christendom's mission "from the West to the rest," the conferences of 2010-12 demonstrate the new realities of polycentric and polydirectional mission-from everyone to everywhere. Yeh's accounts of the conferences highlight the crucial missiological issues of our era: evangelism, frontier missions, ecumenism, unengaged and post-Christian populations, reconciliation, postmodernities, contextualization, postcolonialism, migration, and more. What emerges is a portrait of a contemporary global Christian mission that encompasses every continent, embodying good news for all nations.

Missio Alliance Essential Reading List One of Seedbed's 10 Notable Books The gospel of Jesus has not always been good news for Native Americans. The history of North America is marred by atrocities committed against Native peoples. Indigenous cultures were erased in the name of Christianity. As a result, to this day few Native Americans are followers of Jesus. However, despite the far-reaching effects of colonialism, some Natives have forged culturally authentic ways to follow the way of Jesus. In his final work, Richard Twiss provides a contextualized Indigenous expression of the Christian faith among the Native communities of North America. He surveys the painful, complicated history of Christian missions among Indigenous peoples and chronicles more hopeful visions of culturally contextual Native Christian faith. For Twiss, contextualization is not merely a formula or evangelistic strategy, but rather a relational process of theological and cultural reflection within a local community. Native leaders reframe the gospel narrative in light of post-colonization, reincorporating traditional practices and rituals while critiquing and correcting the assumptions of American Christian mythologies. Twiss gives voice to the stories of Native followers of Jesus, with perspectives on theology and spirituality plus concrete models for intercultural ministry. Future generations of Native followers of Jesus, and those working crossculturally with them, will be indebted to this work.

The study is an intellectual and comparative history of French, Spanish, and English missions to the native peoples of America in the seventeenth century, c. 1610-1690. It shows that missions are ideal case studies to properly understand the relationship between religion and politics in early modern Catholic and Calvinist thought. The book aims to analyse the intellectual roots of fundamental ideas in Catholic and Calvinist missionary writings-among others idolatry, conversion, civility, and police-by examining the classical, Augustinian, neo-thomist, reformed Protestant, and contemporary European influences on their writings. Missionaries' insistence on the necessity of reform, emphasising an experiential, practical vision of Christianity, led them to elaborate conversion strategies that encompassed not only religious, but also political and social changes. It was at the margins of empire that the essentials of Calvinist and Catholic soteriologies and political thought could be enacted and crystallised. By a careful analysis of these missiologies, the study thus argues that missionaries' common strategies-habituation, segregation, social and political regulations-stem from a shared intellectual heritage, classical, humanist, and above all concerned with the Erasmian ideal of a reformation of manners.

Christabel Pankhurst, one of the leading champions of women's suffrage in Britain, entered the evangelical world after the first world war as a preacher of the second coming. Larsen shows that the two causes, far from being automatically antagonistic, could be complementary. Christabel Pankhurst was arguably the most influential member of her famous family in the struggle to win the vote for women in the years before the First World War. Paradoxically, she has also been the most neglected subsequentlyby historians. Part of the reason for this may be that, in the years after women's suffrage had been achieved in 1918, she turned her energies to Christian fundamentalism and carved out a new career as a writer of best-selling evangelical books and as a high-profile speaker on the fundamentalist preaching circuit, particularly in the United States. In this important work Tim Larsen provides the first full account of this part of Christabel Pankhurst's life. He thus offers both a highly original contribution to Christabel Pankhurst's biography and also a fascinating commentary on the relationship between fundamentalism and feminism. His book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the Pankhursts, in the history of the women's movement, or in fundamentalism in Britain and North America. TIMOTHY LARSEN is Associate Professor of Theology, Wheaton College, USA.

A new brand of apostolic ministry for today's world

"The Permanent Revolution" is a work of theological re-imagination and re-construction that draws from biblical studies, theology, organizational theory, leadership studies, and key social sciences. The book elaborates on the apostolic role rooted in the five-fold ministry from Ephesians 4 (apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teacher), and its significance for the missional movement. It explores how the apostolic ministry facilitates ongoing renewal in the life of the church and focuses on leadership in relation to missional innovation and entrepreneurship.The authors examine the nature of organization as reframed through the lens of apostolic ministry.Shows how to view the world through a biblical perspective and continue the "permanent revolution" that Jesus startedOutlines the essential characteristics of apostolic movement and how to restructure the church and ministry to be more consistent with themAlan Hirsch is a leading voice in the missional movement of the Christian West

This groundbreaking book integrates theology, sociology, and leadership to further define the apostolic movement.

This Confronting Jesus set pairs Rebecca McLaughlin's book with a companion study to help individuals and groups go deeper into the Gospels to learn more about the person and work of Christ.

Reggie McNeal's bestseller The Present Future is the definitive work on the "missional movement," i.e., the widespread movement among Protestant churches to be less inwardly focused and more oriented toward the culture and community around them. In that book he asked the tough questions that churches needed to entertain to begin to think about who they are and what they are doing; in Missional Renaissance, he shows them the three significant shifts in their thinking and behavior that they need to make that will allow leaders to chart a course toward being missional: (1) from an internal to an external focus, ending the church as exclusive social club model; (2) from running programs and ministries to developing people as its core activity; and (3) from professional leadership to leadership that is shared by everyone in the community. With in-depth discussions of the "what" and the "how" of transitioning to being a missional church, readers will be equipped to move into what McNeal sees as the most viable future for Christianity. For all those thousands of churches who are asking about what to do next after reading The Present Future, Missional Renaissance will provide the answer.

How does the gospel relate to a pluralist society? What is the Christian message in a society marked by religious pluralism, ethnic diversity and cultural relativism? Should Christians concentrate on evangelism or dialogue? The Gospel in a Pluralist Society addresses these kinds of questions - providing an excellent analysis of contemporary culture and suggests how Christians can more confidently affirm their faith in such a context. While drawing on scholars such as Michael Polanyi, Alasdair MacIntyre, Hendrikus Berkof, Walter Wink and Robert Wuthnow, this heartfelt work by a missionary pastor and preacher is not only suited to an academic readership; it also offers to Christian leaders and lay people many thoughtful, helpful and provocative reflections. When Lesslie Newbigin died in 1998, The Times' obituary writer described him as 'one of the foremost missionary statesmen of his generation', and amongst 'the outstanding figures on the world Christian stage of the second half of the century'. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society has been widely influential and deserves to be reissued as an SPCK Classic.

How music makes worship and how worship makes music in Evangelical churches Music is a nearly universal feature of congregational worship in American churches. Congregational singing is so ingrained in the experience of being at church that it is often misunderstood to be synonymous with worship. For those who assume responsibility for making music for congregational use, the relationship between music and worship is both promising and perilous - promise in the power of musical style and collective singing to facilitate worship, peril in the possibility that the experience of the music might eclipse the worship it was written to facilitate. As a result, those committed to making music for worship are constantly reminded of the paradox that they are writing songs for people who wish to express themselves, as directly as possible, to God. This book shines a new light on how people who make music for worship also make worship from music. Based on interviews with more than 75 songwriters, worship leaders, and music industry executives, Shout to the Lord maps the social dimensions of sacred practice, illuminating how the producers of worship music understand the role of songs as both vehicles for, and practices of, faith and identity. This book accounts for the human qualities of religious experience and the practice of worship, and it makes a compelling case for how - sometimes - faith comes by hearing.

Hearts Minds Bookstore's Best Books of 2015, Theology Toward the end of the twentieth century, Lesslie Newbigin offered a penetrating analysis of the challenges of pluralism that confronted a Western culture and society reeling from the dissolution of Christendom. His enormous influence has been felt ever since. Newbigin (1909-1998) was a longtime Church of Scotland missionary to India and later General Secretary of the International Missionary Council and Associate General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. The first installment in the Missiological Engagements series, the essays in this volume explore three aspects of Newbigin?s legacy. First, they assess the impact of his 1989 book, Gospel in a Pluralist Society, on Christian mission and evangelism in the West. Second, they critically analyze the nature of Western pluralism in its many dimensions to discern how Christianity can proclaim good news for today. Finally, the contributors discuss the influence of Newbigin's work on the field of missiology. By looking backward, this volume recommends and advances a vision for Christian witness in the pluralistic world of the twenty-first century. Contributions from leading missiologists and theologians, including: William Burrows John Flett Veli-Matti Karkkainen Esther Meek Wilbert Shenk Missiological Engagements charts interdisciplinary and innovative trajectories in the history, theology, and practice of Christian mission, featuring contributions by leading thinkers from both the Euro-American West and the majority world whose missiological scholarship bridges church, academy, and society.

When the first disciples went out into all the world to spread the gospel, they didn't just make converts--they made more disciples, people who would grow in the faith and then go out to make disciples as well. Their world was a lot like ours, filled with skeptics, idolatry, and opposition, but also with hurting people whom God had already prepared to hear, learn, and be transformed. In the pattern of his bestselling book The Master Plan of Evangelism, author Robert E. Coleman offers a close examination of how Jesus made disciples and how his followers did the same throughout the book of Acts. Coleman then shows how to apply these methods to the modern church, which creates actual sustained church growth rather than simply a temporary boost in numbers. Pastors, church leaders, and those involved in teaching and discipling believers will find this book to be an invaluable resource to equip the saints, build fellowship, and grow their ministry.

Winner of a 2006 Chicago Book Clinic Award of Excellence God is back on the agenda. Today people are fascinated by spirituality, and they have lots of questions. Who better to talk with them than Christians? Trouble is, many of us don't know how to talk about our faith or are uneasy about religious salesmanship and canned evangelistic formulas. We are afraid of button-holing others, being offensive or saying something wrong. We simply don't know how to express our faith naturally--in everyday language. In Holy Conversation Richard Peace teaches us how to engage in easy and comfortable conversation about the good news of Jesus--the pressure is off. Using small, easy steps, he explains the gospel in plain language and encourages us in practical ways to share our faith with friends, neighbors and colleagues. Written as a guide for small groups, Holy Conversation is designed to be completed in twelve weekly sessions (other options are provided). Not only do group members read about holy conversation, they actually engage one another in spiritual conversation. This is the ideal resource for helping laypeople to become competent and confident Christian conversationalists

Many New Testament Greek grammarians assert that the Greek attributive participle and the Greek relative clause are "equivalent." Michael E. Hayes disproves those assertions in An Analysis of the Attributive Participle and the Relative Clause in the Greek New Testament, thoroughly presenting the linguistic categories of restrictivity and nonrestrictivity and analyzing the restrictive/nonrestrictive nature of every attributive participle and relative clause. By employing the Accessibility Hierarchy, he focuses the central and critical analysis to the subject relative clause and the attributive participle. His analysis leads to the conclusion that with respect to the restrictive/nonrestrictive distinction these two constructions could in no way be described as "equivalent." The attributive participle is primarily utilized to restrict its antecedent except under certain prescribed circumstances, and when both constructions are grammatically and stylistically feasible, the relative clause is predominantly utilized to relate nonrestrictively to its antecedent. As a result, Hayes issues a call to clarity and correction for grammarians, exegetes, modern editors, and translators of the Greek New Testament.

Protestant Missionaries in Spain, 1869-1936: "Shall the Papists Prevail?" examines the history of the Protestant denominations, especially the Plymouth Brethren, throughout Europe that attempted to bring their churches to Spain just prior to Spain's First Republic (1873-1874) when religious liberty briefly existed. Protestant groups labored feverishly, establishing churches and schools designed to gain converts and thereby prove the supremacy of their theology in Spain as the foremost Roman Catholic country. Religious liberty was reintroduced in the 1930s during the Second Republic, but failed when General Francisco Franco won the Spanish Civil War and unified the culturally and linguistically diverse nation through the doctrine of religious uniformity. Equally important is the question of why the Roman Catholic Church felt compelled to expel them from Spain. After the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), Spain became the battlefield between Protestants and Catholics, each vying to demonstrate their preeminence. Using primary sources from Spain and the UK, this book recreates the story of these missionaries' struggles and examines their motivations for making significant sacrifices.