Katharine Jefferts Schori is a bishop on the move. She pilots her plane to remote parishes around the sprawling Diocese of Nevada and shares her passionate message of reconciliation and peace. As the first female primate in the 500-year history of Anglicanism, she'll have the opportunity to speak to a far wider audience. This book is the vehicle for introducing Bishop Jefferts Schori and her platform to the wider Church."

Perhaps one of the most commonly referenced verses in the Bible is John 3:16, in which Jesus says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Even though you may recognize John 3:16 when it shows up on posters at sporting events, do you really know what it means? And who is this John person anyway? By way of introduction, John was one of the twelve disciples that followed Jesus during his ministry, and he is also the author of the books of the Bible called First, Second, and Third John, as well as Revelation. He wrote the Gospel of John, including the verses that are referenced in this pamphlet, sometime between A.D. 70 and A.D. 100 from a city in Asia Minor (modern- day Turkey). John's Gospel is crucial to learning more about Jesus and discovering what it means to become a Christian. His purpose in writing this book of the Bible is to evidence that Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior. By believing in Jesus and trusting in the salvation from our sin that he offers, people can gain eternal life. WHY DO WE NEED TO BE SAVED? Jesus said, "Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). If we are honest with ourselves, we cannot deny that from the moment of our birth we have done wrong things--things that make us guilty before God and deserving of his judgment. The Bible calls these wrong things sin, and sin separates us from God. And because we are separated from God, we face the awful prospect of his eternal wrath (John 3:36). JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY Can anyone save us from God's wrath and assure us of heaven? Some people believe that they can get into heaven by doing good works, or by following the teachings of a religion, or even by giving money to churches or charities. But Jesus clearly said that none of these things would save us: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). No human effort can give us eternal life. In fact, the only "work" that can save us is the "work" of believing in what Jesus has done to accomplish our salvation: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (John 6:29). And to those who so believe, the promise of God stands firm: "To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). HOW DOES JESUS SAVE US? John the Baptist, a biblical prophet, calls Jesus the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Jesus explains that our salvation comes through his death on the cross as the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for our sin (John 3:14-15). When reading the Gospel of John, for example, you'll notice that chapters 18-19 describe Jesus' death and then chapter 20 tells of his glorious triumph over death as he rose from the dead. Jesus' resurrection means that he can give eternal life to all who believe in him: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die . . ." (John 11:25-26). DO YOU BELIEVE? John 11:26 ends with Jesus asking, "Do you believe this?" It is a question that every person must answer: Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe that he died on the cross to free you from guilt and judgment of sin? Do you believe that he rose from the grave, breaking the power of death and making a way for you to have eternal life in heaven? If you believe that these things are true, then you may want to express your faith in him by praying this prayer: Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son, and that he died on the cross to save me from my sin. I believe that he rose again to life, and that he invites me to live forever with him in heaven as part of your family. Because of what Jesus has done, I ask you to forgive me of my sin and give me eternal life. Help me to live in a way that pleases and honors you. Amen. GROWING IN CHRIST Once you have received the gift of eternal life, you will want to grow in your knowledge of Christ and your obedience to him. Jesus' teaching about how to live for God can be summed up in three simple instructions: Read the Bible. Jesus said, "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me" (John 14:21). One way to show our love for God is to read and live out the commands set forth in the Bible, God's holy Word. Read the Bible daily to learn how to live a life that honors God and gives testimony to others that Jesus has made a difference in your life. Pray. Communication with God through prayer keeps your focus on eternal things. If you are truly following Jesus, your desires will be for God's glory and for his kingdom, the church. Jesus promised, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7). Seek Christian fellowship. Meeting regularly with Christian brothers and sisters allows you to follow Jesus' example of love and to fulfill his command to "love one another . . . just as I have loved you" (John 13:34). Just as Jesus surrounded himself daily with his disciples and followers, find a Bible believing church where you can meet with other Christians. There you will find joy and encouragement in the fellowship of God's people.

This book is a biography of a remarkable Scottish missionary worker, Alexander Wylie, a classical nineteenth century artisan and autodidact with a gift and passion for languages and mathematics. He made significant contributions to knowledge transfer, both to and from China: in missionary work as a printer, playing an important role in the production and distribution of a new Chinese translation of the Bible; as a teacher, translating into Chinese key western texts in science and mathematics including Newton and Euclid and publishing the first Chinese textbooks on modern symbolic algebra, calculus and astronomy; and as a writer in English and an internationally recognised major sinologist, bringing to the West much knowledge of China and contributing extensively to the development of British sinology. The book concludes with an overall evaluation of Wylie's contribution to knowledge transfer to and from China, noting the imbalance between the significant corpus of scholarly work specifically on Wylie by Chinese scholars in Chinese and the lack of academic studies by western scholars in English.

For many, missions is the story of heroes, martyrs, and the advance of the gospel. For others, it's the story of colonialism and missionary disasters. So how do we respond to God's call to love our neighbors as a new era emerges? Subversive mission is submission-to God and local leaders. Subversive mission offers a new way forward for outsiders called to crosscultural ministry by serving as humble alongsiders. Join Craig Greenfield on this inspiring journey in Asia and beyond as he rediscovers the fivefold missional gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher, and demonstrates how each of these must look radically different in a crosscultural context. Along the way, you'll discover your own missional type through the Missional Type Inventory and come face to face with the five most common pitfalls that Westerners face in crosscultural settings. By the end of this story, you'll be inspired by a radically different way of working for change in the world. Come alongside. And join God in what he is already doing.

Contemporary theologies of mission rely on the central concept of the missio Dei, which states that mission properly belongs to the triune God over the church. However, present accounts fail to establish any corresponding link between God's trinitarian economy and ontology. In other words, the problem of the missio Dei is the problem of the break between the act and being of God. Benjamin H. Kim argues that a repair is needed for missio Dei theology, and this repair is found in reexamining Barth's doctrine of revelation. In doing so, the locus of mission moves from God's trinitarian sending to his trinitarian revealing. The repair is further advanced by Dietrich Bonhoeffer through his concept of person, which functions as the unity of act and being. This account returns mission to its original definition, which was intended to describe the inner-trinitarian being of God in relation to humanity. The concept of person recovers this meaning of mission by locating it first in the person of Christ and second, in the collective person of the church existing as the Christ community. Thus, Bonhoeffer's description of revelation in terms of personhood provides and account that is more faithful to the missio Dei's core insights.

Why do American Christians travel overseas to reach people in distant lands, but neglect ministering to people who immigrate from those lands to their home communities? Why does Western missions funding depend on narratives that marginalize indigenous leadership? Why are diaspora Christians from the Global South not seen as legitimate missionaries to the West? Western mission often still centers the senders, without as much understanding of the experiences of the receivers. Mekdes Haddis, an Ethiopian now living in the United States, provides a postcolonial critique of Western mission, upending the white savior complex and arguing for a more globally just approach. A Just Mission examines evangelical mission from the perspective of the receiver, highlighting areas of weakness and naming injustices. Unveiling the negative impact of Western mission on the global church, Haddis addresses how white supremacy infiltrates and subverts mission organizations' good intentions, disrupting grassroots missions and local leadership development. Weaving together theology and Scripture with stories from people of color and diaspora groups, A Just Mission offers hope that the mission and message of Jesus can indeed become good news for all.

This interdisciplinary volume represents the first comprehensive English-language analysis of the development of Protestant Christianity in Xiamen from the nineteenth century to the present. This important regional study is particularly revealing due to the unbroken history of Sino-Christian interactions in Xiamen and the extensive ties that its churches have maintained with global missions and overseas Chinese Christians. Its authors draw upon a wide range of foreign missionary and Chinese official archives, local Xiamen church publications, and fieldwork data to historicize the Protestant experience in the region. Further, the local Christians' stories demonstrate a form of sociocultural, religious and political imagination that puts into question the Euro-American model of Christendom and the Chinese Communist-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement. It addresses the localization of Christianity, the reinvention of local Chinese Protestant identity and heritage, and the Protestants' engagement with the society at large. The empirical findings and analytical insights of this collection will appeal to scholars of religion, sociology and Chinese history.

With the emergence of Hindu nationalism, the conversion of Indians to Christianity has become a volatile issue, erupting in violence against converts and missionaries. At the height of British colonialism, however, conversion was a path to upward mobility for low-castes and untouchables, especially in the Tamil-speaking south of India. In this book, Eliza F. Kent takes a fresh look at these conversions, focusing especially on the experience of women converts and the ways in which conversion transformed gender roles and expectations. Kent argues that the creation of a new, "respectable" community identity was central to the conversion process for the agricultural laborers and artisans who embraced Protestant Christianity under British rule. At the same time, she shows, this new identity was informed as much by elite Sanskritic customs and ideologies as by Western Christian discourse. Stigmatized by the dominant castes for their ritually polluting occupations and relaxed rules governing kinship and marriage, low-caste converts sought to validate their new higher-status identity in part by the reform of gender relations. These reforms affected ideals of femininity and masculinity in the areas of marriage, domesticity, and dress. By the creation of a "discourse of respectability," says Kent, Tamil Christians hoped to counter the cultural justifications for their social, economic, and sexual exploitation at the hands of high-caste landowners and village elites. Kent's focus on the interactions between Western women missionaries and the Indian Christian women not only adds depth to our understanding of colonial and patriarchal power dynamics, but to the intricacies of conversion itself. Posing an important challenge to normative notions of conversion as a privatized, individual moment in time, Kent's study takes into consideration the ways that public behavior, social status, and the transformation of everyday life inform religious conversion.

Be Equipped to Prepare and Deliver Engaging, Biblical, and Effective Topical Sermons Sooner or later, every preacher will come upon a situation where they need to preach a topical sermon. Yet few are taught to preach topically. Even preachers who are gifted in expositing the Scriptures may struggle to deliver a topical sermon that is engaging, culturally relevant, and true to the biblical text. Worse, many pastors worry these messages undermine confidence in the Bible or its authority, leading to a human-centered rather than a God-focused sermon. But that doesn't have to be the case. In Topical Preaching in a Complex World, Sam Chan and Malcolm Gill answer these objections and chart a path for how preachers can deliver faithful and effective topical messages. First, they address the biblical, theological, and cultural reasons pastors should add topical sermons to their preaching repertoire. Then, they introduce a straightforward, four-fold approach for preaching a topical message and answer important questions like these: How do you approach a topic with the proper interpretative lens? How can you speak to two or more audiences with the same sermon? What should you consider theologically, culturally, and pastorally in your preparation? How do you trace the topic back to Christ? How can you better connect with your audience? Best of all, they help readers craft a message that says something people truly need (and want) to hear! Filled with wit, humor, and wisdom from decades of preaching, this book will equip preachers, pastors, ministry leaders, and students to preach relevant, biblical, and engaging topical sermons. Author Sam Chan says, "Just over a decade ago, I was asked by an organization to speak at their end-of-year dinner. They wanted me to address the topic of being a Christian single, but I had no idea how to prepare and deliver a topical talk. When the night arrived, I preached an old three-point expository sermon and merely changed the ending to include some application on singleness. At best, I got some polite comments afterwards. At worst, people's looks indicated that my biblical talk had little relevance for them. They could not have been less fooled by my disingenuous workaround. I went home vowing never to repeat that poor performance. I felt like the unfaithful servant who had not adequately used what talents had been given to him. As a result, I have dedicated the last decade of my preaching ministry to overcoming and mastering the art of topical preaching. This book is a product of that journey."

Madagascar is a poor country with very little power on the world stage. As a former French colony, Madagascar's wealth has often been viewed as available to others with more power to take and use as they please. This trend continues today; while its unique flora and fauna and potential mineral resources excite international business, government, and conservation interests, for the most part, the lives of Malagasy people receive little attention. In this context of powerlessness, an indigenous Christian movement offers empowerment and healing to people with mental illness. The movement, little-known outside the country, has offered care and community to many of society's outcasts for over a century. The impact of the movement's work is so great that national health officials depend on the movement for mental health services, which are woefully lacking outside the movement's camps. In this volume, the movement's strategies for caring in community are explored, particularly focusing on understandings and uses of power among the powerless. The book includes discussion of power use and abuse by colonial, missionary, ecclesial, national, and international forces, analyzes relationships between the powerful and powerless, asks theological questions about power and the Jesus movement worldwide, and invites conversation on the potential power of the building of communities of care for people with mental illness in other contexts globally, to work toward healing, justice, and health.

This book examines the partnerships and power struggles between American missionaries and Korean Protestant leaders in both nations from the late 19th century to the aftermath of the Korean War. Yoo analyzes American and Korean sources, including a plethora of unpublished archival materials, to uncover the complicated histories of cooperation and contestation behind the evolving relationships between Americans and Koreans at the same time the majority of the world Christian population shifted from the Global North to the Global South. American and Korean Protestants cultivated deep bonds with one another, but they also clashed over essential matters of ecclesial authority, cultural difference, geopolitics, and women's leadership. This multifaceted approach - incorporating the perspectives of missionaries, migrants, ministers, diplomats, and interracial couples - casts new light on American and Korean Christianities and captures American and Korean Protestants mutually engaged in a global movement that helped give birth to new Christian traditions in Korea, created new transnational religious and humanitarian partnerships such as the World Vision organization, and transformed global Christian traditions ranging from Pentecostalism to Presbyterianism.

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.

It is the not-too-distant future, and the rapture has occurred. Every born-again Christian on the planet has, without prior warning, been snatched from the earth to meet Christ in the heavens, while all those without the requisite faith have been left behind to suffer the wrath of the Antichrist as the earth enters into its final days.

This is the premise that animates the enormously popular cultural phenomenon that is the Left Behind series of prophecy novels, co-written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins and published between 1995 and 2007. But these books are more than fiction: it is the sincere belief of many evangelicals that these events actually will occur--soon. "Plotting Apocalypse" delves into the world of rapture, prophecy, and tribulation in order to account for the extraordinary cultural salience of these books and the impact of the world they project. Through penetrating readings of the novels, Chapman shows how the series offers a new model of evangelical agency for its readership. The novels teach that although believers are incapable of changing the course of a future that has been preordained by God, they "can" become empowered by learning to read the prophetic books of the Bible--and the signs of the times--correctly. Reading and interpretation become key indices of agency in the world that Left Behind limns.

"Plotting Apocalypse" reveals the significant cultural work that Left Behind performs in developing a counter-narrative to the passivity and fatalism that can characterize evangelical prophecy belief. Chapman's arguments may bear profound implications for the future of American evangelicalism and its interactions with culture, society, and politics.

In this follow-up to Confronting Christianity, Rebecca McLaughlin shares important biblical context to help all readers explore who Jesus really is and understand why the Gospels should be taken seriously as historical documents.

HOW CAN WE KNOW WE'LL GO TO HEAVEN? A recent poll indicated that for every American who believes he or she is going to hell, there are 120 who believe they're going to heaven. This optimism stands in stark contrast to Jesus Christ's words written in the Bible: "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:13-14). The truth is that according to the Bible we don't automatically go to heaven. In fact, hell--not heaven--is our default destination. Unless our sin problem is solved once and for all, we can't enter heaven. That's the bad news. But once that's straight in our minds we're ready to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus took upon himself, on the cross, the hell we deserve so that we could experience for eternity the heaven we don't deserve! THE ONLY TWO OPTIONS There are two possible destinations when we die: heaven or hell. Can we really know in advance where we'll go? John, one of the writers of the Bible, said this: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). We can know for sure that we'll go to heaven when we die. Do you? To sin means to fall short of God's holy standards. Sin is what ended paradise in the Garden of Eden. And all of us, like Adam and Eve, are sinners. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sin separates us from a relationship with God (Isaiah 59:2) and it deceives us and makes us think that wrong is right and right is wrong (Proverbs 14:12). Sin has terrible consequences, but God has provided a solution: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, loved us so much that he left the riches of heaven to become a man and deliver us from our sin. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). He came to identify with us in our humanity and our weakness, but he did so without being tainted by our sin, self-deception, and moral failings (Hebrews 4:15-16). Jesus died on the cross as the only one worthy to pay the penalty for our sins demanded by the holiness of God: "For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). But in victory over death, God raised Jesus from the grave, defeating the consequences of sin (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 54-57). When Christ died on the cross for us, he said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). In those times "It is finished" was commonly written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant "Paid in full." Christ died so that the certificate of debt consisting of all our sins could once and for all be marked "Paid in full." THE CRITICAL DECISION Only when our sins are dealt with in Christ can we enter heaven. We cannot pay our own way. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Because of Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf, God freely offers us forgiveness. To be forgiven, we must recognize and repent of our sins. Forgiveness is not automatic. It's conditioned upon confession: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Christ offers to everyone the gifts of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. "Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price" (Revelation 22:17). There's no righteous deed we can do that will earn us a place in heaven (Titus 3:5). We come to Christ empty-handed. We can take no credit for salvation. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). This gift cannot be worked for, earned, or achieved. It's dependent solely on Christ's generous sacrifice on our behalf. Now is the time to make things right with God. Confess your sinfulness and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on your behalf. You are made for a person and a place. Jesus is the person, and heaven is the place. They are a package-- they come together. You cannot get heaven without Jesus or Jesus without heaven. "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near" (Isaiah 55:6). For all eternity you'll be glad you did. If you understand what God has done to make forgiveness and eternal life possible for you, you may want to express it in words like these: "Dear Lord, I confess that I do not measure up to your perfect standard. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins. I now place my trust in him as my Savior. Thank you for your forgiveness and the gift of eternal life."

Los Angeles is a global crossroads of migrating communities that presents a case study of migration, transnationalism, and interfaith engagement with significant implications for thinking and practice in other global hubs. This book weaves together contributions from a group of internationally-recognized scholars who were brought together for the 2020 Missiology Lectures at Fuller Theological Seminary, which received funding from the Luce Foundation. They examine historical waves of migration - European Protestant, Asian, Latino/a, and Muslim - into Southern California and use sociological, missiological, and theological methods to understand the experience of migration and its effects, both on those who move and those who are already there. The result shows how migrants are inspired and sustained by faith and spiritual resources; how migration challenges faith communities about their identity and attitudes to others; how faith communities in turn impact the migration landscape through immigrant integration and public advocacy, and how migration forges new transnational and global ways of being in community and innovative religious movements. The contributors put forward a mission theology of migration and suggest mission practices in response to the suffering caused by forced migration and the injustices of immigration systems.

Delivers holistic strategies for sharing the gospel with loved ones.

Sharing the gospel with a family member can be an exciting experience--and often a long, painful, and confrontational one. Randy Newman recognizes it can be more difficult and frustrating to witness to a family member than to nearly anyone else. In Bringing the Gospel Home, he delivers practical, holistic strategies to help average Christians engage family members and others on topics of faith.

A messianic Jew who has led several family members to Christ, Newman urges Christians to look to the Bible before they evangelize. He writes, "a richer understanding of biblical truth, I have found, can provide a firmer foundation for bold witness and clear communication." After a brief introduction on the nature of family, he delves into discussions of grace, truth, love, humility, and time. He also addresses issues related to eternity and end-of-life conversations. Bringing the Gospel Home will help any Christian as he seeks to guide loved ones into God's family.

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.