Mission and Development


Book Description

This book considers the implications, consequences, opportunities and constraints faced when mission and development endeavours coincide. This is explored from various perspectives, including that of history, theology and those involved in mission work and missionary organizations. Despite eighty per cent of the world's population professing religious belief, religion has been largely excluded from consideration of those seeking to achieve development in poorer countries. Moreover, the work of missionaries has often involved the provision of basic welfare services that in many parts of the world predate the interventions undertaken by 'professional' secular aid workers. Are missionaries doing development work or is development a critical aspect of mission?




Missionary Education


Book Description

Missionaries have been subject to academic and societal debate. Some scholars highlight their contribution to the spread of modernity and development among local societies, whereas others question their motives and emphasise their inseparable connection with colonialism. In this volume, fifteen authors – from both Europe and the Global South – address these often polemical positions by focusing on education, one of the most prominent fields in which missionaries have been active. They elaborate on Protestantism as well as Catholicism, work with cases from the 18th to the 21st century, and cover different colonial empires in Asia and Africa. The volume introduces new angles, such as gender, the agency of the local population, and the perspective of the child.




Partnership Development


Book Description

Has God Called You to Full-Time Missions, but You Lack the Finances to Move Forward? The mission field is understaffed. Unreached people groups, which make up 42% of the world population, have one foreign missionary for every 216,000 souls. Many who are called never reach the field because of financial lack or insufficient relational support. But it doesn't have to be like this; God has a better way. God has funded His workers for over 3,500 years through the partnership of His family. The Great Commission does not belong to the missionary alone; it belongs to the Body of Christ. In both the Old and New Testament is a substantial culture of partnership--the family of God rallying around the workers and making them available to do the work of God. Rob Parker presents a modern application of the ancient model. In this training manual you will discover God's pattern for funding His mission and His workers. You will be given clarity, the confidence of Scripture, a real action plan, and practical steps toward being fully funded. You will receive help identifying your ministry assignment, sharing your vision, and inviting the Body of Christ to be part of it. God sends missionaries into the harvest with the prayer, camaraderie, and financial support of a team. You can raise a partnership team and move forward with strength and confidence to complete the assignment that God has given you. God has a support team for every called missionary!




Development in Mission


Book Description

Jesus's words, "Blessed are you who are poor," are the seeds of a new reality. So how can God's people participate in this transformation of how to live and serve? Development in Mission offers a way forward and encourages readers to embrace a holistic approach to poverty alleviation. Gathering their diverse perspectives on international development, the authors construct a solid theological foundation for global mission. They distill principles for effective Christian engagement in several key sectors, including education, income and poverty reduction, water and sanitation systems, creation care, healthcare delivery, disaster relief, peacemaking, sports ministries, and others. Congregations, missionaries, nonprofit leaders, and Christians in the Global North will find fresh perspectives for engaging global vulnerability, poverty, and injustice faithfully and effectively. Along the way, readers will find that they are being transformed themselves as they join God's mission in the world.




The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches


Book Description

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.




A History of Christian Missions


Book Description

A History of Christian Missions traces the expansion of Christianity from its origins in the Middle East to Rome, the rest of Europe and the colonial world, and assesses its position as a major religious force worldwide. Many of the world’s religions have not actively sought converts, largely because they have been too regional in character. Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, however, are the three chief exceptions to this, and Christianity in particular has found a home in almost every country in the world. Professor Stephen Neill’s comprehensive and authoritative survey examines centuries of missionary activity, beginning with Christ and working through the Crusades and the colonization of Asia and Africa up to the present day, concluding with a shrewd look ahead to what the future may hold for the Christian Church.




The Role of Missionaries in the Development of African Languages


Book Description

"Most of the contributors suggest that, much as the work of these missionary groups laid the foundations for the literary rendering of African languages, the wider object of African education was not their principal aim. The central purpose of missionary endeavours was to use African languages to win African souls for Christianity. Missionary approaches to the writing of African languages have also, because of rivalries and the unsystematic selection of these languages and dialectal variants for literary expression, after decades of often hard work, created classificatory confusion, multiplication of ethnicities and effectively an African Tower of Babel"--P. [4] of cover.




Secular Missionaries


Book Description




Catholic Missionaries and Their Work with the Poor


Book Description

This book explores the vital role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in compensating for the market’s and government’s inability to provide vital services. Its key theoretical contribution is the notion that poverty is the result of a triadic failure—when markets, government, and civil society become dysfunctional at the same time. Using data on Catholic missionaries’ development work, this study presents the various ways by which FBOs mitigate market and government failures in healthcare, education, and social services, and in the process build and strengthen civil society. This study has two main objectives. First, it aims to present an overview of missionaries’ development work, evaluating the socioeconomic significance of their faith-based development work. In addition, various comparative advantages and disadvantages have been imputed to FBOs in the religion-development literature, and we assess to what extent missionaries actually exhibit these posited qualities in practice. Second, the groundwork is laid for future religion-development scholars by presenting a theoretical framework and a method for evaluating the role and contributions of FBOs in the larger community. This is an important investigation of contemporary worldwide Christianity and its relationship with development. As such, it will interest scholars of religious studies and missiology, as well as development economics, public service and the political economy.




Missions


Book Description