Missionaries often say that they learned far more than they ever taught – but what are the implications of this?
Tag: Church: UK
I don’t think that Jesus needs Christmas. He is not diminished if people consider December 25 as a day to eat too much and to lie bloated in front of the TV rather than celebrating it as his birthday (which it almost certainly isn’t, anyway).
I answered this question in a blog post many moons ago, but the answer that I would give today is slightly different, so I thought it worth revisiting. Firstly, although the question is one that recurs fairly regularly, I’m not sure that it is entirely helpful. In this series, I’ve shown that mission is a […]
There is no hard and fast definition of what constitutes a missionary, but here are four qualities that are part of the whole.
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Questions 5: Church Mission Strategy
What should a church world mission strategy look like? Of course, this begs the question as to why a church should have a mission strategy in the first place, so let me deal with that before I get to the main question. The world is big; really big and there are lots of different things […]
So you want to be a missionary; what should you do? This question has one easy answer; talk to your church leaders and tell them about it. There are two basic reasons for this, the first is theological and the second is practical. Theologically, it is churches who send out missionaries, not mission agencies. The […]
The focus of Jesus’ teaching is on the church, but crucially, the church is on a mission. There is no dichotomy between church and mission because the church that Jesus points to is a missionary church. In other words, the great commission – the command to make disciples – is aimed at our church fellowships, where they are today, not just at missionaries around the globe. Our churches are to be communities where disciples (who make other disciples) are nurtured.
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Questions 2: Why Bother?
There are many variations on the same question, but essentially they boil down to one central idea; why should we bother with global mission, when the needs here in the UK are so great? Everyone who is involved in promoting world mission in Britain will have run up against this question in one form or another.
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A Church In God’s Image?
Imitating God in our church life certainly involves being good, generous and truthful, but it means more than this; much more.
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Questions
If someone from abroad asked you to suggest the best strategies for reaching the British population with the gospel, how would you answer them? Are you following your own advice?