Mission Leader

Anthology Magazine of MissioNexus recently published an article I wrote on the issue of Strategic Risk and the theological and practical questions churches, agencies and missionaries face regarding Risk and the advance of the gospel.

Excerpt

“Two pressing questions drive the discussion. The first is personal: would our sovereign God knowingly direct us to engage in dangerous gospel witness, even to the point of death? The second question is institutional: How should the church and mission-sending institutions respond when the ones we send insist on obeying God’s direction, even when it means entering or remaining in harm’s way. The answer to both questions will have a drastic impact on the way we do missions. As we will see, Scripture and history are not silent in regards to costly mission.”

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Five Unanswered Questions in 21^st Century Missions:

• How do we mobilize the whole Church with the whole gospel for the task remaining?
• What are the scalable models of agency-served, effective local Church-based sending?
• What are the solutions to the collaboration of marketplace and missionary?
• How do we align virtual and presence strategies?
• What is next after CPM?

Since 1983 I have been a participant in what might be classified as the modern missionary movement. As a participant I have started cross-cultural churches in various places in Africa, Asia, and the United States. As a student of missions and world religions and as an adjunct professor, my intrigue has only increased over historical mission strategy and unresolved strategic issues. Patterns of questions and problems arise in my own mind as I long for the completion of the task of global evangelism.

Numerous questions and mission issues plague us. However, five questions come to mind that continually bump into missionaries, strategists and scholars. At least, these are five questions, the solutions to which irritate and antagonize my pragmatism.

The first question is a matter of mobilization. Specifically, why are so few responding in obedience to the missionary mandate? What will it take to unclog the quagmire of churches that remain stagnant and unmoved by the Great Commission? What will unleash the next massive wave of missionaries unto the nations?

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