Editorial: Missions and Relationship Building
East-West Center for MRD
In missions, relationship building should be our passion. Missionaries should make developing relationships a priority, because ministries are not only about church growth, constructing facilities (schools, seminaries, churches, etc.), creating field projects and programs and others, but also about the daily build-up of relationships with people.
Relationship building takes time and most of it happens when we visit homes, understand their culture, dine with the locales and join them in their village meetings. We usually become closer when we sit across each other, and enjoy God’s grace and fellowship…
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Strategic Missions Partnerships with Churches for Christward Movements
David S. Lim
Recent works have highlighted the fact that in spite the good and noble intentions, much of “foreign aid” including (and perhaps also mainly) those in missions have contributed to worse situations, particularly in the perpetuation of paternalism (for donors) and dependency (for beneficiaries) wherever such relationships occur (Schwartz 2007; Corbett & Fikkert 2009; cf. Everist 1989). In the public square, foreign aid has corrupted governments, and enriched and empowered dictators, too (Easterly 2006; Moyo 2009; Wrong 2009)!…[read more]
Christian Transformation of Ru (Confucian) Leadership: A Historical and Comparative Analysis
Diane B. Obenchainl
This paper asks the question: What does Jesus Christ give to Ru (Confucian) leaders that enables these leaders to re-envision, reform and revive their role as stewards of the Chinese people and to exercise their important responsibility of bringing the people’s concerns to the awareness of those working at the political center who establish and promulgate instruction/policy for every sphere of human life?…[read more]
Church-To-Church International Partnership: A Case Study of How A Haitian Church Impacted A U.S. Church’s Understanding of Missions
Reid Kisling
Church partnerships in missions are nothing new. For example, the U.S. churches and organizations have continued to work with the Haitian church (and other organizations) for many years, most recently following the devastating earthquake in 2010. Many churches actively support missions, particularly through short-term teams. After all, sending people on short-term trips to support churches in such areas is a good thing, right?…[read more]
The Need and Possibility of A Missional NGO
Yong J. Cho
“Are there needs and the possibility to have a strategic mission-minded NGO?” The Bible and the present reality demand the needs and possibility of a missional NGO. In this paper, we will look at the Bible’s concerns for the salvation of soul, and the transformation of the whole being and its necessity and possibility to have a missional NGO to bring synergy for missions…[read more]
BOOK REVIEW: Eastern Voices, Vol. I: Insights, Perspectives, Visions from Kingdom Leaders in Asia
David S. Lim
This is an important journal that must be read by all who are concerned for the evangelization of Asia, the largest continent (more than 60% of world population) yet still the least evangelized continent in the world. It contains 14 testimonials of Asian church leaders who have courageously envisioned and launched ministries that overcame traditional barriers to developing new models of ministry in their respective contexts…[read more]
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