EDITORIAL: Facets of Missions
Editorial Staff
Much has been written about missions on our pages. Every quarter the Asian Missions Advance brings to you several issues and topics in missions that challenge, clarify and some other times make us discover issues or bring new ideas for your ministries.
Our 63rd issue is not different! Once again, we offer to you articles that can stir your minds in order to see that doing missions is complicated and have many facets yet clear in one thing, i.e. to bring the love of Christ to the doorsteps of the locales…[read more]
A STUDY ON THE WORLDVIEW ALLEGIANCE AFTER CONVERSION OF OVERSEAS CHINESE IN MALAYSIA
Jaewoo Jeong
This study is an analysis of the worldview allegiance after the conversion of overseas Chinese in regard to ancestor worship. Ancestor worship has been a major obstacle to the evangelization of overseas Chinese in Malaysia.
Though the Western Church does not believe in ancestor worship; there has been?and continues to be?a discussion in the veneration of saints. The Protestant argument is that saints should not be involved or prayed to. However, they should be remembered for their exemplary lifestyle to serve as an inspiration for other believers. Thus, whatever is being said about ancestor worship would invite a discussion on SAINTS…[read more]
DIASPORA MISSIOLOGY AND LAUSANNE DIASPORA EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT WITH A CASE STUDY ON KOREAN DIASPORA MISSION IN EURASIA
J. Hun Kim
In recent years, there have been various discussions among field practitioners and missionary theologians to define the missional significance of the diaspora phenomenon worldwide. The most significant of these were the academic conference for celebrating the centennial of the Edinburgh Mission conference in 1910, the Diaspora Division of the Third Lausanne World Evangelization Conference in 2010, and more recently the IAMS assembly in Toronto in 2012. In the meantime, Korean diaspora around the world has also held forums with diverse issues. Korean Diaspora Forum (KDF) was one of the significant forums among them…[read more]
BOOK REVIEW: WHEN THE SPIRIT MEETS THE SPIRITS
Teresa Chai
Julie Ma was on the faculty at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (APTS) from September 1987-2006. She earned her PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary. Presently, she serves as a Research Tutor in Missiology for the Oxford Center for Mission Studies (OCMS). She is also a faculty at Oral Roberts University. She is married to Wonsuk Ma, who is the Dean and Distinguished Professor of Global Christianity in the College of Theology and Ministry at Oral Roberts University. While teaching at APTS she was also a missionary to the Kankana-ey tribe. This book discusses the fruits of her research among these communities; she basically discusses and describes their worldview of the spirit world. She has also published books among which are Mission Possible: Biblical Strategies for Reaching the Lost (2005), and edited with Wonsuk Ma, Asian Church and God’s Mission (2003). This book was originally published in 2000 by Peter Lang, and has also been translated into other languages, but now in its second revision is published by Wipf and Stock…[read more]
CREATING HARMONY AMID DISCORD
Hoyt Lovelace
As my team was traveling through South Asia to meet potential partners for church planting, I began to reflect on a serious problem I have observed through the years. An unnecessary barrier to expanding God’s Kingdom through networks of churches has been the lack of cooperation between theologically similar churches. The regular chorus that repeats itself from conversation to conversation tends toward the desire to stay independent from other national church planters and associations of pastors. This resistance to cooperative missions seems to have multiple foundations. Among the righteous sounding reasons are the desires for theological and ecclesiastical purity while the less honorable reasons revolve around a desire to strengthen an individual church or personal position…[read more]
INDIGENIZATION AS MEANS TO AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA
Nashon A. Azaki
Gospel contextualization has received prominent attention in missiology because of its importance in Gospel communication across cultures. Biblical and critical contextualization is achieved when there is proper expression of Scripture in a given culture. Thus, translating or transmitting Scripture into an African culture by way of adopting its good elements to give the text its true biblical meaning expressed in the given Africa culture makes contextualization a significant process. Citing the work of David Hesselgrave, Pocock, Van Rheenen, and McConnell suggested four steps to biblical and critical contextualization. These are: (i) Exegesis of the culture, (ii) Exegesis of the Scripture, (iii) Community’s decision, and (iv) The formation of contextualized practices…[read more]