Renewing a Focus on Unreached Peoples
Very few laborers are going to the unreached and unharvested parts of the world. This means we must rethink why, how, and where are we sending our people. If we seek to obey what Jesus has commanded us to do, then we need to radically shift our resources to the unreached. This may mean sending […]
How Beautiful Are the Feet?
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they will see it with their […]
Thinking Clearly About Evangelism
It’s no secret that many American churches are struggling, particularly with a decline in church attendance. Close to home (for me at least), Churches of Christ were bleeding members prior to COVID-19, and anecdotal evidence from the past few years doesn’t seem to paint much more of a positive picture. More widely, while data can […]
Called to Missions? Rethinking Our Language in Light of Scripture
When it comes to missions, the personal call is that which is as often cited by the missionary candidate during fund raising as is the need of the people to which they intend to go. Yet is this personal call needed to serve overseas? Is this personal call taught to us in Scripture as a […]
Koinónia as a Key to Understanding Our Global Mission
Over decades of study, I have pondered many of Jesus’ pithy sayings. One that has especially intrigued me is in John 5:17, where Jesus said, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”[1] What could Jesus possibly have meant by that? As best I can tell, this statement indicates a supernatural relationship […]
Lessons from the Church in China
Editor’s Note: For 28 years, Mike Stone made multiple annual excursions to the People’s Republic of China, where he was blessed to teach the Bible and make disciples throughout the country. In this conversation, Mike describes what he has seen God do in China and what he has learned along the way. Q. Can you […]
Preaching: Drawing Lines to the Text within the Sermon
Anytime the preacher says, “Look again at verse 5. The word there means…,” the audience moves their attention to Scripture. They learn that in Bible Study, as in any other endeavor, words matter. Let’s say the preacher says something like, “Remember, there were no chapter divisions when this was written. When Paul said, ‘If you […]
Why Are There Still So Many Unreached People?
Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven over 2,000 years ago. Before he left, he empowered his disciples and asked them to take the gospel to the ends of the earth and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8). Yet, from that time to the present, the ends of the earth […]
