Tag Archives: Missions

Why Our Rural African Church Remembers Reformation Day

Yesterday morning in the village where I live and minister, I preached to and prayed with a smaller group than usual, but there were still three African languages present. Most of the people live without running water and very few … Continue reading

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A Church’s Silent Messages Cannot be Ignored

My teammate and I pastor small churches in a pair of rural villages in South Africa. At a service where both churches were present, the same question came to my mind on two occasions as I sat, sang, watched, prayed, … Continue reading

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Reasons Missionaries Can’t Get Along

1. They cannot overlook personal faults and idiosyncracies such as differences in communication style, sense of humor, perspectives on leadership, or common courtesy. 2. They are philosophically different regarding issues such as the use of American funds, the nature of … Continue reading

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Evaluating the “Altar Call”

Somewhere around 400 times I have led altar calls in my early days of ministry. Somewhere around 2,500 times in my life I have stood as the pastor called people to make a public decision at the end of a … Continue reading

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Marks of an African Indigenous Church

Beginning somewhere around the early 1900’s Africans began forming their own congregations outside of the official denominations of the Europeans. Historians and missiologists now classify this group as the African Indigenous Church (AIC). These independent assemblies have become the most … Continue reading

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Between Two Cultures

By providing a platform for all people including those who have not proven their ability to string two logical thoughts together, blogs carry the potential to increase the cacophony of voices vying for our attention in the information age. But … Continue reading

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Salary Caps for Missionaries

In the village in which I live, a Tsonga earning $300 (R3,000) per month would be taking home an enviable paycheck. When I originally set out to raise the funds for my departure, passage, and family back in 2004 I … Continue reading

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What Do You Talk to a Missionary About?

Not long after arriving back in the US, the returning missionary is likely to hear that most unanswerable of questions, “How’s Africa?” Since that question is so common, and since it is so difficult for a number of reasons, here’s … Continue reading

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Who Needs the Gospel the Most?

Sometime ago, I made this chart in an attempt to rank the need among the least-reached people groups of the world. This chart was made to supplement the excellent work done by the Joshua Project which places a majority of … Continue reading

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Should a Pastor Cancel Church Services for a Funeral?

Funerals are common in Africa with an average life expectancy under 50 in most countries. In South Africa, funerals are often held on Saturday or Sunday, and rarely in the middle of the week. Furthermore, it is culturally expected for … Continue reading

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