April 16, 2024

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Missiological Issues

The Kingdom of God paradigm and Insider Movements
Missiology, Theology, Contextualization, Insider Movements, Bible, Missiological Issues

The Kingdom of God paradigm and Insider Movements

In our ongoing discussion of Insider Movements, we turn now to the question of what implications an understanding of the Kingdom of God might have for insider movements. In chapter 20 of Understanding Insider Movements, Anthony Taylor prefers the “Kingdom of God” paradigm over the “conflict of religions” paradigm. He writes: An alternative to the ‘conflict of religions’ paradigm is the paradigm of the kingdom of God. This paradigm assumes that what is most important is the quality of one’s relationship to Christ and to a community of believers, and that such communities can have different practices and emphases, whether novel or traditional, foreign or indigenous, as long as they are compatible with the Bible.  (UIM, kindle loc. 4293)… Read the whole post
Gary Ridley1 min read
Learning from Mission History
Missiological Issues, Theology, Revelation, Bible

Learning from Mission History

As I look at the missiological landscape more than halfway through the second decade of the 21st century, I join others in noting similarities with the early 20th century. Christopher R. Little writes: Indeed, the problems the missionary movement generated at the early part of the twentieth century have returned with a vengeance at the beginning of the twenty-first century. … It is a hard fact to face, but the church has failed to learn from history and is therefore repeating it. – Polemic Missiology for the 21st Century: In Memoriam of Roland Allen, Kindle loc. 137… Read the whole post
Gary Ridley1 min read
What is the Biblical Support for Insider Movements?
Missiology, Contextualization, Insider Movements, Bible, Missiological Issues

What is the Biblical Support for Insider Movements?

Part 3 of Understanding Insider Movements begins: Are insider movements biblical? Or are they merely a missiological strategy with scant theological legitimacy, as some critics assert? (Kindle loc. 4234) This part of UIM contains a dozen biblical and theological studies that advocates of insider movements believe form the biblical foundation for insider movements.… Read the whole post
Gary Ridley1 min read
Insider Movements: Other Religions
Missiology, Contextualization, Insider Movements, Revelation, Missiological Issues

Insider Movements: Other Religions

The term ‘religion’ is a hot topic of debate in the literature on Insider Movements. Some even question whether it is a meaningful concept. In this post we will explore three questions: “What is religion?”, “What is the source of non-Christian religions?” and “Is God at work in non-Christian religions?” What is “religion”? In Understanding Insider Movements, one writer states, “One of the most instructive definitions of religion is provided by Clifford Geertz. He defines it as a ‘cultural system’ or ‘worldview'” (UIM, Kindle loc.  8297)… Read the whole post
Gary Ridley1 min read
Missiology, Training, Book Reviews, Missiological Issues

Review: Early Christian Mission by Eckhard J. Schnabel

Early Christian Mission, published in 2004 by Eckhard J. Schnabel is a massive resource. The two volumes contain 1928 pages, 1588 of which are text. The size of the work will intimidate many but the thoroughness of Schnabel’s scholarship is rewarding. Theologian and New Testament scholar Peter T. O’Brien gives this endorsement of this work: The publication in English of Eckhard Schnabel’s magisterial work on early Christian mission is a major event for which both author and publisher are to be congratulated most warmly. This amazing achievement, which carefully sets the Christian mission within its wide-ranging historical and geographical contexts, and considers the mission theology of the biblical material, fills a gap left for more than 100 years since the appearance of Adolf von Harnack’s work on the spread of Christianity. … Dr. Schnabel’s comprehensive volume is a profoundly reliable guide and provides countless insights that will inform and inspire… Read the whole post
Gary Ridley1 min read
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