April 11, 2026

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Theology

Self-Theologizing and Church Maturity: Lessons from the Ukrainian Church
Theology, Training, Contextualization, Leadership Training, Mission Methodologies

Self-Theologizing and Church Maturity: Lessons from the Ukrainian Church

Self-Theologizing and Church Maturity A recent blog post highlighted three books written by Christian Ukrainian authors and scholars. In my view, this points to an often-overlooked fourth metric for church maturity. Most church planters are familiar with the traditional criteria for church maturity or an exit strategy. We often look for churches that demonstrate the three “selves”: self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating. These three “selves” do not always develop in a linear way. From my observation, Ukrainian churches have shown a strong vision and trajectory for self-propagation. Their progress toward self-sustainability (self-supporting), however, has been less consistent. At times, churches have looked too quickly to the West for financial support. This is simply my perspective. The Ukrainian Church as a Sending Church By 2022, the Ukrainian church was not only self-propagating. In practice, it had also become a sending church. Ukrainian missionaries were already serving among some unreached people groups. The… Read the whole post
Alfie Mosse6 mins read
Through a Biblical lens – the Biblical Counseling view 
Bible, Psychology

Through a Biblical lens – the Biblical Counseling view 

This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Christian Psychology In an attempt to better understand the various Christian approaches to psychology, I read, “Psychology and Christianity: Five Views.” In this blog series, I am attempting to summarize the various approaches in six blog posts. The primary purpose is not to gain a deep understanding of each approach. Instead I want to create a framework for interacting with each view. I want to guard against building or accepting straw man arguments when reviewing, discussing or even thinking about each position. In this post, I will look at the fifth approach, the “Biblical Counseling” view. Representative of the view In the book, “Psychology and Christianity”, David Powlison presents the “Biblical Counseling” view. Before his death, Powlison was an author, a counselor at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation, and taught at Westminster Theological Seminary. In addition to his counseling and teaching,… Read the whole post
Alfie Mosse10 mins read
The lordship of Christ, science, and revelation: the Integration view 
Revelation, Psychology

The lordship of Christ, science, and revelation: the Integration view 

This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series Christian Psychology In an attempt to better understand the various Christian approaches to psychology, I read, “Psychology and Christianity: Five Views.” In this blog series, I am attempting to summarize the various approaches in six blog posts. The primary purpose is not to gain a deep understanding of each approach, but to gain a framework for interacting with each view. I want to guard against building or accepting straw man arguments when reviewing, discussing or even thinking about each position. In this post, I will look at the second approach, the “Integration” view.  Representative of the view Dr. Stanton L. Jones presents the Integration view. Jones is a psychologist and former provost of Wheaton College. Upon his retirement, Dr. Jones received the titles of Professor of Psychology and Core Studies Emeritus and Provost Emeritus.  Ultimate questions Jones starts his presentation by… Read the whole post
Alfie Mosse10 mins read
Abiding in Christ – Laying the Right Foundation
Holy Spirit, Prayer, Church Planting, Spiritual Formation

Abiding in Christ – Laying the Right Foundation

This entry is part 1 of 15 in the series Church planting Editor’s note: David and Kathy North planted multiple churches with TEAM for 33 years in various-sized cities in the Philippines. In their first few years in the Philippines, the Norths and I (Ken Guenther) served on the same church planting team in Baliwag, Bulacan. David is currently the Church Planting Coordinator for TEAM’s international network of church planters and disciple makers. The Norths are involved in Coaching, Training, Mentoring and encouraging front line workers. These blog posts were copied with permission from TEAM’s Church Planting Blog, Go and Plant. Longing for help For years as a young church planter, I longed for outside guidance and input about my efforts to plant churches. From time to time, an experienced church planter would speak even just a few words into my ministry and it would give me the new thoughts… Read the whole post
David North7 mins read
The Kingdom of God: the workers are few
Photo by Paz Arando on Unsplash
Christ, Evangelism, Church

The Kingdom of God: the workers are few

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Kingdom of God Over the 35 years that I have been working in cross-cultural missions, I have seen mission organizations highlight many different needs, opportunities, and strategies. Countries open and close. New methods gain prominence while others are abandoned. Younger generations are motivated by different themes. But one characteristic of mission work never changes. We need many, many more workers to address the opportunities before us. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few,” as Jesus said. According to Joshua Project, 7,423 people groups with a total of 3.37 billion people remain unreached.1“Unreached” is defined as less than 2% evangelical. Joshua Project: People Groups of the World | Joshua Project Missionaries and local Christian workers to these unreached people total about 32,200 people.2 from Missions Statistics — The Traveling Team. Therefore the ratio of UPG workers to the total… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Back To Top