Missions and World Christianity Commons^™

Rethinking Apologetics As An Entry Strategy For Missions In Europe, Katelyn Brown

Honors Theses

“Does apologetics play a role in modern-day missions at all?” When discussing this question with current missionaries, the answer became apparent: apologetics can be an effective tool to aid in missions, but it does not prove effective or even beneficial in every cultural context. This realization begs the following question: “In what kind of cultural context can apologetics help rather than hinder missions?” Through my research, I found that the post-modern, secular context of Europe provides a ripe harvest for apologetics in missions. Throughout my paper, I explore a broad biblical framework for apologetics in missions then expound specifically on …

Short-Term Missions: Helping Or Hurting?, Hannah Rossell

Honors Theses

Every year, thousands of short-term mission teams are sent out all over the world. It is estimated that more than four million Americans take an overseas short-term mission trip every year. Most of these participants are youth and young adults. The American church is estimated to spend as much, or more, on short-term mission trips as they do on sending and sustaining long-term missionaries. The question is, with all these participants and resources being sent out, are short-term mission trips helping or hurting the long-term goal of missions? Short-term missions can be helpful if they are plugging in and supporting …

The Artistic Mother Tongue, Hannah Perkins

Honors Theses

Art is the mother tongue of culture. William Cameron Townsend, pioneer missionary and founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, said “The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue.” But the mother tongue of any people of any culture is more than just the spoken and written word. It is found in every artistic and visual expression of that people. How is the Bible, the everlasting truth of God, to be expressed through artistic expression in the ‘mother tongue’ of a people?

Often, Christianity is painted as the Westerner’s religion. Christianity is very ingrained into specifically America’s cultural identity. In …

Hybridized Spirituality In Singaporean Christians, John Lim

Honors Theses

Background: The doctrine of the incarnation and the “scandal of particularity” are central to Christian theology – that the transcendent God became immanent within time and space. Likewise, the church, being the contemporary expression of God, incarnates within and reflects the culture around it. How this incarnation happens is not always clear or acknowledged.

Purpose: I conceptualize the process of incarnation as the hybridization of various streams of influence. I examined the lived experiences of hybridized spirituality among Singaporean Christians.

Method: I conducted semi-structured interviews with six Singaporean Christians from the same congregation in Singapore. I used thematic analysis, informed …

Who Will Do The Good Works?: The Troubling Case Of Secularization And The Failure Of The Welfare State In England And Perú, Gabrielle Anna Schust

Honors Theses

This study examines the contribution and impacts of the social service works done by nuns in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, and in Perú within the last five years. Specifically, it investigates the relationship between nuns as providers of social services and other providers such as the government. Drawing on existing literature on theories of secularization, and a close examination of the historical evolution of the British and Peruvian welfare state apparatuses, this study contextualizes the social service work of nuns in contemporaneous social, economic, and political circumstances. It finds that the population of nuns is on a …

Experiencing West Africa: What A Semester On The Mission Field Taught Me, Logan Turner

Honors Theses

During the spring of my junior year of college, I had the opportunity to spend five months on the mission field in West Africa through the International Mission Board's Hands-On semester, a program where college-aged students spend approximately five months abroad working with career missionaries in their ministries. I had no idea what to expect going into the program, and I had very little understanding of what missionary life really looked like. I spent time researching the spirituality and history of the area I would be living and working in in the months before I left; I wanted to go …

Respect: A Bridge Between Inupiaq Tradition And Christianity, Ashley Sharpe

Honors Theses

For the indigenous peoples of Alaska, there is an ever-present tension between maintaining cultural identity and participating in the modern world. Like the indigenous peoples of most of the rest of the world, they have experienced colonization, subjugation, and appropriation by other cultures, starting with the arrival of Russians and improving but continuing with the transition from Russian control to American statehood. While the relationship between the United States and the indigenous peoples of Alaska has improved, the influence of other cultures on the First Nations peoples is undeniable, and they have been left to figure out how to identify …

Malumghat A Little Joy, Joy Kelly

Honors Theses

Upon my return from studying abroad, people asked, "How was Bangladesh?" as if they were asking about a relative I visited in Florida. "How was Uncle Fred?" Smiling, I replied "Good, I loved it." The conversation typically turned to other matters. Others asked, "What is the biggest thing you learned while you were gone?" While Judging how long the asker wished to listen, I narrowed my extensive response to one or two key points.

Living in the tiny, yet populous village of Malumghat, Bangladesh, as I participated in Hands-On during the spring of 2011, I learned a myriad of new …

Equipping Short-Term Missionaries For Effective Service And Smooth Re-Entry, Haley Michelle Barron

Honors Theses

A couple hundred years ago missionaries would go to the mission field without any cultural or language training. They often arrived in one country and spent their entire life figuring out the lifestyle, language, and culture. However, times certainly have changed. Long-term missionaries are never sent to the field without training. Short-term missionaries should also be trained, but this does not always happen. On a short-term mission trip, there is not enough time to dive into the culture or to face huge cultural barriers without training. Since short-term missionaries are abroad for a short amount of time, it is necessary …

Southern Baptist Convention Media Missions In Africa: Cross-Cultural Communications In A Pluralistic Environment, Ian Robert Cosh

Honors Theses

The purpose for research was to analyze and synthesize the accomplishments of the Southern Baptist Convention's media missions work in Africa and to document the essence, magnitude and complexity of the task facing media missionaries in Africa. Research conducted by the writer at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in June 1986 revealed that the formal study of media missions is comparatively new, and therefore not well documented. Much of the up-to-date information available is in the form of audio cassette tapes and video recordings. Research papers written by students at the seminary, within the past two years, frequently cite sources at …

The Journeyman Program, Sheryl Lathrop

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.