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Evangelical Faith And Culture In The Lives Of Vietnam’S Upland Hmong - 1987-2017, Jim Lewis

Biblical and Theological Studies Faculty Works

This paper centers on the contemporary conversion movement to Christianity among the Hmong of the Northern Mountainous Region (NMR). Taking place within the brief scope of only 30 years, religious change among the 1.2 million highland Hmong in Vietnam’s fourteen provinces has resulted in some 330,000 declaring they have exchanged many traditional beliefs for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They have embraced substantially the same faith as the Tin Lanh Church, which first came to Vietnam in 1911, one of Vietnam’s six officially approved religions. It is reasonable to claim that a mass movement of this magnitude among a …

Urban Mission

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Converting The Saints: A Study Of Religious Rivalry In America By Charles Randall Paul, Ronald E. Bartholomew

BYU Studies

Charles Randall Paul, the founder and president of the Foundation of Religious Diplomacy, has established himself in the academy as an expert in religion and philosophy on engaging differences. Paul’s book Converting the Saints looks at religious conflict by analyzing encounters between early-twentieth-century Protestants and Latter-day Saints. During this time, Protestants served several missions to Utah in an attempt to convert Latter-day Saints back to mainstream Christianity. Paul looks at the conflicts that inevitably arose between the two religious traditions and through his analysis proposes a new theory of conflict engagement that turns destructive conflict into constructive, peaceful engagement. In …

Youth Evangelism In A Digital Culture, Milton Marquez

180 Symposium Publications

No abstract provided.

Being Missional, Becoming Missional : A Biblical-Theological Study Of The Missional Conversion Of The Church, Banseok Cho

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Why Oral Roberts Studies?, Wonsuk Ma

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Wonsuk Ma, Dean of the College of Theology and Ministry at Oral Roberts University, provides an extended editorial essay for this special issue of Spiritus to mark the Centennial of the birth of Oral Roberts.

Spiritus 3.2 Full Issue, Holy Spirit Research Center

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Spiritus 3.2 (Fall 2018) is a special issue dedicated to Oral Roberts studies. For this issue, Wonsuk Ma, now Dean of the College of Theology and Ministry at Oral Roberts University, has collected a dozen studies covering several areas of Roberts’ life, thought, ministry, and legacy. All of the contributors have a connection to Oral Roberts University, whether as students, faculty, and/or administrators. So it is, in effect, an in-house offering to the university community and the Spirit-empowered community at large, a remembrance of a figure who, now gone, may get overlooked in today’s fast-paced world of Christian theology and …

A Case Study Of Growth And Decline: The Churches Of Christ, 2006-2016, Stanley E. Granberg

Great Commission Research Journal

The group known as the Churches of Christ is one of America’s largest religious bodies with over 1.5 million adherents and congregations in all fifty states. Like many U.S. Christian bodies, the Churches of Christ have entered a time of decline. This article is a case study of the Churches of Christ and describes the group’s growth and decline, with a specific focus on the years 2006 to 2016. The movement’s current state of health is assessed, and the impact of new church planting as the engine for movement growth is described. The article ends by addressing three hard challenges …

The Life Of Donald Mcgavran: Turning To North America, Gary L. Mcintosh

Great Commission Research Journal

The event that put Church Growth on the worldwide map was the Lausanne Congress on Evangelism held on July 14-28, 1974. Then, as the Church Growth Movement took hold around the world, the focus of some faculty at Fuller’s School of World Mission gradually turned toward North America. This article describes the actions and processes that propelled the movement into world prominence.

Case Studies In Mission

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of Pauline Missiology, Assemblies Of God Missiology, And Conclusions For Today, Colbry H. Martin

Selected Honors Theses

The following work researches the Missiology of the Apostle Paul, displayed in his mission’s practices in the book of Acts. This work also researches the mission practices of the Assemblies of God in order to discover their unique missiology. The key principles from these two parties are then compared in order to discover the similarities and differences. Since the argument is made that the recordings in the book of Acts of the working of the Apostle Paul are inspired by the Holy Spirit, the similarities between Paul’s practices and Assemblies of God practices are seen as strengths which need to …

Mission Research

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Bruce L. Bauer

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"This issue of the Journal of Adventist Mission Studies focuses on case studies of various attempts to communicate God’s message in understandable ways in a variety of cultural settings. One of the challenges facing the Seventh-day Adventist Church is that since it was founded and grew out of a North American environment most church practices, ceremonies, art, architecture, methods for presenting the gospel, appropriate dress, and many other areas of Adventist life are dominated by the American way of doing things."

Thai Contextualized Art, Gregory P. Whitsett, Amy Whitsett

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"In the 1980s, a set of four murals depicting four specific and unique Adventist teachings and beliefs was commissioned by Pastor Clifton Maberly who was serving as a missionary in Thailand. His goal was to have these events depicted in a medium familiar to local Thai buddhists so they could wrestle with the new concepts without being distracted by Western art styles. His hope was that if Jesus, Satan and the angels could be depicted using characters similar to those already familiar to the Thai, the viewer would be better able to focus on and understand the truth portrayed in …

Jewelry In Hinduism: A Mission Challenge, J. L. Samir

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"The issue of adornment and jewelry is a point of contention between Western and Eastern Christians. When Hindus accept Jesus Christ, they are expected to dispose of all adornment and jewelry before becoming members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. To Hindus, this is one of the confirmations that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is an agent of Western culture trying to replace their Eastern values and way of life. The Adventist position on adornment and jewelry is a challenge to many Hindus because of the different cultural ideals and meanings behind adornment within the South Asian context."

Critical Contextualization: A Case Study Of Lobi Funeral Rites In Burkina Faso, Boubakar Sanou

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"It is very difficult to be relevant in our Christian witness if we do not know and address the issues with which the people we are trying to reach are wrestling. For the gospel to meaningfully engage recipients with the purpose of transforming their worldviews, Christian witnesses must always encode the biblical message in such a way that its content remains faithful to biblical principles but also makes sense to its receptors in terms of its relevance. Such new experiences often challenge them in their social location. The rationale for this is that because the gospel is always received from …

Can I Get An “Amen”? Affirming The Contemporary Ghanaian Usage Of Amen, Agana-Nsiire Agana

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Altogether then, the claim that amen as used in the instances we have discussed is inappropriate is found to lack firm biblical or etymological foundation. Neither does the suggestion that if it is a vestige of African worship culture then that provides a reasonable ground for thus condemning it. While it is recognized that amen is often babbled from mental laxity, it is suggested that the problem lies not in amen, as a word, but in the person, as a worshipper. Amen is a rich word, capable of communicating a spectrum of positive human intellectual and emotional responses to worship; …

African Christian Leadership: Realities, Opportunities, And Impact, David K. Penno

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"African Christian Leadership is a well-organized, well-written report on some very significant research about leaders and the practice of leadership in the African church. The methodology allowed the researcher to hear from a broad spectrum of African Christians. One criticism of the study could be that a sample of church leaders and members in majority Muslim countries of North Africa were not included in the study, but this might be understandable due to the already vast scope of the project. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in leadership in the Christian context, and especially as practiced …

Case Study: How The Apostle John Contextualized, Jon Paulien

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Three aspects of the Prologue and its background in the Gospel of John make it clear that in the Bible God meets people where they are. He inspires ordinary human beings to write in the language, culture, and concepts that would be familiar to their original readers. First, John made use, for example, of an early Christian hymn to express his exalted insights into the nature and character of Jesus Christ. Second, he also structured the Prologue in ways that would make logical sense to a Jewish reader. Third, he gave Jesus a title (the Word) that was far better …

Bulugo Vine Story: Redemptive Analogy Case Study, John Holbrook

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Shaw indicates that rather than contextualizing the missionary’s perception of Christianity to make it understandable within the local people’s culture, the missionary should facilitate the people themselves discovering God from within their own cultural context ... In my own mission experience, I have found this approach to be valid and preferable, once there are local believers, and as God begins to develop leaders from among them. At times, cultural dynamics or God’s preparation of an unreached people group allow them to discover God without a great deal of intervention on the missionary’s part. However, in the beginning stages, it is …

Sinolization Of Christianity: Increasing Gospel Relevance Or Distorting The Gospel Message?, L. Asher

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"This study aims to address the concept of the Sinolization of Christianity in light of cultural studies, biblical principles, and the Great Controversy perspective. It will then set forth some ideas on how it could affect the communication of the gospel in the Chinese context. It will attempt to see if Sinolization makes the gospel more relevant or further distorts the Christian message through the lens of the Chinese culture. The answers to these questions should help Chinese Christians, and especially Adventists, better understand their mission in China."

The Reality And The Apparent: Worldviews And Missiological Strategies, Cristian Dumitrescu, Hatsarmaveth Venkaya

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Worldview is an abstract concept used for identifying a set of assumptions people use to organize their view of reality. Conceptualizing worldview is a challenging task. Nobody has seen a worldview, but everybody has one. A worldview informs a person’s interpretation of reality, their cosmology, and determines their actions and reactions. Charles Kraft (1988) considers worldview as the “center control box” of a person’s life and communal culture. Most assumptions reflect one’s unverified beliefs and answers to fundamental questions, such as who they are and who others are, how people should relate to each other, what causes things to happen, …

Reaching Thai Buddhists And Those With A Background In Thai Buddhist Beliefs, Warren A. Shipton, Jared Wright, Tonya Wright, Nilubon Srisai

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"One of the greatest challenges for those working across cultures is to understand the unique features of the host culture and the dominant religious beliefs and practices found in the society represented. If this is to be done acceptably, the written and spoken language must be mastered and personal friendships formed with community members. Much damage has been done by Western missionaries arriving with preconceived ideas on evangelism taken from their home country and with an attitude of being holders of superior knowledge in many areas of thought beyond that held by the host culture. Catholic missionary activity has been …

Hmong Statement Of Belief: A Case Study, Jon L. Dybdahl

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"This case study exploring the Hmong statement of belief is more than just a story. Embedded and implied in it are certain key missiological principles which should be considered any time a particular belief statement is framed. Specifically, it assumes that the gospel must be presented in ways that are culturally relevant. Responsible communicators must adapt their message so that it can communicate the gospel to their intended audience with clarity and power. A missionary must prayerfully consider both how the truths of Scripture can be best articulated in a new cultural context, as well as just what truths ought …

Contextualization Of An Indian Christian Marriage: A Case Study, Chanchal Gayen

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"In this case study the Pheras ceremony was reinterpreted, but many of the cultural elements were retained. Biblical meanings were substituted for the cultural meanings that went against the teachings of Scripture. When doing this type of contextualization it is important to constantly pour Christian meanings into the cultural practice. Good biblical teaching is the antidote to syncretism, a danger that is always present while doing contextualization. The local people appreciated the fact that the wedding ceremony incorporated local cultural elements that were important to them. This approach also communicated the idea that Christianity is not a Western religion, but …

Christian Versus Heathen Ways Of Praying: A Look From The Age Of Postmodernity, Yuri N. Drumi

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"In many respects, postmodernity resembles paganism, but certainly it does not totally overlap with it. People around us are searching, but they do not search for answers and explanations as much as they are searching for people who are living answers. If prayer is a metanarrative, then my life must be a metanarrative too. In this context, I find helpful the analogy drawn by Crossan between Paul’s metaphor of spiritual maturation and that of an individual Christian growing in prayer. Paul says, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as …

Critical Contextualization: Case Studies From Cambodia, Bruce L. Bauer

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Those of us involved in world mission must be at the forefront to encourage local people to develop local expressions of their faith. When I hear people rejoice about the fact that regardless of where they travel in the world the Sabbath school and church service order of worship, the songs sung, and the way of doing church is the same, I do not rejoice, I groan. For that means that the foreign visitor is comfortable, but how about the local people? Are they comfortable with the often foreignness of Adventist worship? We can and must do better to allow …

Japanese Baptismal Vows, Bruce L. Bauer

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Initiation ceremonies are important in most cultures; however, they need to be carried out in culturally sensitive ways. The changes suggested above did not change in any way the purpose or content of the baptismal day. The only thing that was changed was a strong emphasis on groupness. The missiological implication from this case study is that one size does not fit all situations. There is more than one way to do most church ceremonies, so church leaders need to be encouraged to rethink what they do and do everything in culturally sensitive ways."

Postwar Churches Of Christ Mission Work: The Philippines As A Case Study, Brady Kal Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There was a large increase in the number of Churches of Christ missionaries and missionary efforts following World War II (WWII). There were also significant changes and developments in American religious culture following WWII—Churches of Christ were not exempt from these changes. This study examines the question of how postwar developments in American religion influenced missionary efforts of American Churches of Christ by looking at examples of American missionaries in the Philippines.

The study relies heavily on primary sources, including letters and news reports from archival collections, Churches of Christ periodicals, and email correspondence with people familiar with the main …

Towards A New, Praxis-Oriented Missiology: Rediscovering Paulo Freire's Concept Of Conscientização And Enhancing Christian Mission As Prophetic Dialogue, Rosalia Meza Moreno

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

The new and different frontiers and factors discussed in missiology are reshaping the meaning of mission. Christian mission today is searching for new directions to approach the postmodern, postcolonial, and ecumenical paradigms. I would like to argue that mission is not just a transmission of knowledge that keeps an established structure and culture alive (often justified and glorified by a specific ecclesiological model). Rather, mission aims at the process of embodying the content and praxis of the gospel. Mission can be understood as an invitation to initiate a transformative process of faith, which leads to personal and social transformation.

This …