Missions and World Christianity Commons^™

Short-Term Missions And Their Ethical Shortcomings, Breanna Watson

Scholars Day Conference

I wrote on "Short-Term Missions..." for my Christian Ethics class last semester. Short-Term Missions (STMs), while aiming to fulfill the Great Commission, often prioritize quick results over genuine relationship-building, diverting significant financial resources from sustainable solutions. They perpetuate power imbalances and fail to foster mutual understanding between "goers" and "receivers." STMs lack the long-term, selfless, culturally adaptive nature of true mission work, exemplified by early missionaries like Paul the Apostle. To mitigate their damaging effects, prospective participants should engage in informed cultural study, prioritize relational connections over task completion, and reconsider the economic impact of their involvement, seeking more ethical …

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 …

Village Saints And A Little Black Magic: The Benefits Of A Mission Trip Opportunity For Natural Science Students In A Culturally Diverse Southern Mexico, Brooke Sanderford-Bester

Scholars Day Conference

My thesis project shares my personal experiences of a Summer 2019 medical mission trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. An Honors travel grant allowed me to walk the dirt roads and streets to learn the fascinating history of these people, to visit their shrines and churches to better understand their religious beliefs, and to travel mountainous, hand paved roads to a remote village that welcomed me with coffee sweetened with cane sugar and fresh bread baked in outdoor ovens. The groundwork has been laid for future Natural Sciences students to serve through an annual medical mission trip to Oaxaca.

Jesus, Jesuits, And A Little Black Magic, Brooke Sanderford

Honors Colloquium

With the generosity of a Carl Goodson Travel Grant, Brooke Sanderford was given the opportunity to experience Oaxacan, Mexico, first hand. She developed a deeper understanding of the Oaxacan culture and their tribal heritage, as well as make connections with missionaries in the area with the hopes of establishing a future missionary trip.

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 …

Ouachita To Host Called 2 Ministry Retreat For High School Students On July 28-29, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Have you sensed a call to Christian ministry? Are you interested in learning more about diverse ministry opportunities?

Ouachita Baptist University is hosting a Called 2 Ministry Retreat on Friday and Saturday, July 28-29 on Ouachita’s Arkadelphia campus. The unique two-day retreat is designed for high school students who sense God has called them into some area of vocational ministry or are interested in exploring the various areas of ministry available in today’s world.

The two-day retreat is co-sponsored by Ouachita, The Prestonwood Network, Cross Church School of Ministry and the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. Keynote speakers include Jarrett Stephens, …

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 …

Honored In The Breach: Baptists And Separation Of Church And State In 19th Century Arkansas, S. Ray Granade

Articles

No abstract provided.

“Tramp” Bibliography, S. Ray Granade

Articles

No abstract provided.

Among The Last: An Arkansas Missionary Confronts A Changing China, S. Ray Granade

Articles

No abstract provided.

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.

An Introduction To And Critical Reproduction Of The Z.C. Taylor Manuscript: The Rise And Progress Of Baptist Missions In Brazil, Glendon Donald Grober

OBU Graduate Theses

Z. C. Taylor and W. B. Bagby were sent as Baptist missionaries to Salvador, Baia, Brazil in 1882. The two men began the Baptist work together. The name of W. B. Bagby is well known, but that of Taylor was largely ignored. The histories of Baptist work in Brazil, both in English and Portuguese, made little mention of Z. C. Taylor.

The purpose of this study is two fold. First, it seeks to emphasize and illustrate the vital role of Z. C. Taylor in the earliest Baptist initiatives in Brazil. Second, it makes readily accessible his personal account of many …

A History Of The Foreign Mission Program Of The North American Baptist Association From 1950 To 1963, James Alvin Henry

OBU Graduate Theses

This thesis is a historical report of the facts which led to the organization of the North American Baptist Association, from the meeting of the American Baptist Association in Lakeland, Florida, in 1950, through the year 1963. It also is a review of the foundational principles up which the Association was founded and stood, noting particularly the position held on Church equality and Church cooperation in promoting a world-wide mission program.

Special attention is given to the active development of the missionary efforts of this Association in the area of selecting, supporting, and governing those individuals serving the Association as …

Baptist Mission Efforts In The South Before 1845, Frank Shell

OBU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine records, reports, and historical accounts of the work which the Baptists in the South contributed to our mission heritage prior to 1845. The data for this study has been gathered from publications from the religious press in the South Atlantic states from 1802 to 1845.

Since the Baptists first came to America they have enjoyed phenomenal growth, and the growth has been steady and sustained. The mission work of Baptists of the South grew out of the lives of people who dared to disagree with the dogmas of the Established Church and …