September 01, 2019 by Rebecca W. Lewis, Guest Editor

Challenging the Death Industries: Duty or Distraction?

Mission Frontiers magazine exists for the purpose of advancing the kingdom on earth, specifically at the frontiers “where Christ has not been named.” Effective proclamation of the gospel is the guiding principle, so why focus MF issues on poverty, urbanization, or “death industries,” whose products directly cause the deaths of millions? Do these issues distract from MF’s purpose? Or are they crucial to address when considering unrecognized barriers preventing breakthroughs in the remaining least-reached Frontier People Groups? We seek to address these questions in this issue.

Tags: death industries

September 01, 2019 by Kevin Higgins

Toward the Edges

Life & Death Issues

One of our core values in FV is to live “at the edges”, meaning that, consistent with our heritage of seeking to understand and promote frontier missiology, we intentionally want to pursue the cutting edge between what is and what is not yet. There are many ways to look at those edges. Of course, our particular “edge” in FV and WCIU is the edge between where the Good News of life in Jesus is known and not yet known, experienced and not yet experienced, transforming lives and communities and not yet transforming lives and communities. That edge includes edges of thinking and imagination, edges of social and cultural distance and edges of spiritual opposition. Thus, I plan to try to highlight how this issue of Mission Frontiers is directing us all toward those edges.

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September 01, 2019 by Christine Lewis

Hunting the Lion

An Historical Case Study of Missionaries Fighting a Death Industry

“Take courage,” Livingstone said to them, “I will help you get rid of the beasts.” Dr. Livingstone was speaking to the men of the Bakhatla tribe in Africa about a pride of lions which were attacking their cattle in great numbers, with no fear of man, leading the tribe to starvation. The tribe thought the lions were bewitched so they were too afraid to hunt them. Dr. Livingstone hunted and attacked the pride of lions, miraculously surviving a deadly bite to his shoulder—causing him to be disabled in one arm for the rest of his life.

Tags: bakhatla, dr. livingstone

September 01, 2019 by Ralph D. Winter

The Puzzling Power of Group Self-Deception

What we could call “group self-deception,” is a type of culturally reinforced delusion. Missionaries are legitimately fearful of destructive cultural practices entering into the Christian movement, and of the puzzling power of group self-deception. However, we deceive ourselves if we think our own cultural tradition is devoid of group self-deception.

Tags: self-deception

September 01, 2019 by Kyle Johnson

Righting a Wrong-Side-Up World

A Kingdom Task

When Jesus’ disciples arrived in Thessalonica the people warned their rulers, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” (Acts 17:6) They were not wrong. Jesus’ people were turning the world on its head. Rather, the Thessalonicans were mistaken in failing to see that the world was already wrong side up. Today, we too struggle to see clearly. Our world is increasingly complex and our cultural baggage biases our perceptions. Wherever we go we hear competing messages of how the world ought to be righted. All around us, on the news, in schools and from politicians there is a conflict of visions. Cutting through the confusion lies with us, the light of the world. (Matt. 5:14)

Tags: wrong-side up

September 01, 2019 by Anonymous

What’s Killing Us?

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September 01, 2019 by Alyssa Johnson

The Abortion Industry and the Gospel of Life

Tags: abortion

September 01, 2019 by R.W. Lewis

Making a Killing

How Mild Local Drugs Became Global Epidemics

Click on PDF link to see print version with additional charts, graphs and graphics

Unfortunately, merchants of death have reached the remaining Frontier People Groups before any missionaries....

Tags: addiction, drugs

September 01, 2019 by R.W. Lewis

Famine, Poverty & Violence

Three More Ways Drugs Cause Death

Among the unreached peoples, especially the Frontier People Groups, the suffering that drugs cause to individual addicts is far outweighed by the misery caused to families and communities. Millions of deaths are directly caused by addictions, but there are also millions of collateral deaths. Should missionaries merely call for prayer for those struck down by famines, poverty and violence, or should we follow the example of previous generations who discerned root problems and globally exposed the evils and destruction caused by the death industries of their day?

Tags: addiction

September 01, 2019 by Kyle Johnson

Missionaries vs. The Opium Industry

“I am profoundly convinced that opium traffic is doing more evil in China in a week than missions are doing good in a year,” declared Rev. J. Hudson Taylor at the Centenary Global Missions Conference in 1888. Twenty-eight years prior, Taylor’s home country of Great Britain had just finished its second war to protect and enrich British opium traders in China.

Tags: opium

September 01, 2019 by R. W. Lewis

The Addiction Industries:  Reform Efforts and the Unique Role of Missionaries

Frontier People Groups live in the areas of the world heavily impacted by illegal drug industries. Drug use has become epidemic in South Asia, SE Asia and Central Asia including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Drug use in India is skyrocketing where 89% of drug addicts are educated and 99% are men, but children ages 9–10 are already using tobacco and alcohol, with twelve-year-olds starting on hashish and opium or heroin.

Tags: addiction

September 01, 2019 by Randae Davis

Hope in the World of Addiction & Sex Trafficking

There are more than 270 million addicts worldwide, and seven people die every minute from drug and alcohol addiction and abuse. That is more than 3.6 million per year. It is a daunting task to put hope within reach of every person struggling with a life controlling addiction in foreign countries. However, it is being attempted through collaboration of domestic and international missionaries through Teen Challenge (TC) ministries.

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September 01, 2019 by Kurt Dillinger

How To Save a Life (or Thousands of Lives)

In May 2009, more than 400 people gathered in Kitwe, Zambia, for a training conference hosted by LIFE International. As a result, 67 ministries were founded, each with the aim of upholding the value of human life, of all people—people like Joyce. My mother and father died of AIDS. I was alone. Relatives were picked to adopt me, but soon I was abused. My uncle forced me to have sex. When it was discovered that I was HIV-positive and pregnant, my aunt was so angry. She started punching me and said I was not worthy to live. ‘Just go throw yourself in the river. You are nothing. Just go kill yourself.’ I was chased out of their home like a dog. I was abandoned. I was powerless. I thought, ‘It is better to have this child die.’ It was better for me to die than to live.

Tags: life international

September 01, 2019 by Lois Cunningham

When Doing Good Is Controversial

When British missionary Amy Carmichael learned of the secret trafficking of little children in the temples of India, other missionaries opposed her involvement. Consequently, she worked tirelessly to rescue the children with minimal help. Similarly, pastors dismiss pro-life activists for being too concerned about abortion. Many are blinded to the dreadfulness of death by dismemberment, saying, “Aren’t the babies going to heaven anyway?”

Tags: abortion

September 01, 2019 by

Year of the Frontier

Join us in the YEAR of the FRONTIER: United, informed prayer for the 400 largest groups most isolated from God's blessing through Jesus.  Learn about these 400 largest Frontier People Groups at JoshuaProject.net/frontier/3. In collaboration with several global networks: Joshua Project, the Global Prayer Digest and ission Frontiers are inviting daily prayer for the 400 largest Frontier People Groups (FPGs).

Tags: fpg, frontier people groups, year of the frontier

September 01, 2019 by

Year of the Frontier Prayer Calendars September October 2019

Please see attached .pdf files for the calendars.

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September 01, 2019 by S. Kent Parks

24:14 Goal: Movement engagements in every unreached people and place by 2025 (76 months)

Missiological Myths vs. Biblical Patterns

Jesus tells us in Matthew 24 that before He returns, many calamities will come, including all kinds of natural and human disasters. Believers will be handed over to persecution, hated by all ethnē because of Jesus and even put to death. Many will turn away from faith in Jesus and betray and hate each other. Due to this increase in wickedness, the love of most believers will grow cold. Not a nice picture, huh?

Tags: 14 coalition, 24

September 01, 2019 by C. Anderson

Do Short-Term Teams and Disciple Making Movements (DMMs) Mix?

“I see waves of young people spreading the gospel across the whole world,” said Youth With a Mission’s visionary pioneer, Loren Cunningham. In 1960 when he said this, the concept of short-term missions was revolutionary. Many thought the idea at best, naïve, and at worst, destructive. In that era, missions were only done by longterm workers who dedicated their entire careers to serving as missionaries. What could young people do? “Much damage!” thought many experienced field practitioner.

Tags: dmm, youth with a mission, ywam

September 01, 2019 by Greg Parsons

The Bride

What would you think if you heard people making fun of a bride? Imagine they were detailing her failures…and this was happening years after she got married! Her husband dearly loves his bride. He can see her shortcomings too, better than anyone else, but he loves her so profoundly that he is willing to do anything for her—even give his life—like many husbands would (we would hope).

Tags: bride