EditorialClarity
Clarity is a beautiful thing. Humans love order, some more than others. We like to identify one thing as something specific and another thing as something else. Black and white is simple, clean,...
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People Group Theory
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matt 24:14). "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:19-20). "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands" (Rev 7:9). The commands to take the gospel to all the nations - and the ultimate result among all peoples - are familiar. But what exactly do we mean by "the nations"? Scripture couldn't have had in mind today's nation-states, which didn't exist in New Testament times. But neither did our modern concept of ethnolinguistic groups. So what does it really mean to take the gospel to all peoples?
This Month's Articles
Editorial
FeatureThe Center of Global Missions Need
The Shifting Center of Global Christianity
A 2004 paper by Todd Johnson and Sun Young Chung details an approach to understanding the changing nature of the global church. They write,
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The Graying (and Browning) of Frontier Missiology
As I write this, I’m sitting on a plane, reflecting on a conference I just attended, which was geared towards engaging unreached and unengaged Muslim people groups. Not my first conference on this...
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People Groups and the Bible
The following article is a condensed and revised version of an original article published in Missiology: An International Review 49:3, (2021), entitled “The Universal Particularism of Panta ta...
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Response to Urbanization and Measuring the Remaining Task
Last published in Mission Frontiers, Sept/Oct 2021
Justin Long, in his article, “Urbanization and Measuring the Remaining Task” (Mission Frontiers, Sept/Oct 2021) has put his finger on what I believe is the number one problem related to current...
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Should We Prioritize Work among UPGs?
For multiple decades, evangelical missiologists have emphasized the need to focus the church’s missionary efforts on unreached people groups (UPGs). Ever since Lausanne ’74 when Ralph Winter...
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The End Has Come: Why an Ethnolinguistic Reading of Matthew 24:14 is Extrabiblical
Matthew 24:14 states, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (NRSV). This verse is often read as a...
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Complex Homogeneity among Urbanized UPGs: A Challenge and an Opportunity
From a paper presented at the 2022 Ralph Winter Lectureship.
From birth, Kadijata breached cultural norms in her country. Her mother, a Fulbe Futa, a subset of the larger Fulani people cluster, married one of the “forest peoples” of Guinea, West Africa....
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Recognized, Relativized, Reconciled Nuancing the People Groups Conversation
Scripture speaks to three interrelated dynamics concerning people groups. People groups are (1) recognized in God’s global purpose, (2) relativized by sin and by the glory of Christ, and (3)...
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Crossing New Boundaries: Questions for Unreached People Groups Strategy
All Scripture references are from the NIV.
When I first heard someone explain UPG, I was awakened to the reality that billions of people for many generations had not only been excluded from gospel witness but billions more could continue to...
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24:14 UpdateMany Small Victories What’s Really Happening in Movements
24:14 Goal: Movement engagements in every unreached people and place by 2025 (16 months)
A long, dark line runs up the corner of my house; from a distance, it looks like a power cable going up the wall. But a closer look reveals that the black line is a thick trail of ants, carrying...
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Ancient Monastic Advice for Modern Cross- Cultural Workers
The monastic impulse first expressed itself within Christianity around the third century, as intrepid characters such as Paul of Thebes and Antony the Great shifted to the Egyptian desert in...
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Relationship Building Is Not the Goal
“This missionary is amazing!” My friend’s words piqued my interest. The woman he referred to had worked for several years in a devoutly Muslim community. I leaned in closer, wanting to hear...
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Further ReflectionsGreetings Short-Termers
Written to two college students going on a short-term mission from my local church.
I thought I’d take a moment to write out a few thoughts before you leave for Africa. I know you will have some orientation, so much of this will likely be covered before you land. I remember well...
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Unreached of the DayUnreached of the Day Prayer Guide
September-October 2024
Please open the PDF to view and read the two-month prayer guide.
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