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July 2026

July 07, 2026

How Technique Undermines Mission

Contemporary missiology is increasingly shaped by pragmatic strategies that emphasize measurable outcomes—numerical church growth, evangelistic...

April 2024

April 16, 2024

God both exceeds and undermines our expectations

Matthew 13 gives a multifaceted view of God's Kingdom, defying and redefining the expectations of...

September 2023

September 19, 2023

Implications of Dignity, Honor, and Face Cultures for Ministry

Here are four key implications from ministry of understanding the differences between dignity cultures, honor...

June 2023

June 20, 2023

Should multiplication be the goal of missions?

Should multiplication be a missionary’s goal? For many people, the question seems nonsensical. It's an...

June 13, 2023

Don’t Assume You Know the Early Church’s Missionary Motivations

What are our motivations for participating in God’s missionary calling upon the church to spread...

July 2022

July 19, 2022

Preaching Judgment Without Being a Jerk

I previously asked, “Do we always have to talk about hell when we evangelize?” We...

July 12, 2022

Must we always talk about hell in evangelism?

Must we always talk about hell when we evangelize? No. But before you cancel me...

March 2022

March 08, 2022

The Cost and Reward of People Movements

As a missions community, we’re ready to strike gold. But we’re poorly equipped for the...

February 2022

February 22, 2022

Bigger, Better, and Faster Are Not Essential for Church Planting

While I can't entirely explain the problem, the solution has to place less emphasis on...

February 15, 2022

Miracle Cures for Covid and Missions

I love this book! While some people will find it disturbing, Rhodes' ideas challenge many...

February 02, 2021

Honor Restored Training Videos

Looking for videos that could supplement your training for ministry in honor-shame contexts? Thanks to...

October 2020

October 28, 2020

Is Church Planting a Biblical Mandate?

I challenged the presenters, “Where in the Bible are we commanded to plant churches?” The...

October 06, 2020

Ephesiology and the Critique of Church Planting Movements

There is a movement of God in the New Testament. It is not a church...

September 2020

September 08, 2020

Introducing Terranova –– A Case Study of Kingdom Movement Work

Terranova may encourage those interested in or involved in Kingdom Movements to evaluate their expectations...

September 02, 2020

The Return of Oral Hermeneutics (An Overview)

This second post looks at the central question that shapes our introductory book on the...

August 2020

August 26, 2020

The Need for Oral Hermeneutics

Have Western exegetes turned an Eastern book into a Western one? Has our fondness for...

June 2020

June 30, 2020

How God Uses Disability for the Sake of Global Missions

“How does honor and shame relate to people with disabilities?” That was the first time...

November 2019

November 06, 2019

Strategy Implications of the Bible’s “All Nations” Language

If “nations” (ethne) in the Bible does not refer to “people groups,” sociologically-defined, what does...

October 2019

October 23, 2019

Matthew 24:14 is Not the Great Commission Nor a Mission Strategy

Mission agencies often base their strategies on Matthew 24:14, hoping to hasten Christ’s return. Yet,...

October 16, 2019

“People Groups,” “Unreached,” and the Semantics of Missions Strategy

Doesn’t the Bible tell us to go to the nations? Doesn’t “nations” translate the word...

September 2019

September 11, 2019

Biblical Theology for Oral Cultures

I wanted to write this chapter for a long time. Finally, I got my chance....

July 2019

July 24, 2019

How do tight and loose cultures practically influence ministry?

What are a few implications and application of tight and loose cultures? How should this...

May 2019

May 23, 2019

The Problem with Defining “People Groups”

Christianity Today's recent article highlights the problem with the label "unreached people groups" or "UPGs"....

March 2019

March 27, 2019

When Good Missionaries Get the Bible Wrong (Part 2)

Part 1 examined ways that missionaries sometimes misapply or misinterpret the Bible when talking about...

March 13, 2019

When Good Missionaries Get the Bible Wrong (Part 1)

Someone advised me not to write this article. But silence is exactly why we have...

March 06, 2019

How Shame Can Prevent People from Repenting

For so long, Christians have tried to conjure a guilty conscience in the minds of...

February 2019

February 27, 2019

Should Evangelism Provoke Guilt or Expose Shame?

Chris Flanders gave a game-changing presentation on the role of guilt and shame in evangelism...

December 2018

December 11, 2018

Advice for undertrained missionaries like John Chau

Everyone but the All Nations missions organization seems to agree that John Chau was not...

December 04, 2018

John Chau, Outcome Bias, and the Consequences of Confusion

Sadly, missionary John Chau’s death to the North Sentinelese people will set back the effort...

June 2018

June 27, 2018

Integrating Symbol, Story, and Ritual (by Tom Steffen)

If one’s worldview is constructed through the integration of symbol and story rehearsed through ritual...