Global Increases in Expatriates Challenge International Churches in Ministry By Kenneth D. MacHarg Exactly how many expatriates are there? Of course, nobody knows for sure, but some good, educated guesses abound. Whatever the true numbers are, a new report says certain sectors of the globe are expecting more in the coming years with challenging implications […]
“Back to the Basics” the coach would exclaim! The whole team knew what he meant! Let me tell you a story of my childhood. I played little league baseball when I was a kid. I loved playing baseball, still do as a grown up. We wore our sponsor uniforms: “Mac’s Milk” blue and white baseball […]
Transformational Education Dr. Stan DeKoven Founder and Director, International Training and Education Network and President, Vision International University I ran across this definition of transformational education, and thought it was helpful. Transformational Education is defined as an educational program, which maintains academic excellence while emphasizing strong practical activation of the Word to Kingdom life and […]
One thing is for sure: Robert Lupton is a master story teller. Taking license from the ancient tradition of midrash, a Jewish teaching method to dramatize Biblical accounts, Lupton turned the narrative of Nehemiah into a contemporary story in his book Renewing the City. Though not modernizing it by putting it into a 21st century […]
The Missional International Church Network (MICN, http://micn.org) defines an “international church” as a church that “primarily serve[s] people of various nationalities (expatriates) and church backgrounds living outside their passport (home) countries”, and a “missional” church as one that is “shaped by and oriented around the mission to which Christ has commissioned His followers”. During the […]
In Transforming Society, author Melba Padilla Maggay of the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture, The Philippines, shares with her readers “perspectives, and lessons learned out of hard-won struggle” (1996). Quoting an Indian preacher, she views her writing as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread,” in this case food for […]
“There is a mistaken notion that our society has a problem in terms of effective human services. Our essential problem is weak communities,” concludes John McKnight in his book, The Careless Society (1995). The author proposes “a new vision for community,” one of “regeneration … of reassociating the exiled … of freeing ourselves from service […]
In The Abundant Community, authors McKnight and Block paint an idealistic picture of what a neighborhood community could look like and how to start making a difference. The authors state that “a neighborhood can raise a child, provide security, sustain our health, secure our income, and care for our vulnerable people”. Life in a competent […]
In The Power of Social Innovation, former Indianapolis mayor Stephen Goldsmith makes a strong case for what he terms Civic Entrepreneurship. “To create truly vibrant cities,” says Goldsmith, “we need to invent new approaches” (2010). Not to argue against government participation, but to discover “new methods in order to provide opportunity, hope, and civic health […]
In The Spirit of Christ & The Postmodern City, author Viv Grigg continues and contributes to “an ongoing conversation about God and the cities”. The author extends his previous research to develop a theory of “Citywide Transforming Revival,” which is “a concept of synergistic revivals in multiple sectors of a mega-city” resulting “in long-term change […]