Integral Ministry Training

This manual is an invaluable resource for anyone from the global evangelical community who is involved with training people for ministry. As a textbook, it presents a biblical and educational framework for holistic training as well as a context-sensitive process for the design of new programs and the evaluation of existing programs. Packed with practical examples and aids, it is a tool trainers will keep handy and use often in their course planning and implementation. This book was published in partnership with the World Evangelical Alliance.

Missionaries must know God, be able to relate well to other people, understand and engage with another culture, and be able to use the Bible in a way that informs all aspects of their lives and ministries. Missionary training must address each of these areas if it is to help Christians to be effective in taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. Effective training has been shown to prevent people from prematurely leaving the field. It also reduces the danger of cross-cultural workers uncritically exporting culturally bound forms of Christianity. This book details four key areas that every missionary training program, whatever its context, must focus on developing. It shows how these can be holistically addressed in a learning community where trainers and trainees engage in cross-cultural ministry together.

Trauma, from the fall of Adam and Eve forward impacts human lives in overpowering ways. A review of the lives of biblical personalities and missionaries reveals shared traumatic experiences. In addition to the stress of cultural adjustment, missionaries often live in contexts of violence, political unrest, economic instability, natural disasters, and relational conflict. The examined biblical personalities faced similar issues, yet a majority coped with trauma in ways that led to well-being. The proposed biblical theory of well-being assists missionaries to move deeper in their trust of God by utilizing the coping skills of the biblical personalities including asking God for help, lifting up their praise and worship to God, standing on a sense of call, working with God, lamenting/venting to God in healthy ways, embracing a theology of suffering, and accepting assistance from friends and family. The adherence to the constructs of this theory protects missionaries from the ravages of psychological trauma by avoiding negative coping and developing positive coping skills that lead to trusting in the only One who gives hope in seemingly hopeless situations.

The evangelical Mongolian church has experienced significant growth since the country opened to the world in 1990. Despite the growth and emergence of the evangelical church in Mongolia, relatively little has been written on the church from the perspective of the leaders themselves. This ethnographic study seeks to express the experience of male, evangelical, Mongolian church leaders in their own words. The book focuses specifically on the leaders’ experiences of conversion, discipleship, navigation of Mongolian culture and traditions, and theological education. Readers will hear from evangelical church leaders why they became Christians and what their experience with discipleship was like for them. The issue of contextualization for evangelical Christians is also a central focus. In particular, the translation of the term for God in Mongolian and the perspective of the church leaders are explored. This book will be of interest to those exploring Christianity in Asia and post-socialist contexts as well as seeking to better understand contemporary Mongolian culture.

The surge of theological education in the rapidly growing church of the Majority World has highlighted the inadequacy of traditional Western methods of thinking and learning to fully accomplish the task at hand. The limitations of current theological education are embodied in the formation and assessment of the master’s or doctoral dissertation; processes that follow a linear-empiricist tradition developed in the West and exported to the Majority World. Challenging Tradition: Innovation in Advanced Theological Studies highlights the need for these traditions to be reconsidered in every context throughout the world. Drs Shaw and Dharamraj, with their team of contributors, present innovations in research and documentation that demonstrate how we may better prepare theological leadership through means that are contextually relevant and locally meaningful.

The Handbook of Theological Education in World Christianity is the first attempt to map and analyze developments in theological education on a global scale. This volume, with contributions from 98 leaders in theological education from around the world, provides a comprehensive introduction to the major themes and contexts in the international discourse on theological education, surveys of the issues and challenges faced in different regions, and introductory essays on the developments in the major denominational families in World Christianity. The editors are Dietrich Werner, World Council of Churches, Geneva; David Esterline, McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago; Namsoon Kang, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth; and Joshva Raja, Queen's Foundation, Birmingham.

The purpose of Introducing Story-Strategic Methods is to awaken us in the cross-cultural context. Our natural tendency is to be asleep to our own cultural values and core worldview assumptions. This tendency applies as well to our expectations in the cross-cultural context. For example, in what ways would a "justice" pattern of culture orient our speech and behavior? To what degree is a "justice" pattern of culture different from an "honor" pattern of culture? The book asserts that culture matters in effective communication. Going further, to what degree does a story told from the Bible nullify the power of culture? Often we assume that the biblical story trumps culture. It does not. The book affirms rigorously that culture is much more powerful than we first suppose. If in fact, culture trumps the biblical story. Therefore, understanding and skills are required for effective engagement across cultures. Strategic storytelling is a twelve-step methodology that addresses the problems of miscommunication and syncretism that plague the cross-cultural context. It offers a step-by-step solution that promises success. Insights are firmly rooted in Scripture and equally grounded in empirical research from the social sciences. The stories told throughout the book are true. The answers are compelling.