Category: Missions

Shelved or Serving in the Latter Years?

Can you do much for God and his kingdom when you get old? God thinks so. He has used many older people to accomplish valuable kingdom work, recorded colorfully in both the Bible and Christian history. Take Moses. He was 40 when he killed an Egyptian...

God’s Way, Not Ours: Kingdom Advance Out of Something Awful

The story of the death of the first martyr of the early church, Stephen, is both ugly and spectacular (see Acts 7:54-60). The ugliness of Stephen’s murderers is found in such phrases as these: “they were enraged” (v. 54); “they ground their teeth at him” (v....

Inspiration from a Bible Translator Whose Work Was Offensive

Have you read a good biography or autobiography lately? If not, there are good reasons why you should. Bible teacher and author John Piper testifies: When you are surrounded by a society of emotionally fragile quitters, and when you see a good bit of this ethos...

Missionary Zeal and Ability: It Takes Both

While reading a modern missionary’s book, I’m struck again with the phenomenon that so many become missionaries with a dangerously low level of insight into Scripture coupled with extraordinary romantic zeal. A handful of verses guide them, about which most have little true understanding. Their experience...

Two Surprises from Ministry Travels Outside of the USA

The first trip I took for ministry outside of the United States was to the Philippines. On the plane ride from Tokyo to Manila, we skirted a typhoon. The plane was shaking so violently at times that people would occasionally screech and even grab the person...

What If Churches Started Churches?

I’ve been in some churches that should not take the advice I’m about to give. They are much too weak, or sinful, or distorted in their beliefs and practices to be in the business of starting anything. It would be better for them to concentrate on...

The Benefits of Having Missionaries Visit Our Churches

When missionaries visit our churches, we should encourage and care for them (see 3 John 5-8), but how does the church profit from the presence of missionaries? Consider three tremendous benefits: 1. Missionaries remind us that Christ is building His church from “every tribe and tongue...