Venture into the world of overseas missions from an African-American perspective. This collection of articles takes you deep into the history of missions in the African-American community. You will learn of the struggles to stay connected to the world of missions in spite of great obstacles. You will read of unique cultural experiences while traveling abroad. You will feel the heart for fulfilling the Great Commission both in the African-American community and beyond. All text remains the same in this revised edition, with the exception of new study guide questions at the close of each chapter. The questions can be used to help facilitate discussions in Sunday School, Bible study, seminary classes, conference workshops and other group or individual studies.

Profiles of African-American Missionaries features the lives and ministries of the great African-Americans who have gone to the world with the message of Christ. It is a collection of stories sharing the ministries of several African-American missionary pioneers from the 1700s to the present, dealing with all the social and ministry issues that they had to face here and abroad. Readers will be inspired by the dedication and commitment of these great African-Americans, as they lived out God’s great commission to go into all the world and make disciples of all people. It will inspire and challenge all readers to greater personal involvement in God’s worldwide mission.

Western mission often centers the senders, without as much understanding of the receivers' experiences. Weaving together theology and stories from diaspora groups, Ethiopian American mission practitioner Mekdes Haddis provides a postcolonial critique of Western mission, upending the white savior complex and arguing for a globally just approach.

Waking Up to God's Missionary Call In the pages of this book, Rev. Leonidas A. Johnson eloquently shares how God's missionary call, like an aromatic stew, has been simmering within the African American church. According to him, "The African American church will play a critical role in spreading the gospel message to people groups living in areas of the world that represent the last strongholds and citadels of satanic power attempting to stop God's Mission."

One of the important contemporary but unexplored themes for Christianity in Africa today is its ongoing connections to a broader Christian and non-Christian world. This is quite apart from the idea of mission connections or reverse mission from Africa to elsewhere, or any mission-themed global connection. In much existing scholarship, Africa seems to only have recently been drawn into the orbit of global relations, but there is a long-standing relationship with the wider world, people linking from different regions at different times for varied reasons. This volume explores the theme of two thousand years of connections--and how the global sensibility has shaped Christianity on the continent for two thousand years.

The twenty-first century is marked by a renewed emphasis on the missional responsibility of individual Christians and local churches. Churches on Mission: God’s Grace Abounding to the Nations is an attempt to explore the relationship between the local church and its missionary responsibilities. Through history, theology, case studies, and actual ministry practices, each author in this collection presents an aspect of local church participation. The book aims to be informational and inspirational on many levels and invites readers from local churches to become active participants in the mission of God.

In this compelling research, Kent Michael Shaw I reveals a concise and comprehensive work on the development of Missions Theology informed by the perspectives from early African American missionaries. Missiology Reimagined unveils the hidden and ignored missions history of enslaved and free African Americans during the antebellum period of the United States. This book helps the student of missiology decipher how the events of the 1800s shaped the missions theology of Black Americans. The enslaved of that day constructed a hermeneutic and interpreted the sacred text through a lens that contradicted their enslaver's version of Christianity. Through these constructs, they critically engaged in scripture and formulated a theology of mission contextualized for their lived experience. This insight compelled them to risk death and re-enslavement to pursue a global mandate from God. These pioneering missionaries would emerge as experts in the field of global evangelism, heralding them as both missionaries and missiologists. Since they were practitioners and students of Scripture, an applied mission’s theology would materialize. The reader will observe how this theological formation influenced the black church in the nineteenth century and their missiology reimagined. These men and women held two titles: missionary and missiologist. These pioneer missionaries would emerge as early experts in the field of global evangelism. As practitioners and students of scripture, an applied mission’s theology evolved. The reader will observe how this theological formation would shape the black church in the nineteenth century and a reimagined missiology.

Last Call for the African-American Church revisits the commandment Jesus left his followers to proclaim the gospel worldwide until his return, one that by all accounts is no longer a priority in the contemporary African-American church. Despite the presence of euphoric praise-and-worship celebrations and the proliferation of diverse ministries it advertises as “cutting edge,” the implosion of missions has occurred in this church's pulpits and pews. Selected biblical foundations of missions are provided for those new to the parlance, and for others needing a refresher course. Along with conventional missions’ distinctions, Chester Williams logs some concepts in the glossary he himself has constructed, for readers and for collegial review. They include the feminization of missions, rummage sale missions, missions without Jesus, and window dressing missions. For the most part, these concepts represent a radical departure from apostolic missions and are viewed as biblical tinkering and convolution, most importantly, as obstructions to the Great Commission—world harvesting.

From Cognitive Teaching to Connected Learning Given the landscape of global Christianity and the variety of approaches to theological and missiological training today, how do we equip the global church for the mission of God? Should mission organizations or sending churches conduct their own in-house training? What is the role of Bible colleges and seminaries in equipping for mission today? What about informal approaches to theological and ministry training? Equipping for Global Mission offers insights from seasoned scholars and practitioners. Beginning with theological convictions and practical reflections, our authors make a case for what equipping for mission could look like in the present global church. Case studies from India, China, North America, and Britain further challenge the reader to reflect on this critical issue. The full scope of educating for mission is far too broad of a task for any single organization. This is why the contributors serve the church so well—by enlarging a much-needed conversation. This book is a clarion call to all who care about missions and the global church. Join world leaders in reshaping missions education today by using the practical and strategic wisdom in these pages.

The true story of mission has been deeper, wider, and far more diverse than many Christians in countries with long histories of church presence have realized. The authors in Reflecting God’s Glory Together: Diversity in Evangelical Mission drive that point home in a variety of ways. From Filipino and Ghanaian missionary work in North American cities, to Canadian work among the Chinese diaspora, to African-American work in Zimbabwe, the authors help us begin to grasp just how many ways evangelicals in mission are truly going from and coming to everywhere as they follow Christ’s mandate to reach the nations. Diverse voices utilizing diverse strategies pursuing a common call: these result in a mosaic whose larger pattern glorifies the God who came to live among us—and who continues to send us out in the pattern God so clearly established. As editors, Beth and Scott invite you to explore the stories embedded in that marvelous mosaic that we have been privileged to collect for this volume.