The story of Christianity from apostolic times to the present reveals that in virtually every country of the world a Bible-reading laity was an important factor in the growth of the church, both numerically and spiritually. The importance of the Bible in actual history is a challenge to the church today.

Written by a Lutheran missionary with 21 years of experience in New Guinea, this book describes how a primitive tribe was transformed into a functioning Christian congregation. The author brings together anthropology and biblical theology in providing insights into church growth and proposing an effective model of a people reborn.

Missionaries, while being prepared in the Bible, often receive little training in understanding the world in which we live and some experience great hardship out in the field as a result. The purpose of this book is to enable cross-cultural missionaries to be more adequately prepared for the task of intelligent communication. The author sets forth the major areas which are important in training the missionary to communicate with other cultures.

This volume seeks to be both fair and comprehensive. Its critical insights do not prevent the endorsement of an ecumenical latitude consistent with our biblical faith. It was written for those who are determined to listen and learn from all whom God has manifestly received and called to holistic mission in today's world." --Arthur Glasser, Professor, Fuller Theological Seminary Bassham's comprehensive study of developments in mission theology between 1948 and 1975 is the most thorough and reliable work available on the subject. The book is invaluable for an understanding of the crucial issues in world mission during this turbulent period." --Gerald Anderson, Director, Overseas Ministries Study Center Bassham has written what ought to become the standard textbook for those seeking to acquire a comprehensive long-range perspective on developments in missiology in recent decades. Delightfully clear and simple without being simplistic, the book shows the remarkable convergence of the main streams of missiological thinking..." --Al Krass, Editor, The Other Side

Christianity regards teaching as one of the most foundational and critically sustaining ministries of the Church. As a result, Christian education remains one of the largest and oldest continuously functioning educational systems in the world, comprising both formal day schools and higher education institutions as well as informal church study groups and parachurch ministries in more than 140 countries. In The Encyclopedia of Christian Education, contributors explore the many facets of Christian education in terms of its impact on curriculum, literacy, teacher training, outcomes, and professional standards. This encyclopedia is the first reference work devoted exclusively to chronicling the unique history of Christian education across the globe, illustrating how Christian educators pioneered such educational institutions and reforms as universal literacy, home schooling, Sunday schools, women’s education, graded schools, compulsory education of the deaf and blind, and kindergarten. With an editorial advisory board of more than 30 distinguished scholars and five consulting editors, TheEncyclopedia of Christian Education contains more than 1,200 entries by 400 contributors from 75 countries. These volumes covers a vast range of topics from Christian education: History spanning from the church’s founding through the Middle Ages to the modern day Denominational and institutional profiles Intellectual traditions in Christian education Biblical and theological frameworks, curricula, missions, adolescent and higher education, theological training, and Christian pedagogy Biographies of distinguished Christian educators This work is ideal for scholars of both the history of Christianity and education, as well as researchers and students of contemporary Christianity and modern religious education.

Is Hearing Enough? makes the case for including literacy in evangelism and discipleship efforts in developing nations like India. Drawing on over 20 years of cross-cultural ministry experience, Don Edwards offers an insightful look at literacy’s key role in building a strong, healthy body of believers. Edwards looks at the crippling effects of illiteracy, examines Scripture’s view of literacy, and explains literacy’s value as a door-opener in communities that are resistant to traditional evangelism. The Great Commission commands us to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Likewise, we are called to fulfill the Great Compassion: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Both are expressions of Jesus’ love for people. Readers will be challenged to share the gift of literacy as a tangible act of obedience to Jesus’ two “Great” commandments. Don Edwards first visited India in 1984. The very first morning of that trip on October 31, the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated. From that moment, God planted the nation of India in Edwards’ heart. This led to his involvement in church planting efforts with indigenous missions and churches for the last 14 years. Edwards has a Doctor of Ministry degree in Missions and Cross-Cultural Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Masters of Religious Education degree from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.

Advanced Missiology draws the connections between the theory and practice of missions. Using the metaphor of a river, the book shows how theories “upstream” such as theology, education, anthropology, community development, and history have exerted an influence on missiology (and missiology, in turn, has gone back upstream to influence those disciplines). What causes these disciplines to converge in missiology is the goal of making disciples across cultures. Whereas missiologists are not always explicit about how their abstract theories actually relate to the task of making disciples across cultures, each chapter in Advanced Missiology shows how numerous theories, sub-fields, models, and strategies of missiology ultimately facilitate the Great Commission. The book argues that by using interdisciplinarity for this fundamental purpose, missiological studies will be more credible and useful. With contributions from: Rebecca Burnett Leanne Dzubinski Julie Martinez

The Republic of Suriname has a long and rich heritage of Bible translation spanning more than 250 years, yet very little has been published on its history. In this book Dr Franklin Jabini, a Surinamer as well as a translator himself, provides the reader with a detailed survey of the history of Bible translation across the many language groups of Suriname. Illustrating the difficult and complicated process of Bible translation, the book furnishes brief biographies of translators, both national and foreign, as well as the denominations and parachurch organizations involved. This book is not just a historical account, but provides important insight into the efforts of reaching all tribes, tongues and nations with God’s word.

For Christians from New Testament times on, the Bible has almost everywhere been a translated Bible. For eighteen centuries it was normally translated into new languages by native speakers, but with the beginning of the nineteenth century and the modern missionary movement came a burst of missionary translation around the world. As missionary churches were established and as societies worldwide were affected by the gospel, people studied the translations, preached from them, and recounted stories to their children. In many societies these translations were the foundation for Christian communities, for theology (including indigenous theologies), and a powerful stimulus to modernization and even secularization reaching beyond the Christian community.Smalley contends that the theological presuppositions of these missionary translators varied widely. He argues that some missionary translators were insightful scholars who probed deeply into the languages and cultures in which they were working; others were unable to transcend the perspective their own culture prescribed for them. Earlier missionaries did not always have a clearly formulated theory of translation or an understanding of what they were doing and why. Eventually, however, a theoretical model was developed, a model that the majority of translators (both missionary and nonmissionary) now use. Smalley maintains that the task of Bible translation is now passing out of the hands of missionaries and back into the hands of native speakers, casting the missionary translator into significantly changed roles in the translation process.

Recent research has made a strong case for the view that Early Christian communities, sociologically considered, functioned as voluntary religious associations. This is similar to the practice of many other cultic associations in the Greco-Roman world of the first century CE. Building upon this new approach, along with a critical interpretation of all available sources, this book discusses the social and religio-historical background of the weekly gatherings of Christians and presents a fresh reconstruction of how the weekly gathering originated and developed in both form and content. The topics studied here include the origins of the observance of Sunday as the weekly Christian feast-day, the shape and meaning of the weekly gatherings of the Christian communities, and the rise of customs such as preaching, praying, singing, and the reading of texts in these meetings.