Reaching the Resistant

Description

The lands where Muslims, Jews, and Christians have encountered each other are littered with the ruins of fortresses. Each faith community built barriers to keep out the enemies of their faith. The present studies look at the barriers erected by peoples considered resistant to the gospel, and the bridges God is using to carry the gospel to them.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Philosophie et théologie
• Postchristianity
• Growth
• Christian Church

Informations

• Publié par: William Carey Publishing
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 1998
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780878089987
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

REACHING the RESISTANT

OTHER TITLES IN EMS SERIES
#1 SCRIPTURE AND STRATEGY: The Use of the Bible in Postmodern Church and Mission, by David J. Hesselgrave
#2 CHRISTIANITY AND THE RELIGIONS: A Biblical Theology of World Religions, Edward Rommen and Harold Net-land, Editors
#3 SPIRITUAL POWER AND MISSIONS: Raising the Issues, Edward Rommen, Editor (now Out of Print)
#4 MISSIOLOGY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: Contributions, Cautions and Conclusions, Edward Rommen and Gary Corwin, Editors
#5 THE HOLY SPIRIT AND MISSION DYNAMICS, C. Douglas McConnell, Editor

REACHING the RESISTANT
Barriers and Bridges for Mission
J. Dudley Woodberry Editor
Evangelical Missiological Society Series #6


Copyright 1998 by Evangelical Missiological Society.
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles or printed reviews, without prior permission of the publisher.
EMS Series #6
Published by William Carey Library 1605 E. Elizabeth Street. Pasadena, CA 91104 | www.missionbooks.org
William Carey Library is a ministry of Frontier Ventures Pasadena, CA | www.frontierventures.org
Digital eBook release Primalogue 2017 ISBN: 978-0-87808-998-7
“Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reaching the resistant: barriers and bridges for mission / J. Dudley Woodberry, editor.
p. cm. — (Evangelical Missiological Society series; no. 6) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87808-380-4 (alk. paper) 1. Missions—Theory. 2. Missions—Theory. I. Woodberry, John Dudley, 1934- . II. Series: Evangelical Missiological Society series; no. 6.
BV2063.R38 1998 266—dc21 98-43987 CIP

CONTENTS
Preface: Barriers and Bridges
J. Dudley Woodberry
Author Profiles
Part I Foundational Issues: Reflecting on the Barriers
1 Raising Questions about the Resistant
Michael Pocock
2 Revising Assumptions about the Resistant
Gary Corwin
3 Reflecting Theologically about the Resistant
Charles Van Engen
Part II Case Studies: Encountering the Barriers
4 Encountering Jewish Resistance
David Brickner
5 Encountering Muslim Resistance
Kevin Higgins
6 Encountering Japanese Resistance
Stan Conrad
7 Encountering Post-Christendom Resistance
David Bjork
Part III Means of Overcoming: Finding and Building Bridges
8 Overcoming Resistance through Martyrdom
Karen L. White
9 Overcoming Resistance through Prayer
John D. Robb
10 Overcoming Resistance through the Paranormal
Sobhi Malek
11 Overcoming Resistance through Tentmaking
Gary Ginter
Part IV Preparing for the Future: Planning Bridges
12 Equipping Missionaries for the Resistant
Timothy C. Tennent
13 Global Planning for the Resistant
Luis Bush
Index
End Notes

Preface Barriers and Bridges
The lands where Muslims and Christians have encountered each other are littered with the ruins of fortresses—from the Muslim Alhambra in Spain to the Crusader Krak des Chevaliers in Syria and even the small fortress tower of the Monastery of Saint Makar in Egypt. Each faith community built barriers—walls, gates, or moats—to keep out the enemies of the other faith. Each sought to control from inside any access, by gates or bridges.
The present studies look at the barriers erected by peoples considered resistant to the gospel, and the bridges God is using to carry the gospel to them.
The first part reflects on the barriers: What do we mean by resistant? Why are some people groups resistant to the gospel? What is God’s role in resistance? Is “resistance” a result of the failure of God’s people or of it not being the “fullness of time”? Should missionaries focus on the least reached or the most receptive? What degree of contextualization is legitimate? How did the concepts of resistance and receptivity develop in missiology? And, above all, how should we understand these terms biblically and theologically?
The second part analyzes representative case studies that exhibit many of the barriers. Judaism and Islam, Christianity’s monotheistic cousins, have enough biblical content to inoculate them against the rest. Japanese resistance, to the extent that it is real, raises issues of social, cultural, and national bonds.
Finally, post-Christendom Europe raises issues of a culture that has tasted a form of Christianity and rejected it.
Part three focuses on finding and building bridges over the barriers. Writers throughout the volume mention the use of contextualization and the value of the behavioral sciences in bridging cultural barriers. In this section tentmaking with integrity is evaluated by one’s intentional use of time. The majority of the chapters in this section, however, deal with aspects of spiritual power—the vulnerability of the power of the cross expressed through suffering and martyrdom and power through prayer and the paranormal.
The final part turns to preparing for the bridges of the future— in the equipping of missionaries and planning for the evangelistic task ahead beyond the year 2000.
Christians did overcome the barriers and cross the bridge into the Muslim Alhambra, for Ferdinand and Isabel did conquer it after commissioning Columbus to set sail for what became known as the New World. Yet as the Catholic monarchs entered the royal palaces they were greeted by the motto of the Nasrid kings on the wall, “There is no conqueror but God.”
These are words we would do well to remember as we seek to cross bridges to the resistant, not by force of arms, but by “love and prayers, and the pouring out of tears and blood” as called for by the missionary Raymon Lull (cited below, p. 157).
My thanks go to all who helped overcome the obstacles in the publication of these studies, which grew out of the National Meeting of the Evangelical Missiological Society joined by the International Society for Frontier Missiology in Santa Clara, California, November 20-22, 1997. Kenneth Mulholland did a superb job coordinating the selection of presenters along with Gailyn Van Rheenan as publications chair and Michael Pocock as president. Thanks also go to Anne White for the typesetting and my staff of Denise Schubert, Betty Ann Klebe, and Craig Beckett for their cheerful attention to collecting and proofreading the manuscripts on their way to the printers. Finally I want to thank my wife Roberta for doing with less of my help than could be expected during some busy days of packing for work among the resistant. Each has helped to carry this manuscript across the bridge to us all.
J. Dudley Woodberry, Dean School of World Mission Fuller Theological Seminary Pasadena

Author Profiles
David Bjork has served in France. He has done doctoral studies at the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary and is completing them at the University of Paris.
David Brickner is the president of Jews for Jesus.
Luis Bush is the general director of AD2000 and Beyond.
Stan Conrad is Associate Pastor of Missions and Evangelism at the Susquehanna Valley Evangelical Free Church in Harrisburg, PA. He has served in Japan and as a district missions consultant for the Evangelical Free Church of America.
Gary Corwin is editor of the Evangelical Missions Quarterly and an executive vice-president of EMS. He has served with SIM in Ghana and as International Research and Education Coordinator, and most recently on loan to EMQ.
Gary Ginter has served as a board member of several Christian organizations including InterVarsity, Norwegian Missionary Alliance (USA), Intent, and the Midwest Center for World Mission.
Sobhi Malek has served in Spain, Morocco, and France under the Assemblies of God.
Michael Pocock is Professor and Chair of World Missions and Intercultural Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He served in Venezuela and has been the president of the EMS.
John D. Robb serves with MARC/World Vision and as chair of the Unreached Peoples Track of AD2000.
Timothy C. Tennent is Assistant Professor of World Missions and director of TESOL at Toccoa Falls College
Charles Van Engen is the Arthur Glasser Professor of the Biblical Theology of Mission at the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has served in Mexico and has been the president of the Reformed Church of America.
Karen L. White is the Pastoral Ministries Coordinator of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. She has served in the Philippines and as adjunct professor of missions at the Criswell College in Dallas, Texas.
J. Dudley Woodberry is Dean and Professor of Islamic Studies at the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has served in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia.

Part I Foundational Issues: Reflecting on the Barriers

Chapter 1
Raising Questions about the Resistant
Michael Pocock
The theme of this volume goes to the heart of world evangelization, “Reaching the Resistant.” On this theme I am reminded of a wonderful film that probably launched a new generation of fly fisherman in their pursuit of that wonderful, yet resistant species—the trout. A River Runs Through It told the story of a clergyman and his wife raising two sons with equal doses of love, fishing, and the Westminster Catechism along the banks of the Blackfoot River in Montana. In spite of the parents’ efforts, prayers, and dreams, one son became “Mr. Responsible” and the other “Mr. Hell Raiser.” One followed, in large measure, his father’s aspiration, and the other went his own way, destructively as it turned out. In his later years, the old clergyman, saddened by the death of his son who rejected all counsel to mend his ways, plaintively asks his congregation these questions, “What is it abou