Between Two Worlds

Over at CT's Weblog, Ted Olsen writes about South Koreans who are criticizing the tactics of missionaries currently held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Many hold little sympathy for the captives, because they ignored warnings not to visit the troubled nation. Debates about the particularly zealous actions of South Koreans are not new. The former president of the Christian Council of Korea, Park Jong-soon, told Yonhap News Service, "Korean missionaries have strong emotional fervor, but they are weak in strategy. Missionary work is about humbling ourselves, listening to what locals say, what other missionaries there say. . . . We cannot be combative delivering God's words." Combative or not, these missionaries deserve our prayers.

The New Attitude blog interviews Jonathan and Daniel—founders of Access Partners—and asks them about their strategy for combining business with frontier missions.

See part 1 and part 2.

Here is one way to expand your global vision for the spread of the gospel: consider making this Operation World page your homepage. Each day of the year they provide information about people groups throughout the world--their demographics, special challenges, etc.--along with specific ways to pray for countries and the people who need to hear the gospel.

Tim Stafford writes: "Andrew Walls was mildly incredulous when I phoned him in Aberdeen, Scotland, to ask for an interview. Of course he would gladly help me, he said in a restrained Scotch brogue, but was I sure I had the right person? He couldn't understand why Christianity Today would want to write about him. The reason is simple: Andrew Walls may be the most important person you don't know."

Read the whole thing. I was particularly struck by Jonathan Bonk's phrase to describe Walls's work: "His magnum opus is people."

For Walls's books, see The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in Transmission of Faith and The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission and Appropriation of Faith. Regent also has a couple of audio lectures of his available for purchase.