As you can see, my blog has a new home! The very kind people at Patheos invited me to join their network of evangelical bloggers. I am honored to join a great host of writers. Some of my personal favorite blogs on Patheos include: Michael Bird Scot McKnight Preston Sprinkle Ben Witherington If you haven’t already done so, click on the link to the right to subscribe to blog posts. If you are new to the blog, I generally write... Read more
The biblical concept of “covenant” should shape how we preach the gospel. I expect some push back on this point when people read my new book One Gospel for All Nations: A Practical Approach to Biblical Contextualization. Accordingly, in the next few posts of my series, I’ll explain the relationship between the biblical covenants and the gospel. People sometimes object, “Certainly I don’t have to explain Abraham, Moses, and David” in order to evangelize!” What could be more nonsensical? Perhaps... Read more
A few years ago, an author asked me whether I would read the draft of his chapter on the gospel. After helping him through a few drafts, he refused to take out a line that I commented on every time. In essence, he claimed that John 3:16 was the best summary of the gospel in the Bible. I told him plainly that “God loves you” was not the “gospel,” as Paul, Peter, and others understood and proclaimed it in their... Read more
It was John Piper who first helped me to see the significance of glory, specifically God’s glory, in the Bible. In this video, he uses Isaiah 48 to explain how God seeks His own honor in all things. For those interested, I previously posted my own evangelistic video, which is titled, “How does God seek face?” It uses honor and shame to explain the biblical story. Leave your comments and let me know your thoughts. Read more
One Gospel for All Nations makes much more explicit the methodology that is implicit in Saving God’s Face. Naturally, it is worth a short post that reiterates a few ideas that tie the two books together. In Saving God’s Face, I identified a key problem that plagues many evangelical efforts to contextualize the gospel. This post gives a short excerpt from the book simply to help people catch up on what I’ve said. If you want further discussion, check out... Read more
Contextualization is about empathy, being able to see the world from another person’s perspective. Don’t believe me? Check out this video. Related articles Measuring the “Success” of Contextualization Why “One Gospel”? Is our ministry “effective”? Read more
Over the coming weeks, I will introduce a number of thoughts and concerns that go into my recent book One Gospel for All Nations: A Practical Approach to Biblical Contextualization. [TWEET THIS] This post will give a sweeping overview of the book’s main objectives. Evangelical discussions about contextualization have largely focused on general principles concerning the relationship between the Bible and culture. While this has been important, we need more. Getting Practical After a lot of reading, I grew frustrated... Read more
Let’s face it–– missionaries tend to care a lot about numbers. Whether we’re talking about high numbers of new believers, churches, partnerships, or small groups, many mission strategies measure success via statistics. I’ve heard some people rebuff my critiques of certain ministry methods by saying, “A lot of people have come to Christ using XYZ method?” By implication, they are simply asking: Why would I want to take what you are saying seriously when our method is already “successful”? This... Read more
MY NEWEST BOOK IS NOW READY!! It is titled One Gospel for All Nations: A Practical Approach to Biblical Contextualization. [TWEET THIS] I’m thankful to William Carey Library for their vision and support in publishing this book. If you prefer paperback, they are offering a discount right now at their site. Also, the Kindle version is ready, so just click here for the e-version. In the coming weeks, I’ll introduce some of the questions and issues raised in the book.... Read more
When assessing various methods of ministry, one of the early questions people have is this: “Is it effective?” However, have you ever stopped to ask yourself what it means to be “effective” from a biblical perspective? If we properly understand the meaning of being “effective” it would transform the way we do ministry, particularly how we assess various tools and strategies. People often talk about being faithful and fruitful. Yet, even this distinction might muddy the waters when it comes... Read more
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