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by Stephen M. Davis (Author), Edward L. Smither (Foreword by)
The changing face of world missions presents unique challenges. A new generation must both engage in God's mission and continue to reflect on the human dimension of engagement in the glorious task of making Christ known to the nations. Christianity is a universal religion not bound by one cultural expression of it. No cultural way of life or its Christian expression should be absolutized. Missionaries will be confronted with undreamed of challenges to their own worldview assumptions and must learn to distinguish between convictions rooted in Scripture and culture-informed convictions that should not be elevated to the level of scriptural truth. Without crosscultural training missionaries may unconsciously confound their cultural expression of Christianity with supracultural truth. They need to reflect biblically, theologically, and missiologically on whatever issues they face, and they need the conviction that God is at work in his world to accomplish his purposes and bring all things to his desired end. This book represents areas of personal reflection after over forty years of church planting ministry in different countries. The challenges of others may be different. The mission remains the same.
Author Biography
Stephen Davis is an elder at Grace Church in Philadelphia (gracechurchphilly.org). He and his wife Kathy have been engaged in church planting in the US, France, and Romania since 1982. He holds a PhD in Intercultural Studies from Columbia International University and a DMin in Missiology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of several books including two on French history: Rise of French Laïcité in the Evangelical Missiological Society Monograph Series and The French Huguenots and Wars of Religion, selected by the National Huguenot Society for their 2022 Scholarly Works Award.
