Search Results (60)

This article examines how ministry formation and ecclesial leadership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) are being reshaped by 21st-century dynamics such as secularization, pluralism, and post-Christendom cultural change. As increasing numbers of theology students enter formation with limited prior church experience, the gap between academic theological education and pastoral vocation is widening. The article treats formation and leadership as an integrated analytical lens, showing how ministerial identity, vocational resilience, and leadership capacity emerge from shared theological and pedagogical processes. Comparative insights from Sweden, the Church of England, and Roman Catholic formation models sharpen this analysis. The study proposes a theologically grounded, contextually realistic model that links formation, leadership, and innovation in a mutually reinforcing way. Innovation is conceptualized as targeted, incremental development—deepened theological reflection, collaborative learning, and adaptive practices—rather than large-scale structural reform. This approach aims to be realistic and to increase the capacity of future clergy to lead mission-oriented ministry in complex contemporary conditions. Full article

The missionaries’ agendas to meet South Asian had brutal effects on Christianity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There are pieces that have critiqued the roles of missionaries, dismantling the agendas of Western Christianity, introducing the South to Western Jesus. Despite this misconceived mission of some of the missionaries, this article argues for the role of missionaries in a positive way, on the one hand, discussing their role in Asia. Eastern Christianity and Chinese Muslims of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries met similar challenges; however, the efforts of missionaries such as George K. Harris (1887–1962) in the twentieth century played an important role in contextualizing literary content for the needs of Chinese Muslims. On the other hand, the role of Isaac Mason (1870–1939) in evangelizing Chinese Muslims and producing literary works promoting social welfare activities for the development of Chinese Muslims is also discussed. This article challenges theological discourses that emphasize the notion of Asian Christianity or Western Christianity of Christendom, as this confines missiological discourse to fostering the world’s well-being. Rather than approaching the cases of George K. Harris and Isaac Mason as isolated studies, this study approaches the cases of both missionaries as analytical missiological discourse, not coerced for the local community but approached for the broader perspectives engaging with the Muslim community. Therefore, this study reflects not only the works of these missionaries but also their efforts in establishing relations for the prosperity and dignity of the well-being of the Chinese nation, especially the Muslim community in China. It also argues that the imagery of Western Christianity, through the role of missionaries in China, fosters dialogical relations between Chinese Muslims and Christians for the well-being of the Chinese nation. Full article

Contemporary Evangelicalism faces a paradox: despite its historical and demographic vitality, a soteriological imbalance in many (though by no means all) of its expressions—an overemphasis on afterlife-centred salvation relative to present flourishing—has contributed to a crisis of meaning for believers navigating present-day realities. This gap can leave the faith an insufficient bulwark against secular nihilism and radical ideologies, both of which thrive (however perversely) by addressing present suffering. This article argues not for the replacement of Evangelical soteriology but for its recovery and enrichment through a Theology of Human Flourishing, centred on the human person-in-communion conformed by grace to Christ—what it terms, with deliberate qualification, the Divine Individual. The theotic dimension developed here complements rather than supplants the forensic categories of justification, regeneration, and reconciliation. The argument proceeds in five moves. First, it grounds the Divine Individual in the New Testament “Son of Man” tradition, drawing on Walker’s exegesis of John 1.43–51 and Moule’s argument for Johannine individualism. Second, it deploys Jordan Peterson’s phenomenology of meaning as a modern grammar through which the patristic doctrine of theosis can be re-articulated, while critically assessing where Peterson’s anthropology of the autonomous subject diverges from a theology of grace and must be corrected by it. Third, it shows—with Henrich and Duchesne—that the Divine Individual is not a colonial construct but a long civilizational inheritance with deep biblical and Greco-Christian roots. Fourth, it answers the standard critiques: Pelagianism, syncretism, atomistic individualism, and the post-colonial objection. Fifth, it sketches the missiological implications: mission as the formation of Christ-shaped persons whose transformation ripples outward into the renewal of culture, institution, and civilization. Full article

The Tibetological research of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (NCBRAS) traces a historical process by which a missionary-led membership drove shifts in Tibetological knowledge production and research paradigms, thereby exposing the constitutive tensions of its modernization. In the nineteenth century, the Society operated under a triad of aims—evangelization, empire, and scholarship—and oriented its output toward the Western world. Its Tibetology bore a marked Orientalist imprint. After 1900, missionary members such as J. H. Edgar and T. Torrance introduced modern disciplinary methods, including anthropology, into Tibetological study, placing the field on a more scientific and professional footing. Yet this transformation was simultaneously shaped by colonial politics and the Christian missionary enterprise. Even as the Society secularized in the 1920s, missionary research continued to serve evangelistic ends. Taken together, the trajectory of NCBRAS Tibetology offers a microcosm of missionary knowledge production in modern China and illuminates the interplay among mission, empire, and scholarship. Full article

Arthur T. Pierson (1837–1911) was a noted Presbyterian pastor, writer, and advocate of world missions. His career spanned a turbulent era in American Presbyterianism which was reflective of the growing challenges faced by Protestant denominations and illustrates one path some Presbyterians took over the last decades of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. Born into the antebellum northern evangelical world of the Second Great Awakening and its support of social reform, Pierson, by his death, had become a prominent voice for various doctrines that would coalesce into fundamentalism of the 1920s. Full article

Evangelical churches increasingly engage in transnational partnerships that shape spiritual identity and moral belonging across borders. This study investigates how such partnerships function not simply as organizational strategies but as lived spatial practices grounded in faith. Drawing on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of interviews with Canadian and Mexican participants in a long-term church-planting relationship, the article explores how theological commitments, emotional ties, and embodied rituals generate spatial meaning. Participants framed their engagement not through institutional goals, but through metaphors of family, covenant, and companionship, suggesting a grassroots geopolitics rooted in care, hospitality, and spiritual presence. The findings reveal that space is produced not only through ideology or policy, but through practices like shared meals, cross-cultural mentorship, and prayerful presence—acts that reconfigure belonging along theological and affective lines. The article introduces the concept of religeopolitics to describe this phenomenon, arguing that evangelical actors are not merely influenced by global geopolitics but actively create alternative spatial imaginaries through faith. Foregrounding religious subjectivity in spatial production, this article advances scholarship on lived religion and critical geopolitics, highlighting how spiritual communities shape geopolitical belonging through theological imagination, relational duration, and embodied moral practice. Full article

The spiritual has always been an important component in literary expression and religious experience, particularly in the context of cross-cultural exchange. Although Lin Yutang’s literary creation has been well received, the relationship between his spiritual thoughts and Christian new evangelization is less commonly mentioned at present, especially from an empirical point of view. This study addresses this gap, contributing to the practice of contextualization in mission work by providing a cross-cultural perspective on Lin Yutang’s creative works related to spiritual pursuit and their possible implications for Christian mission work. Herein, 45 representative literary texts were examined, employing a mixed methods analysis of spiritual motifs, cultural symbols, and audience reception among a range of different populations. Emphasized in the coding were self-transcendence, cultural integration, religious symbolism, and narrative as a strategy for creating spiritual involvement. This article reveals that Lin’s Christian writings reflect a mediating spiritual journey, illustrated by Christian motifs of self-transcendence and holiness. Through the integration of Eastern and Western spiritualities, his works offer helpful resources for the acculturation of the Gospel in mission activities. Readers from different cultural backgrounds have also claimed that their spiritual identification and openness to Christian messages improved after reading Lin’s stories. In this sense, the mediating effect of literature on spirituality contributes to new forms of proclamation that are more in line with the current times. In summary, this research brings Lin Yutang’s works into prominence as an important cultural bridge that enhances Christian new evangelization theories and practices, providing clues for culturally conscious evangelization in a globalized era. Full article

The aim of the article is to analyze the relationship between the Christian faith and the spiritual traditions of the indigenous peoples of Latin America, seeking to identify elements that make it possible to trace paths of dialogue and mutual cooperation. It shows that historically, there have been tensions and conflicts between these traditions, but today, there is a path towards overcoming this reality through social solidarity, which serves as a basis for dialogue between the ways of believing. The research method is comparative and involves a qualitative analysis of the bibliography dealing with the relationship between the Church and Latin American indigenous spiritualities. The bibliographic base is documental, with emphasis on the conferences of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), the Synod for the Amazon (2019) and the magisterium of Pope Francis, read from the perspective of the Second Vatican Council and the current theology of religions. The conclusion is that the Church is developing an important social dialogue to promote justice and the rights of indigenous peoples. This dialogue serves as the basis for a dialogue with the beliefs and spiritualities of these peoples. The challenge for this is to review mission objectives and methods in order to overcome the conversionist perspective in the relationship with indigenous peoples, taking paths of mutual respect and acceptance and valuing them beyond being the recipients of evangelization. In this way, indigenous spiritual traditions can be recognized not only as “seeds” of the Word to be developed by evangelization but as an already mature fruit of God’s relationship with these peoples. Full article

This article explores the relationship between Ignatian obedience and evangelization through the complementary perspectives of Hans Urs von Balthasar and recent Jesuit General Congregations. It argues that obedience, traditionally viewed as submission to authority, must be reinterpreted as a joyful and loving response to God’s mission, deeply rooted in the trinitarian life. Drawing from Ignatius of Loyola’s foundational texts and the evolving understanding of mission post-Vatican II, this essay highlights a shift from private, intellectual obedience to a more communal and justice-oriented service. The theological depth provided by von Balthasar’s trinitarian model is presented alongside the practical emphasis on social justice and dialogue found in contemporary Jesuit praxis and Pope Francis’ integral ecology. This paper ultimately proposes a synthesis of contemplative fidelity and active engagement, positioning obedience as a vital force in credible, mission-driven evangelization. Full article

Education, understood as the process of forming the human person in their integral dimensions—spiritual, intellectual, moral, and social—occupies a key place in the reflection on the evangelizing mission of the Church. This article presents education as a form of integral evangelization based on the thought and activity of the Polish religious sister and mystic Blessed Marcelina Darowska (1827–1911). The initial part outlines the development of the concept of “integral evangelization” in the teachings of the Catholic Church and its relation to personalist pedagogy. The following section presents the figure of Blessed Marcelina Darowska and her educational initiative, situated in the 19th-century socio-historical context of partitioned Poland. The main section of the analysis focuses on Darowska’s concept of education as the formation of the whole person, encompassing the discernment of talents, intellectual, religious, and social development, and preparation for responsible family and civic roles. It also considers to what extent this vision of education can be identified as an expression of integral evangelization in accordance with the criteria of contemporary Church teaching. This article further presents the development of Blessed Marcelina’s educational work and its impact on forming generations of women conscious of their identity. The conclusion offers a reflection on the relevance and potential of this educational method in the context of contemporary social and religious challenges, particularly in the work of new evangelization. Full article

This article focuses on the Christian ecclesiastical footing and moorings of nationalist thought and pursuits within colonial Nyasaland and its postindependence iteration as the nation of Malawi. Attention is paid to foundational influences and the impact of European mission churches, beginning in the late 1800s, and three streams of American Christianity that influenced social development in Malawi: (1) historic African American Methodist and Baptist traditions; (2) Watchtower millenarianism; and (3) emerging mid-1900s expressions of predominantly white Pentecostal, charismatic, and evangelical Christianity. The article examines ways these European and American religious streams served as crucial catalysts for one or another form of African independency within the Malawi context, paying particular attention to the ways and degrees to which African innovations on Global North Christian expressions and paradigms proved disruptive to established authorities. Full article

This study examines the role of Christian missionary interpreters from the Open Port Period to the Japanese colonial era, highlighting their historical significance and influence. During the Open Port Period, missionaries relied on Korean language teachers to serve as interpreters, translators, evangelists, and preachers. Although their English proficiency was often limited, they played a crucial role in early Christian missions. In the Japanese colonial era, elite intellectuals who had studied abroad increasingly assumed interpretation roles, actively contributing to theological education and social reform. This study analyzes historical records, newspaper articles, and existing research to reconstruct the evolving role and broader impact of Christian interpreters. The findings suggest that missionary interpreters were not merely linguistic mediators but key figures in evangelism and social transformation. Furthermore, the study highlights the historical transition from consecutive interpretation to simultaneous interpretation in Korean churches and underscores the need for systematic training programs. Given the growing linguistic diversity in Korean congregations, churches must recognize the importance of trained interpreters in ensuring effective multilingual worship and uphold the legacy of missionary interpretation. Full article

This article, including the Introduction and Conclusion, consists of five parts. The first part discusses the role of the catechist in the early Church and its significance in the process of faith education, particularly during the preparation for receiving the sacraments of Christian initiation. The second part emphasizes the bearers of the catechetical ministry, i.e., bishops, priests, and consecrated persons, but also the Christ’s lay faithful, to whom special attention is given in the third part. This part describes the place and role of the lay faithful in the Church’s evangelizing mission, especially in light of the challenges posed by socio-cultural and religious changes. The fourth part, based on the Apostolic Letter in the form of a motu proprio, Antiquum Ministerium, in which Pope Francis establishes the lay ministry of catechists, and the current state in the Church and socio-cultural context, highlights the reasons that contributed to the establishment of this ministry and the challenges it brings with its establishment. In the fifth part, based on the analysis of ecclesiastical activity in Germany, Italy, and Croatia, the current situation regarding the (non)introduction of a lay catechetical service in the mentioned countries is highlighted. Full article

In postmodern society, many protagonists promote a “distorted and unnatural” image of marriage and family, while others consider marriage and the family unit relics of the past. The contemporary world is characterized by different kinds of “turbulence” that affect individuals on both psychological and spiritual levels, as well as by extreme oscillations between a normal and a distorted image of the family and the image of God. In this context, all Catholics, especially Catholic families, are called to be “protagonists of the New Evangelization”. However, due to Catholic “mediocrity”, the family, which is the heart of the New Evangelization, can become less effective and limited in its evangelical mission. The individualism of our postmodern era, along with the prevalence of unstable and fluid relationships, impacts family bonds. Catholic families are not immune to the negative trends that affect families today. Many Catholic families face challenges and difficulties that can damage the relationship between parent and child. This article aims to explore how contemporary family dynamics within Catholic families influence the attachment between parent and child. Furthermore, it examines how children’s perceptions of parents relate to their perceptions of God. The intention is also to recognize the consequences of certain images of God on religious development. Does God become a “substitute attachment figure” when a parent is absent from the family? If so, how can religious education help individuals develop a more mature faith and relationship with God, moving beyond an infantile attachment? Full article

From 2020 to 2023, I spent 3 years as the Prior of the Community of St Cuthbert based at St Nics Church in central Durham. St Nics is a classic UK evangelical city-centre church with a beloved history of Bible teaching, market-square engagement, and mission. In 2019 the church leadership discerned an opportunity to refresh the church’s (and wider) practice of discipleship by launching the Community of St Cuthbert, and I was recruited as its Prior. This article gives an account of some of the strengths and weaknesses of this endeavour, focused particularly on four issues: the importance of a clear, positive and upbuilding ‘rule of life’ statement; the core issue of how a Rule of Life can facilitate widespread missional discipleship in a dispersed community model; the importance of a clear marker of membership in the Community (and the difficulties around developing one); and the potential (albeit largely unrealised) to use the Community of St Cuthbert model as a way of establishing new worshipping communities. My own retrospective reflection as Prior concludes with two convictions that may be of relevance to those considering such a ‘Community’: the nature and challenge of keeping the focus on God rather than on policing practices; and the ways in which such a re-energising of discipleship can offer an evangelical contribution to the life of the whole church, rather than being limited to self-described evangelical churches. Full article