The recent conviction of Henry Cuesta on charges of a contract killing of Dulce Diaz, both Santeria practitioners, highlighted the growing presence of the African-Cuban Santeria cult appearing among south Florida’s diverse ethnic population. In addition to Santeria and voodoo groups brought by immigrants from the Caribbean, church workers say they are seeing an increase […]
Every week the number of casualties in Iraq rises. Armed forces, civilian contractors and Christian volunteers from all parts of the world are being killed, wounded or taken captive. Few reports of the intensified warfare reveal the religious roots of this terrorism. Islam is the common thread in almost all of the atrocities. Violence is […]
My dad, Dr. Ed Plueddemann, was a research scientist and had patented 100 inventions before he went to heaven. His discoveries are being used today in computer circuit boards, the space program and medical technology. While he was famous in the field of adhesives, his most powerful influence on me was through his life. I […]
I recently completed a slow re-read of Philip Jenkins’ landmark book The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. His research and observations stirred my thinking about the future of the Christian mission—especially for the Western (or Northern in Jenkins’ terms) church in which I live and serve. The future Western church will be increasingly […]
World Pulse correspondent Deann Alford asked Patrick Johnstone about Window on the World, the children’s version of Operation World, a bright, picture-filled hardback volume originally written by his wife, Jill Johnstone, and now largely rewritten by Daphne Spraggett. Q: What is the goal of Window on the World? Is that goal different from Operation World? […]
India’s untouchables leaving Hinduism By Deborah Meroff New Delhi, India On a historic move to liberate themselves from more than 3,000 years of Hindu caste oppression, some 100,000 of India’s “Dalits-once known as “untouchables”-converged on the capital November 4 to renounce Hinduism. But false news publicized by some Christian groups in the United States that […]
Have we have elevated the importance of cultural sensitivity in missionary outreach beyond its due? Any good missionary training program heavily stresses understanding the role of culture. The missionary task at its core is crossing cultural boundaries with the gospel. A person’s culture, while invisible to him, shapes virtually every dimension of his life. To […]
By Justin Long February 2007 Eastern Europe has one of the largest landmasses of any region in the world. Russia is the largest country in the world, and Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe. The region is resource-rich, having farmland, timber, oil and rare metals. It is also prone to earthquakes and landslides, […]
One of the buzz words in evangelical mission circles for many years has been “church planting.” It is a rare mission society which doesn’t claim that church planting is either its primary goal or at least one of its major goals. This, of course, is as it should be. Therefore my readers may be surprised […]
Jesus may have healed lepers, raised the dead and said wise things, Afghanistan’s foreign minister told a Kabul press conference, but he isn’t the greatest of holy men- Muhammad is, reports the New York Times. The minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, said that while Afghans hold Jesus Christ in high regard, he’s not the son of […]
At Urbana ’70 the keynote address was “Student Power in World Evangelism.” It was a historical summary of how God has so often used students to awaken the entire church to its responsibility to worldwide mission outreach. Several student leaders from earlier generations were recognized on the platform during the address. It was a challenge […]
Many Christians who faithfully prayed for the Soviet Union believed the country’s woes had faded with the collapse of communism. No more generations would suffer the effects of that Godless system that now, happily, lay in ruins. But unfortunately, all has not been “happily ever after” for Russia’s young people. One in ten of the […]
BAHAMAS: These vacation paradise islands suffer from HIV/AIDS and youth gangs. One estimate claims that the islands have the third highest rate of AIDS in the Western Hemisphere. New Christian tracts address the problem from biblical and medical perspectives. The Bahamas (pop. 297,000) is 32 percent Baptist, 20 percent Anglican and 19 percent Roman Catholic. […]
“Mom, I don’t know what to do.” This was my summer vacation litany as a youngster. No TV in those days. No little leagues. We had to dream up most vacation activities ourselves. But for me, reaching adulthood and sailing off (literally) to Africa as a missionary didn’t resolve the whole problem of what to […]
