Hear from Global Christian leaders about opportunities and challenges facing the Global Church, and read stories about how these leaders — especially the ScholarLeader of the Year — are meeting those challenges.
Introduction Since 9/11, hardly a day goes by without some religiously motivated act of extremism. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, religious extremism worldwide claims nearly 100,000 Christian lives annually. Since the 1980s, Sunni Islamic extremism has been on the rise in Pakistan, where the tiny Christian …
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Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.— Ephesians 5:15-16 (NRSV) The Crisis More than three years have passed since the beginning of the “Arab Spring,” a term that symbolized hope for the people of the Middle East. However, …
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Muslim-Christian interfaith dialogue often raises the question: Do we worship the same God? The answer is usually colored by the preferences, presuppositions, or theological-doctrinal understanding of the individual. In this essay, I affirm the complexity of this question, explain some of the challenges, provide arguments Muslim and Christian scholars voice, and offer an understanding to …
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While we generally welcome theological differences stimulated by the cultural context, discussions that address the socio-political dimension of life often cause discomfort for evangelical believers. In my context of Latin America, we take contextual realties quite seriously. With an approach to theology that is “from below” we bring the questions of society to the truth …
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The Iraqi people have experienced a deep wound. Since 2003, national unity has been torn apart, creating an irreparable fissure in what was probably a superficial unity within the country. After 2003, Iraq developed a system that consolidated democracy along sectarian, religious, and ethnic lines, deepening fragmentation and benefitting only the ruling elite. The system …
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Although urbanization is not new, the degree and speed with which the world, and especially the non-western world, is turning urban is remarkable. People from every culture and ethnicity are moving to our cities by the millions. Yet we still tend to work in traditional ways of doing mission. We assume that the unreached millions …
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How does God awaken someone to a fresh Kingdom vision? For Manohar James, it involved getting beaten up in the “land of the gods,” game-changing findings during his doctoral studies, and a twelve-hour train ride with a carful of opinionated Hindu women.
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Love calls for Solidarity. Loving one another includes especially caring for those who are persecuted and in prison for their faith and witness. If one part of the body suffers, all parts suffer with it. We are all, like John, “companions in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus” (Revelation 1:9, …
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To be in transition is to be in an in-between place – neither here nor there. Anthropologists and theologians call this ‘liminal’ space. For many of us, this can be a difficult time because we feel unsettled, uncertain, and insecure. Old rules no longer apply, but we may not be quite sure what the new …
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After completing his PhD in New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1993, Dr. David Kasali returned to the faculty at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, where he later served as President for eight years. Following the devastating war in his native country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, David and his wife Kaswera …
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Walking recently in Tahrir Square, I realized how much Egypt has changed. No one would have predicted that in only eighteen days the formidable Mubarak regime would collapse and a completely new political situation would come into being. In the midst of this, the Egyptian Church has a new challenge, to not simply survive but, …
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The conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is about land: To whom does it rightfully belong? For Palestinian Christians, who have lived and survived in the holy land and called it home for centuries, this is not only an academic question but a personal issue with immediate implications. Muslims and Jews also make religious claims for …
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Opportunity is not the word that comes to mind when Christians think of Pakistan. After the Islamic Republic of Pakistan gained sovereignty in the 1947 partitioning of British India, a series of bloody riots drove nearly 10 million Muslim refugees to the nascent nation state, while just as many Hindus and Sikhs fled to predominantly Hindu India.
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Dr. Julie Lee Wu earned her PhD in New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in 1992. In 2002, she began her tenure as the President and Dean of China Bible Seminary in Hong Kong. Julie’s passion is equipping church leaders for effective ministry in Hong Kong and throughout Asia. In addition to speaking globally, Julie has written a number …
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I grew up in a church that did not teach the public implications of my faith. That is, we did not consider the implications of following Jesus for personal or societal ethics and practice. Instead, our concentration was on the importance of faith for salvation. This is true of most churches in my country of …
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