Encountering Missionary Life and Work (Encountering Mission): Preparing for Intercultural Ministry - eBook

Tom Steffen (DMiss, Biola University) is professor of intercultural studies at Biola University and director of the doctor of missiology program. He served as a missionary for twenty years in Southeast Asia. Lois McKinney Douglas (PhD, Michigan State University) is professor emerita of mission at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She served as a missionary for twenty-three years with the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society.

"This book is a wonderful introduction to missionary life and work, addressing most of the questions that a person might ask about a possible career in Christian missions. Steffen and McKinney Douglas emphasize that preparation for missionary effectiveness begins first and foremost in one's relationship to God and then in one's relationships to God's people. They also address most of the practical questions--support, agency, culture, language, family, schooling--related to the daily life and work of a missionary. This is an excellent resource for introductory missions classes in any training context."--Sherwood Lingenfelter, provost and senior vice president, Fuller Theological Seminary

"Blending their own rich experience in missions, a strong biblical foundation, insights from the hundreds of students they have taught, and in-depth awareness of key research studies and literature, Steffen and McKinney Douglas comprehensively explore the broad range of issues that affect missionary training and life. Encountering Missionary Life and Work will give aspiring missionaries a solid start in their preparation for the field and will help missionary veterans navigate the rocky waters of cross-cultural service."--Steve Strauss, director, SIM USA

"Tom Steffen and Lois McKinney Douglas have produced a work that is sure to become a classic text for those who anticipate ministry in another culture. Encountering Missionary Life and Work goes beyond any merely academic approach to cross-cultural ministry. It focuses on the lifetime development of deeper spirituality, self-understanding, and relationships essential for effective ministry that honors God in a global context. Tom and Lois write from a rich background in effective cross-cultural ministry and years of preparing others for such ministry. I anticipate using their text in my own classes. Others have written effectively on missionary life and work, but this text is for today's missionary and suits the dynamic world situation that confronts us."--Michael Pocock, senior professor and chairman of world missions and intercultural studies, Dallas Theological Seminary

The Encountering Mission series is designed to introduce a new generation of students to missions. Authored by leading evangelical scholars, these volumes explore the issues, context, and changes in world missions in the twenty-first century.

A generation of students preparing for intercultural mission work has relied on the classic text Life and Work on the Mission Field by J. Herbert Kane, a guide to the practicalities of missionary life. Encountering Missionary Life and Work, a new volume in the award-winning Encountering Mission series, seeks to build on Kane's work and provide practical guidance for a new generation of twenty-first-century missionaries. The authors are well qualified to write such a manual, each having served on the mission field for more than twenty years and each having taught missions at the seminary level.

The authors begin by examining the contemporary context for mission work, including the recognition that the world's mission fields are in constant and often rapid flux. They then discuss various aspects of preparing oneself for the mission field, beginning with home-front preparations and moving to on-the-field preparations. The final section deals with practical issues of missionary life and its unique challenges. The text is supplemented with case studies and many helpful sidebars for reflection and discussion.

"A much-needed textbook to prepare missionaries is here! . . . Tom Steffen and Lois McKinney Douglas draw from their vast experience to provide what will inevitably be the new standard textbook. For today's dynamic generation, Encountering Missionary Life and Work provides inspirational and practical training to those who anticipate ministry in this rapidly changing world. With amazing skill, the authors carefully address challenges and delights in the missionary journey from God's initial direction to serve cross-culturally to the day of homeland reentry. Strong biblical foundations and essential spiritual issues are combined with basic realities of life and intensely practical considerations. . . . This inclusive volume provides sensible answers to a myriad of questions. Multiple sidebars provide added information and living illustrations of issues covered in the text. Timely references and examples, a list of multiple websites, and an extensive bibliography are added evidence that this volume is truly contemporary. Encountering Missionary Life and Work is invaluable not only to those who are preparing for missions. Veteran missionaries and all those who have a vital interest in world outreach will profit greatly from the wise counsel and helpful insights this superb text provides."--J. Ronald Blue, Evangelical Missions Quarterly

"A 400-page textbook on missions . . . and I could hardly put it down! . . . [The book contains] realistic insights from authors who have lived the life. Using personal stories, current research, emerging trends, case studies, and discussion questions, the authors challenge their readers to think hard about vital issues. And sensitive matters, like women's roles in ministry, are presented with care and balance. The book's forte is clearly its ability to engage its reader. For anyone considering missionary life and work, this is a must-read. Degree-programs should utilize this text, and churches will want to make this available in the resource library."--David Mundt, CBA Retailers + Resources