EMQ (Evangelical Missions Quarterly)
April–June 2023 | Volume 59 Issue 2
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Editorial
Redeeming Nature’s Song
Throughout the Scripture, we can read about the response of all creation to God’s glory. It is commanded to praise, rejoice, sing, and testify of who God is and what he has done. However, God’s creation is also permeated with the effects of our sin, and, today, that is more obvious than ever. But what does this have to do with missions? Can we consider that the work for which Christ calls us does not end with saving human souls?
Articles
Is Creation Care Really a Gospel Issue?
By Ed Brown | Natural disasters, agricultural problems, and environmentally linked health crises impact many of the world’s least reached peoples. These provide pragmatic reasons for missionary engagement in creation care. However, if we look closely at the recent history of evangelicalism, we can find an even stronger reason for involvement. The concept of integral mission, introduced in the ’60s and ’70s, positions creation care as a core gospel issue that is a necessary part of integrated work with the world’s unreached.
A Missional Theology of Creation Care
By David Bookless | In the current era of missions, caring for creation often holds little strategic value. However, this was not always the case. A careful examination of Scripture reveals this integration has its roots in biblical missiology.
Creation Stewardship, Food and the Gospel: A Winning Recipe for Holistic Ministry in a Hungry World
By Craig Sorley | Have we acknowledged that hunger is the single biggest concern for most unreached and under-discipled peoples? Inadequate food impacts people physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Until we address this problem, our other efforts to help communities will not bear abundant fruit.
Posture Over Program: OMF’s Creation Care Journey
By Jasmine Kwong | OMF began its journey into creation care in the 1950s when work expanded into Southeast Asia. Building on that history, we later wrestled with what the Bible has to say about creation care. We stood convicted to see the gospel lived out in all aspects of our lives and work. This led us to look at creation care as a posture that must be integrated in all we do rather than a program requiring experts.
Is There a Green Gospel Message?
By Erik Hyatt | Most pastors, evangelists and missionaries have been trained to share about Jesus’s atoning sacrifice on the cross, the cleansing of every believer from their sin, and the imputed righteousness of Christ on the believer. But what about the transformational work of the Holy Spirit on all aspects of life? Shouldn’t a whole gospel message include a green gospel that leads to a believer’s changed relationship with God’s creation?
Witnessing God’s Resurrection Power in People and the Land
By Alice and Martin Tlustos | For many years we wrestled with our commitment to bring the gospel to people and participate in healing the earth. Through our involvement with Care of Creation Tanzania, we discovered a way to do both.
Planting Hope in the Wilderness of Our Hearts
By Lawrence Ko | Being fully human comes with a mission to care for creation as God originally intended. Asian Journeys Ltd is a social enterprise that engages young people in Asia in environmental mission and creation care projects.
Creation Care: An Essential Component of Integral Mission
By Kuki Rokhum and Joylin Niruba | The Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR) started as an effort to respond to disasters, often in partnership with mission agencies and churches. However, as needs to provide relief increased, EFICOR developed a three-pronged approach (church, community, collaboration) to our response based on a broader understanding of mission, known as integral mission.
Preaching the Good News in a Time of Crisis
By Rachel Mash | How must we live in order to halt the disasters that are devastating food security and destroying the web of life on which we depend? How do we preach the good news of the gospel in this context? What is the mission to which God is calling us?
Creation Care and the Gospel in Uganda
By Sara Kaweesa | The peoples of Uganda have a distinct tie to the land, and their cultures have generation upon generation that tended to creation with care and respect. But the land and its creatures that we so deeply depend on are suffering, and in need of help. And while the Church has engaged in aspects of creation care, most Christians do not understand the connection between caring for God’s creation and their faith.
Extras
(Mis)Understanding the Need
By David Chakranarayan | Two-thirds of Christians in the US say they have not heard of the Great Commission. Even fewer could roughly estimate the number of unreached people groups in the world. And while 85% of pastors believe missions is a mandate for all, more than half of all Christians in the US believe it is a calling only for some.
Translating for Transformation: The Missional Impulse of Translation
By Paul K. Kimbi | Missions includes church planting, evangelism, reconciliation, and much more. Bible translation programs aim to do all of these things, yet they can be seen as periphery to real mission work. Does Bible translation have a missional impulse that is essential to long-term transformation of individuals and communities?
The Role of Pastoral Visits in Missionary Member Care
By Ed Grudier | While both agencies and churches can engage in member care with their missionaries, churches can focus more on personal care. Field visits can be a particularly impactful aspect of member care. These visits can bring missionaries hope and strength when they are need, while also providing pastors first-hand experience in the life of a missionary their church supports first hand.
Ambiguous Loss in Missionary Life
By Nancy R. Mauger | Missionaries living away from their passport countries often experience a phenomenon known as ambiguous loss. This term, which developed in the 1970s, fits missionary life well. Global workers can experience a loss from leaving their passport nation, but it is still there.
Web Exclusives
Creation Care for Pastors and Local Churches
By Ashkenaz Asif Khan | Pastors and local churches have a grass-roots role to play in creation care efforts. However, pastors may find it overwhelming to know where to begin. But there are practicle steps they can take personally and with the involvement of their churches that will enable their congregations to be catalysts for change in this area for their communities, nations, and the world.
Book Reviews
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