• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In

MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission Matters
          • Members Only Feed
          • Missions Podcast DirectoryNew
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 Resources
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
          • UkraineNew
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Bible Certificate
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • Missions DataNew
    • Publish
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Premier Events
          • Mission Leaders Conference
          • On Mission
        • Upcoming Events

          • Webinar: An Introduction to the Theology and Practice of Cross-Cultural Risk
            Thu May 26 2022, 12:00pm EDT
          • Pocket Guide to Being a Missions Pastor: 5 Things Every Missions Pastor Needs to Know
            Wed Jun 1 2022, 01:00pm EDT
          • From Harlem to the World - the Local Church Mobilized for Global Missions
            Wed Aug 3 2022, 01:00pm EDT
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missions DataNew
          • Missiographics
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 Resources
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Webinar: An Introduction to the Theology and Practice of Cross-Cultural Risk
    Thu May 26 2022, 12:00pm EDT
  • Pocket Guide to Being a Missions Pastor: 5 Things Every Missions Pastor Needs to Know
    Wed Jun 1 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • From Harlem to the World - the Local Church Mobilized for Global Missions
    Wed Aug 3 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • Innovation Leaders Discussion
    Mon Aug 8 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • Peer 2 Peer for Communications and Marketing Staff: Communications and the Mission of God: Aligning organizational communications with God's purposes
    Thu Aug 18 2022, 01:00pm EDT

View all events »

Topics

author interview CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Disciple Making Discipleship Focus Future Innovation Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Member Care Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 MLC2021 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Podcast Presenter Pursuing Partnerships Series Research Risk Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached Weekly Roundup Women Women in Leadership

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Is it Insensitive to Share Your Faith? Hard Questions about Christian Mission in a Plural World

Posted on July 1, 2006 by Ted EslerJuly 1, 2006

by James R. Krabill

The issue of evangelizing non-Christian peoples has become one of the most controversial practices in our pluralistic world today. Is it appropriate to engage in evangelism in this diverse, multicultural twenty-first century? Is it insensitive?

Good Books, PO Box 419, Intercourse, PA 17534, 2005, 154 pages, $9.99.

—Reviewed by Edwin Y. Bernard, professor, distance learning, Moody Bible Institute, and pastor Heartsong Community Church, an ethnic house church, Downers Grove, Illinois.

The issue of evangelizing non-Christian peoples has become one of the most controversial practices in our pluralistic world today. Is it appropriate to engage in evangelism in this diverse, multicultural twenty-first century? Is it insensitive?

Krabill believes Western Christians have felt a very strong “discomfort” about sharing their faith in recent years for several reasons. First, the number of cultural blunders in our missions history has become quite embarrassing. Second, because matters of faith in our worldview cannot be scientifically proven, they are relegated to the realm of private and personal beliefs. Third, we often become uneasy when we encounter other faiths whose worldview differs greatly from our own.

The author helps us overcome those deep and unanswered questions about how we ought to live and talk about our faith. He invites us to consider Jesus who offers himself as the way, the truth and the life, as “God’s primary shalom-maker in the world.”

Krabill says the concept of offering shalom to a hurting world is what is missing in all other world religions. Shalom is the all-encompassing term which describes the relationship between people and God. It covers human welfare, health and well-being in both the spiritual and material aspects.

The Church needs to showcase Christ to the world as God’s primary “shalom-maker,” that is, to portray the holistic ministry of Christ teaching, preaching and healing. The Church needs to pay close attention to what Jesus actually said and did during his life on earth. It is then that believers can share God’s justice, righteousness, peace and salvation—God’s shalom—to a needy world.

Missionaries do not “coerce” people to come to Christ, nor “clone” nationals to be Christianized like us. Rather, missionaries need to do the only thing they can do: “commend Jesus” to the lost to either embrace or reject God’s shalom.

Once Christian missionaries recognize their own ongoing, desperate need for God’s grace, they discover they have some good news worthy of a “conversation.” This is not a sermon or speech; rather, it is a friendly exchange of ideas and opinions between two partners in dialogue. In this way, Krabill states, the Church can serve as the model and the messenger in explaining what God is up to in the world, and thus showcase his shalom.

This book is a delightful and easy read, sprinkled with a few cross-cultural illustrations. When the liberating message of the gospel encounters people within a given culture, it frees them to become everything God intended them to be, and to experience his shalom.

—–

Copyright © 2006 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 42 - Issue 3

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Home
  • Directories
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Contact Us

Join

  • Join
  • Benefits
  • Learn
  • Meet
  • Engage

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

About Us

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources
Missio Nexus Logo

© Missio Nexus. All rights reserved.
As an Amazon Associate Missio Nexus earns from qualifying purchases.


PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

Annual Sponsors

ECFA Logo Brotherhood Mutual Logo

Subscribe to our Mailing List

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks