The past few days I was down with sore throat and cold symptoms. A few plans got to be cancelled and I stayed home. I used the time to catch up with some book note takings that haven’t been done for a while. To my surprise, I had a pile of many books to do….
The year of 2024 is filled with books! So thankful to have found likeminded ladies who love to read books. We have started a book club, from just my dear friend and myself, to the three of us, and then four of us. Lord willing we will be able to encourage other ladies to read…
There have been many methodologies rising and falling in doing ministry. In The Five Smooth Stones, McQuilkin is trying to wed theology to ministry. He organizes this book into five units. (1) The Bible: making it the functional authority; (2) The Congregation: aligning it with the biblical purposes; (3) The Spirit: releasing his energizing power;…
One thing from Whitney’s book that I would like to discuss here is his reflection on evangelism as a spiritual discipline. He points out that, “Unless we discipline ourselves for evangelism, we can easily excuse ourselves from ever sharing the gospel with anyone” (130). We need to make time to be with unbelievers and…
An old book that lays out the differences between the ministry of Apostle Paul and our modern church ministry —including mission. One thing that I found interesting in this book is the discussion on Paul’s preaching principles. Paul was preaching the doctrine that encouraged repentance. Looking at our modern ministry, both in Churches and…
A concise and brief look into the story of 12 women in the 16th century and their contribution to the Reformation. Rebecca VanDoodeward outlines three reasons why it is important for the Church today to ‘meet’ these women [p.4-5]: “Limiting our study of Reformation history to men limits us to half a history.” Women…
Can we really be certain about what the Bible says and what it means? While this question nags many, and the clarity of Scripture has been debated among scholars, Mark Thompson, in A Clear and Present Word, exquisitely defends the clarity of the Scripture. Chapter 1 addresses the objections to the perspicuity of Scripture, both…
In Anthropological Insight for Missionaries, Hiebert sees the need for young missionaries to understand both Scripture and people in their cultures (9). His argument in this book consists of four parts. He first asserts that anthropology could be a great help in understanding cultures for mission. Anthropology is often viewed as being in opposition to…
Fritz Kling, in The Meeting of the Waters, examines and elaborates on how mission has been changed. In the introduction, Kling used the story of ‘Mission Marm’ and ‘Apple Guy’ to illustrate the changing mission. He describes ‘Mission Marm’ as a dedicated missionary who left her familiar world to focus on a new culture and let…
In Paradigms in Conflict, Hesselgrave acknowledges the changing of mission and emphasizes the importance of getting back to sound biblical mission. In the discussion, he integrates biblical theology with insights from ministry experience (history) and the social sciences (20-21). He discusses ten conflicting paradigms which started with the discussion on the sovereignty of God and human…
