This new volume in the award-winning Encountering Mission series is for current and future missionaries. It provides practical guidance regarding getting ready for the mission field and the realities of life on the field. The authors are well qualified to write such a manual, each having served as a missionary for more than twenty years and each having taught missions in seminary. The authors begin by examining the contemporary context for missions, including the recognition that the world's mission fields are in constant and often rapid change. They then discuss 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 and challenges of missionary life.

Seasoned missionaries offer practical guidance on life and work on the mission field in an attractive, engaging, classroom-friendly format.

Leading evangelical mission experts offer a comprehensive theology of mission text, providing biblical, historical, and contemporary perspectives.

In this addition to the highly acclaimed Encountering Mission series, two leading missionary scholars offer an up-to-date discussion of missionary strategy that is designed for a global audience. The authors focus on the biblical, missiological, historical, cultural, and practical issues that inform and guide the development of an effective missions strategy. The book includes all the features that have made other series volumes useful classroom tools, such as figures, sidebars, and case studies. Students of global or domestic mission work and mission practitioners will value this new resource.

The current religious climate poses unique challenges to those engaged in mission. Thus the authors of this book propose a new, yet very biblical, model for interacting with people of other faiths. They term this model giftive mission, as it is based on the metaphor of free gift. We bear the greatest gift possible--the gospel message. Adopting this perspective not only has the potential for greater missionary success but also enables us to more closely imitate God's gracious activity in the world. The core of the book explores eleven practices that characterize giftive mission. Each practice is illustrated through the story of a figure from mission history who embodied that practice. Further discussion shows how to incorporate these practices in specific mission settings.

Welsh Baptist missionary to China Timothy Richard (1845-1919) was once widely regarded as ""one of the greatest missionaries whom any branch of the Church, whether Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, or Protestant, has sent to China."" Today, few have heard of Richard and his remarkable lifetime of ministry in China. As the first critical examination of Richard's missionary identity, this groundbreaking historical study traces the narrative of Richard's early life in Wales and his formative first two decades of service in China. Richard's adaptations to the common evangelistic techniques of his day, his interest in learning from grassroots Chinese sectarian religions, his integration of evangelism and famine relief during the North China Famine (1876-79), his strategic decision to evangelize Chinese elites, and his complicated relationships with Hudson Taylor and other China missionaries are all explored through the writings and personal letters of Richard and his contemporaries. The resulting portrait represents a significant revision to existing interpretations of this influential China missionary, emphasizing his deep empathy for the people of China and his abiding evangelical identity. Readable and relevant, Encountering China provides a new generation with an introduction to this lost legend of China mission. ""Encountering China takes the forty-five year missionary career of Timothy Richard in the late nineteenth century as the focus for this book. It is a fascinating and readable study of a crucial period in Protestant, Evangelical China mission. . . This book is must reading for anyone contemplating work in China or elsewhere today. The roots of contemporary balanced ministry are clearly found in the work and life of Timothy Richard."" --Michael Pocock, Dallas Theological Seminary ""Kaiser's work is a major contribution to the study of Timothy Richard, a towering figure in modern mission history of China. It gives us a much more nuanced narrative and interpretation of Richard's famous missiological adjustment, and points to the complex dynamics of Protestant missionary movement in the nineteenth-century China. The future scholarship of China mission history would benefit from this outstanding work."" --Kevin Xiyi Yao, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary ""Andrew Kaiser's Encountering China contributes to mission reflection today by walking the reader carefully through the development of Timothy Richard's thought."" --Thomas Harvey, Oxford Center for Mission Studies, St. Philips and St. James Church Andrew T. Kaiser is the author of The Rushing On of the Purposes of God: Christian Missions in Shanxi since 1876. He and his family have been living in Shanxi since 1997, serving the people of the province through professional work and public benefit projects.

This bestselling textbook by leading missionary scholars offers an engaging introduction to the work of missions in the contemporary world. It provides a broad overview of the biblical, theological, and historical foundations for missions. It also considers personal and practical issues involved in becoming a missionary, the process of getting to the mission field, and contemporary challenges a mission worker must face. Sidebars, charts, maps, and numerous case studies are included. This new edition has been updated and revised throughout and features a full-color interior. Additional resources for professors and students are available online through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.