2010-08-09T16:28:20-05:00 GCI info@gospel.com /feeds/topics/understanding/ http://internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/1341 2010-08-09T16:28:20-05:00 In a rapidly changing world, we need to make frequent conceptual leaps for effective ministry. A few years back, a European manufacturer of industrial drilling machines was suffering badly with competition from products manufactured in the Far East. Wisely, they called in consultants to help them see a way forward. “So, how would you describe your business,” asked the consultants. “Well, we sell drilling machines, of course,” they replied. “Well, actually, you don’t,” said the consultants. “You enable people to make holes.” This new way of perceiving their role led them to switch to making laser-equipment for cutting holes, with renewed business success. http://internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/356 2010-08-09T15:34:14-05:00 To share with Muslims, we do need to understand how they think. Here are several articles to help us think through these issues: * The Missing Father – explaining a Trinitarian Concept of God to Muslims * Understanding shame cultures – completely different to the culture you probably belong to * Oral Communication Cultures – although Muslims are people of the book, they are also within a broadly oral communication culture (as indeed are many westerners who do not get much information from print media) http://internetevangelismday.com/contextualization.php 2010-08-07T18:24:04-05:00 Contextualization means, quite simply, communicating the gospel in understandable terms appropriate to the audience. All Christian communication should be contextualized. A Sunday School teacher using simple language and child-related illustrations, games, and activities, is contextualizing. A pastor sharing a message in a senior citizens’ home, with appropriate sermon illustrations and an understanding of the unique needs of old people, is using contextualization. http://internetevangelismday.com/gray-matrix.php 2010-08-07T17:43:15-05:00 Engel promoted a revolution. Not Engels the Marxist thinker, but James Engel the missiologist. He first outlined what has become known as the 'Engel Scale of Spiritual Decision'. This describes the way in which an individual, or by extension a whole group, progress in their understanding of the Gospel, as God's sovereign grace begins to illuminate their hearts. By understanding the way God communicates, we can become better co-communicators. http://internetevangelismday.com/bookreviews/the-new-media-frontier.php 2010-08-07T13:21:22-05:00 This valuable handbook features sections from 14 contributors, each expert in their fields, and actually covers more ground than the title implies. Its main purpose is to help us understand the digital media and how they are changing communication for ever. Blogging, podcasting, apologetics, evangelism, and the Christian academic world are all examined critically. There’s a helpful section on the development of distance learning. Journalism and ethics are explored too. http://internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/2113 2010-08-04T17:57:46-05:00 Here is a long but very useful analysis by John Naughton, Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology at the Open University. He is currently working on a book about the internet phenomenon. http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%203:5&version=NIV 2009-09-25T10:33:11-05:00 Human knowledge and wisdom can only get us so far--they certainly aren't enough to show us the way to God. We're to lean on God's infinite wisdom, not on our own limited abilities. http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%202:14&version=KJV 2009-09-20T18:10:18-05:00 Without God, we cannot fully understand the teachings and work of the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to help us discern God's will for our lives. http://hutchcraft.com/a-word-with-you/your-personal-power/premature-bombs-2814 2009-09-17T16:41:06-05:00 There are so many craters, so many wounded people where someone has dropped a bomb that never should have been dropped. A disaster can be averted when we check our information before the bombers are in the air. http://hutchcraft.com/a-word-with-you/your-mission/the-name-that-says-it-all-5908 2009-09-11T12:59:09-05:00 There's no other kind of relationship with Jesus that will get you to heaven; not Jesus as your teacher, not Jesus as your religion, not Jesus as your belief. It has to be Jesus as your rescuer from your sin. If you've never really thrown your arms around God's rescuer and said, "Save me, Lord," don't wait another day to do that.