Mobile Ed: MI102 Current Issues in Missions (6 hour course)
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
In Current Issues in Missions (MI102), Dr. Tim Sisk discusses the changing world situation since the beginning of the modern missions movement in the mid-19th century and introduces new mission opportunities and approaches these changes have created. He explores the impact and implications of globalization and the shift of the “Christian center” from Europe and European-derivative cultures to the southern hemisphere. Dr. Sisk also introduces the contemporary debates regarding appropriate contextualization and the relationship between evangelism, humanitarian relief, and issues of justice.
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion you should be able to:
- Identify major changes in global Christianity over the past 150 years and describe how these changes have impacted assumptions regarding missions and approaches to missions by Western missionaries and mission agencies
- Discuss the importance of theologies that have emerged from the global South and from other non-Western cultures
- Summarize missions tactics that hamper the independence of indigenous churches
- Identify examples of subtle residual attitudes of paternalism, racism, and colonialism that may linger in Western missionaries and mission organizations
- Describe the opportunities presented by business as mission (BAM)
- Evaluate the resource consumption and overall effectiveness of short-term missions
- Discuss the impact of spiritual conflict on the effectiveness of missionaries and describe various approaches to engagement in the conflict
- Identify theological matters that are currently being debated as the world moves toward cultural and religious pluralism
- Analyze approaches to contextualization and consider the matter of potential syncretism
- Present the leading positions in the debate over the roles of evangelism and social justice in missions
Course Outline
Introduction
- Introducing the Speaker and the Course
Unit 1: Transforming and Transitioning World Missions
- The Changing World
- The Difference a Hundred Years Makes
- From Edinburgh to Cape Town
- Growth in Global Christianity
- A Snapshot of Global Christianity
- 20th-Century Changes in Global Christianity
- Whose Religion Is Christianity?
- Previewing Global Theology Resources
- The Impact of Globalization
- The Changing Global Context
- The Changing Missionary Movement
- Emerging Leaders in Global Missions
- Changing Roles for Western Missionaries
- 21st-Century Paternalism
- Listening to the Global Church, Part 1
- Listening to the Global Church, Part 2
- Transforming Missionary Training
- Search for Articles on Missional Scripture Reading
- The North American Church’s Future Role in World Missions
Unit 2: Tent Making and Business as Mission
- Introduction to Business as Mission (BAM)
- Exploring Trends behind Tent Making and Business as Mission
- Reasons for and Models of Tent Making and Business as Mission
- Biblical and Historical Examples of Tent Making and Business as Mission
- Understanding the “T” Scale
- Positive Aspects of Tent Making and Business as Mission
- Negative Aspects of Tent Making and Business as Mission
- Basic Search on Protestant Clergy-Laity Dualism
- The Effect of Affluence on Mission
- Attitudes toward Affluence
- Barriers to Mission Created by Affluence
- Living in Intentional Simplicity
Unit 3: National Missionaries and Short-Term Missions
- National Missionaries from Indigenous Churches
- Positive Characteristics of National Missionaries
- Cautions regarding Use of National Missionaries
- Evaluating Support of National Missionaries
- Short-Term Missions
- Challenging Some Short-Term-Missions Presuppositions
- Listening to the Hosts
- Cautions regarding Short-Term Missions
- Potential Benefits of Short-Term Missions
- Your Role in Short-Term Missions
Unit 4: Ethics in Missions
- Run, Walk, Limp, Fall, or Finish Well
- Ethical Guidelines and Guard Rails
- Areas for Ethical Consideration
Unit 5: Theological Issues in Missions
- Theological Drift?
- Starting a Study on “Hell” Using the Bible Word Study
- Views Held on Hell and Salvation
- Defining “Hell” from Scripture
- Performing a Morphology Search on Jesus’ Use of “Gehenna”
- Do Theological Views Diminish a Passion for Evangelism?
- Is the Problem Solely Theological?
Unit 6: Spiritual Conflict and Missions
- Models for Spiritual Conflict
- The Mass Marketing of Spiritual Warfare
- A Warning and Some Observations
- Animism and Secularism
- Territorial Spirits
- Evaluating Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare
- Demonization and Deliverance
- Using the Bible Sense Lexicon to Study Demons
- Encounters with Demons in the New Testament
- Avoiding Demonic Influence
Unit 7: Dreams and Missions
- The Underappreciated Importance of Dreams
- Dreams in the Bible
- Using the Bible Sense Lexicon to Find Dreams in the Bible
- How Dreams and Visions Are Used by God
- Current Research on Dreams Leading to Conversion
Unit 8: Contextualization
- Contextualized Mission to Muslims
- Defining Contextualization
- Contextualization or Syncretism?
- Contextualization in Scripture
- Researching Contextualization in the Lexham Bible Dictionary
- Guidelines for Contextualization
- Creating a Faithlife Group for Missionaries
- Contemporary Evangelism and Contextualization
- Searching Themelios for “Insider Movement”
- Cautions regarding the Insider Movement
Unit 9: Words and Deeds
- Finding the Balance
- Three Approaches to Words and Deeds
- A Brief History of the Debate
- An Evangelical Debate
- The Primacy of Evangelism
Unit 10: The Local Church in Mission
- Can “Small” Succeed where “Big” Fails?
- Christ, Church, and Kingdom
- Changing World, Changing Missions
Product Details
- Title: MI102 Current Issues in Missions
- Instructor: Timothy Sisk
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2014
- Product Type: Logos Mobile Education
- Resource Type: Courseware, including transcripts, audio, and video resources
- Courses: 1
- Video Hours: 6
Timothy Sisk
Dr. Timothy Sisk, professor and chair of world missions and evangelism at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, has been in vocational ministry for nearly 30 years. He specializes in church planting, history of missions, and global theology.
Dr. Sisk and his wife, Donna, served as missionaries for 14 years in Japan and Bolivia. He also coauthored The Third Wave Movement and Missions Today and coedited Reflections on Urban Mission for the Twenty-First Century.
Getting the most out of Mobile Ed
Logos Mobile Education is a highly effective cross-platform learning environment that integrates world class teaching with the powerful study tools and theological libraries available in Logos Bible Software. Every course provides links to additional resources and suggested readings that supplement the lecture material at the end of every transcript segment.
This course was produced with screencast videos. These videos provide tutorials showing you how to use Logos Bible Software in ways that are tied directly into the content of the course. We are now producing Activities resources as a replacement for screencast videos. We plan on updating this course to include this additional Activities resource in the future for no extra charge.
Reviews
2 ratings
Kevin Bratcher
6/12/2018
Danielle Burlaga
3/28/2017
I'm near finishing MI102 Current Issues in Missions and have enjoyed it thoroughly! As a student going into ministry, watching Dr. Sisk's lecture is the best part of my day. Dr. Sisk has addressed many lingering questions in my mind and given me a basic biblical framework for missions. Several of the units have shaped my understanding at a crucial time. I've been able to understand the general global mission field shifts while praying about where to serve, discuss short-term missions with friends leaving on trips and study long-standing theological questions in my mind. I also appreciate Dr. Sisk's choice of reading material to accompany the course—not too much, not too little. I would highly recommend this course to a friend. It has been such a blessing in my life!
