What does the image of God have to do with missions? In my view, everything. After making the case that we need to go back to creation to begin our exploration of mission in the Bible, chapter 1 of Fill the Earth examines what it means for God to create humanity as His image. You'll notice …
Continue reading "Fill the Earth: The Image of God and Missions"
Where in the Bible does "missions" begin? This is a question that many people don't think about much, and one that missiologists and missionaries (hopefully!) think about quite often. Either way, to have a truly biblical understanding of the church's call to missions, we must have a robust comprehension of missions as it appears throughout …
Continue reading "Fill the Earth: Where in the Bible Does “Missions” Begin?"
Friends, I'm delighted to announce the publication of my book, Fill the Earth: The Creation Mandate and the Church's Call to Missions. Since many of us are quarantined at home these days and perhaps have more (or at least different!) time on our hands, I thought I would write a series of short posts introducing …
Grateful to see my short article on unreached people groups featured on The Gospel Coalition. Check it out!
Caroline and I first came to Japan in the summer of 2008 to see if this is where God might be calling us to serve. After spending the summer here and teaching two courses at Christ Bible Seminary, we felt the Lord directing us to live and minister here. At the end of that …
When theological students first begin to learn the biblical languages, previously untraversed trails of exegesis suddenly present themselves, leading to a vast new world of interpretation that was formerly unavailable. Having received the basic tools necessary to enter this new world, many a young theologian packs up his gear and enters it with confidence, believing …
Continue reading "The Great Commission: Are We Actually Commanded to “Go”?"
In one sense, I’m not especially qualified to write a post giving advice on writing sermons in another language. After all, I have a whopping one sermon in Japanese under my belt. But the process that has led up to this single sermon has taught me something about writing a sermon in another language that …
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Our family has lived in Japan now for 6 months. After spending our first month adjusting and getting our house and life set up, for the past several months I've been ensconced in Japanese language school, studying what has been rated the most difficult language in the world for English speakers to learn. By God's …
Continue reading "The Labor and Benefits of Language Learning"
We in the Newkirk clan are nearing our departure for Japan, and as we stand here toward the end of this preparation journey, I thought I'd say a word about missions and (grand)parents. I say (grand)parents here to refer to the parents of missionaries and, more significantly, the grandparents of missionary kids. As we have …
It was most poignantly on a flimsy folding chair in the middle of a dirt “field” in Juarez, Mexico that I (Caroline) began to grasp the concept that the church is far more than a building. It was a Sunday morning, and I was 18, on a short-term mission trip. As our church’s mission team …
Newkirks in Japan 