The role of the Christian anthropologist

In an informal conversation with university students in São Paulo few years ago, I heard the question, “Can an anthropologist be a Christian?” As I was preparing to answer, a complementary question arose, “Could a Christian be an anthropologist?” The questions were rooted in a collective perception of incompatibility between anthropology and the Christian faith, or even between science and faith. I started the answer by stating that not every anthropologist…

Church Planting Theology

This article describes some theological criteria for church planting (CP) and its relationship to evangelism. CP is normally associated with evangelism, but carries a variety of meanings and concepts. According to Van Rheenen it is “initiating reproductive fellowships that reflect the kingdom of God in the world” but it is also linked with church nurturing, maturation and growth. Malphurs defines…

Our Experience as Church Planters among the Konkomba

Since 1994 we have been involved in seeking to reach part of the Bimonkpeln, a branch of the Konkomba tribe, in the Koni area of North-east of Ghana, Africa. We were sent to them by WEC Ghana where we could see the Lord’s hands blessing the ministry and over 10 churches were born in our area in the first 5…

New Borders

Evaluating the barriers to reach the remaining unchurched groups in our changeble world There is a Gonja proverb in Ghana which says, “the dogs of yesterday can not catch the rabbits of today”. Culturally this means that some new barriers in the tribal society can not be treated with old solutions. In the missiological point of view it may help…

Church Planting and the cross-cultural Gospel comm

Understanding the Hidden World Introduction A close observation of Animist groups and their societies around the world will reveal that religion is at the root of each culture and is the determining principle of life. It is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that in a traditional Animist worldview, religion is life and life is religion. In a simple way we…