By discipling Jesus families to break addictions and to serve their neighbors, solutions can be implemented, and deadly practices overcome, in whole communities, as they have throughout history.
The modern practice of extracting individual believers out of their families and communities not only stops movements to Christ from spreading but also keeps communities from being transformed.
By “perfecting holiness out of reverence for God,” (II Cor.7:1) believers will shine as beacons in their households and communities, serving and loving families, neighbors, and even long-standing enemies. A shallow gospel preaches salvation without sanctification or transformation, “having the form of godliness but denying its power” (II Tim 3:1-5). Telos seeks to reclaim for pioneering witness the original evangelical DNA of accountability for personal holiness, beneficial enterprises, and social reform.
Learn more about how God has not just blessed families but transformed whole communities and nations through the movements to Christ, and how we can continue to foster such transformation:
This issue of Mission Frontiers magazine highlighted the historical role that missionaries played in helping to free cultures from addictive substances and deadly practices. But it also is a call for Gospel messengers to oppose the “global death industries” today that are making huge amounts of money causing the death of people and destruction of families whom God loves:
NOTE: To adequately see the graphics of some of the articles, they must be viewed as PDF files.
Dr Ralph Winter discusses the amazing community transformation of early evangelical missions, lost in later years but needing to be revived. The Future of Evangelical Missions: Will We Regain the Vision of our Forefathers in Faith?
Also by Dr Winter: Learning from Our Mistakes
Blessing as Transformation:
A Call for Servant Catalysts to Join God’s Mission of Transformation
Transformation in Community: Discerning Innovative Ways Forward in Mission