It is Lenten time. I have been thinking about a set of passages at the heart of the Lenten season – the “Servant Songs,” in the wonderful book of Isaiah. You will recognize these songs, I am sure (Isaiah 42:1-4; … (read more)
I have been thinking lately about stone jars. Stone jars figured prominently in the gospel text for the Second Sunday of Epiphany, read all around the world a few weeks ago. I was visiting friends and colleagues in India at … (read more)
This month we reach the conclusion of our 75th anniversary year celebration. We have outlined eight decades of our mission history over the course of the last twelve months. So now what? Deeper We must go deeper. Spiritual maturity is … (read more)
Last month we concluded our 75th anniversary celebration; this month we begin our 76th year together. It is a dangerous passage. The great danger of anniversary years – advanced anniversary years, in particular – is that agencies (and people sometimes, … (read more)
How does one get to South Sudan? (You will find the destination described in the preceding article.) How does one get to the rugged tribal territories of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? How do you find your way to the border crossings … (read more)
Last month we reviewed the remarkable growth of the church here and there around the world: 50,000 sisters and brothers in Mongolia, up from a handful three decades ago; a million more in Nepal; nearly half-a-billion on the continent of … (read more)
May I be perfectly frank? Sometimes I wonder what, precisely, we have accomplished in seventy-five years. We have prayed many prayers, it is true. We have sent many hundreds of missionaries. We have received the donations of faithful sisters and … (read more)
It is estimated that one third of our human family has yet to hear the Good News. More than two billion persons. The Good News is not broadcast on their radios. The Good News is not available in their bookstores. … (read more)
A little leaven, sometimes, goes a long way. Lars Olsen Skrefsrud required a bit of leaven, that’s for sure. He was a rowdy young man, given to drink, carousing and petty thievery. By the time he was eighteen years old, … (read more)
The World Mission Prayer League has been at work in Africa since 1968, as you will read in this month’s newsletter. We were centuries late to the scene. The gospel has been at work in Africa since New Testament times … (read more)