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November 27, 2019 25 mins

If we'll listen, we can learn a great deal from history. Listen to discover what God has done throughout the centuries and how we can all be involved.

Learning about the history of missions can help us see what God is up to in the world today. Ed Smither comes to share about his new book, World Mission: A Concise Global History. This book shows how God has used many kinds of people to share the Good News of Jesus around the world.

Ed is a professor and the Dean of Intercultural Studies and history of Christianity. He also has travelled the world doing missions work and using history to tell people about Jesus. During the show, Ed reminds us about the need to know where Christian mission came from and what it has to say to the Church today.

What We Talked About

  • 00:23 - Episode introduction
  • 01:22 - Welcoming Ed Smither
  • 01:54 - What inspired you to write this book?
  • 02:59 - Who is this book intended for?
  • 03:33 - Parts of the book that stand out
  • 05:11 - Living out missions in everyday life
  • 06:06 - Defining what missions is
  • 07:27 - Entering the greatest divide
  • 09:17 - What reduces long-term effectiveness?
  • 11:01 - How did your work impact your book?
  • 13:03 - Places with rich Christian history
  • 14:55 - What does history have to tell us?
  • 16:21 - Looking at trends in Christian world
  • 17:29 - The story of Christianity
  • 19:08 - Where to find the book and to connect
  • 19:28 - How can we best pray for you?
  • 19:53 - Encouragement to pray
  • 20:15 - Closing thoughts
  • 22:13 - Bonus segment

Resources & Contact Info


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