Missionary Methods: ST. Paul’s Or Ours: by- Roland Allen M.A (ISBN-9789389069167)

Missionary Methods: ST. Paul’s Or Ours: by- Roland Allen M.A (ISBN-9789389069167)

An observation – What is interesting about this book, written 100 years ago, is how much of it applies to church-building today, in the 21st century. Although it is titled Missionary Methods, it is about far more than missions overseas during the Age of Missions. It is about church planting today. It addresses how pastors should look at their congregations; and how they can release the people of God to do the work of Christ in the world, by the power of the Spirit. Not to trust our people with that work, not to equip them for that work, is not to trust God. We pastors tend to be as paternalistic today, inside our own borders, with our own people, as these missionary societies were 100 years ago with the natives of foreign lands. We tend to be as prone to hold onto control in our own practices, and to make ourselves as indispensable, as the missionary societies whose practices Roland Allen describes here. And we tend to use the same justifications for our misbehavior as they did. This is a wonderfully informative and useful exposé of unbiblical practices in the founding and establishing of churches overseas, and at home. – W.H. Gross