The Rise and Role of the Missions Pastor [LINK: Christianity Today]

Recently, I had the opportunity to work on a project with missiologist Ed Stetzer, detailing a major shift that is already in the works in Western-rooted missions work. In a nutshell, churches (especially large churches) are increasingly moving away from partnerships with missions agencies and denominations and are taking on the missions task on their own, forging alliances with indigenous partners around the world. Ed gave an address at Missio Nexus on this subject last year, detailing out some of the opportunities and challenges that this shift presents. That address, alongside some focus groups with missions pastors around the country facilitated between Ed and Heather Matthews from Wheaton Graduate School, became the building blocks to create these two pieces published yesterday by Christianity Today.

You can find part one here and part two here.