Strike The Match With J. D. Payne

One reason churches do not participate in church planting is because they believe it is beyond their abilities. And I would agree that church planting is beyond most churches as long as we use the typical western definition of church planting.  When we turn to the Scriptures, we do not see church planting as something […]

There is much in the Bible that addresses the topic of shame (referenced more than twice as often as the notion of guilt). This is good news as we labor among the 4 billion! For most of the world is not as individualistically-oriented as we in the West. Matters such as honor and shame affect […]

Dean Merrill, collaborating with Patrick Johnstone, recently published Serving God in Today’s Cities: Facing the Challenge of Urbanization. This book is a great introduction to our urban world and ministry today. Three percent of the world’s population lived in cities in 1800. By 2100, 90% of the global population will live in cities. Most of […]

A stewardship of innovation exists within the Kingdom. We often do not think in such terms or recognize this responsibility we have received. If Jesus is building His Church and we are filled with a dynamic Spirit, then change should be expected. We do not innovate for the sake of innovation. We innovate as the […]

We have better information on unreached people groups living in the most remote places of the world than we do of those same groups living in the United States and Canada. We know the world; we do not know our neighborhood. I recently spoke with Dr. Bryan Galloway, Senior Research Analyst with the International Mission […]

If the first century disciples approached disciple making and church planting with the complexity we have in the West, the gospel would have never left the Middle East. We want reach the world with the extraordinary working through complexity. But what if the way to reach the nations is not through such means? What if […]

We are living in a time when the greatest number of Muslims are coming to faith. Last year, David Garrison noted this reality in his book A Wind in the House of Islam: How God is Drawing Muslims around the World to Faith in Jesus Christ. David traveled over 250,000 miles into every area of […]

I greatly appreciate the work of the Pew Research Center. They recently released a very important study: “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050.” This work is filled with a great deal of information. For example, by 2050, the global Muslim population will nearly equal the global Christian population and the global religiously […]

Christian holidays often provide many excellent opportunities to share our faith with others. With Easter around the corner, I want share with you a conversation I had with Jonathan Dodson, pastor of City Life Church (Austin, Texas). In 2014, he published two books–one for unbelievers, the other for believers. In this episode, we discuss these […]

I recently spoke with Dr. David Platt about his transition to the role of the president of the International Mission Board (IMB). David stopped by the office to record this conversation for Strike the Match. In this episode, we talk about family, restructuring and future of the IMB, diaspora missiology, meaningful collaboration between the IMB […]

What is apostolic missiology? Why is it important to mission in a post-Christianized context? Why does the Church in the West primarily operate from a pastoral missiology? In this episode, I address these and other questions related to mission today. Our theology shapes our missiology. Our missiology shapes our missionary methods. How we begin the […]

Ruth Tucker writes, “Shrouded in legend and glorified by sainthood, Patrick, Ireland’s great fifth-century missionary is one of the most misrepresented figures in church history” (From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, 37). On this first episode of Strike the Match, we are discussing, “Who was St. Patrick and what can we learn for today?” I felt […]

I am thankful the day has finally arrived.  Strike the Match is now public. I don’t know who created the idea of an “episode 0,” but I like it. It allows for a test run to work out the bugs. 0 says, “We’re not there yet; please be patient with us.” Since you are readers […]