
The cover photos illustrate just how international mission has become. The first photo shows OMF members at the Central Thailand Field Conference in 1958. Contrast this with the second photo taken at a recent OMF Field Conference held in Thailand and it becomes clear how global OMF has become. Five continents and more than seventeen countries were represented. Nations included Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Uruguay, UK, and USA. Also noticeable is an increasing number of ethnic Asians joining from non-Asian countries.
The New Missionary Force: Mission from the Majority World
This issue takes up some papers from OMF’s April 2016 Mission Research Consultation on “The Future of Mission” to examine several aspects of how the Majority World has impacted mission.
In the first article, Eldon Porter highlights some major issues that need to be addressed as mission agencies and churches interact on a global scale. The next two articles zoom in on mission to and from China. Things the Chinese Christians have experienced will benefit the church in other countries as they move out in mission to their own people or cross-culturally. An interview with Patrick Fung records his reflections on some of the ideas on partnership with the global church. The final article steps back in history to introduce the Bethel Bands, one of the significant indigenous evangelistic movements in China in the first half of the twentieth century.