A Veteran Missionary's Seminar on Prayer

What if you were a missionary in Lebanon during the civil war there? What if you had to give a seminar on prayer to your congregation? I am very happy to share with you the work of (retired) missionary David King on prayer.

These lessons can be used in any congregation, anywhere in the world. They are based on Scripture, informed by scholarship, and tested in the fire of mission and ministry.

Take advantage of them for your own prayer life or a class in your congregation, home group, or small group:

David W. King on Prayer

Who are the Palestinian Christians?

Faculty Publication: why do some Muslims convert to Christianity?

Alex Miller, lecturer in church history and theology for NETS, has recently published an article analyzing studies on the reasons given by individuals from Muslim backgrounds regarding why they convert to Christianity.

The article can be found HERE, and was published in the Journal of Asian Mission.

Who are the Arab Christians?

Alex Miller, lecturer in Church History and Theology, recently discussed the question of who are the Arab Christians with Rani Espanioly for his ministry SALAM in the Holy Land. Here is the video:

Azar Ajaj and Phil Sumpter on the Convention of Evangelical Churches in Israel (CECI)

We are happy to now publish our third Mary's Well Occasional Paper of 2014. Written by Azar Ajaj and Phil Sumpter, it offers an account of the origin and contemporary situation of the Convention of Evangelical Churches in Israel (CECI), or as it is commonly called in in Arabic, al majma3.

Here are the first sentences:

In 2005, representatives from five Christian denominations in Israel—Baptists, Assemblies of God, Open Brethren and Church of the Nazarene (the latter including a smaller denomination within them, the Christian Missionary Alliance)—formed a coalition in order to make a bid with the Israeli government to gain recognition as an “official religion,” a unified entity entitled to the same rights and responsibilities as Israel’s other officially recognized religions. The purpose for seeking such a status was primarily practical, for non-recognition by the government inhibits the day-to-day functioning of individual congregations. 

Click HERE to download and read the entire PDF of volume 3:3 of Mary's Well Occasional Papers.

Mary's Well Occasional Paper 3:2: "Oh Christians, Leave our Lands"

We are pleased to announce our second occasional paper of 2014. The topic and tone are very different than what we have published before. The topic though (and you must read the paper before you understand its point) is worthy of your attention.

Please read it with care and withhold your judgment until the end. Here is the link:

Oh Christians, Leave our Lands, by Ahmad Al-Sarraf. Mary's Well Occasional Papers 3:2.

Christianity and Freedom: Palestinian Christians in Israel-Palestine

D. Alexander Miller, lecturer in Church History of NETS, and Phil Sumpter, who was a visiting researcher at our seminary. This video is from Panel 4 on the topic of Palestinian Christians in Israel-Palestine, and was presented in Rome on December 12th of 2013.

This was for the Christianity and Freedom Project.

Phil Sumpter's section begins at 27:00 and Miller's section begins at 40:31.

"Between the Hammer and the Anvil: Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land"

Alex Miller and Phil Sumpter were asked to compose an original article incorporating new field research on Christians in Israel-Palestine for the Christianity & Freedom project. They are now both in Rome for the conference and would like to share with you their article, "Between the Hammer and the Anvil: Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land".

The PDF can be downloaded from HERE or HERE.

New Faculty Publication

Alex Miller interviewed an experienced, veteran minister who spent many years in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and assisted in training new workers who went on to affect the Middle East in various ways. Here is part of that interview:

2) Your ministry put you in a position where you were able to know and influence a large number of young and new missionaries. What were some of the main things that you tried to teach them?

1. That pleasing God is the only worthy goal in any phase of ministry. Others goals constantly seek to influence us, i.e., fluency in the local language, impressing others, emulating some famous missionary of the past, having a large group of friends, saving money, winning a certain number of converts, not making the mistakes of so-and-so. All these goals, and many other seemingly worthy ones, compete for prominence in our thinking, but when allowed to dominate they can all become idolatrous and all devastating to the psyche, family, fellowship, and personal satisfaction of the worker.

2. Similarly, in language instruction I encouraged students to fo- cus on faithfulness to the language-learning process rather than on achieving results. I taught that faithfulness is our obligation whereas resulting skills are a gift of God, necessarily variable according to His will for each individual. Thus, I hoped, the terrible pressure of expec- tations in language acquisition would not add to the host of other difficulties and stresses already being experienced by students new to the culture of Jordan, and, counter-intuitively, the freedom from pressure would enable the student's mind to relax itself and acquire language more naturally and freely. 

3. I tried to pass on to students some insights into Jordanian culture. I hoped that my descriptions of customs and people of that land demonstrated both the God's love for the Arabs and the delightful humor that can be derived from cross-cultural experiences. 

The entire interview appears in Volume 8:6 of St Francis Magazine. Download the PDF by clicking HERE.