The story of Elijah the prophet and Elisha his successor is one of mentorship. Elijah’s earthly life is ending. He has prepared Elisha to receive his mantle. Having a mentor is...

As I read about Jesus departing into a deserted place, I wonder if there is any relationship between it and the deserted places mentioned in other passages in the scripture. In...

I teach courses in missiology and ecclesiology at the Methodist University in Kindu, Maniema Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. My students are mostly student pastors who are assigned to...

Church people commonly assume that God favors church people over “unchurched” people. This kind of mentality leads us to act in ways that ensure that those “unchurched” people will stay the...

According to statistics from the General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist missionaries serve in professional careers as educators, health workers, pastors, evangelists, church coordinators, agriculturists, development specialists, community organizers, and...

In some parts of Eastern DRC, traveling by road, air, or river can be challenging, as some areas still have pockets of active violent conflicts, remnants of these long years of...

Sometimes we ask questions—in our minds or audibly—to clarify a situation or subject, to gain knowledge, or to generate new ideas. At other times we ask questions to guide a conversation...

Since June 2018, I have been serving as a Global Ministries missionary in a post-conflict community and church reconstruction context with the East Congo Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church...

Jesus’ teaching authority is demonstrated concretely when a man possessed by an unclean spirit interrupts the lesson and asks, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you...

We meet Jesus in Capernaum teaching in the synagogue on the sabbath. Mark does not tell us about the lesson because the lesson was not the point. The emphasis was on...