Chris Howles

Director of Cross-Cultural Training @OakHillLondon

Tweeting on all things Africa, mission, & global Christianity.

Doctorate @fullerseminary.
Founder @F_E_Nnet

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

@allenlyeh Great spot Allen! Almost 1000 pages, out last month, entirely passed me by!

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

Very much looking forward to this. Out in Jan.

For those not familiar, it involves asking if the voluntary cooperative structure (i.e. the 'mission agency') is

...a fundamental, biblical, God-ordained, Jesus-initiated structure/sodality of mission - extra to (albeit synergistic with, dependent on, complementary to) the church as modality,

...or just a historically-contingent, pragmatic, contextual moment in mission history - or worse, a subversion of God's plans in/for the church.

I've not seen a sustained book-length treatment of the concept before.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

@JB_MomaBear Yeah it's a whole different ballgame to some (not all) in the US. But of course, there are pros and cons to this...

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

Last year's Christmas Offering for one single US sending agency (IMB) was almost 3 times larger than the entire annual giving for 10 of the largest, most established UK evangelical mission agencies combined (MAF, OM, OMF, UFM, SIM, CMS, Crosslinks, AIM, WEC, Latin Link).

The financial power of the US in the evangelical missions movement is staggering.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

@Scott_W_Dunford Sure, all fair, but 1 Thess 2 fatherly care seeks another person's flourishing and maturity. Paternalism assumes superior wisdom, more in the Mark 10 and 1 Peter 5 variety.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

Helpful from Harvey Kwiyani. Changing the primary protagonists/direction of interntional mission movement doesn't automatically deolonise it. It requires a renewed missionary imagination.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

Podcasts for tomorrow's run. I'm gonna see if I can do 13 miles... It's been months since I got to that distance.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

@DrMarkPickett Everywhere. I entirely get the conclusion. But It doesn't come from any of these four points.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

@Jairus_Girl @AdamMerrivale haha sorry! Someone did once point out to me that AI had probably learnt from a lot of movie posters! But the book cover thing does seem a bit of an epidemic among self-published Christian mission books right now.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

Just in case anyone's missing my collection of yellow-orange hued 'back to the camera' missionary book covers, here's some released this month to go with the others....

(the 3rd one is a very good example of how you really need to check your AI images before publishing them...)

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

And there's more of this horridness this month again...An epidemic!

I officially call for a moratorium on AI-generated orangey book covers with silhouettes of people facing away from the camera.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

@AdamMerrivale I agree. Nothing appears connected to the book or anything else on the cover. The carrots are the pièce de résistance. Outstanding.

[Adam Thomas @AdamMerrivale]

A natural complement to the Christian Book Endorsement Awards, it's time for the Yellow-Orange Hued 'Back to the Camera' Missionary Book Awards:

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

@LittleLauraMcK I haven't checked all of them. I some certainly are. I can't understand how they allow, if they are allowing it, this to happen.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

@Scott_W_Dunford Yeah Tom alone did 2 episodes on the Beatles with your very own Conan O Brien, and Tom also interviewed Paul on the podcast about 3 or 4 months ago. They also did a one-off on the Beatles many years ago, Tom and Dominic together.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

Podcasts for tomorrow's run.

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

@Scott_W_Dunford I have. I listened a lot in it's very early days but I just admit I have limited time /energy to to listen to the extensive series' they seem to focus on these days. However I listened, as you'd imagine, to their Beatles and Paul Mccartney episodes! What's your experience?

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

Disturbingly true for a disturbingly high number of articles.

See also book introductions v whole book.

[Scholarship for PhD @ScholarshipfPhd]

Abstract vs Full Paper

[Chris Howles @ChrisHowles]

How many tickets will I need to buy to give me a 99.9% of getting Paul?

[DiscussingFish @DiscussingF1sh_]

All four 'BEATLES' biopics are set to release on the same day in April 2028.

The member of the band you watch will be randomized when you buy your ticket.

(Source: https://t.co/4o5kOXbKJ7)