LUTHERAN MISSION MATTERS Journal of the Lutheran Society for Missiology Volume XXVI, No. 1 (Issue 52) May 2018 https://lsfm.global Copyright 2018 Lutheran Society for Missiology. Used by permission. View Lutheran Mission Matters 26, no. 1 (2018) at https://lsfm.global/. Membership in LSFM is available at https://lsfm.global/joinlsfm.html. E-mail [email protected] to purchase a print copy of a single issue. LUTHERAN MISSION MATTERS —Journal of the Lutheran Society for Missiology, Inc.— ISSN 2470-1874 (print); ISSN 2470-1882 (online) EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Rev. Dr. Victor Raj, Editor & Chairman Mr. Marcos Kempff Rev. Dr. Robert Kolb, Editor Rev. Dr. Jon Diefenthaler Rev. Dr. Joel Okamoto, Book Editor Rev. Dr. Rudy Blank Rev. John F. Perling, Secretary Rev. Dr. Richard Carter, DCE Rev. Jeffrey Thormodson Mrs. Miriam Carter Rev. Dr. Daniel L. Mattson Rev. Dr. Andrew H. Bartelt Rev. Dr. Robert Scudieri Rev. Dr. William W. Schumacher Mr. David O. Berger Lutheran Mission Matters continues the publication of Missio Apostolica, the journal of the Lutheran Society for Missiology founded in 1993. Lutheran Mission Matters is published twice a year in the spring and fall by the Lutheran Society for Missiology, Inc. (LSFM), and special issues may be published occasionally. Lutheran Mission Matters serves as an international Lutheran forum for the exchange of ideas and discussion of issues related to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ globally. The views expressed by the individual writers, however, are not necessarily the views of the editors, Editorial Committee, or the Board of Directors of LSFM. The journal is an open-access publication and is available online at https://lsfm.global. Members of the society who contribute more than $30 per year may choose to receive an identical paper copy of the journal. The journal is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database (online journal index of the American Theological Library Association) and its related online full-text component, ATLAS (American Theological Library Association Serials). ATLAS may be accessed at no charge by alumni of many seminaries upon request to the library of their alma mater. Since its inception the journal has been edited by an editorial committee led by these individuals: Editor: Won Yong Ji (1993–1996); Robert Kolb (1996–2011); Victor Raj (2012); Robert Kolb (2013–) Editor and Chairman: Victor Raj (2013–) Chairman: Daniel L. Mattson (2011–2012) Book Review Editor: Willard Burce (1993); Charles P. Arand (1994–1996); David R. Schmitt (1996–2002); Joel Okamoto (2002–) Copyright 2018, The Lutheran Society for Missiology, Inc., St. Louis. Cover design by Justin Kumfer Copyright 2018 Lutheran Society for Missiology. Used by permission. View Lutheran Mission Matters 26, no. 1 (2018) at https://lsfm.global/. Membership in LSFM is available at https://lsfm.global/joinlsfm.html. E-mail [email protected] to purchase a print copy of a single issue. LUTHERAN MISSION MATTERS Journal of the Lutheran Society for Missiology, Inc. Volume XXVI, No. 1 (52) May 2018 CONTENTS Inside This Issue ......................................................................................................... 3 Rev. Dr. Eugene W. Bunkowske ............................................................................... 6 Trends In Missiology Today Eugene W. Bunkowske ............................................................................. 12 ARTICLES Recovering the Heart of Mission Robert Newton & Marcos Kempff (tr.) ................................................... 23 The Confessing Church: An Act of Excluding or the Art of Gathering? Michael W. Newman ............................................................................... 58 Confessing Sin in Mission Richard Carter ......................................................................................... 69 Confession as Mission in a Secular Age Gabe Kasper ............................................................................................ 81 A Lutheran Perspective on the Influence of Life of Brainerd on the Church’s Understanding of and Approach to Missions since Its Publication in the mid-Eighteenth Century Vernon E. Wendt Jr. ................................................................................ 90 Cultivating a New Perspective on Unity in Worship Practices Laura M. Pulliam .................................................................................... 106 INBOX David O. Berger .................................................................................................. 115 Daniel L. Mattson ............................................................................................... 119 ENCOUNTERING MISSION Applying the Great Commission Derrick Miliner ....................................................................................... 124 Confessing the Faith in Print: From Mongolia to the Muslim Diaspora and Beyond Matthew Heise ........................................................................................ 128 REVIEWS ............................................................................................................... 134 Copyright 2018 Lutheran Society for Missiology. Used by permission. View Lutheran Mission Matters 26, no. 1 (2018) at https://lsfm.global/. Membership in LSFM is available at https://lsfm.global/joinlsfm.html. E-mail [email protected] to purchase a print copy of a single issue. LUTHERAN SOCIETY FOR MISSIOLOGY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Rev. Dr. Daniel L. Mattson, Chairman Rev. Dr. Victor Raj, Editor & Chairman Professor Phil Johnson, Vice-chairman Rev. Dr. Robert Kolb, Editor Rev. Michael Lange, Secretary Rev. Dr. Joel Okamoto, Book Editor Mrs. Ruth Mattson, Treasurer Rev. John F. Perling, Secretary Rev. Jeffrey Thormodson, Executive Director Rev. Dr. Daniel L. Mattson Rev. Dr. Victor Raj, Editor Rev. Jeffrey Thormodson Mr. David O. Berger Mr. Marcos Kempff Rev. Dr. Robert Scudieri Rev. Dr. Jon Diefenthaler Rev. Dr. Rudy Blank Rev. Dr. Richard Carter, DCE Mrs. Miriam Carter Rev. Dr. Andrew H. Bartelt Rev. Dr. William W. Schumacher ALL CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD BE SENT TO THE OFFICE OF THE EDITOR: LUTHERAN MISSION MATTERS TEL: (314) 505-7116 801 Seminary Place FAX: (314) 505-7124 St. Louis, MO 63105, USA BOOKS FOR REVIEW SHOULD BE SENT TO THE BOOK EDITOR: Joel Okamoto TEL: (314) 505-7152 801 Seminary Place E-mail: [email protected] St. Louis, MO 63105, USA EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Stacey Parker c/o Dr. Victor Raj 801 Seminary Place E-mail: [email protected] St. Louis, MO 63105, USA Stay connected with LSFM. LSFM’s website Find us on Facebook. https://lsfm.global https://www.facebook.com/ LutheranSocietyforMissiology Copyright 2018 Lutheran Society for Missiology. Used by permission. View Lutheran Mission Matters 26, no. 1 (2018) at https://lsfm.global/. Membership in LSFM is available at https://lsfm.global/joinlsfm.html. E-mail [email protected] to purchase a print copy of a single issue. Inside This Issue: Confessing in Mission It has been said, and it is biblical, that people without a vision perish. Lutheran Mission Matters and its publisher, the Lutheran Society for Missiology, are the result of a godly vision that its founders received a quarter century ago. The Spirit of Lord set apart three Lutherans, Eugene Bunkowske, Robert Scudieri, and Paul Mueller to become innovators in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, casting a vision for a Lutheran interpretation of Christian mission that would give birth to a society and a journal that would function as an international forum for the exchange of ideas and discussion of issues related to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ globally. Soon the society would develop various chapters, and the publications would enlarge to newsletters, mission observer notes, and significant books on mission. An extremely gifted international authority on Martin Luther and Lutheran theology, Professor Won Yong Ji, served as the journal’s first editor. Dr. Paul Heerboth, an early postwar Lutheran missionary to Japan chaired the Society’s publication committee. The Lord in His wisdom called these two saints to His eternal home during the past decade. This year, in March, Gene Bunkowske also departed from us to be with the Lord. We dedicate this issue to Bunkowske, remembering the decades of missionary service that he with his family rendered to the church and world. Eugene was one of the greatest twentieth-century missiologists. He was an accomplished theological educator of the church, a linguist, a cross-cultural communicator who served particularly the Yala people in Nigeria, working with them toward translating Scripture into their mother tongue for the first time. Stateside, Eugene organized the mission congresses at Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, and engaged numerous international students and theologians from across the globe. Eugene was an exceptionally gifted churchman, missionary, and theologian for whom the status of the rich and the poor, the illiterate and the sophisticated made no difference. Everyone needed God, and everyone must hear and believe in the grace that God lavished upon all on account of His Son, Jesus Christ. In this issue, the journal honors Bunkowske by republishing the introductory article he wrote for the journal’s first issue. It is supplemented by the memories that Paul Mueller and Robert Scudieri share with us as part of the initial mission trio that formed our society and directed its publications. The Editorial Committee had previously announced