International Bulletin of Mission Research

In writings by Nellie Arnott, who taught for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Angola from 1905 to 1912, we find a complex interplay between affiliation and distancing in portrayals of her students and their communities. A somewhat different version of Arnott and her students appears in narratives written by editors and contributors to her main publication venue, Mission Studies: Woman’s Work in Foreign Lands. This essay investigates discursive tensions between her own narrative stance and that of her magazine managers, whose views on racial issues often displayed stereotypical bias against, and limited knowledge about, Angola.

American missionary William Newbern (1900–1972), one of the first C&MA missionaries to China, is known as the father of the Hong Kong Alliance Bible Seminary. Newbern, a successful evangelist and educator, also made a major contribution to Chinese hymnology in the mid-twentieth century, especially in his editorial role in preparing Youth Hymns, whose hymns are still used in Chinese churches today. As primary sources, I use mainly his autobiography (The Cross and the Crown), his articles in Alliance Magazine, and his music commentaries Narrating Hymns (Shengshi mantan).

The Book of Common Worship of the Church of South India (CSI, a church developed from various Protestant denominations coming together) is said to be one of the greatest Christian expressions of unity in diversity. In this article I discuss the notion of the citizenship of children in church, specifically looking at the liturgical practices in the CSI. I first give a brief historical setting of the CSI and its liturgy and then investigate the status, identity, and rights of children within the context of worship in CSI churches.

Pope Francis has emphasized the importance of embracing the universal call to be “missionary disciples.” In calling for the 2018 Synod of Bishops on the theme of young people, he highlighted the need for church leaders to renew their understanding of and approach to young people as they discern how to embrace their call to be missionary disciples. The final document of the synod reveals that many church leaders still do not understand the pope’s vision or the reality of young adults. To overcome this interpretative bias, church leaders must reconstitute their worldview and embrace the decolonial option.

The pastoral responsibility of training children in faith requires an effective method of catechesis. This task, however, is often neglected or poorly practiced in some places. In the context of the Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria, catechesis for children faces many challenges, for it has not been updated since the missionary era. This article addresses this problem by applying a pastoral methodology of kairology for updating children’s catechesis. In a thematic format, it clarifies what needs to be done and how to go about it.

Luke’s presentation of the encounter with a demon-possessed slave girl (Acts 16:16–40) is considered in intertextual dialogue with recalled missional experiences with children in Brazilian favelas. The study offers an example of the hermeneutical potential of scriptural-experiential dialogue to inform the missional enterprise, in this instance helping to expose the “lords” of enslaving contra-kingdom power structures that challenge missional enterprise in situations of deprivation, while also highlighting the transformative lordship of Jesus.

English missionaries with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) began their work in Persia in 1869. In 1891 the CMS sent Mary Bird to Persia to evangelize Muslim women. In this article I consider Bird’s activities among Muslim women of Isfahan. Her work included establishing dispensaries and offering medical services to women and children. During the first phase of her time in Persia (1891–97), a small number of Muslim women and girls converted to Christianity.