REL 253-4 : Foundations of Mission

Presents a bird's eye view of Christian Reformed World Missions' history. Brief articles whet your appetite while beautiful photos illustrate the story, which extends over continents and generations.

In this frank, well-balanced account of the Reformed Church's Native American missions and churches, LeRoy Koopman recounts the spiritual journey of the "Jesus Road" shared by Reformed and Native American Christians. "Taking the Jesus Road" outlines how government and church often cooperated with each other in implementing shifting policies that allowed the native peoples little or no voice in their own destiny.

In the nineteenth century the Scudders went to India with the avowed intention to confine their efforts to evangelistic preaching. By the time the Reformed Church mission became a part of the Church of South India, it was one of the most heavily institutionalized churches in the nation, supporting agricultural and industrial efforts, one of India's leading hospitals, and numerous educational institutions.

This book is a touching tribute to the tenacious fidelity of almost forty Christian Reformed Church missionaries who labored for three decades in Eastern china. Well-written and easily readable, the book narrates the many trials and tribulations, as well as the very occasional successful achievements and joys, of a small band of CRC missioners, who sought to implant their Christian faith in China, albeit in the context of one of the most tumultuous periods of Chinese history.

Beginning with Japan's early exposure to Christianity by the very successful Roman Catholic mission to Japan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the resultant persecution and prohibition of Christianity, Laman lays the groundwork for understanding the experience of nineteenth-century Protestant missionaries, among whom those of the Reformed Church in America were in the forefront. The first Protestant church was organized with a vision for ecumenical mission, and during several promising years, churches and mission schools were organized.