Month: February 2013

The Problem of Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is believing in the superiority of one’s ethnic group. Even though it sounds like ethnocentrism is bad, ethnocentrism has positive and negative qualities. For a minority group in oppressive conditions, ethnocentrism enables the group to create and sustain an identity over extended periods of time. The downside of ethnocentrism is that it causes a people…

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Comfort for those who mourn

I was reading through William Barclay’s commentary on Matthew. He has some thoughts about the second beatitude on the Sermon on the Mount that just blessed me. This is a synopsis of what he wrote: Blessed are those who mourn – When people go to God in godly sorrow for their sin they receive the full…

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Why Integral or Wholistic Engagement?

Why is wholistic or integral engagement with God’s world a fundamental aspect of Interserve’s ethos? This quote from Change Across Cultures by Bruce Bradshaw, published by Baker Academic in 2002 highlights why wholistic engagement is so important: The great [overseas] outreach of the 19th and 20th centuries planted churches around the world. It was less successful, however,…

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