This chapter is an excerpt from David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today (Within Reach Global, 2018).
Read the review by John Lathrop

The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong is one of history’s great anomalies. It was, in fact, a world unto its own.[i] Two governments claimed jurisdiction, but neither actively administered it; anarchy reigned while secret societies presided over the no-man’s land. High-rise apartments situated atop a labyrinth of dark, filthy corridors. A mere six acres sheltered the estimated 33,000 people who resided within the Walled City, swelling the population density to 3.25 million people per square mile.[ii] It was the most densely populated spot in the world. (In contrast, Manhattan has the highest population density of any city in the United States at 27,000 people per square mile.)[iii] Crazy-angled apartment blocks obstructed water pipes; without proper sanitation, excrement had to be emptied into the stinking alleys below. At street level, two toilets served all 33,000 residents. The “toilets” consisted of two overflowing cesspools—one for men and one for women. Damp, narrow alleyways with open drains harbored drug peddlers, addicts, pimps, and prostitutes. Triad gangs operated openly in the favored secret hideout; criminal activity ran rampant. Newcomers were immediately recognized and suspiciously monitored; few outsiders dared venture into the heart of the city of anarchy.

The history of the Walled City traced its roots back to the Song dynasty (960-1279) when the Chinese established an outpost to manage the salt trade. For hundreds of years afterward, little took place at the lonely fort, until 1842, when China ceded Hong Kong Island to Britain by the Treaty of Nanjing. As a result, the Qing Dynasty authorities felt it necessary to bolster the fort, check British influence, and maintain a stronghold opposite the harbor. In 1847, the construction of a formidable defensive wall finalized.

The Qing-era Kowloon Walled City, circa 1868.
Image: Wikimedia Common

The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory of 1898 leased additional portions of Hong Kong (the New Territories) to Britain for ninety-nine years.[iv] The lease excluded the Walled City, which at the time had a population of roughly seven-hundred people. The British government allowed Chinese officials to continue there, given they did not interfere with the defense of British Hong Kong. The Qing dynasty ended its rule in 1912, leaving the Walled City to the British.

In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, refugees fled mainland China, seeking protection in the Chinese territory surrounded by British land. By 1947, two-thousand squatters occupied the Walled City. After a failed attempt to drive them out in 1948, the British adopted a “hands-off” policy in most matters concerning the Walled City. The city was left to its own devices, and to develop, as Governor Sir Alexander Grantham described it, into “a cesspool of iniquity, with heroin divans, brothels, and everything unsavoury.”[v] The Kowloon Walled City began its transformation into the squalid enclave of vice for which it later became notorious.

David Joannes has a burden for unreached people groups. For approximately twenty years now he has ministered in Asia bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to those who have not heard it. The Mind of a Missionary is his second and most recent book. In addition to his writing and missionary work, he is also the co-founder and president of Within Reach Global, a ministry which serves to spread the gospel in Southeast Asia.

The main body of the book is divided into four sections, each section comprised of three chapters. Section One is called “Motivations,” Section Two is “Expectations,” Section Three is “Risks,” and Section Four is “Rewards.” Some of the topics of these sections are internal matters and some are external, but they are all issues that missionaries have to grapple with. As the author explores each of these areas he discusses the ministries of real missionaries. A number of the missionaries he writes about are now dead but some are still alive. The missionaries whose stories provide the basis for each chapter are: Jim Elliot (and his team), C. T. Studd (the Cambridge Seven), Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, Robert Moffat, Jackie Pullinger, David Eubank, Nik and Ruth Ripken, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Don Richardson, and Heidi Baker. If you are familiar with past missions history many of these names will be familiar to you. A few in this list are still actively involved in ministry.

However, this book is not a compilation of missionary biographies. Some of the experiences of the individuals mentioned above are highlighted in the book in order to shed some light on the motivations, expectations, risks, and rewards of missionary service. But there is more in the book as well. In addition to the missionaries already mentioned Joannes shares some of his own experiences and those of other people in missionary work. It is encouraging to learn about some of the things that are happening around the world through people and ministries whose names are not widely known.

When: March 1, 2018, 8 p.m.

Where:  Thin Man Brewery in Buffalo, New York.
Thin Man Brewery, 492 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, New York 14222

Can a person practice charismatic spirituality and be intellectually serious? What are the philosophical implications of an active engagement in a spiritual world?

Dr. Amos Yong is Professor of Theology and Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Dr. Yong has authored or edited almost four dozen volumes, including In the Days of Caesar: Pentecostalism and Political Theology and Science and the Spirit: A Pentecostal Engagement with the Sciences (with James K.A. Smith).

Amos Yong writes: “We’ll see what the Spirit has to say among the spirits present at this event! Come and join us if you can.”

Buy your ticket (meal included) at the door or online: atonement.gvtls.com

The Nickel City Forum is a monthly gathering to learn about and discuss big ideas: theology, ethics, and culture. NCF is organized under Church of the Atonement. http://www.atonementbuffalo.com

Information temporarily available at: https://www.nickelcityforum.com/this-month/

More so, I was astonished to learn that the hawk’s complete transformation had been accomplished within three days after its removal from the wild. In that brief time it had become a voluntary prisoner, submissively doing the will of its captor and adapting to a strange and unnatural environment. But as I watched, I saw much more than a falconer and his captive bird. I saw a spiritual truth unfolding before my eyes—Truth—in the form of a question I want to ask you:

Can humans be mentally captured, removed from their natural state, subdued, and forced into a life-style that is totally alien to themselves and their role in the kingdom of God?

Image: Ruben Bagues

Let me illustrate the answer: In 1973, four bank employees in Stockholm, Sweden, were captured during a robbery and kept inside a vault. Strangely, within six days they became so devoted to their captors they not only resisted rescue but afterward refused to testify against the criminals. This psychological phenomenon became known as the Stockholm Syndrome and is identical to what happened to the hawk.

The most notorious instance of the Syndrome in America came in 1974 when 19 year-old millionaire-heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, kept in a dark closet, blindfolded, and abused. Then something strange happened; Patty joined her captors’ organization, renamed herself “Tanya” and took part in robbing a bank of which she and her parents were part owners. When captured and tried, Patty was sentenced to seven years in prison. In another case, an airline hostage later married one of her captors. Politically, we call this transformation “brain-washing”. A large Church of Christ in Boston, Massachusetts, was recently accused of using this tactic in “converting” new members. One of their steps was to deprive the people of sleep through all-night “prayer”, then, at dawn, church officials mentally bombarded them with religious ideology and overwhelmed them psychologically. In such a deviate method, the Holy Spirit was unneeded-just “mind control”.

I have a dear friend who as a child was accused of a crime he did not commit—but one to which he confessed after police interrogated him under bright lights for eight hours. Thankfully, he is a committed Christian today but his normal life was stolen from him by this horrendous childhood event. We have all heard of traumatized wives who refuse to leave an abusive husband. The style of maltreatment may change but the end-result is the same: The mind can be taken captive by powers of darkness.

These lectures were given as part of the 8th annual Stanley M. Horton Pentecostal Heritage Lectureship Series, held on February 3-5, 2015 at Evangel University and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

These lectures were given as part of the 8th annual Stanley M. Horton Pentecostal Heritage Lectureship Series, held on February 3-5, 2015 at Evangel University and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

These lectures were given as part of the 8th annual Stanley M. Horton Pentecostal Heritage Lectureship Series, held on February 3-5, 2015 at Evangel University and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

There is an extended introduction to the lecture series, with Dr. Keener beginning at about 7:43 and his actual message beginning between 10 and 11 minutes.

Rob Wilkerson resonates with a recent article.

Robin Williams as Mr. Keating in Dead Poets Society

Jeffrey Overstreet, “How I Got Dead Poets Society Wrong: And how a great professor changed my mind” ChristianityTodayOnline (September 16, 2014).

Overstreet’s article brought back memories. A lot of them, to be honest. To some degree, the feelings the movie evoked returned to me like I saw it yesterday.

First, there were the memories of how I felt as a high school graduate, the same year the movie was released. I remember identifying intensely with Keating, a mentor every kid wished was his dad. I remembered thinking how much of Neil was in me, both the joyous freedom to be me, mixed with the insanity of conformity to cultural norms and standards.

Second, there were memories of how I felt about rules and standards. Growing up on the legalistic side of Christianity, I could understand the concerns of Neil’s father and Keating’s administration. Rebellion is built into every fiber and DNA strand of every human being. This was probably true of me when I watched it. The movie was like a pinball inside my soul, thrashing around, ringing bells, sounding noises, while smacked by the paddles of my legalistic upbringing and the taste of free grace.

Third, there are memories of my parenting. I’m a father to four awesome kids. Too often I’ve parented like Neil’s father. At least, that’s what I fear. More often I’ve wanted to parent like Keating, loosening the ropes, the guides of culture (including Christian culture) from the fragile sapling of grace I saw growing inside my children. Overstreet said it best. “Looking back at authority figures who have inspired my respect, and at those who have been driven by ego and a desire to control, I’ve come to suspect that anyone who seeks to instill character in another person by force will produce an equal and opposite reaction.”

There is a root found in both men in this movie. It is fear. Plain and simple. Neil’s father was fearful that his son wouldn’t fit into his tiny little world, that his son would find a type of happiness that he had talked himself out of years earlier. He was fearful of freedom, so he couldn’t let his son enjoy it. Then there’s Keating. Overstreet believes that “Mr. Keating models a healthy balance of freedom and responsibility. He descends into that world of order, accepting the form of a servant, and makes all things new. He shows them what the imagination, taking the shape of love, makes possible.” Perhaps. Probably. But undoubtedly obvious in Keating, as well as in his real life character, was this tinge of immaturity.

Written in honor of the late Charles Malik (1987), this short volume of eight essays celebrates his belief that the two tasks of Christian scholars in the public university involve redeeming the soul and redeeming the mind. Eight Christian educators from mostly non-theological academic disciplines respond to Malik’s challenging call in several ways.

Paul Gould begins by relating these tasks to the fully integrated life of the Christian scholar (chapter 1). Then Lebanon based scholar Habib Malik, Charles’ only son, speaks about the perspectives that Christian professors can offer in an era where worldviews and politics cause serious “crashes” in civilizations (chapter 3). Next, Peter Kreef’s essay calls Christian scholars to ardently pursue Malik’s two tasks in their own university settings (chapter 4). Then Walter Bradley (Chapter 5) outlines how believing professors can daily influence their secular academies. Robert Kaitia (Chapter 6) demonstrates the modern day implications of the Apostle Paul’s evangelism among the Athenians; while John North (Chapter 7) champions the application of Malik’s two tasks to the humanities.

Finally, editor William Lane Craig (Chapter 8) concludes this entire collection by repeating a unifying theme common to all of the essays. He reminds readers that “Christian academics stand on the church’s front line of the most important theaters in the culture war; that of the university” (188). He believes it therefore necessary for Christian scholars to engage intellectually with their discipline, as well as their Christian faith. He then asks that they remain mindful of their own personal, spiritual formation (188).

Certainly, this refreshing collection of multi-disciplinary academic voices contributes enheartening perspectives to other academics who also daily serve the public university as Christians. It reissues the rather lofty call of Charles Malik for our times: Christian academics are to redeem the soul, and redeem the mind of the university. Most practically, however, this anthology illustrates how professors can live as redeemed souls and redeemed minds in the university. This is by far the most practical and obtainable objective, especially in settings particularly antagonistic to Gospel witness.