Editor’s Note,

This issue of the Great Commission Baptist Journal of Missions is a snapshot of how the principle of indigenization in missions is shaping IMB missionary efforts currently.

What does a missionary mean when speaking of indigenization? Indigenization in missions refers to the efforts of missionaries to plant churches that can carry out all the biblical expectations of a healthy church with no foreign resources or control placed upon it.

I was first introduced to the concept of indigenization in Christian missions in seminary. Dr. John Mark Terry persuasively argued for the goal of planting indigenous churches that can reproduce themselves. He pointed his students to historic missionary stalwarts such as Henry Venn, Rufus Anderson, Roland Allen, and John Nevius. This principle was established in the middle of the great century of modern missions. It shaped the future efforts of many missionaries who sought God to magnify his glory and establish new churches among peoples and places that had yet to be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Zane Pratt, this journal’s editor-in-chief, provides us with helpful foundations for the pursuit of indigenization in missions. Other contributors to this volume will provide you with insights regarding their efforts to plant churches and equip leaders that will be able to stand firmly on the gospel alone.

The editorial board trusts that this edition of our journal will inform three overlapping audience. Those who send and partner with missionaries will gain insight about the work that missionary practitioners are doing. Aspiring missionaries will be equipped to think about beginning their work with the goal of indigenization in mind. Current missionaries will be spurred on to pursue establishing healthy churches that are able to flourish where they are planted and to engage in the efforts to reach the nations for the glorious name of Christ.

Thank you for taking time to read the articles in this edition.