Volume 36 • Number 3
My good friend Glen Galbraith provides a stirring and yet humble approach to looking back on his twenty-five-year ministry in one of the more difficult mission fields— that of Scotland and England. His thoughts about how his approach to ministry has changed during that time and the encouraging signs of how it is being done there now, with younger missionaries—who happen to be his sons—is most revealing and instructive.
My wife, Clea, speaks from her experience growing up in the Amazon region of Brazil. She discusses how she and her family perceived missions being done in her hometown by missionaries from the United States. One missionary couple had a tremendous impact on three generations of her family. The fact that God called her into missions and ministry in our local church serves as a reminder that God’s call comes to people all over the world. That is a change we all should welcome in the future.
One of the things that needs to change about missions is how we talk about it. Since missionaries take the glorious gospel to those who need to hear, we have every responsibility before God to be precise when we present it. Keith Kobelia has done valuable service in getting that conversation started. I have heard both Catholics and Mormons talk about building the kingdom through their mission work, but is that what we are doing? Are we trying to build the kingdom or fulfill the Great Commission? Let us be faithful with our task!
Along those lines, Brian Trainer has provided a beneficial article that is both historical and convicting. He exhorts us to rethink in broad terms the categories we use in talking about “reaching people groups” for Christ. Naturally that leads to thinking about the resources expended for that activity to happen. He challenges us to consider that one of the causalities of this philosophy may be the Great Commission itself. In another article, Brian challenges all of us, through a sermon of Spurgeon’s, to take seriously our need to communicate the truth of the Great Commission and to practice it as well.
The article I contributed relates to what changes in missions and what should and must remain the same. Time passes, and people, technologies, cultures, even languages, change. We must stay aware. We must adapt where we can. But there are certain key objectives that can never change. These were given to us by our commanding officer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer should consider that Commission precious and permanent. It is a holy task, and we must give it our all.
Ken Rathbun, Associate Editor
Features:
Missions: Are We Doing It Right?
Glen Galbraith
We must get back to the basics of cross-cultural ministry, becoming all things to all people.
Missions: Looking Back and Looking Forward
Cléa Rathbun
Serving together as a missionary couple, my husband and I saw God at work saving, transforming, and calling Jamaican believers to full-time ministry in the same way He did to us.
Is Missions Work “Kingdom Building”?
Keith A. Kobelia
Many well-meaning believers describe missions in terms of kingdom work without careful attention to what they mean by this phrase.
The Future of Christian Missions: What Should Change and What Should Stay the Same?
Ken Rathbun
Believers seeking to win the lost today must be aware of the changes that have taken root in the areas they live in.
People Groups: What Is the Target of the Great Commission?
Brian Trainer
Success in missions is not measured by how many people come to Jesus, but by the ingathering of people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
Definitions Matter: Preserving The Mission Of Missionaries
Brian Trainer
Every Christian should have a heart ablaze with evangelistic zeal, but not all Christians are to be called missionaries.
Sound Words: Inspiration for the Pastor’s Study
First Partaker: When the Secret of God Was upon My Tabernacle
Mark Minnick
Bring … the Books: More Books for a Deserted Island
Mark Minnick
Straight Cuts: The Invigorating View of the Invisible
Randy Fox
Windows: NO KINGS? A Christian Perspective on Government “Rulers”
Mike Ascher
Departments
ON THE HOME FRONT
REGIONAL REPORTS
HEART TO HEART:
Relieving the Pressure: A Romans 16 Perspective on Caring for Missionary Women
Bianca McCrocklin
AT A GLANCE:
Does God Repent, or Not?
Layton Talbert
WITH THE WORD TO THE WORLD:
The Unchanging Gospel for a Changing World
Jim Tillotson
STEWARDSHIP MATTERS:
Missions Agencies: Essential Teammates
Corey Pfaffe
CHAPLAIN’S REPORT:
Triumph Over Trauma: Renewed Hope for Living with Hidden Wounds (Book Review)
FrontLine • May/June 2026. Click here to subscribe to the magazine
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