Reaching People with a Buddhist Worldview: Insights and Field-Based Strategies for Sharing Christ - Paperback

by Alan Johnson (Editor), Lauren Becker (Editor)

Understanding Worldview Barriers and Bridges to Faith

Historically, Christian mission among Buddhists has seen little response. Missionaries and local Christians sharing the gospel have been met with indifference, confusion, or resistance. Why is the message of Jesus often ignored or rejected by those shaped by a Buddhist worldview?
Reaching People with a Buddhist Worldview explores why the message of Jesus often sounds unintelligible and the church feels so foreign to Buddhists. The introduction explores the challenges of communicating the gospel in Buddhist contexts. Five subsequent chapters provide an overview of Buddhist life in various countries, identifying worldview-based barriers to the gospel and offering insights to address them. A final chapter discusses implications for ministry, arguing that long-term missionaries skilled in language and culture continue to play a vital role in reaching Buddhists.
Readers will gain confidence and practical tools to build relationships with Buddhist peoples and partner with local Christians to explore ways to grow communities of faith, revealing Jesus as truly good news.

Author Biography

Alan Johnson and his wife, Lynette, have served with Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM) since 1986. They lived in Thailand for thirty-four years, working in church planting and strengthening local churches. Since 2021 Alan has helped in developing missiological resources or AGWM's global workers, the sending base church, and training institutions. Currently, he is part of the lead team for AGWM's missiology think tank. He teaches on issues of contextualization in the Intercultural Studies PhD program at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

Lauren Becker has served in Thailand as a global worker with Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM) since 2009, the same year she earned an MA in Intercultural Studies from Biola University. Lauren directed an English teaching center at a local a church for six years, and has since led a church planting team with outreaches on the university campus and in the community. Lauren has also worked with Change the Map, a prayer initiative for the Buddhist world. She enjoys cycling and reading, and will take noodles over rice and rice over pizza any day.