Mission and Development: Two New Opportunities and a Continuing Challenge

The purpose of this article is to explore two opportunities and one continuing challenge in the field of mission and development. The first new opportunity comes from the largely secular field of development studies and its growing interest in religion and development. The second new opportunity comes in the form of secular research into what "progressive Pentecostal churches" are doing in the global South in terms of development programming. This unexpected emergence raises a family of new questions as people of faith think about development work. Finally, I will explore the continuing struggle to articulate the role of churches in development programming.