Four Careers: Autobiography of Charles H. Kraft - Paperback

by Charles H. Kraft (Author), Darrell L. Whiteman (Foreword by)

While in high school Chuck felt God's call to be a field missionary in Africa, expecting to spend his life there. But God only allowed him three years in the "bush." He had other things in mind for him. These years working cross-culturally laid a solid foundation for his future accomplishments. Through a series of unplanned events, God made him a teacher of missionaries and a missiologist--teaching and writing to improve missionary principles and practices. In this book Kraft reflects on how he was shaped as a missiologist and why/how he felt the need for writing his many books and articles. "Culture-positive" is the term he has coined for his approach. It's an approach that honors a people's way of life and helps them to express their faith in Christ within that way of life without converting to another culture. He taught that God loves and accepts them as they are--plus faith--and seeks to work with them to develop their own Christianity based on their own understanding of Scripture. Chuck sees a missionary as a coach, not as a director. This approach has shown its effectiveness both among the people Chuck worked with (the Kamwe of northern Nigeria) and in the field ministries of his students.

Author Biography

Charles H. Kraft spent over forty years teaching anthropology, intercultural communication, contextualization, and spiritual warfare in the School of Intercultural Studies (formerly School of World Mission) at Fuller Seminary. He holds degrees from Wheaton College, Ashland Theological Seminary, and Hartford Seminary. He was a pioneer missionary in northeastern Nigeria and learned, taught, and published on the Hausa language. His writings (over thirty-six books) show deep understanding of people, of communication, and the power of God. He has significantly influenced missiology through his teaching and writings. He and his wife, Meg, live in South Pasadena, California, and they have four grown children.