Christians passionate about their faith want to share it with everyone, especially in reaching out to peoples of other religions. We want to help Christians put that desire into practice.
We offer:
- research in understanding other religions and how we may use them for Christian missions and evangelism
- services we offer related to missions and evangelism
- a channel for dialog among people interested in the subject
We invite you to explore this site to learn what we’re all about. Then, see if you’d like to avail yourself of the work we have already done, or to partner with us in our future work.
New: videos of Qur’an seminar
Tribute to Micki
Frank and Lisa attended the Ralph D. Winter Memorial Lectureship 2022-Homogeneity and Hybridity: Revisiting HUP on March 3, 4, and 5 by means of zoom. It was a good conference discussing Dr. McGavran´s theory of reaching people groups with the gospel through homogenous units, known as Hup….Homogenous Unit Principle. It was interesting to hear that some people consider that racist….that we want to keep each people-group separate, but that certainly was not McGavran´s purpose…he just pointed out that it is easier to evangelize if people can learn in their own language and retain their own traditions and customs. Those that oppose that approach teach that we should have an inclusive church, where there are people of all races and nationalities learning to accept one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. They urge all Christians to accept hybridity…a mixture of not only various races and nationalities, but also differing ages and classes of people. There were several speakers for each side, as well as panels dealing with these topics. We felt that the general consensus was that evangelism should take place in homogeneity, whereas the final goal of outreach is hybridity, even as some of the dissenters pointed out that if you plant a tomato you can´t expect it to turn into an apple tree. Obviously, this is an ongoing debate, but we all agreed that we love one another as Christians no matter which side of the debate we are on.
Update on the progress on Writing Chapter 11 of Our Book How to Use the Qur'an to Reach Out to Muslims.![]()
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Chapter 11 discusses the attitude of Muslims regarding Islam and other religions. In order to have a proper discussion on this topic, we have to use many terminologies developed in Theology of Religions. In this introduction to Chapter 11, all the theological positions developed are discussed along with missiological positions we should have.![]()
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The following four positions were developed during the last several decades, primarily after the end of the second World War.![]()
1. Exclusivism - It claims that one's own religion is the only one that has the full truth and only its followers will be saved. No other religion carries the full truth like their own religion and their followers would not be saved. This comes from the fact that all truths are exclusive in nature. This is similar to a child or a person claiming that his or her family is the best in the world. All major religions have a large number of followers who are exclusive.![]()
2. Inclusivism - It has the same claim as Exclusivism above but admits that other religions could carry salvific truths outside one's own religion. This comes from the fact that no human being could have the full truth about God. This is similar to a child or a person realizing that his or her family is the best but there are other good families.![]()
3. Pluralism - It believes that all the great religions of the world carry salvific truth and are equally valid. This comes from the fact that all the religions of the world have the same goal for truth and salvation of their followers. This is similar to a teenager who finally realizes that his or her family is not the only best but other families could the best as well. The catch phrase is "There are many roads that lead to the peak where God is."![]()
4. Perennialism - It is considered a form of pluralism, but it is more selective in choosing the true religions. It emphasizes the principles in the religion instead of the outer rituals. It speculates that all the great religions of the world share a common metaphysical truth from which all religions have grown. This is similar to a man who realizes that all families came from Adam and Eve. It compares different religions to different shores that share one common ocean.![]()
Besides the above four categories, Particularism and Universalism are often used to describe people's attitude.![]()
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In view of all these different attitudes toward religions, what kind of attitude should we have to be an agent of the salvific plan of God? Our research shows that we should have Nurturing Attitude which was the attitude of Jesus, Paul, and Peter (Matt. 23:37, 1 Thess. 2:7. 1 Pet. 2:2). It allows one to keep what he or she believes is true and at the same time to be tolerant towards other faiths. This is similar to parents, especially mothers, who patiently teach or nurture their children while correcting children's wrong behaviors. This attitude is not actively taught in Christian seminaries or to people on the way to overseas missions at the present time.
Cotari News![]()
1. On February 24th to 26th, Frank Choe and his wife Lisa attended the Ralph Winter Memorial Lecture by zoom on Buddhism. Ralph D. Winter was one of the 20th century's greatest missiologists, who was a missionary to Guatemala for 10 years, taught at Fuller Theological Seminary for 10 years as a tenured professor, and then founded the American Society of Missiology, US Center for World Mission, and William Carey University. He started the popular missiology class called Perspectives where many lay Christians and seminary students are learning about Christian missions. Frank attended some of these memorial lectures in the past.![]()
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During this lecture, we were especially interested in learning how Karl Ludvig Reichelt (1877-1952), a missionary to China, tried to reach out to Buddhist monks in China. The Lectures dealt mostly with the life of Reichelt. His approach was to use dialogue with the Buddhist monks, and he even provided a retreat house where they could live, similar to a monastery, and where they could engage in discussions, as well as prayer and meditation. These were interesting lectures, extending our knowledge on Buddhism.![]()
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2. On a more personal note, Catherine Kuo, the daughter of Frank Choe was tragically killed in an accident on March 24, on the parking lot of a middle school. She had been elected as trustee for the Dublin Unified School Board and serving the Board. At the time of the accident, she was volunteering for food distribution for the Covid Pandemic, to load cars with produce given by California farmers. As she was loading the trunk of a car, she was pinned between that car and the car behind. She was just 6 days away from her 49th birthday, and leaves her husband and two children.
We are still working on Chapter 11 of the book, How to Use the Qur'an to Reach Out to Muslims. It has been delayed for several reasons. We had Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we celebrated these holidays in a limited way even though we were locked down. We had been preparing for the Board Meeting, and then we have been preparing the tax returns for COTARI to the US Federal Government as well as the California State Government. We would ask for your prayers for completing all these things quickly so that we may re-engage in writing the book.
Cotari held the annual director´s meeting on February 5, 2021. This year, the meeting was held on Zoom because of the covid pandemic. It actually worked out well, because our board members are scattered out over the country, and we are contemplating having this kind of meeting each year from now on. After meditating on the hymn “So Send I you”, with a biography of the author, Margaret Clarkson, and the reading of the minutes of the last meeting, we talked about the progress which has been made this year on writing the book about reaching out to Muslims thru the Qur´an and other activities of those participating in Cotari. After a short break, we talked out our plans for this coming year. We will talk about these plans in another post.![]()
Here are the inspiring words of “So Send I You”![]()
So send I you, by grace made strong to triumph![]()
O'er hosts of hell, o'er darkness, death, and sin,![]()
My name to bear, and in that name to conquer-![]()
So send I you, my victory to win.![]()
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So send I you, to take to souls in bondage![]()
The word of truth that sets the captive free,![]()
To break the bonds of sin, to loose death's fetters![]()
So send I you, to bring the lost to me.![]()
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So send I you, my strength to know in weakness,![]()
My joy in grief, my perfect peace in pain,![]()
To prove My power, My grace, My promised presence![]()
So send I you, eternal fruit to gain.![]()
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So send I you, to bear My cross with patience,![]()
And then one day with joy to lay it down,![]()
To hear My voice, “well done, My faithful servant,![]()
Come, share My throne, My kingdom, and My crown!”![]()
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"As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you.“ ![]()
(John 20:21)