-- Walther Library Staff

Adherents.com

The opening paragraphs on the site's home page say it all: "Adherents.com is a growing collection of over 52,000 adherent statistics and religious geography citations -- references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc. Basically, researchers can use this site to answer such questions as "How many Methodists live in Washington, D.C.?", "What are the major religions of South Korea?", or "What percentage of the world is Sikh?" We present data from both primary research sources such as government census reports, statistical sampling surveys and organizational reporting, as well as citations from secondary literature which mention adherent statistics. Adherents.com is an Internet initiative and is not affiliated with any religious, political, educational, or commercial organization. Adherents.com is the 2nd most frequently visited general religion site on the Internet." This site is a treasure trove of data on various religious groups. The level of detail sometimes goes down to the county level in the US. Come here first when you need head counts for religious groups.

From the Sahara Desert to the Cape of Good Hope, Africa is a place that contains many climates, cultures and languages. For almost all of the Church's history, Christians have lived and labored to bring the gospel to all corners of this continent. Yet because most areas of Africa remain poor, it has been difficult to find scholarly information about its peoples. Africabib.org helps to fill this need. Three databases at this site allow a researcher to look for titles, using a powerful search engine. The user may search by keyword, limit by region and nation, and view the results by author, title or date. This site is an excellent tool to begin missiological research on subjects related to Africa.

American Religion Data Archive

What do American Catholics believe? How many Americans claim to be Lutheran? Where do American Muslims live? A source of reliable, scientifically gathered data on these and similar questions used to be very difficult to find. The American Religion Data Archive, a project supported by the Lilly Endowment, gathers together such studies and makes them accessible on the World Wide Web. This site is very well designed, with easy navigation and powerful search tools. It is sure to become a standard resource in years to come.  

You've just settled your library on the oak shelves of your study at your first parish, when you learn that the daughter of a member is into Eckankar. But you didn't study Eckankar in religious bodies class at the seminary! So, how do you learn about them — quickly!?! Well, you might reach for Mather and Nichols' Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult, if you had thought to buy it before you left! Gospelcomm's Apologetics Index is there to help you! This site contains a wealth of news, articles, links and other information on religious cults, sects, movements, doctrines, new and alternative religions. The information compiled here is well-researched, complete with quotations from authorities within the group described and within the Christian apologetic and missions communities. There is both a search engine and an alphabetic approach for easy navigation. This site is a good place to begin your search for ways to witness to religious non-Christians.

Beliefnet

Think of it as an electronic, spiritual agora. Beliefnet is a service that helps people pursue their own spiritual paths and converse with those of other religions and religious traditions. Columnists ranging from Colin Powell to Gary Bauer to John Shelby Spong to Starhawk write on a variety of topics. Members can exchange views, ask for prayer, search their sacred scriptures or locate a place of worship. This is a good place to see what folks committed to other faiths believe and maybe even do a little bit of witnessing.
 

Catholic Church.Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Declaration Dominus Iesus.

In September of 2000, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued this declaration. In it, the Catholic Church states clearly that salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone and that there is no Christian Church outside of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Read this controversial document by following this link.

This website has a new, more user-friendly interface to the Cumulative Bibliography of The International Review of Missions, brought to us by our friends at the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World at the University of Edinburgh.

Henry Martyn Centre for the Study of Mission and World Christianity

This website is an online portal the wealth of missiological scholarship gathered at the Henry Martyn Centre. The Henry Martyn Centre is an institution that promotes scholarship in Missiology, especially at Cambridge University. Its website includes the full text of selected seminar papers and articles in the field of Missiology, access to the catalog of the library and much more. Go to this site for in-depth research into God's mission to seek and save the lost.
 

Lutheran Heritage Foundation

When the Berlin Wall fell ten years ago, the door opened to mission work among the nations of the former Soviet Union. After nearly a century of persecution, Lutheran churches emerged from hiding to a vast harvest of souls, ripe for reaping. Strong in faith, but with few resources, these churches appealed to their western sister synods for help. The Lutheran Heritage Foundation is one of the answers God provided to their prayers. By distributing Bibles, translating the works of Luther and Confessional Lutherans into many languages, and by building the libraries of new seminaries arising there, The LHF site is designed to keep you up-to-date on their activities. Here you can find a list by languages of the works translated, areas in need of support and ways to contact the foundation to help. This is a great place to prepare for mission Sundays, LWML meetings and other opportunities to share with God's people the needs of the Great Harvest Field of Souls. The Lutheran Heritage Foundation has donated many of their works to our library. A bibliography of this items is available at: www.ctsfw.edu/library/lhfmain.htm
 

The Mundus Gateway is a web-based guide to more than four hundred collections of overseas missionary materials held in the United Kingdom. Rosemary Seton of SOAS has been a primary force in the development of this magnificent resource.

Quran Browser Basic Home Page

To witness effectively to Muslims, you must understand the Quran. As the holy scripture of Islam, they respect it as fully as we respect the scripture. This search engine, provided by the Scholarly Technology Group at Brown University allows you to search the text of the Quran, go to a specific passage, read it in context or link to a specific spot in it. Several different translations are provided for use. A valuable tool for witnessing to Islam.
 

Summer Institute of Linguistics

The Summer Institute of Linguistics is a well-respected organization devoted to the study of lesser-known languages and linguistic groups. It provides support for the study of these tongues, the development of writing systems, literacy and translation of the Bible and other literature. This site provides electronic versions of many of SIL's high-quality resources, support for the use of computers to aid linguistic and translation work, software, fonts and more. This site is an essential first stop for the translator of God's Word.
 

Telling the Good News about Jesus To Adherents of World Religions. (St. Louis: Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod, 2000-2001).

The world is coming to the United States. But how can we witness to people from lands we've never visited, or, in some cases even heard of? The papers at this site will help you build bridges to people with other faiths and from other cultures. Written by candidates in Concordia Theological Seminary's own Ph. D. in Missiology class on world religions, these papers cover topics such as: Buddhists and Christians in Conversation by Mark G. Press, A Western Christian Look at Buddhism By Rev. Donald D. Nord, HMong People Interact with Christianity by Rev. Kou Seying, Muslims Call Christians "People of the Book” by Yohannes Mengsteab, Sharing Christ with Muslim Women by Steven M. Eggers, Jinn, Amulets, and a Prophet Named Isa: Sharing the Gospel with Ordinary Muslims by Thayer Salisbury and  Shinto, "The Way of the Gods,” or Jesus Christ, God's "Way"? by Richard S. Lofgren. A new set of papers, written by the Spring 2001 class will appear shortly. 
 

Yale University Library Research Guide: Christianity: Missions and World Christianity

So you've got a paper to write on the history of missions in Africa. Yet you do not have a clue where to start. This site, provided by the Yale University Divinity School Library is a great place to start. Pages with lists of mission-related subject headings (These work in our catalog and most other U.S. Libraries, too.), bibliographies, journals and online resources will help you begin your quest. This site is a great place to launch any quest to read about God's mission to seek and save the lost.