A person's understanding of Christian mission-whether as evangelism, evangelization, witness, proclamation, prophetic dialogue, service, or whatever else-is inexorably intertwined with that person's context(s). Likewise with anyone's practice or reception of mission. The significance of context applies also to a whole people's understanding, practice, and reception of Christian mission. Our multifaceted settings shape how mission is conceived, conveyed, and caught.I do not anticipate much pushback from readers of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research on this claim. I would not be surprised, however, to find a range of viewpoints about the relative importance of the universal meaning of Christian mission versus contextually particular sensibilities about what mission involves.David Bosch persuasively demonstrated the point about mission's contextual particularity through tracing the way the church's understanding and practice of mission have been shaped by the various milieus in which it has carried out mission. In this issue of the IBMR, Volker Küster advocates "intercultural theology" as necessary to avoid truncated, contextually confined views of mission (or of anything else). Gloria Tseng brings to light "the historical peculiarities of the indigenization of Christianity in China during the early decades of the twentieth century."

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A few years ago, a small group of us from the United States were guest participants at a year-end prayer festival held in Accra, Ghana. Perhaps a thousand Christian believers had gathered for this annual event, which took place in a spacious open-air setting with four 30-meter-long tents forming a square around a huge dusty center. Th e intense round-the-clock prayer meetings progressed through alternating three-hour prayer blocks and three-hour rest periods -even though some stalwarts "rested" by praying and casting out demons in small group sessions. Usually within each prayer block there were three onehour sessions that focused on specifi c topics, ranging from fi nances (personal and church) to youth education to church leadership to needs for healing and holiness. Th roughout the festival we sang praises, heard exhortations, and interceded while randomly walking back and forth, all at the earnest, microphoneblasting urgings of that particular session's leader.Th e climax of the four-day gathering was the Sunday morning deliverance service, which began with exuberant dancing and singing. Th e message announced that morning's opportunity for experiencing a miracle. Th ere then followed a long session of healings and exorcisms, during which individuals and groups were called up to be specially prayed for by the preacher. Th ere was anointing with oil, plus more singing and rejoicing. After this remarkable service and entire prayer festival, the analytical questions as to what had transpired were unavoidable.African Charismatics sets this kind of gathering in the necessarily intercultural and global context of twentieth-century Christian renewal movements in Ghana. Th e book's material is essentially Asamoah-Gyadu's Ph.D. dissertation for the University of Birmingham, U.K. -as the extensive (and refreshingly international) bibliography attests. A manageable index helps to pinpoint topics, authors, organizations, and movements.Th e book's discussion is easy to navigate, although graphics and tables would help to enliven what is a challenging text-only presentation. Th e eight chapters are balanced and well-introduced. Chapters one and eight respectively place Ghanaian Pentecostalism in its wider context and identify its defi ning characteristics. Chapters two through four analytically and historically describe various movements, while chapters fi ve through seven constructively tackle such key themes as deliverance, healing, and prosperity teaching. Th e discussion is consistently appreciative of, as well as carefully critical of abuses within, this MIST 24,1_f13_136-137.indd 136 MIST 24,1_f13_136-137.indd 136 5/15/07 8:41:00 AM 5/15/07 8:41:00 AM MIST 24,1_f13_136-137.indd 137 MIST 24,1_f13_136-137.indd 137 5/15/07 8:41:01 AM 5/15/07 8:41:01 AM

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all these deaths in the village, wrapped up in fishing nets, and beaten up severely." So recounted star Indian javelin thrower Debjani Bora, recent target of a witch hunt in the northeastern Indian state of Assam. The accusation and attack were spearheaded by a woman village elder later arrested for inciting the violence. According to BBC News India, police in Assam report that over the last five years nearly ninety people, mostly women, have been "beheaded, burnt alive or stabbed to death" as a result of witch accusations. 1 Such incidents occur incessantly and in various locations, as articles here indicate. Indeed, challenges presented by witchcraft and witch accusations have long been urgent concerns of countless Christian communities worldwide. Even so, the reality of witchcraft has escaped the notice of most missiologists and mission studies. This issue of the IBMR seeks to help rectify this discrepancy.We human beings notice what is important to us, but we routinely miss other realities that have little impact on our values or the daily cares of our lives. Thus, for example, over the last decade Internet connectivity has become a daily and conscious need for millions of us worldwide. In contrast, people in tropi-