What We Do

WIIS emphasizes three main areas in its ministry: accurate understanding, informed engagement, and culturally-sensitive sharing of the Gospel with the adherents of new religious movements. In fulfillment of these emphases, we focus on the following areas of activity:

• Education and Training – WIIS educates Christians about new religions and equips them for culturally-sensitive evangelism through presentations at churches, missions conferences, colleges and seminaries, and through seminars, lectures, and classes.
• Multimedia Resource Production – WIIS will produce new high-quality multimedia educational resources that will address topics such as Mormonism, Islam, and Neo-Paganism in the North American context.
• Scholarly Research – WIIS engages in academic research on cutting-edge issues in Mormon Studies, New Spirituality, Neo-Paganism, inter-religious communication, and a theology of religions. Sacred Tribes, an electronic journal devoted to a missional approach to new religions, is one of the vehicles used to communicate these insights.
• Networking – WIIS facilitates an international network of scholars and professional practitioners specializing in the field of new religions, world religions, and religious pluralism, and is a key partner in the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization’s issue group on postmodern and alternative spiritualities.
• Conference on New Religious Movements – WIIS will host conferences on various new religious movements that will involve an academic approach and also benefit a lay audience.