Mission and Evangelism in a Secularizing World: Academy, Agency, and Assembly Perspectives from Canada (Evangelical Missiological Society Monograph Series)

by Mark Naylor; Narry F. Santos

Publisher:

Pickwick Publications

, 2019

Overview

Secularization, as a movement away from a religious orientation to life, is strong in Canada and has influence worldwide. In this volume, missiologists and practitioners across Canada consider how an agenda of Christian mission and evangelism can be advanced in a secularizing environment. How can believers be "curious and engaged rather than defensive and fearful"? What changes are required from the evangelical community so that there is productive dialogue and action in ways that maintain faithfulness to the cause of Christ? What should the approach of mission be to a new generation steeped in secular narratives? How do we answer negative caricatures of Christian mission in light of the history of Residential Schools? What examples from the past teach us about developing an irenic approach? What positive trends are currently evident in Canada and around the world that counter the secularizing narrative? These questions and more are considered in this volume by Canadian scholars who recognize the importance of being relevant to society while maintaining integrity with the Gospel message. The essays address secularism in Canadian and worldwide contexts with seriousness, insight, and an underlying theme of hope, recognizing that "God's mission has been accomplished, is being accomplished, and will be accomplished."

Key Features

• Addresses secularism in Canadian and worldwide contexts
• Presents a collection of essays written by diferrent Canadian scholars
• Answers questions about how believers can have an impact on an secularizing environment

Contents

Part One: Mission Perspectives from the Agency, Assembly, and Academy

• Doing Things We Have Never Done Before
• Returning to Ancient Paths
• Connecting with Secular Muslims through History and Film

Part Two: Mission to the Next Generation

• Infidels in the Temple of Secularism
• The Exodus of Generation Xs and Millennials from Canadian Churches
• Millennial Islam and Secularization

Part Three: Mission in Global Christianity

• How Africa Might Save Global Christianity
• Do Missionaries Destroy Culture?

Part Four: Mission and Strategy for a Changing Context

• Tentmaking
• Technology as Loose Cannon on the Deck of Secularization's Ship
• Their Eyes Were Opened

Praise for Mission and Evangelism in a Secularizing World

There is something unique about the Canadian context when it comes to the challenge of secularization. A city like Toronto, a center of influence in Christendom and Global mission in the early 1900’s, has come on hard times. In Post Christendom Canada, churches are in decline. We are like a time lapse camera of where you are going. There is hope however. It is found in the missionary zeal of the diaspora who call Canada home. Santos and Naylor capture this emerging voice, the energy, and the way they are teaching us all to be the church. By gathering together diverse voices from a variety of contexts, they point to the hope of the gospel in the twenty-first century. A must read for those wanting to be the church in this time.

Gary V. Nelson, President Tyndale University College and Seminary

At first glance, this book looks out of sync with what the sociologist Peter Berger describes, quite sweepingly, as ‘the desecularization of the world.’ From where I sit, societies have yet to secularize; people still see religion as the integrating point in their lives. And so-called ‘post-Christians’ are seeking some form of transcendence, but outside the usual frame of Christendom. This book is an important reminder that ‘irreligious secularism’ continues to pose a totalistic claim to our lives. That churches are being turned into pubs in Europe, and dying churches in North America are revitalized by diaspora peoples, are signs of both warning and hope that God is on the move, ‘shifting centers,’ as Andrew Walls puts it. This book invites us to invent fresh wineskins so that once again, the center holds.

Melba Padilla Maggay, Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture

Product Details

• Title: Mission and Evangelism in a Secularizing World: Academy, Agency, and Assembly Perspectives from Canada
• Authors: Mark Naylor, Narry F. Santos
• Series: Evangelical Missiological Society Monograph Series 2
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Print Publication Date: 2019
• Logos Release Date: 2020
• Pages: 210
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subject: Missions, Canadian
• ISBNs: 9781532676000, 9781532675980, 9781532675997, 153267600X, 1532675984, 1532675992
• Resource ID: LLS:9781532676000
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-06T20:58:49Z