Missional God, Missional Church: Hope for Re-evangelizing the West

by Ross Hastings

Publisher:

IVP Academic

, 2012

Overview

“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

With the reality of broad-scale secularization in the West and the attendant cloud of insignificance hanging over the church, is there any hope for the re-evangelization of the West?

In this comprehensive theology of mission, Ross Hastings directs the fretful gaze of the church to the trinitarian commission of John 20. There we find Jesus granting peace to his disciples by breathing his Spirit on them. He formed them into his community of shalom. Leaving their locked room, these “sent ones” went out to participate in God’s own ongoing mission to the world.

Hastings also tackles the dual challenges of isolation from and accommodation to the surrounding culture. Building on the works of David Bosch, Lesslie Newbigin, Christopher Wright and Darrell Guder, the author corrects numerous dichotomies that hinder the church. In the power of the Spirit the gathered church is spiritually transformed and also scattered as it proclaims God’s forgiveness and freedom.

This comprehensive theology of mission opens possibilities for renewal of faithful effort as we join in Christ’s mission to the world.

Key Features

• Directs the fretful gaze of the church to the trinitarian commission of John 20.
• Tackles the dual challenges of isolation from and accommodation to the surrounding culture.
• Integrates all the main themes of half a century’s missiological reflection.

Praise for Missional God, Missional Church

This expository tour de force integrates all the main themes of half a century’s missiological reflection. Its central thesis, that the heart of the missional heart of John’s gospel is the Easter evening narrative, is totally convincing.

--J. I. Packer, professor of theology, Regent College, Vancouver

With his characteristic commitment to the church as well as his facility with and passion for trinitarian theology, Ross Hastings offers a perspective on ecclesiology and mission that cuts through the extremes that are so prevalent in the contemporary ecclesiastical culture without being esoteric on the one hand or overly pragmatic on the other.

--Rod Wilson Ph.D., president, Regent College, Vancouver

Ross Hastings has written a masterful work that, while taking a step back in order to look at the sad state of much of the Western church, offers hope based on deep theological truths and a renewed understanding of what we as a community of believers are called to embrace. Looking at missional concepts from a communal context, Ross sounds a clarion call for the church to become what it was intended to be, a community of shalom, healing and forgiveness in a hostile land.

--Andy Harrington, executive director, Greater Vancouver Youth for Christ

Product Details

• Title: Missional God, Missional Church: Hope for Re-evangelizing the West
• Author: Ross Hastings
• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2012
• Logos Release Date: 2018
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Church; Missions Theory; Trinity; Missiology
• ISBNs: 9780830863488, 9780830839551, 0830839550, 0830863486
• Resource ID: LLS:9780830863488
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-07-25T05:20:45Z

About Ross Hastings

Ross Hastings teaches in the areas of the theology and spirituality of mission, pastoral theology and ethics. He has served as a pastor in Kingston, ON, Burnaby, BC, and Montreal, QC, and for eleven years as the senior pastor of Peace Portal Alliance Church in White Rock, BC. He has earned two PhDs, one in organo-metallic chemistry at Queen’s University (ON), and the other in theology at St. Andrew’s University, in his native Scotland. His theological dissertation is a comparative study of the Trinitarian theology of Jonathan Edwards and Karl Barth and is in the publication process. Ross lost his wife Sharon to cancer in 2008; he has two adult children. He enjoys sport, and especially rugby, cricket, soccer, and squash as well as music of varied genres.