Transforming Church: Participating in God’s Mission through Community Development

by Tim Monger

Publisher:

Langham

, 2023

Overview

The area of community development provides a unique opportunity for the church to partner with God in his mission to see the world transformed.

In Transforming Church, Tim Monger draws from over a decade of experience working in integral mission alongside local congregations in East Africa. Providing an overview of the current landscape of African community development, he engages the question of how the church can be truly effective in alleviating poverty and bringing hope to its communities. He explores the theological and biblical foundations for integral mission, alongside its practical realities, and casts a vision for what can be achieved when the church engages the development context in ways that are biblically grounded, culturally appropriate and practically relevant.

This book is an excellent resource for practitioners, students and Christian leaders involved, or seeking to be involved, in rural and urban community development, especially in Africa. Transforming Church calls readers to think biblically, theologically and culturally about their work, while inviting them to expand their vision of the church’s role in ushering in the kingdom of God.

Key Features

• Calls readers to think biblically, theologically and culturally about their work
• Provides an overview of the current landscape of African community development
• Draws from over a decade of experience working in integral mission alongside local congregations in East Africa

Contents

• Foreword
• Preface
• 1 Integral Mission: Will the Church in Africa Take up the Mantle?
• 2 Community Development within the Overarching Story of God’s Mission (Part 1)
• 3 Community Development within the Overarching Story of God’s Mission (Part 2)
• 4 African, Western and Biblical Worldviews
• 5 Working with the Church for Its Mission
• 6 Integration and Integrity in Mission
• 7 Designing the Project to Enable the Local Church to Participate More in God’s Mission
• 8 Participating with God to Carry out the Project Faithfully
• 9 Being Captured by God’s Larger Purpose and Wider Mission
• 10 A God-Filled and God-Like Church among Its Community
• Bibliography

Praise for Transforming Church

Tim Monger has gifted us with a powerful, inspiring book about the distinctive role of community transformation within the holistic mission of God and thus within the church’s holistic, integrated mission. As he emphasizes, the transforming church will itself be the church transformed. Highly recommended!

—Michael J. Gorman, PhD

Product Details

• Title: Transforming Church: Participating in God’s Mission Through Community Development
• Author: Tim Monger
• Publisher: Langham
• Print Publication Date: 2023
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 179
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Africa, East; Church and social problems; Church and social problems Africa, East; Community development; Community development Africa, East; Community development Religious aspects Christianity
• ISBNs: 9781839737305, 9781839737732, 9781839737756, 1839737301, 1839737735, 1839737751
• Resource ID: LLS:TRNSFRMNGDVLPMN
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-09-30T19:19:57Z

About Tim Monger

Tim Monger is CEO of Amigos Worldwide, a Christian NGO working to equip churches in Uganda and South Sudan for integral mission. He and his wife, Rachel, along with their two daughters, spent ten years in Tanzania, where he coordinated the work of a cross-cultural team and partnered with local churches in transformative and practical mission among disadvantaged communities. With experience as a research scientist, an educator and a pastor, Tim is passionate about the integration of theology and practice.