Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America
Overview
What would a theology of the Church look like that took seriously the fact that North America is now itself a mission field? This question lies at the foundation of this volume written by an ecumenical team of six noted missiologists—Lois Barrett, Inagrace T. Dietterich, Darrell L. Guder, George R. Hunsberger, Alan J. Roxburgh, and Craig Van Gelder.
The result of a three-year research project undertaken by The Gospel and Our Culture Network, this book issues a firm challenge for the church to recover its missional call right here in North America, while also offering the tools to help it do so.
The authors examine North America’s secular culture and the church’s loss of dominance in today’s society. They then present a biblically based theology that takes seriously the church’s missional vocation and draw out the consequences of this theology for the structure and institutions of the church.
Want an even better deal? Get more books at a bigger discount when you order the Eerdmans Bible Reference Bundle 2!
- Examines North America’s secular culture and the lessening dominance of the church
- Presents a biblically based theology for missions applied to the North American church
- Contains contributions from notes missiologists
- Missional Church: From Sending to Being Sent
- Missional Context: Understanding North American Culture
- Missional Challenge: Understanding the Church in North America
- Missional Vocation: Called and Sent to Represent the Reign of God
- Missional Witness: The Church as Apostle to the World
- Missional Community: Cultivating Communities of the Holy Spirit
- Missional Leadership: Equipping God’s People for Mission
- Missional Structures: The Particular Community
- Missional Connectedness: The Community of Communities in Mission
Top Highlights
“A missional ecclesiology requires the church to start with biblical and theological foundations before proceeding to designing organizations or assessing the viability of our present denominations.” (Page 69)
“The basic thesis of this book is that the answer to the crisis of the North American church will not be found at the level of method and problem solving. We share the conviction of a growing consensus of Christians in North America that the problem is much more deeply rooted. It has to do with who we are and what we are for. The real issues in the current crisis of the Christian church are spiritual and theological. That is what this study is about.” (Page 3)
“But it has taken us decades to realize that mission is not just a program of the church. It defines the church as God’s sent people. Either we are defined by mission, or we reduce the scope of the gospel and the mandate of the church. Thus our challenge today is to move from church with mission to missional church.” (Page 6)
“The subtle assumption of much Western mission was that the church’s missionary mandate lay not only in forming the church of Jesus Christ, but in shaping the Christian communities that it birthed in the image of the church of western European culture.” (Page 4)
“The calling to seek first the reign of God and God’s justice means orienting our public deeds away from imposing our moral will onto the social fabric and toward giving tangible experience of the reign of God that intrudes as an alternative to the public principles and loyalties.” (Page 109)
- Lois Barrett
- Inagrace T. Dietterich
- George R. Hunsberger
- Alan J. Roxburgh
- Craig Van Gelder
This stimulating volume challenges its readers to re-examine two fundamental concepts: their understanding of the nature of the church and their understanding of mission. . . . This book is a must-read not only for missiologists but also for pastors and anyone interested in the renewal and revitalization of the church as it enters a new millennium.
—Missiology
This is a book worthy of study and consideration, especially for those who take seriously the changes that have impacted culture and church in North America. It is a provocative work that pleads for significant renewal of ‘Communities of the Holy Spirit’ in face of established institutions that have become accommodated to the American way of life.
—Interpretation
- Title: Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America
- Authors: Darrell L. Guder, Lois Barrett, Inagrace T. Dietterich, George R. Hunsberger, Alan J. Roxburgh, Craig Van Gelder
- Series: The Gospel and Our Culture Series
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Print Publication Date: 1998
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Pages: 288
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Missions › Theory; Missions › North America; Christian leadership; Twenty-first century
- ISBNs: 9780802843500, 0802843506
- Resource ID: LLS:MSSNLCHRCHNRMRC
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:39:00Z
Darrell L. Guder is Henry Winters Luce Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.