This is an important (12 minute) video that helps clarify how we read the gospels and talk about the kingdom. I find the reason why Jesus’ Lordship replaces the “kingdom” talk in the epistles to be a very helpful reminder. It is so wrong to pit the “gospel of Paul” and the “gospel of the kingdom against each other!!!
The article Keller refers to is Simon Gathercole, "The Gospel of Paul and the Gospel of the Kingdom" in God's Power to Save: One Gospel for a Complex World? ed. Christopher Green (UK: Apollos/Inter-Varsity Press, 2006).
Did Jesus Preach the Gospel? from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.
Related Posts:
Here is a great infographic from The Pew Forum (HT: PL).
“Islam considers defilement more important than depravity.”
-Larson, Warren. 1996. "Critical Contextualization and Muslim Conversion." International Journal of Frontier Missions no. 13:189-191
If missiology is a puzzle, then Invitation to World Missions by Tim Tennent has helped me put more pieces in place than any other book. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I’ve read several books on missiology and things are beginning to come into focus for me. But Tennent’s missiology not only provides the corner pieces and the edges, it also fits several seemingly odd pieces that didn’t look compatible before (Tennent is an evangelical who loves to learn from other Christian traditions: the three most quoted missiologists in his book are Walls, Newbigin, and Sanneh). Before reading this book I felt like I was trying to put together the puzzle without referencing the picture on the box, but now I have a clearer view of the puzzle’s shape and image.
The four major features of Tennent’s missiology (provided in the conclusion of the book) are as follows. 1. The Missio Dei. Mission is primarily God’s, not ours. Mission is “God's redemptive, historical initiative on behalf of His creation.” Missiology must be articulated from a theological and theocentric framework. Social science and business-world insights are helpful, but the Bible still rules the day. 2. The Triune God. “The Father is the Sender, the "Lord of the harvest"; the incarnate Son is the model embodiment of mission in the world; and the Holy Spirit is the divine, empowering presence for all of mission” (Kindle Locations 722-723). 3. The New Creation. Missions is about the in-breaking of the future reign of King Jesus into the present. We minister in the “already but not yet” of the kingdom. 4. The Global Church. Most missiologies have been written from a mono-cultural perspective where the West has assumed to be the major player. But the rise of the majority-world church has changed the game and there is much to be learned.
If you want to develop your missiology and learn more about missional theology from a trusted guide, then Invitation to World Missions is a book that deserves careful study. Readers of Circumpolar will find his discussions on Islam and the “insider movement” helpful and interesting.
Below is the outline of the book along with brief chapter summaries.
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
Section A: Megatrends That Are Shaping Twenty-first Century Missions
1. From Moratorium and Malaise to Selah and Rebirth
Seven megatrends that are shaping missions today: 1. The Collapse of Christendom. 2. The Rise of Postmodernism: Theological, Cultural, and Ecclesiastical Crisis. “The Western church has responded in very different ways to the collapse of Christendom and the emergence of postmodernity, but none has managed the transition without experiencing some form of crisis.” (176-178). 3. The Collapse of the "West-Reaches-the-Rest" Paradigm. “Western Christians have been slow to grasp the full missiological implications of the simultaneous emergence of a post-Christian West and a post-Western Christianity” (247-248). 4. The Changing Face of Global Christianity. Six sending and receiving continents! 5. The Emergence of a Fourth Branch of Christianity: “Independent” “Pentecostals”. 6. Globalization: Immigration, Urbanization, and New Technologies. 7. A Deeper Ecumenism. “The simultaneous emergence of postdenominational identity among many, as well as the emergence of thousands of new denominations, requires the forging of new kinds of unity that transcend traditional denominational and confessional identities” (426-427).
Section B: The Triune God and the Missio Dei
2. A Trinitarian, Missional Theology
We must maintain a difference between mission and missions. Mission belongs to God, missions is the church joining in God’s mission. “Maintaining the distinction between mission and missions enables the church to be both God-centered and church-focused” (606-607). “The only way to maintain the link between God's mission and missions in the church is to immerse the entire training in a thoroughly Trinitarian and ecclesial framework, so that everything is ultimately related to God (missio dei) and His church (missio ecclesiae)” (619-620). LESSLIE NEWBIGIN and KWAME BEDIAKO have been key thinkers to try to advance this in the past and their contributions are summarized.
3. A Trinitarian Framework for Missions
This chapter fleshes out what Tennent means by a Trinitarian missiology. Missions must be talked about in the context of the Missio Dei, where each person of the trinity has a distinctive role to play. God the Father is the source, initiator, and sender. God’s mission began with Abram in Genesis 12. Missions is the expression of God’s relational and holy love, and the trinity is the seminal relationship that lies behind all human relationships. God the Son is the embodiment of the Missio Dei. God the Holy Spirit is the empowerment of the Missio Dei.
PART Two: GOD THE FATHER: THE PROVIDENTIAL SOURCE AND GOAL OF THE MISSIO DEI
Section A: A Missional Perspective on the Bible
4. The God of Mission Reveals His Plan
The Abrahamic covenant reveals that God is the source and initiator of mission, that Yahweh is a sending God, and reveals God’s heart for all nations. The missio Dei focuses on communities and nations- it doesn’t stop with individuals. Tennent primarily looks at God’s blessing of the nations in the OT, and Wright is oft quoted. “There is, therefore, a grand narrative of mission unfolding in the Bible that will ultimately follow the broad contours of creation –> covenant –> Incarnation –> Cross –> Resurrection –> Pentecost –> return of Christ –> eschaton/New Creation. Missions must be understood as the driving purpose for this grand narrative, not as some optional auxiliary of it. In other words, the missio dei is the central message of the Bible. The Bible, like the missio dei, is the story of God's redemptive, historical initiative on behalf of His creation. Missions ultimately must derive its life from that source” (1289-1293).
5. The Sending Father and the Sent Church
This chapter reviews the “Great Commission” passages of each gospel writer. We must listen to all in context and together in order to understand the missio Dei. “Matthew emphasizes the role of discipleship and planting the church across ethnic and cultural boundaries among every people group in the world. Although we do not have the original words of Mark's commission, the received version is consistent with Mark's emphasis on perseverance in persecution and the central role of proclamation. Luke's commission emphasizes the importance of Spirit-empowered, holistic missions as we bear witness to the ongoing, mighty deeds of God. John's commission emphasizes the sending role of the church. Taken collectively, the commissions demonstrate the Father's initiative in missions. The Father imparts all authority to Jesus in Matthew's gospel. In Luke, the church fulfills only what the Father has promised. In John, the Father sends the Son, who, in turn, sends the church. Thus, all of the commissions are set within the larger context of the missio dei and God's original promise to Abraham that He would bless "all nations on earth" (Gen. 22:18) (1701-1706).
Section B: Creation, Revelation, and the Human Response to God's Rule
6. A Trinitarian, "New Creation" Theology of Culture
This chapter attempts to define a theology of culture. Richard Niebuhr’s famous Christ and Culture (Christ against Culture, Christ of Culture, Christ above Culture, Christ in Paradox with Culture, Christ the Transformer of Culture) was flawed in several ways: First, Niebuhr's understanding of culture was constructed on the foundation of secular anthropology… To create a barrier between Christ and culture is to relegate God to the supracultural category, which maybe acceptable to some Islamic theologians but can scarcely be accepted as a thoroughly Christian view” (1757-1765). Second, Niebuhr's entire perspective on culture assumes a Christendom framework. Third, the cogency of Niebuhr's argument requires a monocultural perspective and, therefore, is increasingly unpersuasive within the context of twenty-first-century multiculturalism. Fourth, “Niebuhr's conception of culture is not set within an eschatological framework that sees the future as already breaking in to the present order… his secularized view of culture, which puts God in a supracultural category, robs his entire project of the eschatological perspective that is so central to all Christian thinking” (1795-1800). Revelation is better described as transcultural, not supracultural.
There are four ways Christians differ from secular anthropology in regards to culture. First, Christians affirm that God is the source and sustainer of both physical and social culture. Second, Christians affirm the objective reality of sin, rooted in the doctrine of the Fall, which has both personal and collective implications for human society. “Human cultures, therefore, are simultaneously a sign of God's creative design as well as a manifestation of human sin, which stands in opposition to God's rule” (1865-1866). Third, Christians affirm that God has revealed Himself within the context of human culture. God's revelation does not occur in a cultural vacuum apart from the particularities of culture. And fourth, Christians affirm that a future, eschatological culture, known as the New Creation, already has broken into the present. “By relating the entire cultural process to the inbreaking of the New Creation, we are able to provide a vantage point from which to prophetically critique and enthusiastically celebrate as the gospel is embodied afresh in a potentially infinite number of new global contexts” (2094-2095).
7. An Evangelical Theology of Religions
(This identical chapter appeared in Encountering Theology of Mission.) Tennent renames the classic paradigms of exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism, in addition to the postmodern acceptance model. He likes the hospitality of the pluralists, the inclusivist insistence that the missio Dei transcends the church, and the narrative emphasis of the postmoderns which reminds us that the gospel is primarily story and not simply doctrine. He renames exclusivism to “revelatory particularism.” Revelatory particularism should be articulated within a Trinitarian context. The Father is the source of all revelation. The Holy Spirit is the agent of the New Creation, and salvation is not simply justification but includes becoming a part of the New Creation. And the Son is the “apex of God's revelation and the ultimate standard by which all is judged. Rather than comparing and contrasting Christianity with other religions, we measure all religions, including Christianity, against the revelation of Jesus Christ” (2479-2480). Revelatory particularism embraces a canonical principle that asserts that the Bible is central to our understanding of God's self-disclosure, and positions an evangelical theology of religions within the context of the missio Dei where God desires to bless all nations.
PART THREE: GOD THE SON: THE REDEMPTIVE EMBODIMENT OF THE MISSIO DEI
Section A: Missions History as a Reflection of the Incarnation
8. Turning Points in the History of Missions before 1792
Seven snapshots of mission: 1. UNNAMED DISCIPLES FROM CYPRUS AND CYRENE in Acts 11:20. The first instance of cross-cultural evangelism that led to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. 2. ST. THOMAS PREACHES THE GOSPEL IN INDIA. Church history taught in the West misses the multidirectional spread of Christianity. 3. THE TALE OF TWO MONKS, ALOPEN AND AUGUSTINE. Two groups of monks in different parts of the world. Early examples of contextualization and missional ingenuity. 4. RAYMOND LULL AND THE CHALLENGE OF ISLAM. Lull understood the long-term ill effects of the Crusades before any other. He was also an effective apologist and mobilizer. 5. FROM PADROADO (1493) TO PROPAGANDA FIDE (1622). The difference between "missions as translation" and "missions as cultural diffusion" (Sanneh). 6. COUNT NICOLAS VON ZINZENDORF AND THE MORAVIAN MISSION. The Pietist missionary movement that occurred prior to William Carrey. 7. THE ODD ORIGINS OF KOREAN CHRISTIANITY. The church was born outside of Korea among prisoners in Japan, and the message was first heard from Chinese, not from western missionaries.
9. The "Great Century" of Missions, 1792-1910
Five defining themes that give shape and force to the “Great Century.” 1. HOLY "SUBVERSION": THE BIRTH OF THE PROTESTANT MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Protestants didn’t have a strucure for sending missionaries for a couple hundred years because they didn’t see the para-church structure in the Bible. 2. THE WORD MADE TEXT: VERNACULAR BIBLE TRANSLATIONS. “Christianity is the only world religion whose primary source documents are in a language other than the language of the founder of the religion.” Translation of the Bible was key. 3. PERPETUATING PERPETUA: THE LEGACY OF WOMEN MISSIONARIES. Women were mobilizers, professionals, pioneers. 4. INDIGENOUS INGENUITY: CHURCH PLANTING IN THE "GREAT CENTURY". Rufus Anderson and Henry Venn propose the three selfs: governing, supporting, and extending. 5. GLOBAL COLLABORATION: THE BIRTH OF "WORLD CHRISTIANITY". The famous Edinburgh World Missionary Conference in 1910.
10. The Flowering of World Christianity, 1910-Present
Seven portraits of twenty-first-century world Christianity. 1. PENTECOSTALISM IN LATIN AMERICA. 2. THE AFRICAN INDEPENDENT CHURCHES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. 3. MUSLIMS WHO ARE FOLLOWING CHRIST IN THE MOSQUE. “I see C-5 as a temporary, transitional bridge over which some Muslims will be able to cross into more explicit Christian identity” (Kindle Location 3407). 4. SOUTH INDIAN MISSIONARIES TO NORTH INDIA. 5. THE NON-REGISTERED HOUSE-CHURCH MOVEMENT IN CHINA. 6. THE KOREAN MISSIONARY MOVEMENT. 7. POST-CHRISTENDOM VIBRANCY IN EUROPEAN CHRISTIANITY.
Section B: Cross-Cultural Communication as a Reflection of the Incarnation
11. The Incarnation and the Translatability of the Gospel
Cross-cultural communication and contextualization. “This chapter has demonstrated that the Incarnation provides the theological foundation for effective missionary communication. It serves as the model for all the ways that we seek to contextualize or translate the universal gospel message into a potentially infinite number of particular settings. There is indeed much to be gained from insights from anthropology, ethnography, and communication theory. However, if the whole of the missionary enterprise is to be properly rooted in the missio dei, it is essential that the foundation arise out of the missional and incarnational heart of the triune God” (Kindle Locations 3969-3972).
12. Access and Reproducibility in Missions Strategy
Mobilization for church planting among the unreached. “The Incarnation makes the good news of God's redemptive love accessible. God, in Christ, relocates into our frame of reference and makes the inbreaking of God's rule intelligible in culturally understandable ways, summoning all cultures to the new realities of the kingdom of God. The themes of this chapter have been raised in order to help the church to better reflect the Incarnation as we seek to make the gospel accessible to every people group and as we nurture viable, reproducing churches in every people group in the world” (Kindle Locations 4358-4361).
13. Reflecting the Incarnation in Holistic Missions
The evangelism vs social action debate. Tennent’s position is that the incarnation teaches the fundamental unity of word and deed. “The emergence of a post-Western Christianity has finally liberated Christianity from what Kwame Bediako calls the "western possessiveness of it." The result is that a paradigm of evangelism that is focused on "saving souls" while closing our eyes and ears to human need is no longer tenable. For centuries most of the church has looked upon a world of need from the upper-side perspective of privilege and power. Today, most of the church reads the Bible from the "lower-side" perspective of poverty and powerlessness. In this respect, we may finally have come full circle to a global situation that is far closer to the vibrancy and holistic perspective of the first-century Christians” (Kindle Locations 4613-4617).
PART FOUR: GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT: THE EMPOWERING PRESENCE OF THE MISSIO DEI
Section A: Empowering the Church to Embody the Presence of the Future
14. The Holy Spirit, the Book of Acts, and the Missio Dei
“During the twentieth century, the Pentecostal movement served to reawaken the church to the normative aspect of the Holy Spirit's activity in the church and in our witness in the world. Ultimately the Spirit is the central agent in the ongoing unfolding of the missio dei, enabling the church to experience the realities of the New Creation in the present. Of course, there have been glaring inconsistencies and theological problems within Pentecostalism, as with any Christian movement. If, in this chapter, I have neglected the "mote" in the Pentecostal eye, it is only because I am so painfully aware of the "beam" in my own eye. In other words, I maintain that despite its problems, Pentecostalism remains an important corrective to the blind spots in the pneumatology and practice that have dominated the West for centuries. As Samuel Escobar has wisely stated, evangelical Protestantism emphasized the "continuity in truth by the Word," whereas Pentecostalism has emphasized the "continuity in life by the Spirit!'" To be faithful to Christ in the twenty-first century, the church desperately needs the dynamic union of both” (Kindle Locations 4880-4886).
15. The Church as the Embodiment of the New Creation
Highlights the importance of the church AND the mission agency. “This chapter has sought to examine the relationship between biblical ecclesiology and the emergence of various voluntary associations, parachurch ministries, and mission organizations that serve the church. Only the modality of the church infused with the Holy Spirit can embody the full realities of the New Creation in the present age. Sodalities exist only to further this goal. It has been argued that sodality structures are biblical and have historically served and assisted in the effective mobilization of the church in a wide variety of ways. However, it is essential that these organizations be held accountable to godly Christian leadership and that the individual members of the various societies be sent out from, and be held accountable to, a local church” (Kindle Locations 5196-5200).
Section B: Missionaries as Agents of Suffering and Heralds of the New Creation
16. The Suffering, Advancing Church
Chapter covers 5 perspectives on persecution. “Now that we stand at the end of the long legacy of Christendom, it is vital that Western Christians be given a more robust theological and missiological framework to help us understand persecution better” (Kindle Locations 5242-5243). “This chapter has provided a theological framework that places persecution and suffering within the larger context of the missio dei. Within this context, it is clear that persecution should not be viewed as an unfortunate bane in the life of the church or something that is experienced only by certain groups of Christians in history or only in a few parts of the world” (Kindle Locations 5501-5503). Persecution serves the church in various ways.
Conclusion: The Church as the Reflection of the Trinity in the World
Tennent concludes by using the “Insider Movement” as a case study to show his three step process for engaging new missiological questions. Interesting stuff. Read it for yourself.
Gallagher and Hertig spent ten years in interviews and browsing bibliographies and syllabi in missiological studies in order to find the 15 most influential essays ever written in contemporary missiology. The essays include contributions from Catholic, Orthodox, Conciliar, Pentecostal, and Evangelical traditions. The result are the “absolutely essential articles and papers that no person interested in the mission of the church can not have read” (2009:ix). Landmark Essays in Mission and World Christianity is a must-read for wannabe missiologists (such as myself).
In Part 1, “Biblical Theology,” David Bosch warns against proof-texting to support our own ministries. We must labor to develop a theology of mission from the whole of Scripture. But there will always be various models of mission (even in the NT) because the context is always changing. Next, Karl Barth goes deep into the exegesis and application of the “Great Commission” at the end of Matthew.
In Part 2, “History,” Orlando Costas explores the unfortunate link between modern missionary “enterprise” and liberal capitalist ideology. Dana Robert shows the recent demographic shift of Christianity “southward” and explains, “the future of world Christianity rests with the so-called younger churches and their daily struggles” (60).
In Part 3, “Theology, Church, and Kingdom,” Robert Schreiter proposes that reconciliation (horizontal reconciliation only?!?) is the new model of mission today because the process of economic globalization has created so much strife. Next, René Padilla completely dismantles the homogeneous unit principle, “It is quite evident that the use of the homogeneous unit principle for church growth has no biblical foundation” (91). I wonder what Padilla would say about the biblical basis for the insider movement, which is the homogenous unit principle on steroids?
In Part 4, “Evangelism and Contextualization,” Kwame Bediako observes that Africa has been the place for the re-establishment of Christianity that is free from Christendom, and therefore a model for the future of World Christianity. Wilbert Shenk urges the recasting of a theology of mission that is informed and even led by new churches in the majority world. Andrew Walls’, the missiologist and church historian everyone else quotes (even in this volume!), essay on the “indigenizing” and the “pilgrim” principle is included. Wall’s article is foundational for all missiology, IMHO.
In Part 5, “Christianity and The Religions,” Lesslie Newbigin outlines the inclusivist position in regards to salvation of non-believers. Charles Van Engen nuances the Christian relationship to other religions through a model that is faith particularist (exclusivist), culturally pluralist, and ecclesiologically inclusivist. Both authors argue for humble, respectful boldness in our witness.
In Part 6, “Anthropology,” Paul Hiebert’s infamous essay, “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle” shows how the Western worldview has no way to deal with the spiritual realities present in the Bible or the Majority World. Daisy Machado argues for the “disestablishment” of the church (especially in America) from its cultural, political, and denominational ties in order to be able to prophetically demonstrate that “the veneer of Euro-American Protestantism is not required for entry to God’s feast” (197).
Finally, in Part 7, “Global Trends,” Peter Phan critiques Philip Jenkins’ The Next Christendom and says, “Christendom is not Christianity and has nothing do with Jesus and his gospel” (204). Samuel Escobar’s essay concludes the book by pointing to the past, present, and future of mission studies.
I would have added Piper’s initial chapter in Let the Nations be Glad (1989) to this volume. His opening sentence still rings in my ears today, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is.” Few of my colleagues wouldn’t know this sentence. In any case, the essays gathered here are fantastic to have in one volume, and it serves as an ecumenical companion to Ralph Winter’s Perspectives. To be challenged from traditions other than your own is invaluable.
This looks like an important book: Toward Respectful Understanding and Witness among Muslims: Essays in Honor of J. Dudley Woodberry.
From William Carey Library:
Endorsements:
“In the midst of increasing tensions among Evangelicals on the best way to minister in Muslim contexts, this book comes as a wonderful resource that will help move the conversation forward, open up new
areas for discussion, and focus our eyes on the methods in light of the task we face.”
-- Scott Moreau • Professor, Intercultural Studies, Wheaton College • Editor, Evangelical Missions Quarterly
“Polished in the academy, the field, and the prayer closet, Dudley Woodberry's irenic spirit has blessed many. He has awakened our curiosity, mentored our research, reconciled our antagonisms, and expanded our vision with grace, passion, and a twinkle in his eye. These essays continue that heritage.”
-- Miriam Adeney, Ph.D. • Associate Professor of Global and Urban Ministries, Seattle Pacific University
Contents:
Foreword By David W. Shenk
Preface By C. Doug McConnell
Preface and Acknowledgments By Evelyne A. Reisacher
Contributing Authors
Biography of J. Dudley Woodberry By Dean S. Gilliland
SECTION ONE
Encouraging Friendly Conversation Introduction by Charles E. Van Engen
1 Christian Attitudes toward Islam and Muslims: A Kerygmatic Approach By Martin Accad
2 The Ishmael Promises and Mission Motivation By Jonathan E. Culver
3 Squeezing Ethics Out of Law: What Is Shariʿa Anyway? By David L. Johnston
4 Portraying Muslim Women By Evelyne A. Reisacher
5 Current Trends in Islam and Christian Mission By Warren F. Larson
SECTION 2
Christian Scholarship Introduction by Joseph L. Cumming
6 The Christian Scholar with Islam: “Go, Take, Learn” By Kenneth Cragg
7 Ṣifāt al-Dhāt in al-Ashʿarī’s Doctrine of God and Possible Christian Parallels By Joseph L. Cumming
8 Who Was “Allah” before Islam? Evidence that the Term “Allah” Originated with Jewish and Christian Arabs By Rick Brown
9 Folk Elements in Muslim Expressions of African Religion By Dean S. Gilliland
10 The Kaya “Shrine” and the Mosque: Religious Bifurcation among Miji-Kenda Muslims in Kenya By Stephen Mutuku Sesi
SECTION 3
Christian Witness Introduction by Dean S. Gilliland
11 How Is the Gospel Good News for Muslims? By David H. Greenlee
12 Contextualization By Phil Parshall
13 Reflections on Jesus Movements among Muslims with Special Reference to Movements within Asian Muslim Communities By John Jay Travis
14 Afflictions by Jinn among the Swahili and an Appropriate Christian Approach By Caleb Chul-Soo Kim
15 Peacemaking as a Witness By Christine Amal Mallouhi
Conclusion
By Joseph L. Cumming
Complete Works of J. Dudley Woodberry
Compiled by Jared Holton
Selected Bibliography
Index
Encountering Theology of Mission (2010) is an Evangelical introductory textbook on mission theology. It’s layout is topical and covers key aspects of the mission of the church. Part 1 shows the Biblical foundation for mission including the vision of mission and the task of mission, Part 2 covers the motives and means of mission, and Part 3 discusses contemporary controversies and issues.
The book is distinguished from Bosch’s Transforming Mission and Bevans and Schroeder’s Constants in Context in three obvious ways. Bosch and Bevans both rely heavily on historical theology for analysis. By contrast, Encountering Theology of Mission relies primarily upon the Bible itself, while keeping an eye on historical developments. Second, Bosch and Bevans utilize a postmodern approach to their studies. They are extremely tentative at defining mission. Ott notes, “They also assume that we are prisoners of our culture and context and that there is little real hope of approaching a true understanding of mission” (xxix). Instead, Ott relies on a “critical realist” (Hiebert) epistemology that allows for a humble confidence that we can know what the mission of the church is. “Though we see through a glass dimly, we do see (1 Cor. 13:12)” (xxx). And thirdly, the “nations” do not feature prominently in either Bosch or Bevans. Ott, however, dedicates two chapters at the beginning of the book to God’s heart for the nations (this theme of reaching the nations also features prominently in Wright’s The Mission of God (2006) to which Ott references often).
My favorite chapter is four: The Purpose and Nature of Mission. Ott begins with a nice outline that allows the reader to keep many strands of mission theology together without unraveling (2010:80): (1) Doxology as the highest purpose of mission, (2) Redemption as the foundation of mission, (3) The kingdom of God as the center of mission, (4) Eschatology as the hope of mission, (5) The nations as the scope of mission, (6) Reconciliation as the fruit of mission, (7) Incarnation as the character of mission, (8) The Holy Spirit as the power of mission (in chapter ten), and (9) Multiplying kingdom communities as the task of mission (chapter six, my addition).
Like Bosch and Bevans, Ott does a great job of joining together complex thoughts and avoiding false dichotomies, but he does so in a manner that is easy to follow. Bosch and Bevans’ arguments are sometimes dense and very intellectual in style. Ott is to be commended for clarity, even if he lacks for sophistication and deeper scholarship. However, Encountering Theology of Mission is an introductory work, so perhaps I am comparing apples and oranges.
As an evangelical theology of mission, Encountering Theology of Mission focuses clearly on evangelism as a key aspect of mission theology. According to Ott, social action, reconciliation, and compassion are definitely part of the mission of the church. But in what way? Ott explains beautifully:
The church has not fulfilled its mission by merely being such a community [of social action] wherever it finds itself, as great a challenge at that is. Rather such communities must be multiplied among the diverse peoples of the world, and this is the task of missions.
Thus the task of missions is the sending activity of the church to create and expand such kingdom communities among every people of the earth. This will be done through evangelism and church planting that is not satisfied with superficial conversion or institutional advancement. Rather, these new communities must be nurtured and challenged to manifest the reign of God in word and deed, impacting all areas of life-spiritual, social, mental, and physical-thus furthering God's mission in the world (2010:160).
Ott integrates evangelism and social action as few other Evangelicals have been able to do. And his biblical focus on the unreached nations is refreshing. This book is highly recommended, as I said previously.
Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today is a brilliant fusion of church history and missiology. It takes it’s place right beside Transforming Mission as the reference book for mission theology. This book offers a panoramic view at how different Christian traditions in historical periods have engaged in mission over the last 2,000 years. In order to explain these developments and point a way forward for mission in the twenty-first Century, Catholic missionary scholars Bevans and Schroeder use three types of theology to show how each type has struggled with issues that have remained constants throughout the history of the church in mission. Answering the questions (the questions themselves are the constants) that every church at all times has struggled to answer amounts to forming a missiology: (1) Who is Jesus Christ and what is his meaning? (2) What is the nature of the Christian church? (3) How does the church regard its eschatological future? (4) What is the nature of the salvation it preaches? (5) How does the church value the human? and (6) What is the value of human culture as the context in which the gospel is preached?” (Kindle Locations 1111-1115).
The three types of theology find their representatives with the early church fathers. “Type A” is represented by Tertullian and is called “law.” Humankind is fallen and only by special revelation can be saved. The mission of the church in Type A is to save souls and start more churches. Type B is represented by Origen and is called “truth.” Human salvation is already realized through the best of human reason. The mission of the church in Type B is to invite others to discover the truth. Type C is represented by Irenaeus and is called “history.” The church is committed to the proclamation and service of Christ’s lordship over all creation. The mission of church in Type C is the liberation and transformation of the world.
One weakness of the book is the caricatures present in the typologies (although I understand the need for simplification). For instance, Type A is unfortunately called “law” simply due to the penal understanding Christ’s death. A much better word to describe Type A would be “revelation” because of the high value placed on God’s initiative in that type. Furthermore, descriptive words for Type B and C could be “exploration” and “transformation,” respectively. I doubt the liberals of Type B would want to be identified with “truth!”
Another weakness is the understanding of mission in the book of Acts. As the authors correctly state, the book of Acts reveals a tension between Jew and Gentile, and how the apostles adapted ministry approaches and even theology as the socio-religious context changed. However, the constants in the book of Acts are the acts of evangelism and church planting. Acts chapter 29 would involve a new ministry approach to church planting in a new context. For the authors, the changing contexts seem to imply that these acts are secondary or optional in mission. “The church only becomes the church as it responds to God's call to mission, and to be in mission means to change continually as the gospel encounters new and diverse contexts” (Kindle Locations 2058-2059).
As an Evangelical, I can see myself in each of the types, although I identify most closely with Types A and C (the Bible is marginalized in Type B). As Catholics, the authors identify mostly with Types C and B. Therefore the book’s proposal of mission as “prophetic dialogue” largely omits Type A’s emphasis on conversion and church planting in mission. I feel that when speaking of the mission of “the church” it is important to make a distinction between the local church and the universal church. The local church seeks to multiply itself (Type A), whereas the universal church works for the transformation of societies (Type C). This could be a helpful corrective to their Catholic missiology. Especially in unreached areas of the world, how can there be any sustainable spiritual power needed for radical culture transformation without discipleship that happens in the context of conversion and church planting?
An email I received today from a friend:
All seem to agree: it is a day of unparalleled opportunity in world evangelization. The global church has never had more resources than she has today. Yet, there are 1,214 totally unengaged/unreached Muslim people groups in the world– right now. 197 of these have populations over 100K.
Question: From your personal or ministry perspective, what do you believe are the three greatest roadblocks or challenges that stand in the way of the global church engaging every one of these Muslim people groups in the next five years?
How would you answer?
Here is a recent sermon from David Platt, author of the popular book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, when speaking at a recent T4G event. So many people have recommended this to me I just had to pass it on. Watch the video, listen to the audio, or read the transcript. Here is a line that stood out to me:
Brothers and sisters, if there are 6,000 people groups that have still not been reached with the gospel of Christ, then we have missed the point of the atonement.
As opposed to 100 years ago, the Christian faith today is no longer simply white, rich, and western, but is instead more accurately described as brown, poor, and southern. Coupled with the phenomena of globalization, this demographic swing has profound implications for the globalizing Church (not “globalized Church”: there are still thousands of unreached peoples!). With such an intertwined world and a diverse Church, different Christian theologies are bound to clash with each another. Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity is a collection essays written in honor of the late missiologist Paul Hiebert meant to show how both the nature and task of theology is being redefined by the phenomenon of globalization.
Part 1 of the book examines the global status of theology today. Tiénou, Whiteman, and Walls make the case that Western theology arrogantly self-perceives itself to be the universal standard of theology for the rest of the world. Meaningful dialogue, the necessary ingredient for learning from each other, will not be possible until the West learns that its own theology is itself contextual and based largely on Greek and Enlightenment categories. The West needs to approach non-Western theologies not from a position of power, but as unique and important equals to be learned from.
Part 2 proposes a methodology for globalizing theology. The chief tension is how theology can be both contextual and yet simultaneously transcend the local expression. Each author explores this tension between the particular and the universal in different ways. Vanhoozer proposes that theology must adhere to the canonical principle (in accordance with Scripture), and the catholic principle (the diversity of the worldwide church enriches and enlarges theology). Strauss looks at the universal and contextual nature of the creeds; the creeds are themselves products of historical situations and need to be interpreted as such. Priest contrasts philosophy and anthropology as conversation partners with theology, and argues that “experience-near” theologizing (using indigenous thought forms and language) best describes how missional theology impacts the human condition in context. Perhaps Van Engen says it best: “The glocal church's task of critical theologizing involves a dialectical tension: The gospel can be known only within cultural frameworks, yet the gospel is always distinct from - sometimes affirming of and often prophetically critical of - all human cultures” (178).
Part 3 examines the multifaceted implications globalizing theology has on the church. Whether it’s economic theory, idolatrous nationalism, or even a missionary reporting to her sending church, the repercussions of the diversity of Christian theology are unmistakable in today’s world. The church must be prepared to deal with these conflicts in a way that edifies and honors fellow Christians in other cultures, as well has challenges blind spots in one’s own culture.
Why is the message of Globalizing Theology essential for Westerners who translate the gospel among Muslims? Islam is a global and culturally diverse faith (despite the fact that the Qur’an cannot be translated!), and has a robust theological system which has often been over-simplified as a works-based idolatry. Although it is true that Islam is perhaps the most resistant worldview to the gospel that the church has ever seen, Muslims today are indeed beginning to trickle into the kingdom. As this trickle becomes a river, the body of Christ will be enriched and enlarged by the unique contributions of Muslim background theologians (e.g. Lamin Sanneh). Perhaps we are not too far away from seeing how theologically baptized Islamic concepts can provide deeper Biblical understandings of the tri-unity of God (tawheed), the community of believers (ummah), and peace (salaam). Islam as a theological culture is not just something to be replaced; it is impossible to minister independent from cultural context. Ministry among Muslims will include utilizing the thought forms and expressions of Islam in ways Globalizing Theology exemplifies in other contexts. And in the end, outsiders (like me) may only be temporary catalysts leading to deep, indigenously-led movements to Christ. It will be the theologically unique but Biblically grounded Muslim background church that finally reaches the Muslim world.
There is a mistaken idea perpetuated in some circles that the Topkapi and Samarqand manuscripts in Turkey and Uzbekistan are "original" copies. However, experts agree that these are not Uthmān's copies, as they are written in the Kufic Arabic script which only appeared in the late eighth century. Furthermore, even the Uthmānic copies themselves were not originals, for they were compiled many years after Muhammad's (pbuh) death to standardize the variety among Qur'ānic texts.Here are two charts that show some of the minor differences in some of the oldest copies of the Qur'an that we have. The important thing is this - the minor differences (in red) do not necessarily change the overall meaning of a given passage, but they do prove that traditional Islamic teaching that the Qur'an descended from Heaven and is perfectly preserved in every way until the present is simply not true. (click to enlarge)
Not included in these charts are the variants found in the Sana'a Manuscripts, the contents of which are still being processed by scholars. Yemeni authorities, however, seem to be blocking scholars access to them because of their potentially devastating blow to traditional Islamic teaching on the incorruptibility of the Qur'anic text, so we may have to wait a while for more details. In any event, the Sana'a Manuscripts, written in the Hijazi script and dating from the 8th C. AD / 2nd C. AH, appear to be the oldest copies of the Qur'an ever found. They too contain numerous variants, including layered revisions of the text which are clearly visible. (shown here) He wasn’t Irish. A Brit born in the 4th century, a third generation Christian, Patrick was the victim of an attack on his homeland and enslaved by the Irish when he was 16. He escaped 6 years later. After becoming a priest, he felt called by God to return to Ireland in order to win them for Christ. How could a Brit be so honored by the Irish? His ministry was really successful, because, according to Dana Robert (Kindle Locations 2006-2009):
Patrick's own writings give hints as to why his message appealed to the Irish. The first was the deep level of identification he felt with them. As do all good missionaries, he spent years among the Irish learning about their culture: he interpreted his enslavement as part of God's larger plan for his life task. He understood the Irish and knew their language. He spoke in idioms they understood, as is shown by the reference to his role as "hunter." He translated the deeper meanings of Christianity into Irish modes, helped no doubt by the Celtic roots he shared with them.
Patrick’s story is absolutely fascinating. And so is the missiological analysis on him by Dana Robert. I encourage you to read her chapter devoted to St. Patrick in Christian Mission: How Christianity Became a World Religion (2009).
One of the problems (if not the principal one) is that the sound-bite ‘Wycliffe have removed the Son of God from the Bible’ is a much easier message to impart than a nuanced discussion about the nature of the Trinity, the vagaries of language and the imprecision of meaning. There are complex and legitimate questions to be asked about the way in which terms such as the ‘Son of God’ are translated in some contexts. These cannot easily be discussed on febrile blogs or in 140-character tweets. And those who have pledged to withhold their tithes as a result are acting like children.
All of Wycliffe’s translations are checked according to a set of standards agreed internationally by all Bible agencies. They would never publish a translation which systematically removed Jesus’ relationship to the Father and they certainly would not make translation choices in order to mitigate the offence of the Gospel of Christ. When many risk their lives in some hostile societies, the allegation of diluting or dumbing down Scripture is absurd.
The notion that translation can be effected by internet petition (by people many of whom will have very little understanding of the host culture situation) seems like the very worst kind of Western Christian arrogance. We may know what ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ mean in English, but it does not follow that they must have the same semantic range in another language. Who but the Greek and the scholar of Greek can know what is meant by huios? Who but the indigenous and the participant observer can begin to grapple with the difference and distinction between biological and social familial terms?
There is a long-standing convention in the missionary world that organisations do not give out the names or locations of those working in sensitive areas. All missionary organisations have agreed to this and it has been respected, until now. Some websites critical of Wycliffe and some of the emails in circulation make it possible to identify some of the people, missionaries and local believers who are in very sensitive situations. This is utterly irresponsible: indeed, it is an assault upon the work of God.Read the whole thing here.
Yesterday I began an interview with Jerry Trousdale about his new book Miraculous Movements: How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims Are Falling in Love with Jesus. Read Part 1 here.
4. The church planters in your book are all Africans. What role do Western missionaries have in Africa?
Our experiences in Muslim background church planting in Africa since 2005 is spread across 45 people groups that are 99-100% Muslim (with 3,586 simple churches) and 31 more peoples that are 60-98% Muslim, in addition to less Islamized peoples in 18 countries of West Africa, the Horn of Africa, East Africa, and Central Africa.
Since 2009 all of the leaders of Cityteam International’s African team are Africans. Some of our 350 partner ministries in Africa have Westerners on their disciple making teams but collectively the vast majority of them are Africans.
In our experience a novice inside leader is usually much more effective than a highly trained outsider. One of the historic challenges in the global missionary enterprises is that outside-the-culture leaders (whether African or Western), regardless of their training and sophistication are usually frustrated in their efforts to achieve only insiders-to-the-culture can do naturally, powerfully, and virally.
In spite of that we believe that Westerners can have a very relevant role in Disciple Making Movements everywhere. However in distant cultural contexts that role is most often in seen in training, coaching, and mentoring leaders, plus strategic support functions as opposed to direct field engagement.
There are certainly some notable and successful exceptions to that statement in Muslim contexts however. And without being too specific for obvious reasons, we have sometimes observed, and can envision even more creative roles of Western colleagues in facilitating compassion ministries and honest, strategic business as mission opportunities around the world.
5. Many stories and examples in your book come from very near-culture believers taking the gospel to unreached areas. What advice would you give to someone laboring in, say, Libya or Yemen, where there are no examples of near-culture believers nor churches where local seekers can hear the gospel?
You are correct in observing that Miraculous Movements as a popular-treatment book tells mostly stories of near-neighbor engagements because that will be likely be most relevant and appropriate for the majority of readers. But there are certainly more than 1,500 churches among Muslims in regions that are definitely not near-cultural contexts. These are in places that we don’t really discuss publically and did not hint at identifying in the book.
The principles of disciple making movements have now been found successful on multiple continents beyond Africa, and among not only Muslims, but Hindus, animists, Christo-pagans, and others. For sure virtually any ministry model is most easily engaged by a near-culture neighbor. But we do see some good examples of disciple making movements being launched in very challenging places by people who are not near-cultural disciple-makers.
To answer your question, I think that the testimony of growing numbers of replicating churches among least reached or formerly unengaged Muslim peoples gives us a reason to imagine that engaging lostness across severe cultural barriers in places like North Africa will at least be enhanced by a highly intentionally use of Jesus’ own ministry model and specific instruction, including: much prayer, engaging with genuine compassion and service, finding a person of peace that God has already prepared to bridge the gospel in restricted areas, obedience based discipleship, discipling people toward conversion, plus creation to Christ discovery Bible study with a DNA of an embryonic church from the first meeting.
6. While the vast majority of those in Africa who came to faith in Christ expressed deep dissatisfaction with Islam, your book hints at a couple movements who didn’t want to identify themselves as “Christians.” Where would you put the various movements described in your book on the C-Scale? Is there a variety? Is there evidence of any C5 or “Insider” ministries or movements in Africa? Why or why not?
The great majority of Muslim background churches in the Disciple Making Movement streams that I have visited are not at all allergic to the term “Christian.” And those that might avoid that word would not do it because they are confused about whether or not they are still Muslims, because they have experienced a life transformation as Followers of Isa al Masih.
For some years, even before I reengaged working with unreached Muslim people, I found myself preferring to self-describe myself in terms of a “Christ Follower” in North American contexts precisely because the term “Christian” seemed to me have lost the meaning of “a fully obedient follower of Jesus.” So sure, a minority of the Muslim background Followers of Isa al Masih in Africa sometimes prefer more descriptive language like that to avoid the tragic cultural and dishonorable baggage that the word “Christian” may evoke in some Islamic contexts—much more problematic there than in North America in fact.
However, it is my experience that none of the Muslim Background Christ Followers I know anywhere In Africa would avoid the term “Christian” because they still self-identify as a Muslim, or still relate to Mohammed as a prophet, etc.
When these Followers of Isa have a challenge with the name “Christian” it is because the dominant Muslim culture has redefined the connotations of “Christian” in ways that are not only un-biblical, but perhaps even immoral and disrespectful to God.
When people become Christ Followers through a process of obedience-based discipleship to salvation, they often experience God the Father’s love, God the Son’s grace and forgiveness, and God the Holy Spirit’s empowering and transformation. There are not argued into a doctrine, they experience God fully. And if they stay in a mosque for a season it is usually because they feel called by God to be there because it is the place He has assigned them to look for more people of peace who will bridge the Gospel into new families.
We are of course fully aware of the multiple issues under discussion under the rubric of C5 “insider” movements along with the related familial language Bible translation questions. However in our own context we strongly discourage “any” outsider to attempt to coach a local Muslim background church in how to contextualize the gospel in that church’s unique context. In fact we believe that this might be a form of inserting our own theories between a church of new Christ Followers and the Holy Spirit’s leading of that group.
Candidly we feel that in our context, trying to apply or impose the C Scale brings as much confusion as clarity so we don’t seek to shape or categorize the churches. In Disciple Making Movements each gathering of Christ Followers is encouraged to follow God’s will as revealed in His Word and allow the Holy Spirit to take them as far and as fast as He wants to on their journey to be fully mature followers of Jesus.
What this “outsiders’ hands off” approach has produced among more than 6,000 Muslim background churches in Africa in the last seven years has been what you would expect: a range of range of contextualization practices across the spectrum with the great bulk of the churches probably in the middle—and the Holy Spirit providing some local churches in highly volatile regions with some remarkably wise, courageous, and creative strategies for engaging their communities.
The common end of disciple making processes is making a disciple who makes disciples, and planting churches that plant churches. In a classic disciple making movement that process of planting a new church is facilitated by an outsider coaching a leader God is raising up in a family. But that outsider should never attempt to contextualize the gospel for that group because disciple making movements are predicated on a radical assumption that the Bible and the Holy Spirit are adequate to lead, mature, and protect a growing local church anywhere!
Thanks Jerry for your time. God bless you and your ministry!
Jerry Trousdale is author of Miraculous Movements: How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims Are Falling in Love with Jesus and Director of International Ministries for CityTeam. A website about the book can be found here: www.miraculousmovements.com
I am grateful for Jerry’s responses to the questions I’ve asked him which might be of interest for readers of Circumpolar. Either Jerry or one of his colleges will be able to interact with your questions or concerns about the book, so feel free to comment below. I’ll post Part 2 tomorrow where I ask him about the role of expats and his take on C5.
1. Why did you write the book? Who is your audience? What is the main thing you want your readers to take away from the book?
Bad news overwhelms our lives. In one European country the broadcast news services are now mandated to end each newscast with at least 30 seconds of something cheery to balance the daily barrage of crime, economic doldrums, political conflict, global terrorism and drugs.
“Disciple Making Movements” does not sound much like something that could be a vehicle for creating really good news, and an extraordinary reminder that the 1st century biblical term “gospel” in the 21st century is meaning great news for hundreds of thousands of people who had never rejected Jesus, they had just never before had a “Jesus option” where they live.
For most people it is almost unbelievable to imagine that in multiple countries, and among scores of different Muslim people groups, Isa al Masih (Jesus the Messiah) is being discovered, embraced and obediently followed by Muslim individuals, whole families, and entire communities. And this spiritual tidal wave is spreading from one Muslim community to the next with dramatic accounts of amazing transformations of whole communities and thousands of new Muslim background Christ Followers who are rising up to carry the disciple making initiatives into new regions.
So for Christians especially, today there is a flood of extraordinary disciple making movements and amazing stories coming from more than 6,000 of the most unexpected communities… inside the Muslim world. And this not just interesting and informative—it is inspirational and potentially transformational for all of us. Miraculous Movements was written to tell this story.
And there is a second story here about the totally counter-intuitive way in which this is happening. It is not being led by professional Christians, or by Western organizations on the ground. It is not dependent on large doses of outside funding. It is not about building church buildings and church programs. It is empowering both ordinary people and also drawing the unexpected help of hundreds of former imams, sheiks, and even people who have come out of Islamic terrorist cells. It is discipling people from the first day of encountering the Bible to obey everything that they personally discover about God will for their lives. It is a revival of an intentional focus on making disciples the way Jesus made disciples and churches follow as a natural byproduct.
And when Muslim communities are being transformed from what they were to places of much joy, peace, and celebration of God’s love then that is very, very good news. Good news for Muslim people groups, and good news for Christians who can find much to learn about spiritual renewal from the true stories of former Muslims who are now Followers of Christ.
This book was specifically written as a popular-treatment, mass-market book aimed at ordinary Christians.
Over the last ten years or so the global Christian missionary enterprise has become aware of movements called disciple making movements or church planting movements which have successfully penetrated and multiplied among people groups and regions where the Gospel had not previously been planted. In an easy-to-read format Miraculous Movements takes readers inside scores of these movements in Africa where they will discover the stories of real people in the movements—stories which illustrate and clarify the biblical values and practices that Jesus used in the first century and which are working again in the twenty-first century to engage lostness effectively and multiply disciples rapidly.
We are already seeing adoption of the biblical values and principles of disciple making movements in hundreds of ministries in the global Christian enterprise. But this book is for ordinary people who would like to learn how to engage lostness the same way Jesus modeled and taught his disciples. The principles can be applied anywhere, among all kinds of people. It just happens that the vehicle of this book is the story of how this is impacting Muslim populations.
2. What distinguishes your book from Garrison’s Church Planting Movements and the P.O.U.C.H methodology?
David Garrison’s 2002 book Church Planting Movements dramatically introduced Christians to the first signs that the Spirit of God was beginning to create some dramatic momentum of church planting in places that the Gospel had never gone before. It was a wonderful gift to the body of Christ! It articulated some key biblical principles that undergirded each movement and provided illustrative stories of people from inside several of those movements. POUCH churches are described in the book as focusing on five core principles focused on participative Bible study, resulting in obedience to God’s Word, led by unpaid workers in small cell churches, typically meeting in homes.
With the coaching of David Watson, whose work in India (along with his Indian colleague, Victor John) was among the case studies that Dr. Garrison wrote about, Cityteam International has focused major attention for the last eight years or so on catalyzing disciple making movements/church planting movements especially in Africa by deploying our own pioneer teams in unreached people groups, and also mobilizing, training coaching, and mentoring more than 350 different ministries that are successfully implementing the biblical paradigm shift. This has happened in more than 150 different people groups across more than 20 countries of West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, and the Horn of Africa and includes more than 18,000 new churches and more than half a million new Christians.
That body of experience has harvested a great deal of additional understanding of the essential, biblical elements that are always necessary to see critical mass in movements. We have also come to understand that obedience-based discipleship growing out of discovery Bible studies is the single most important element that undergirds all quality replication and transformation. It is a non-replaceable core value in successful movement. And along the way we continue to get more clarity regarding how to create models of never-ending, on-the-job, non-extractive, and just–in-time leadership development.
These sorts of discoveries really needed to be shared with the larger body of Christ because we believe, as do many other colleagues in other ministries, that they will transform people and churches anywhere in the world.
3. Hiebert and others have emphasized that we have to go beyond simply changing beliefs and behavior; instead we should focus on transforming worldviews. If I’m reading you correctly, the disciple-making philosophy in your book has a heavy emphasis on behavior (obedience). How has the relationship of knowledge, obedience, and worldview transformation played out in the movements among Muslims in Africa?
Recently a senior missiologist told me that after visiting some Muslim background churches on the field he felt that the most critical message that Cityteam International had for the Church of Jesus Christ is simple: a highly intentionally focus on obedience-based discipleship--discovering and obeying God’s will in every passage of His Word. He felt that this is the key biblical value that is missing in knowledge-based discipleship. When this happens it creates movements.
Obedience-based discipleship is the only type of discipleship commanded in the Bible, very different from the knowledge-based model so common today. In John 14 and 15, Jesus articulated in fifteen different ways how loving and obeying God invites God’s transformation of the human personality. These are absolute biblical values and one of the unique themes developed throughout the pages of Miraculous Movements. And obedience-based discipleship not only is biblical, it dramatically changes individuals, families, and whole communities.
And this is not a theoretical model. It is Jesus’ promise of what happens when His people love and obey Him, and He fulfills his promises with dramatic exclamation points. And that transformation is attractive, winsome, and one of the most critical element of rapid multiplication—it is the absolute reality inside these movements. This is the reason that we have seen the impossible—Muslim towns asking for the “storytellers” that brought change to nearby communities—so attractive that dozens of imams themselves have asked for Chronological Bible storying to change their own communities.
Worldview issues are of course critical. The worldview perspective about Allah starts changing from the first time people see miracles of God, when they see transformation in a new Christ Follower, and when the “discover truth and obey it” processes starts in Genesis.
By the way, we don’t believe that you can start in Matthew and get an adequate worldview shift required about the nature of God. Worldview shapes the answers to critical questions like: Who am I? Where am I? What has gone wrong here? and What can be done about it?
And people get their worldview from stories, from narratives that shape how we see ourselves in the world. Change the guiding stories and a person’s worldview is changed. We believe that the ultimate answers to these questions are found in the process of discovering Creation to Christ stories of the Bible, internalizing them within a group, and together obeying whatever they learn about God’s will.
Part 2 tomorrow…
Jerry Trousdale, author of Miraculous Movements: How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims Are Falling in Love with Jesus (March 6, 2012), has graciously agreed to an interview for Circumpolar. I’m asking him some tough questions, and I hope to post his responses soon. Until then, watch this trailer:
See some more videos of Jerry talking about the book at CityTeam’s YouTube channel.