Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What is the Mission of the Church? Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission. Crossway Books, 2011.
Referenced in:
- Theology of Mission
- Evangelism, Theology and Practice
- Social Ministry, Theological & Philosophical Foundations
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This comes from the authors of popular contra-emergent books such as Why We’re Not Emergent. In this volume they bring conservative Reformed and Southern Baptist perspectives to the subject of mission, offering definitions of terms such as missional, missio Dei, social justice, and shalom.
They start by mentioning a few core essentials. On these, there is considerable agreement among evangelicals.
The gospel is, at the very least, the good news of Jesus’s death and resurrection; proclamation is essential to the church’s witness; heaven and hell are real; people are lost without Jesus; bodies matter as well as souls; and good deeds as the fruit of tranformed lives are not optional. (16)
On other issues surrounding mission, however, there is less agreement. This includes concepts like kingdom, social justice, shalom, cultural mandate, the “least of these,” and more recently terms such as missional and missio Dei.
The authors contribute to this discussion first by correcting “an overexpansive definition that understands mission to be just about every good thing a Christian could do as a partner with God in his mission to redeem the whole world.” (20) They have three concerns:
- That good behaviors are sometimes commended but in the wrong categories. They prefer “loving your neighbor” to social justice, “faithful presence” to transforming the world, and passive terms such as enter, receive, and inherit with regard to the kingdom instead of active terms such as “building the kingdom.”
- That missional zeal puts “oughts” on Christians instead of inviting “cans” – we ought to do something about human trafficking, AIDS, public education, etc. Their concern is that “ought” language implies that if the church does not tackle these problems, it is being disobedient. They suggest inviting Christians to engage these problems if they are called and gifted, but not to place a mandate on the entire church.
- That passion for renewing the city or tackling social problems may marginalize the one thing that makes Christian mission Christian: namely making disciples of Jesus Christ. (20-21)
On the other hand, they DO NOT want their missional corrective to be indifferent to suffering and poverty, unconcerned about impacting others in one’s career, unmoved by the needs of their cities, etc. They appreciate that much of the current emphasis is an attempt to correct abuses of traditional missiology in these areas. These corrections are helpful, provided they do not reduce the gospel to such things as job training, health care, and education. Thus, they DO want to exalt the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection as of first importance, relieve Christians from false guilt that they created most problems in the world and must solve them, emphasize the unique task of making disciples, interpret specific texts more critically within the story line of the Bible, and elevate something more than renewed cities and restored bodies in eschatology.
In a spirit that is intended to be irenic and balanced, not us-against-them, they offer their perspective on the mission of the church:
The mission of the church is summarized in the Great Commission passages – the climactic marching orders Jesus issues at the ends of the Gospels and the beginning of Acts. We believe that the church is sent into the world to witness to Jesus by proclaiming the gospel and making disciples of all nations. This is our task. This is our unique and central calling. (26)
They show this by surveying all the Great Commission passages as well as others that are often suggested as alternative or additional commissions for the church. This is followed by a section that looks at larger theological concepts that affect our understanding of the church’s mission, including kingdom of God, social justice, the renewed earth in eschatology, and others.
The result is a balanced discussion of mission. It is a needed contribution to current literature on the subject.
From the Publisher
Christians today define mission more broadly and variably than ever before. Are we, as the body of Christ, headed in the same direction or are we on divergent missions?
Some argue that the mission of the Church is to confront injustice and alleviate suffering, doing more to express God’s love for the world. Others are concerned that the church is in danger of losing its God-centeredness and thereby emphasize the proclamation of the gospel. It appears as though misunderstanding of mission persists.
Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert believe there is a lot that evangelicals can agree on if only we employ the right categories and build our theology of mission from the same biblical building blocks. Explaining key concepts like kingdom, gospel, and social justice, DeYoung and Gilbert help us to get on the same page—united by a common cause—and launch us forward into the true mission of the church.
Editorial Reviews
In what appears to be a growing tension over what the mission of the church encompasses, DeYoung and Gilbert bring a remarkably balanced book that can correct, restore, and help regardless of which way you lean or land on all things missional. I found the chapters on social justice and our motivation in good works to be especially helpful. Whether you are actively engaging the people around you with the gospel and serving the least of these or you are hesitant of anything missional, this book will help you rest in God s plan to reconcile all things to himself in Christ. – Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor, The Village Church, Highland Village, Texas; author, The Explicit Gospel (Crossway, 2012)
Christ is the greatest message in the world, and delivering it is the greatest mission. But are we losing our focus? Are we being distracted, sometimes even by good things? Zealous Christians disagree sharply today over the church s proper ministry and mission. Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert bring us back to first things in an age of mission creep and distraction. Offering balanced wisdom, this book will give us not only encouragement but discomfort exactly where we all need it. It s the kind of biblical sanity we need at this moment. – Michael S. Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California
Among the many books that have recently appeared on mission, this is the best one if you are looking for sensible definitions, clear thinking, readable writing, and the ability to handle the Bible in more than proof-texting ways. I pray that God will use it to bring many to a renewed grasp of what the gospel is and how that gospel relates, on the one hand, to biblical theology and, on the other, to what we are called to do. – D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
DeYoung and Gilbert have put us in their debt with their clear, biblical, theological, and pastoral exposition of the mission of God s people. That mission, which they rightly understand within the story line of the whole Bible, is summarized in the Great Commission and involves gospel proclamation and disciple making. This superb book will encourage its readers to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship and obey Jesus s commands now and in eternity, to the glory of God the Father. – Peter T. O’Brien, Senior Research Fellow in New Testament, Moore Theological College, Australia
About the Author
KEVIN DEYOUNG (MDiv, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is senior pastor at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan. He is the coauthor of Why We Love the Church and other award-winning books.
GREG GILBERT (MDiv, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is senior pastor of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of What Is the Gospel?
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