Darrell L. Guder, The Continuing Conversion of the Church. Eerdmans, 2000.
Referenced in:
- Theology and Practice of Evangelism — Missional/Missio Dei
- Theology of Mission, Proposals and Formulations — Missional/Missio Dei
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
The purpose of this book is to develop a theology of evangelistic ministry, focused primarily on the New Testament. Guder is perhaps the foundational representative of the Missional/Missio Dei perspective on evangelism.
In Part I, Guder lays the foundation for a theology of evangelism. He affirms evangelism as the heart of the church’s ministry, but believes it needs to be better understood. Toward that end, he begins by defining “evangel,” or “gospel” through a survey of the biblical proclamations. From this he gleans that the “good news” is God’s self-disclosure, climactically through the incarnation of Christ, as loving, saving, reconciling, and redeeming his creation, and establishing his reign in the “kingdom of God.” It also entails the basic confession that Jesus is the Savior and Lord who is bringing in the kingdom. God continues to disclose this good news of the kingdom today through the church, whose task of carrying the good news into the world is best expressed in Acts 1:8, “You shall be my witnesses.”
In good missional fashion, Guder sets this discussion in the context of the changing Western society in general and American culture in particular, highlighting the end of Christendom and the increasing marginalization or “disestablishment” of the church. Earlier understandings of evangelism and mission were on the “sending” of Christians from Western societies into contexts that did not know the gospel. Those who “received” the message began to live out its implications which were essentially the culturally conformed Christianity of Western colonialism. Evangelism and mission were one and the same, and stressed “conversion, the salvation of the individual soul, the liberation of the individual from the fear of judgment, and the promise of heaven.” (18) With the appearance of factors such as the breakdown of Christendom, the advent of postmodernity, and the shrinking global village, this understanding of mission lost much of its “cultural captivity.” And instead of “seeing mission as merely a strategic expression of the self-expanding church, mission began to be viewed as an essential theological characteristic of God. Biblical scholars, especially Karl Barth, began to interpret the scriptural witness as a record of God mission, God’s sending.” (19)
It is here that Guder introduces the broadened understanding of the nature of mission as missio Dei (mission of God), borrowing the definition from David Bosch:
Mission (may be understood) as being derived from the very nature of God. It (is) thus put into the context of the doctrine of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology. The classical doctrine of the mission Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit (is) expanded to include yet another “movement”: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world….mission is not primarily an activity of of the church, but an attribute of God…Mission is thereby seen as a movement from God to the world: the church is viewed as an instrument of that mission…There is church because there is mission, not vice versa. (20)
Guder continues:
Such an understanding of mission moves the subject far beyond the level of program or method. It disallows any understanding of mission that makes it a sub-topic for the church. The church’s very nature is missionary. Thus, the discussion of mission must be dealt with when we consider God’s actions, purposes, promises, and faithfulness.
Mission as missio Dei necessarily relativizes Western understandings and practices of mission. God cannot be restricted to what has been or is happening in Western cultural Christianity. God’s work is universal in its intention and impact, and our task is to grapple theologically with that universality. (20)
In Part II, Guder discusses the major challenges the church faces as it tries to accomplish faithful evangelism. The basic challenge occurs as the Spirit empowers the church to be the witness that carries, translates, communicates, and demonstrates the good news in its various missional contexts. As fallen communities, we engage these tasks with an increasing tendency to bring the gospel under our control, to reduce it to manageable proportions, to condense its message and implications into a few understandable tenets such as the benefits of receiving the gospel (e.g. forgiveness, assurance of salvation). Counteracting this tendency requires that the church, in its ongoing work of translating the gospel, be continually converted itself, allowing the claims of Christ and his gospel to confront our sinfulness, reveal our drive to control the gospel, and uncover our compromises with its environment. (98-99)
In Part III, Guder traces the implications this continuing conversion has for the local congregation, and for the church at large. This concludes with a series of questions that may facilitate this continuing conversion.
From the Publisher
Western society is now a very different, very difficult mission field. In such a situation, the mission of evangelism cannot succeed with an attitude of “business as usual.” This volume builds a theology of evangelism that has its focus on the church itself. Darrell Guder shows that the church’s missionary calling requires that the theology and practice of evangelism be fundamentally rethought and redirected, focused on the continuing evangelization of the church so that it can carry out its witness faithfully in today’s world.
In Part 1 Guder explores how, under the influence of reductionism and individualism, the church has historically moved away from a biblical theology of evangelism. Part 2 presents contemporary challenges to the church’s evangelical ministry, especially those challenges that illustrate the church’s need for continuing conversion. Part 3 discusses what a truly missional theology would mean for the church, including sweeping changes in its institutional structures and practices.
Written for teachers, church leaders, and students of evangelism, this volume is vital reading for everyone engaged in mission work.
About the Author
Darrell Guder is currently Dean of Academic Affairs and the Henry Winters Luce Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.
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See Resources in Related Areas
Related Ministry Resource Guides:
- Missional Church Resources, Introduction and Index
- Church Leadership and Renewal, Index to Resources
- Evangelism
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