Ross Hastings, Missional God, Missional Church: Hope for Evangelizing the West. IVP Academic, 2012. Referenced in: Missional Communities — Convergent with Conventional Theology of Mission, Proposals and Formulations — Convergent with Conventional LifeandLeadership.com Summary Hastings offers a theology of mission that is respectful of the Deep Church emphasis forwarded by writers such as Jim Belcher,
Neil Cole and Phil Helfer, Church Transfusion: Changing Your Church Organically, from the Inside Out. Jossey-Bass, 2012. Prequels: Cole, Organic Church Cole, Church 3.0 Cole, Organic Leadership Referenced in: Missional Communities – Organic LifeandLeadership.com Summary Neil Cole’s Organic Church model has spawned a significant movement worldwide. For those who understand the organic model and have
Ross Barnett, Editor, Discovering the Mission of God: Best Missional Practices for the 21st Century. IVP Academic, 2012. Referenced in: Theology of Mission, Missionally Responsive/Evangelical LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is an exhaustive, substantive theology of mission from conservative evangelical scholars. Most of the authors live and work cross-culturally, with half of them still field-based. It covers
Mark Dever, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible. Broadman and Holman, 2012. Referenced in: BIBLICAL ECCLESIOLOGY, Theological Foundations of Church Leadership LifeandLeadership.com Summary This brief ecclesiology by popular author Mark Dever is a good supplement to his popular Nine Marks series. As always, Dever demonstrates respect for scripture, mining from the biblical text teachings on
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
Michael W. Goheen, A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story. Baker Academic, 2011. Referenced in: Theology of Mission LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is an excellent theology of mission from a missional/missio Dei perspective. There are four strengths of this text. First, Goheen demonstrates the continuity of the Old and New Testaments’
Darrell Guder, The Incarnation and the Church’s Witness. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2005. Referenced in: Theology of Mission LifeandLeadership.com Summary Guder elevates the incarnation as the most helpful model for the church as it conceives of its mission. This excerpt expresses his thesis: “By incarnational mission I mean the understanding and practice of Christian witness
Everett Ferguson, The Church of Christ: A Biblical Ecclesiology for Today. Eerdmans, 1996. Referenced in: Biblical Ecclesiologies LifeandLeadership.com Summary Ecclesiology is very important to congregational leadership and renewal. Ecclesiologies come in several varieties. LifeandLeadership.com focuses on three – biblical, comparative, and contextualized. For definitions see the essay on Church Renewal/Ecclesiology. Also, since each major section
Craig Van Gelder, The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit. Baker Books, 2000. Sequels: Van Gelder, The Ministry of the Missional Church Rouse and Van Gelder, A Field Guide for the Missional Congregation Referenced in: Ecclesiologies – Contextualized Missional Strategies by Craig Van Gelder LifeandLeadership.com Summary A Field Guide for the
Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community. Crossway Books, 2008. Referenced in: Missional Communities – Resurgent Reformed Theology of Mission – Missional/Resurgent Reformed LifeandLeadership.com Summary Typical of titles from Crossway Publishing, this volume approaches the issue of becoming missional from a Resurgent Reformed perspective, which is a kind
