Introducing Christian Mission Today: Scripture, History, and Issues
by Michael W. Goheen Intervarsity Press. 2014. —Reviewed by Allison Norton, PhD student, School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary. In the past few years, the field of missiology has benefited from several introductory books that attempt to integrate theological reflection and history with contemporary contexts and challenges. Michael Goheen draws heavily from Lesslie Newbigin, […]
Global Diasporas and Mission
by Chandler H. Im & Amos Yong, eds. Cascade Books. 2014. —Reviewed by Tenny Li Farnen, of Chinese descent, born and grew up in the Philippines and migrated to the USA. Global diasporas and migration are God’s ways of facilitating the accomplishment of the Great Commission for Christians around the world. As mentioned in the […]
Starting Missional Churches: Life with God in the Neighborhood
by Mark Branson and Nicholas Warnes, eds. Intervarsity Press. 2014. —Reviewed by Ty Grigg, co-pastor, Life on the Vine, Long Grove, Illinois. There are a prodigious amount of books, conferences, networks, and assessments offering their services to aspiring church planters. Starting new churches is imagined as transactional: providing religious goods and services to prospective spiritual consumers. […]
Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies
by Gailyn Van Rheenen, with Anthony Parker 2nd ed. Zondervan. 2014. —Reviewed by Birgit Herppich, with Fuller Theological Seminary and WEC International; former missionary in Ghana. For Gailyn Van Rheenen the major tasks of missions are “planting churches through evangelism, nurturing new Christians to maturity, and training leaders to continue the process” (p. 343). His […]
Millennials in Ministry
by Jolene Cassellius Erlacher Judson Press. 2014. —Reviewed by Cory Seibel, pastor, Central Baptist Church, Edmonton, Alberta; adjunct instructor, Tabor College School of Adult and Graduate Studies. Many young ministry graduates today can be found working at coffee shops or starting their own businesses. They have often transitioned into these roles after a brief period […]
Leading Multicultural Teams
by Evelyn Hibbert and Richard Hibbert William Carey Library. 2014. —Reviewed by Henry Hyunsuk Kim, associate professor of sociology, Wheaton College. In a world that continues to increase its bidirectional flow of labor and capital, where the intersection of time and space simultaneously shrinks and expands, and the purported Christendom becomes less white and Eurocentric, […]
Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations: Global Awakenings in Theology and Praxis
by Kay Higuera Smith, Jayachitra Lalitha, and L. Daniel Hawk, eds. IVP Academic. 2014. —Reviewed by Dr. Jared Looney, executive director, Global City Mission Initiative. Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations is a collection of essays from a diverse range of authors resulting from a theological roundtable addressing postcolonial theology and praxis. It provides a helpful reader for […]
Beyond Literate Western Practices: Continuing Conversations in Orality and Theological Education
by Samuel E. Chiang and Grant Lovejoy, eds. International Orality Network in cooperation with Capstone Enterprises. 2014. —Reviewed by Lynn Thigpen, IMB missionary, Southeast Asia; PhD student, Intercultural Education, Biola University, One dissertation writer in the field of orality calls the gap between oral learners and the highly literate an abyss. As someone working in […]
A Trinitarian Theology of Religions: An Evangelical Proposal
by Gerald R. McDermott and Harold A. Netland 2014. Oxford University Press. —Reviewed by Amit A. Bhatia (PhD, Intercultural Studies), adjunct professor, Trinity International University. In the twenty-first century, in which seventy-nine percent of the world’s population claim to believe in God and have a global awareness of religious others, we find a context which […]
A Practitioner/Trainer Perspective on Orality
While many, especially in the West, are just now hearing about orality, it is in fact a significant breakthrough in the global mission movement.