EMQ » Jan – March 2025 » Volume 61 Issue 1
The Mission of God and the Witness of the Church
By Justin A. Schell
Crossway, 2024
144 pages
US $18.00
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Reviewed by Cameron L. Smith, director of the Pastoral Assessment Center of the Evangelical Congregational Church, Myerstown, Pennsylvania.
Despite abundant mission teaching and scholarship today, is it possible that the term “mission” has become fuzzy? What does “on mission” actually mean? In The Mission of God and the Witness of the Church, Justin A. Schell posits that some of our “mission words” are misunderstood and have become shallow. In this short study, Schell admirably attempts to clarify the concept of mission.
Schell defines mission as “God’s revelatory work intended to establish a divine-human communion within creation” (2). Understanding this will be important as the entire book revolves around this definition. First, God is active in his revelatory work: He discloses, defines, and activates his mission. Second, the goal of his mission is to have communion with his image-bearers.
Third, this mission occurs in a context: creation (e.g., Eden, the earth). Using a theocentric, evangelical, redemptive-historical approach, the author traces the narrative arc of the themes of revelation, communion, and creation throughout the Bible. Although the theme of creation is not emphasized nearly as much as the other two, the reader will come to see how God’s mission plays out through the whole story of the Bible.
One thought-provoking insight comes from Schell’s observation that God has a church for his mission (à la Chris Wright). This observation is a warning that God’s mission may be hindered when the dimensions of revelation or communion (and even creation) are neglected. The solution seems to be that the three dimensions of mission should be kept in balance.
When one part of God’s mission is reduced or neglected, it limits the overall scope of what God is up to in the world. For example, when we say things like the church was made for mission, that line of thinking may reduce the church to a sending agency. Therefore, Schell desires to raise the relational side of mission and points back to God’s original mission: “The revelatory activity of God (and those he sends) is to create and redeem a people for communion” (5).
While this volume of short studies in biblical theology is designed to be digested by readers with no theological training, there may be items that readers will desire to examine more closely due to its brevity. However, the quick pace of the book is a highlight as it covers much ground with a high-quality analysis that summarizes the missio Dei and the witness of the church.
This book is recommended to a wide variety of readers: pastors, professors, small group leaders, and earnest disciples. It is worth noting that this book stays on the DNA level of mission and does not deeply explore practice. Nevertheless, in the hands of a pastor or mobilizer, this book can help shape a missional culture. If a reader understands clearly what mission is and what the role of the church is from this book, the realities and implications can be fleshed out in their local context.
For Further Reading
Repentance and the Mission of the Church: Making and Moving the People of God into the Mission of God by W. Ryan Vanderland (Wipf and Stock, 2023)
The Meaning of Missional: A Beginner’s Guide to Missional Living and the Missional Church by Dick Wiedenheft (Wipf and Stock, 2018)
The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission (Biblical Theology for Life) by Christopher J.H. Wright (Zondervan, 2010)
EMQ, Volume 61, Issue 1. Copyright © 2025 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
