EMQ » January–March 2022 » Volume 58 Issue 1
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder, EMQLibraryInstitution”]Edited by Denny Spitters and Matthew Ellison
Pioneers-USA and Sixteen:Fifteen, 2020
144 pages
US$9.99
Reviewed by Brent H. Burdick, DMin, Adjunct Professor of Missions, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Director of the Lausanne Global Classroom.
The debate to define missions heated up in the middle of the twentieth century when church historian Stephen Neill wrote, “If everything is mission, nothing is mission” (Creative Tension, Edinburgh House Press, 1959). Churches, theologians, and missionaries had been struggling to agree on what missions involved. Was it evangelism? Sending missionaries cross-culturally? Social ministry and service? Addressing justice issues? Neill, as a historian, was trying to help the church examine what it meant to be obedient to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19–20). He was pointing out that if the church focused solely on local ministry in the name of Christ – what is often called mission – the impetus to take the gospel cross-culturally where it had not been taken would wane, and eventually, the church around the world would stagnate and die, or never be planted in the first place. The church must therefore understand the important distinction between mission and missions. Spitters and Ellison wrote on this topic in 2017 in their book called When Everything is Mission. The book Conversations on When Everything is Mission being reviewed here is a follow-up to their first book. In this one, they engage key thinkers and practitioners in global evangelization to each write a chapter that examines why cross-cultural missions cannot be forgotten or ignored. This conversation is still relevant today as the confusion and debate about what mission is rages on.
The list of people engaging in the conversation is impressive: Ed Stetzer, David Platt, J. D. Payne, and Ted Esler to name a few. Each adds their perspective historically, biblically, theologically, or ecclesiastically that supports the view that missions cannot just be for the local context. J. D. Payne, for example, starts the conversation by looking at how the church got to the point of considering everything as mission. He identifies five currents that contributed to the present state. Ted Esler analyzes the Great Commission, contrasting it with the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30–31) but stating that they cannot be separated. Esler believes the Great Commission needs to be rediscovered and made relevant in each day and culture rather than be rethought as an extension of the Great Commandment. Ed Stetzer adds an insightful voice to the conversation, discussing the nuances of the terms Missio Dei, mission, missional, and missions. He sees Missio Dei as God-focused, mission as everyone-focused, missional as believer-focused, and missions as calling-focused (42–43). Framing missionary task in these terms helps clarify the debate, by recognizing the importance of each focus, and by preventing the global church from losing focus of the strategic importance of cross-cultural missions.
The main drawback to the book is that if you have not read the first one, you may not grasp some of the context of the debate if you are unfamiliar with it, and you may be confused about which book you are reading. The titles are too similar. Still, this book is a helpful discussion starter for churches and mission teams to delve into the biblical and philosophical differences between mission and missions, and to gain a deeper commitment to global missions as the way to faithfully obey the Great Commission.
For Further Reading
Gilbert, Greg, and DeYoung, Kevin. What Is the Mission of the Church? Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission. Crossway, 2011.
Spitters, Denny and Matthew Ellison. When Everything is Mission. BottomLine Media, 2017.
