Gener L. Green, Stephen T. Pardue, and K.K. Yeo, eds. Reviewed by A. Sue Russell, Professor of Mission and Contextual Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky.
In December 2015, more than two hundred forty leaders involved in mission mobilization from more than thirty countries gathered in Nairobi, Kenya for the second Global Mobilization Consultation (GMC). To better welcome many different kinds and styles of mobilization and mobilizers, this paper was written before the event in order to provide a simple but clear idea of mission, along with a broad, descriptive definition of mobilization emerging from scripture and practice. Leaders from several countries worked together to produce this paper, with some modifications made at the event. The lead author was Steven C. Hawthorne.
By David C. Pollock, Ruth E. Van Reken, and Michael V. Pollock. Reviewed by Cheryl Doss PhD, adult missionary kid, missionary mother and grandmother, is director of the Institute of World Mission, the missionary training organization of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
As Charles Van Engen explains in his introduction, this book is about “doing mission theology”. He describes mission theology as “an activity that seeks to discern what God wants to do primarily through God’s people at a specific time, place and context in God’s world”.
Mark Anderson has answered a foundational question: ‘Can Christians fully grasp the Qur’anic worldview without becoming Muslims?’ Anderson has, by engaging the Qur’anic faith dialogically (grace) and by analyzing its doctrines thematically (truth).
Clemens Sedmak takes readers on a tour which spans the globe and plums the depths of the human spirit. Along the way, he introduces a diverse cast of novelists, philosophers, clerics, missionaries, and prisoners—from Chinua Achebe and Saint Augustine, Vaclav Havel and Isaiah the Solitary to Corrie Ten Boom and Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuen—and explores how they found the inner strength to endure in the “desert of displacement.” The result is a far-reaching, reflection on “sources of resilience derived from within.”
Intercultural ministry is “the defining theological line of the twenty-first century.” So begins this volume of fifteen essays that seeks to answer the question: “how do we build healthy communities that bring us together as next-door neighbors and global neighbors?”
Globalization is complex, highly debated, and often misunderstood. A number of Christians, acting out of fear, seek to resist globalization. Others, because of its complexity, have given up trying to understand it. Instead, they attempt to ignore this global-sized elephant walking around the room. Bryant Myers in his book, Engaging Globalization, offers a balanced approach to this topic, helping Christians understand the history and effects of globalization and how they can get involved in order to play a constructive role in the globalized world community.
John Mark Terry and Robert L. Gallagher, articulating their thesis in the concluding chapter of the book, assert that we can learn from both the successes as well as failures of the efforts of missionaries who have gone before us.
I agree with the importance of taking an oral approach to sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ because there are over four billion people in the world who can’t, don’t, or won’t read. Few, if any, of these people, would read scripture, even if it was published in their language.
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