This unique volume offers a comprehensive survey of the prospects and critical isssues for the Christian world mission. The essays--written by various mission experts--cover such topics as the biblical and theological basis of the mission, women in mission, urban mission, dialogues with other faiths, the anthropology of "popular" religions, and more.

There is nothing traditional about the typical family of the twenty-first century, and so it follows that ministering to today's families presents an assortment of new challenges. Rainey believes that the resources needed by the church to confront and combat family problems do exist, and Ministering to Twenty-First Century Families is a user-friendly guide to combating the destruction of the family unit. Offering practical solutions and encouraging action, Rainey calls for a "roll-up-your-sleeves" approach to healing weary families.

Unlike the global North, “the ferment of Christianity” in the global South, among the majority of world people, has been astronomical. Despite the shift in the center of gravity of Christianity to the global South, intra-ecclesial tensions globally remain those of the relationship of culture to religion. The questions posed revolve around to what extent Western Christianity should be adapted to local cultures. Should we talk of Christianity in non-Western contexts or of majority world Christianity? Is it appropriate to describe the shift as the emergence of global Christianity or world Christianity? Should Christianity in the global South mimic Christianity in the global North, or can it be different in the light of the diversity of these cultures? Can Africans, Asians, Latin Americans, Europeans and North Americans – the entire global community – speak of God in the same way? This book is devoted to examining varieties of the intercultural process in world Christianity. It understands culture broadly as a common meaning upon which communities’ social order is organized. Culture in this sense is the whole life of people. It is the integrator of the filial bond holding people together and the various institutional structures – economic, technological, political and legal – that guarantee peace and survival in societies, states, and nations, both locally and internationally. As this book shows, the centrality of culture for world Christianity equally showcases the important position the scale of values occupies in world Christianity.

This book engages in a careful study of Pauls letters to determine if the apostle expected the communities to which he wrote to engage in missionary activity. It helpfully summarizes the discussion on this debated issue, judiciously handling contested texts and provides a way forward in addressing this critical question. While admitting that Paul rarely explicitly commands the communities he founded to evangelize, Plummer amasses significant incidental data to provide a convincing case that Paul did indeed expect his churches to engage in mission activity. Throughout the study, Plummer progressively builds a theological basis for the churchs mission that is both distinctively Pauline and compelling.

What does a re-vision of the Charismatic/Pentecostal Spirit-empowered movement look like in the coming years of this millennium?

CHRISTIAN MISSION “Dana Robert distils a quarter of a century of her research into an erudite and accessible single-volume account of how Christianity became the largest religious tradition in the world. There is no better place for any reader to start becoming informed about this important subject.” David Hempton, Harvard University “Remarkable for the range and depth of the material Robert is able to pack into so short a book. Reliable and readable, it is especially valuable for its treatment of the relation between western and non-western missionary activity.” David A. Hollinger, University of California, Berkeley “Dana Robert’s richly textured book shows us that the history of Christian missions is far from being merely a European colonial story, and will be immensely valuable to students and general readers who are concerned to uncover the historical roots of Christianity’s current status as a truly global faith.” Brian Stanley, University of Edinburgh The Gospels record that Christ commanded his disciples to “go forth and teach all nations.” Thus began the history of Christian mission, a phenomenon which brought about massive shifts in the nature and practice of Christianity, and one that many say reflects the single most important movement of intercultural encounter over a sustained period of human history. To understand Christianity as a global movement, therefore, it is essential to study the role of mission – defined as the transmission of the Gospel across cultures. Erudite and enlightening, this brief book explores the 2,000 years of mission history, covering topics such as the meaning of the missionary through history, gender and missions, and missions in culture and politics. Given that in the twenty-first century, Christianity is now largely practiced outside the West, Christian Mission is an inspirational and invaluable resource to broaden our understanding of the nature of Christianity as a truly multi-cultural world religion.

Aimed at practitioners, church leaders, academics, and students of mission and world Christianity, Mission in the Twenty-First Century provides fresh insights on the theology and practice of mission in our age. It brings together scholarly reflection on practice, case studies and stories, and questions for discussion. Addressing the "five marks of mission ? evangelism and proclamation, discipleship, social service, social transformation, and ecological concern ? chapters examine these marks in the context of such important factors as globalization, migration, Islam, "old Christendom," and peace and reconciliation. In addition to the editors, the international group of contributors includes Desmond Tutu, Jehu Hanciles, Anne Marie Kool, David Zac Nirigiye, Tony Gittins, Lamin Sanneh, Ashish Crispal, Melba Maggay, Hami Tutu Chapman, Gerald Pilay, Kwame Bediako, and Moonjang Lee.

"While the intent of the editors is to honor Steve Bevans, SVD, a towering figure in the field of missiology and a longtime author of Orbis books on missiology, this book will be designed less as a festschrift than as a textbook for classroom use. Designed around the three main foci of Bevans' theology (mission, contextual theologies, and dialogical theory), it will appeal to teachers of courses in Christian mission, theological method, contextual theologies, and contemporary Third World theologies. The contributors are a who's who of contemporary mission studies in a global context, including representatives from various Christian traditions and from throughout the global church"--

"Stanley H. Skreslet offers an inviting new proposal for conceptualizing the field of missiology. Comprehending Mission includes a concise overview of the development of missiology of the last century, introducing its characteristic methodologies, and offering insight into the kids of questions missiologists typically ask. In the last hundred years missiology has moved form emphasizing the practical challenges of foreign mission service to highlighting the intercultural aspects of Christian outreach. Today, missiology is lesss a form of practical theology than a field of study where theological concerns intersect with critical studies undertaken by anthropologists, historians, and other scholars." --

Thoughtful and original contributions from twenty-one of the world's foremost missiologists, in a volume dedicated to Fuller Seminary's former dean Paul E. Pierson, outline an agenda for mission education that will provoke lively discussion for years to come. Fuller Theological Seminary's School of World Mission is the locus of some of the most creative thought and scholarly reflection on Christian mission in today's world. Edited by the School's dean and two professors, a score of authors respond to the question: How should missiological education be carried out to prepare men and women to work in the twenty-first century? Contributors: -Andrew F. Walls -Gerald H. Anderson -Paul G. Hiebert -Kenneth Mulholland -L. Grant McClung -Jerald D. Gort -Mary Motte -Michael James Oleksa -Tite Tienou -Samuel Escobar -Ken R. Gnanakan -Wilbert R. Shenk -Darrell Whiteman -Roger S. Greenway -Philip C. Stine -Stuart Dauermann -Ralph D. Winter -J. Dudley Woodberry -Viggo Sogaard -Charles Van Engen -Edgar J. Elliston