Paradigm Shifts in Christian Witness


Book Description

If there is one book you are going to read to understand the deep currents affecting Christian life and witness today, this is it. Paradigm Shifts in Christian Witness enlists the world's foremost observers of global Christianity in the task of discerning in short, incisive essays the most important patterns and paradigm shifts as the Christian movement matures beyond both colonialism and post-colonialism as a world faith translated into every culture on earth. It also celebrates the life and work of Charles A. kraft, one of the foremost cultural anthropologists, a man whose insights have helped a generation of cross-cultural missioners and church workers understand the processes involved in mission and the growth of world Christianity.




Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission


Book Description

"David Bosch's Transforming Mission, now available in over a dozen languages, is widely recognized as an historic and magisterial contribution to the study of mission. Examining the entire sweep of Christian tradition, he shows how five paradigms have historically encapsulated the Christian understanding of mission and then outlines the characteristics of an emerging postmodern paradigm dialectically linking the transcendent and imminent dimensions of salvation. In this new anniversary edition, Darrel Guder and Martin Reppenhagen explore the impact of Bosch s work and the unfolding application of his seminal vision." --




Christological Paradigm Shifts in Prophetic Pentecostalism in South Africa


Book Description

This book explores recent developments in South African Pentecostalism, focusing on new prophetic churches. The chapters engage with a number of paradigm shifts in Christology, identified as complementing Christ, competing with Christ, removing Christ and replacing Christ. What are the implications of these shifts? Does it mean that believers no longer believe in Christ but in their leaders? Does it shift believers’ faith towards materiality than the person of Christ? This volume will be valuable for scholars of African Christianity and in particular those interested in the neo-prophetic movement and Christology in a South African context.




Paradigms of the Church in Mission


Book Description

In this book Augusto Rodriguez provides a historical survey of the different paradigms of Christianity in order to understand how and why the church has changed her concept of being the church and of mission. This book will help in understanding how the different paradigms of Christianity, throughout history, have changed the church's self-understanding of being the church and of mission. Rodriguez's aim is to provide an opportunity for Christians to see the different paradigms the church has gone through and understand the present situation of the church in order to live out as fully as possible the New Testament understanding of its mission and better accomplish the task.




The End of Apologetics


Book Description

The modern apologetic enterprise, according to Myron Penner, is no longer valid. It tends toward an unbiblical and unchristian form of Christian witness and does not have the ability to attest truthfully to Christ in our postmodern context. In fact, Christians need an entirely new way of conceiving the apologetic task. This provocative text critiques modern apologetic efforts and offers a concept of faithful Christian witness that is characterized by love and grounded in God's revelation. Penner seeks to reorient the discussion of Christian belief, change a well-entrenched vocabulary that no longer works, and contextualize the enterprise of apologetics for a postmodern generation.




Rooted Again


Book Description

Many established congregations are in need of revitalization. It is as if in all of the good efforts of ministry the mission has been forgotten. The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Disciple making, in many churches, has diminished, which was both caused by and resulted in a loss of understanding of the mission of the church and a low prioritization of reaching new people for Jesus Christ. This book will provide insight into some of the causes of the situation, identify possible spiritual hindrances to ministry, and offer strategies for the congregation to reclaim its spiritual foundation and calling.




Understanding Insider Movements


Book Description

For the first time in history, large numbers of people from the world’s major non-Christian religions are following Jesus as Lord. Surprisingly for many Western Christians, they are choosing to do so within the religious communities of their birth and outside of institutional Christianity. How does this work, and how should we respond to these movements? This long-awaited anthology brings together some of the best writings on the topic of insider movements. Diverse voices explore this phenomenon from the perspectives of Scripture, history, theology, missiology, and the experience and identity of insider believers. Those who are unfamiliar with the subject will find this book a crucial guide to a complex conversation. Students and instructors of mission will find it useful as a reader and reference volume. Field workers and agencies will discover in these chapters welcome starting points for dialogue and clearer communication. The first book to provide a comprehensive survey of the topic of insider movements, Understanding Insider Movements is an indispensable companion for those who want to glimpse the creative, unexpected, boundary-crossing ways God is at work among the peoples of the world in their diverse religious communities.




The State of Missiology Today


Book Description

The 2015 Missiology Lectures at Fuller Theological Seminary marked the fiftieth anniversary of the School of Intercultural Studies. The papers from that conference explore the developments and transformations in the study and practice of mission, as contributors chart the current shape of mission studies and its prospects in the twenty-first century.




Missionary Methods


Book Description

One hundred years ago Roland Allen authored his landmark study Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? The 2012 annual conference of the Evangelical Missiological Society celebrated this centennial by addressing this ever relevant topic. The present volume brings to readers insights from that conference examining the theological foundations, historical precedence, and practical challenges regarding missionary methods. Missiologists, missionary practitioners, and strategic leaders alike will benefit from these essays, which give fresh perspective on methods for fulfilling the Great Commission in our day.




Four Careers


Book Description

While in high school Chuck felt God's call to be a field missionary in Africa, expecting to spend his life there. But God only allowed him three years in the "bush." He had other things in mind for him. These years working cross-culturally laid a solid foundation for his future accomplishments. Through a series of unplanned events, God made him a teacher of missionaries and a missiologist--teaching and writing to improve missionary principles and practices. In this book Kraft reflects on how he was shaped as a missiologist and why/how he felt the need for writing his many books and articles. "Culture-positive" is the term he has coined for his approach. It's an approach that honors a people's way of life and helps them to express their faith in Christ within that way of life without converting to another culture. He taught that God loves and accepts them as they are--plus faith--and seeks to work with them to develop their own Christianity based on their own understanding of Scripture. Chuck sees a missionary as a coach, not as a director. This approach has shown its effectiveness both among the people Chuck worked with (the Kamwe of northern Nigeria) and in the field ministries of his students.