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The Top Missiology Books

Tim Chester has just posted his top three missiology books (of which there are five) and his top three church planting books (of which there are four). You can see his list here.

I’m not a church planter, so I won’t comment on that list, though I’ve read all the books he mentions and would not hesitate to recommend them (one of them appears in my list of the top ten missionary books).

I like all of the books that Tim has placed in the missiology category, though I’m not convinced that he has come up with a list of the best three (or even five).

I would agree with Tim’s first three books (though I might not place them in the order that he does):The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (American Society of Missiology) and The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. My other two books would be:

Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today (American Society of Missiology). This is an excellent overview of the approach to mission by different Christian traditions. It is helpful for evangelicals such as myself to see how our understanding of mission fits into the wider scheme of things. Seeing the big picture gives a much better understanding of our part of it.

The other book I would put in the top five is Global Missiolgy for the 21st Century edited by Taylor. This is an excellent book, the product of an international missionary conference in Brazil in 1999. There are articles by people from all round the world and on a vast array of subjects. And if that wasn’t enough, it is available in four parts from this page. It would be worth buying at it’s full price – but for free, there is no reason not to read this!