I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a mission book as much as this one for quite a while; but I’m not sure that I’d recommend that you buy it! Read on…
The Mission of God: Studies in Orthodox and Evangelical Mission, is perfectly described by it’s title. It’s a book of conference papers/essays by Evangelical and Orthodox scholars reflecting on their own and each others traditions. There are around 250 pages and with a discount on the Regnum books website, it will set you back around £22. And that’s the problem. It’s an excellent book, but I think you would need to be particularly interested in the specific field to want to splash out that sort of money. For most pastors and missionaries, there are probably other books which are calling out for their money. This is a plea for Regnum to consider publishing their books on Kindle or some other electronic format at a lower price; PLEASE!
The book emerges out of the Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative and the majority of the chapters are drawn from papers delivered at meetings of the LOI.
After an initial introductory section, the book has four substantive parts; mission, evangelism, spiritual transformation and authority; each comprising several papers by both orthodox and evangelical writers.
As an evangelical, I found the most helpful papers to be those where Orthodox writers reflected on evangelical theology and practice. Their insights where gracious, thought-provoking, and sometimes toe-curlingly embarrassing.
It’s impossible in a short review to give a flavour of all of the papers in such a book (24 in all), but I would highlight one thing that I found particularly helpful and that is the Orthodox insistence on the Church being at the centre of mission. This is something that Evangelicals have often ignored. The following quote from Ioan Sauca is very thought provoking:
Mission understood as preaching of Christ and his words without taking into account the Church, the presence of his ecclesial embodiment and manifestation in the world, is not only wrong but self-contradictory. Nikos Nissiotis writes:
“It is not sufficient to speak of Christ’s presence or of conversion to Christ, or of Christ’s truths, or of the presence of Christ in the world. We can only do this if we present it together with the reality of His Body, the elect people of God, called out of the world in order to be put into it anew as bearers of the message of this new and distinctive reality of the Body. It is not sufficient to preach Christ alone, lest he becomes the intellectualistic, monistic principle of an individual faith. Christ must be preached within His historical reality, His Body in the Spirit, without which there is neither Christ nor the Gospel. Outside the context of the Church, evangelism remains a humanism or a temporary psychological enthusiasm.”
Consequently, on the one hand, the source of mission is the Church – the existing people of God, the Pentecost community – which continues Christ’s economy in a visible, sacramental and ecclesial way; on the other hand, the goal of mission is the Church as the sacrament of the kingdom, as the incorporation of creation into communion with God.
This really is an excellent book. If you have access to a mission library, make sure that you read it. If you are working in Eastern Europe or with people from an Orthodox background, you should buy it.
18 replies on “Books I Have Read: The Mission of God”
Thanks for the thoughtful critique and for taking our work seriously enough to engage with it. The Edinburgh 2010 series is all available for free so Regnum don’t do too badly by us all. If you attend my next ‘Global Servant’ tour (tickets only $45 per person) I’ll sell you a copy at £2.20 off the cover price 😀.
Just been given a copy by Kosta Milkov
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I don’t often get to say this but the OC agrees entirely with reformed Baptists, e.g. Mark Dever 🙂 Or is it the other way round?
I highlighted the Edinburgh series, recently. It really is a wonderful gift to the church from Regnum. I actually got my copy of The Mission of God at a reduced price at the recent celebration for the Edinburgh series (it saved me grovelling for a review copy).
Eddie Arthur, thank you for your very positive review. I agree with you about the pricing, as editors we wanted a lower price. For those who have not bought their copy yet please contact LOI directly at markoxbrow@aol.com and I can let you have copies at £14.99 plus postage (or collect for free!).
Eddie, this is Rod using Niccy’s f/b; that is an excellent quote from the O.C. perspective and one I have been forced to agree with. The history of individualised conversions is not good or healthy. I can’t find this book on Amazon, any idea where I could find it? Thanks.
Hi Rod, the best bet is to email Mark Oxbrow (see the comment above yours) who can let you have a copy at a reduced rate. I’d happily lend you mine, but I’m going to be working with it for a while yet.
Niccy. Drop me an email at markoxbrow@aol.com with your postal address and I will send you a copy for £14.99 plus postage (£1.50) – and multiple copies if you like!
RT @kouya: Books I Have Read: The Mission of God: an excellent, but costly read… http://t.co/G76nEM7Jul
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A similar much cheaper book on Kindle is Three Views on Eastern Ort
Orthodoxy and evangelicalism Stamoolis (Ed)
That is also a good book but (a) somewhat dated now and (b) only really reflects N. American situation. The new book is global in reach (as is the LOI movement) and two of the key authors in “Three views” ( Jim Stamoolis and Brad Nassif) have contemporary articles in the new book. My offer at £14.99 stands!
Jon Barnes liked this on Facebook.
so how would I get this in the U.S.?
The book will be published by Holy Cross Press (Boston) later this year but you may need to wait until November/December for this. If you need it sooner I can mail you a copy for US$27 plus US$7 (total US$34) – email me at markoxbrow@aol.com to discuss how you pay. Mark Oxbrow