Receiving 'The Nature and Mission of the Church' is a collection of essays and assessments in which scholars from a variety of denominational, geographical and ecclesiological backgrounds attempt to discern the significance of the 2006 document 'Nature and Mission of the Church' from the World Council of Churches-thereby offering doctrinal, theological and hermeneutical perspectives and analysis on its formation and content. The essays also seek to discern the potential ecumenical ramifications of the document. Contributions also address futures for ecumenical dialogue and the development of an ecumenical ecclesiology in general. This is an apposite and timely collection of responses which includes contributions from those who witnessed its launch in the context of the WCC in 2006 at Porte Allegre. While so many books on the church already exist, the focused nature of the proposed volume, as well as the international and broad denominational range of the contributors, makes this proposed volume unique. Bear in mind, also, that the proposed volume is not, primarily, a historical study, but rather an ecclesiological study, and its original form is further accentuated.

This is a valuable scholarly analysis of the ways that the practices of three members of the Basel Mission (Evangelische Missionsgesellschaft Basel)-Andreas Riis (1804-1854), Rosine Widmann (1828-1909), and Carl Christian Reindorf (1834-1917)-informed the nineteenth-century mission field of the Gold Coast between the years 1832-1895. This study is based upon the original handwritten documents of these three missionaries, which are housed in the Basel Mission Archive in Basel, Switzerland. The book is located within the larger discipline of postcolonial studies, and more particularly within the framework of Tzvetan Todorov's discussion of 'signs' in his 1984 work The Conquest of America. The study also is set against the backdrop of the important theories on missions in the writings of Schleiermacher, Fabri, and Warneck. A significant contribution made by this study is that it contains the first discussion of the female German missionary Rosine Widmann, who serves as a kind of example of the then current Missionsfrauen. This book leads to a better understanding of the Gold Coast, and makes important contributions to scholarship in the fields of mission studies, German historical theology, German studies, and African studies.

"Mission agencies have different strategies, and even within a mission or church there can be tension and division over strategy and details of how things should be done. Must we be so dogmatic on matters that the Bible is not clear about? Can't we accept that God works in different ways among different groups of people? The work of God is bigger than any fellowship or organization." Respected missionary and Christian leader George Verwer sums up his life experience with mission workas a sender, a doer and a trainerand talks straight about what is really needed in missions in the 21st century. To get the job done, mission workers and organizations need a grace-awakened approach. No longer should mission agencies compete with each other or dwell on minor theological differences. In Out of the Comfort Zone Verwer identifies the key elements for working together to win lost souls for Christ.

As younger generations drift away from evangelical churches, the number of religiously unaffiliated young adults grows. Is the drift because of politics, personal morality, rebelliousness, culture wars, or something else? In this project, 16 young adults from the Churches of Christ participate in qualitative interviews over a five-year span. They describe messages they learned about success and survival from their faith communities as children, and how they have embraced and reinterpreted those messages into helpful life principles as adults. The resulting study explores issues of ethnicity in evangelical borderland communities and contrasts Latinx narratives with white narratives in religious and educative contexts. Findings also revealed gendered narratives, class-based narratives, and the glaring absence of helpful narratives around sexuality, filtered through the lenses of religion and education. The central finding of the interviews is this: participants experienced the Church of Christ as rewarding conformity with community, a strategy (when it works) which secures the future of the denomination and cements a conservative doctrine in the next generation of leadership. However, the study concludes that true survival narratives were the narratives participants constructed in response to the narratives provided by Churches of Christ.

"In the early twentieth century, missionary expositions were a central event in the religious life of many Americans. They also converged with the research agenda of anthropology, which was then defined by museum work. This thoughtfully researched book brings the untold history of the World in Boston of 1911 to light. Extraordinary in terms of content, geographic scope, and attendance, "America's First Great Missionary Exposition" was conceived on the model of world's fairs, and grew out of an established tradition of missionary exhibitions. This compelling history reveals how the material culture of missions shaped domestic interactions with evangelism, Christianity, and the consumption of ethnological knowledge"--

We often think stories are for children. But using the Bible as evidence, we see that God communicated His truth to men and women of all cultures, time, and places by way of many small stories forming one large story. While possessing a rich heritage of storytelling, too many evangelicals have forfeited this vital skill. Tom Steffen's aim is to help readers recapture the most natural, universal, and effective means of evangelism-discipleship that exists--storytelling. This book is not just theory--it provides practical help by identifying the roles and tasks that are necessary to become an effective storyteller in another culture. Steffen offers creative tools and introduces practical ways to increase many of the storytelling skills for evangelism-discipleship. He moves us beyond linear gospel outlines, Western logic and organization, and individual responses to traditional evangelism rituals, to a mode of communication that respects the audience, making it easy for them to grasp what they have heard and to pass it on to others with minimal loss of content. By reconnecting storytelling to ministry, readers will be more comfortable in sharing the gospel, both at home and abroad.

Leaving Christendom for Good argues that the solution to some of the most troubling tensions in the life of the Catholic Church since Vatican II can be found in the council's document Gaudium et spes. This text's view of the church's mission and social relationships as dialogical has the capacity to liberate. Part One studies the contemporary place of religion-with particular reference to Charles Taylor's groundbreaking work, A Secular Age-and examines Gaudium et spes's dialogical view of the church-world relationship. Part Two explores what true dialogue entails and how it is best understood theologically, engaging critically with Joseph Ratzinger's view of the church-world relationship. The book's final chapter considers two practical implications of its argument: how evangelization can be best understood today, and how the church can best approach issues in the public sphere.

We are all aware of problems in this world. Everyone knows what it is to be weary, to be disappointed, and to struggle. And we have a feeling that we were not meant for this. We are all searching for some solution to the problems of life. The question is, why are you unhappy? Why do things go wrong? Why is there illness and sickness? Why should there be death? Those are the questions with which the Bible deals. The Bible talks to you about your unhappiness. Some insist that the Bible, far from being practical, is really very remote from life. But nothing in the world is as practical as the teaching of the Bible. In order to answer questions about you, the Bible starts in the most extraordinary way: "In the beginning God..." It starts with God. Before I begin to ask any questions about myself and my problems, I ought to ask questions like this: Where did the world come from? Where have I come from? What is life itself? You come to me and say, "I'm unhappy. I'm in a crisis. What's the matter with me?" And the Bible says, "In the beginning God . . ." as if it has forgotten all about you. But it has not! The only way to understand yourself or your life is to start with God. And right at the very beginning, the Bible takes us there. The Bible also tells us that the world came into being because the eternal God made it. It tells us that God is the Creator, that he made everything out of nothing, by his own power, and he made it perfect. What's more, according to the Bible, man is a special creation of God. The Bible tells us, "God created man in his own image" (Genesis 1:27). It does not say that about anything else, only about human beings. Man was made by God, for God. He spoke to God, walked with God, and enjoyed God. And his life was one of perfect bliss. But into this perfect world made by God there entered another power, another force. Something came that was opposed to God and opposed to man, and it was bent upon one thing only-- wrecking God's perfect work. The Bible tells us that the Devil entered into this world, and by tempting the man and the woman, whom God had made, brought to pass everything bad that you and I know. Why are there jealousy and envy and misunderstanding? Why lust and passion? Why are homes and marriages broken? Why do little children suffer? Why all the agony and the pain of life? It is because there is this other power in the world that has dragged man down. That is the biblical explanation. You will find it in the Bible from beginning to end. And if that is true, how hopelessly and utterly inadequate are all the remedies that are being offered apart from the Bible. What's more, the Bible tells us that as the result of that original sin, all of us are in the grip of this evil power. Man, as the result of all this, is quite helpless; he has brought a curse upon himself and cannot escape it. He would like to, but he cannot. Man has been trying to get back into Eden ever since he went out of it. That is the whole history of civilization. That is the whole meaning of philosophy and all political thought and all the blueprints of utopias at all times and in all places--man trying to get back into paradise. But it is worse than merely not being in paradise. Man is under the judgment of God. He thought that he could forget God and that there would be no risk involved. He did not realize that the law of God is absolute. Both man as an individual and the whole world, according to the Bible, are under the judgment of God. You see, in the garden Adam and Eve thought they could eat the forbidden fruit and all would be well. Then they heard the voice of the Lord God, and they cowered and were frightened. Judgment had come, and they were thrust out. But, thank God, he intervenes! God, even at the moment of rebellion, tells man that he has a way to rescue him and to redeem him: "It [the seed of the woman] shall bruise thy [the serpent's] head" (Genesis 3:15). The serpent can only be mastered by one, and he has come--the seed of the woman, Jesus of Nazareth. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." JOHN 3:16 Christ, the Son of God, came into this world, took on our human nature, entered into our very situation, and defeated our enemy. He received judgment for us on the cross. God dealt with him there and pardons us, and our enemy is conquered. So the way to paradise is open, and it is open for you. All your problems, all your needs, arise from the fact of sin. That is the cause of all ill. And there is but one solution to the problem, the solution that God himself has provided in the person of his Son. ". . . that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And that life begins here and now--a knowledge of God, assurance that you are right with God, that he will take you through death and announce in the judgment that you are already pardoned and forgiven. My dear friend, that is your problem, and that is the answer to your problem. Believe it. Accept it here and now. Go to that great God. Acknowledge your sinning against him, and thank him for his eternal love in sending his Son to rescue you and to redeem you by dying for you, and ask him to give you new life. And he will. I say that on the authority of Jesus who stated, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" ( John 6:37).

DO I NEED TO BE SAVED? God is holy. No sin will ever enter his presence, for "righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne" (Psalm 97:2). Humanity is sinful. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sin separates all people from God. "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you" (Isaiah 59:2). It is impossible for humans to save themselves. "By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight" (Romans 3:20). CAN I BE SAVED? God sent his Son to be your Savior. "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). The living Savior invites sinners to receive him. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Forgiveness of sins and salvation can be yours today. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). HOW CAN I BE SAVED? Agree with God that you are a lost sinner unable to save yourself. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and ask him to be your Savior. "To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). Confess the Lord Jesus Christ. "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life" (John 5:24).