Disciples of All Nations, Lamin Sanneh's New Book

Posted on December 10, 2007

I was thrilled to open my post box today to find a package from Oxford University Press (blog) containing a complimentary copy of Lamin Sanneh’s Disciples of All Nations. Sanneh is a Gambian scholar whose understanding of World Christianity has richly contributed to stimulating thoughtful, post-colonial, indigenous theologies.

His book Translating the Message has immensely influenced the way I think about theology and culture. Look for more posts on this book; it will surely strengthen honest thinking about the nature and impact of global Christianity.

Evangelism Done Redemptive-Historically

Posted on December 10, 2007

Check out this review of Timmis and Chester’s The World We All Want (authors of Total Church). The reviewer highlights three mains strengths to this evangelistic approach: 1) gospel presented in the wider context of the Biblical story 2) emphasis on conversion into community, not making “the church” optional 3) Jesus centered. Here is an excerpt of the review:

I particularly liked the manner in which God’s people are described in session seven as “a waiting community, a proclaiming community, a loving community.” It’s been reported recently that many people on the street are cool with Jesus, but have a problem with the church. TWWAW demonstrates that you can’t have the bridegroom without his bride, nipping that particular problem in the bud.

Set Aside your Strategic Plans and Goal Setting!

Posted on December 7, 2007

Sure, there all kinds of ways to plant a church–traditional, missional, hive-off, or some mix of the three–but it is the missional church that I am particularly trying to plant. As a result, what we do and how we do it do not fit traditional paradigms, like forecasting numbers and certain types of goal-setting, which tend to force missional ecclesiology into a traditional, measurable mold.

Alan Roxburgh’s recent work articulates my particular struggle to plant a missional-incarnational church within a modernist-traditional atmosphere:

Alan Roxburgh says: “…leaders who want to cultivate missional communities in transition must set aside goal-setting and strategic planning as their primary model. Leadership in this context is not about forecasting, but about the formation of networks of discourse among people. It’s about the capacity to engage the realities of people’s lives and contexts in dialogue with Scripture” The Sky is Falling?! (89).

HT: JR