Book reviews
Reviews of the books shaping mission thinking and practice. Page 8 of 40 · 954 in all.
Shandong: Inside the Greatest Christian Revival in History
Reviewed by Gene Wilson, church planting catalyst with ReachGlobal and author of Emerging Gospel Movements – The Role of Catalysts (Wipf and Stock, 2021).
The God that the Poor Seek: Conversion, Context, and the World of the Vulnerable
Reviewed by L. Lynn Thigpen, PhD, adjunct professor, Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia, and emeritus IMB missionary to Southeast Asia.
God at Work in the World: Theology and Mission in the Global Church
Reviewed by Anish Puthusseril Joseph, who has served as an assistant professor of biblical studies in India and is currently a PhD student in intercultural studies at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Calling in Context: Social Location and Vocational Formation
Reviewed by Boaz Johnson, professor of Hebrew Bible and Theological Studies, North Park University, Chicago, Illinois.
Teamwork Cross-Culturally
Reviewed by Karry Kelley (PhD) who is a church planter with World Team, and, together with his wife Charlyn, trains church planting teams.
Learning to Lead at the Feet of Jesus: Encounters with Grace and Truth
Reviewed by Dolores King-St. George, board member at South Florida Bible College & Theological Seminary, president of King Communications, a leadership, marketing, and media agency, and president of GraceNetMedia, a media non-profit for Bible teaching and missions.
Becoming a Missionary Church: Lesslie Newbigin and Contemporary Church Movements
Review by Randy L. Jackson, PhD (missions), associate pastor of discipleship and missions at First Baptist Church of Milton, Florida, who served 18 years as a missionary with the International Mission Board.
Latin American Voices on Leadership: Their Emergence and Growth
Reviewed by Duane H. Elmer, professor emeritus of educational studies and international studies at Trinity International University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Every Believer, Every Platform, Every Nation: Unleashing an Army of the Whole House through Marketplace Ministry
Reviewed by Daniel Topf (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary), missions coach with World Team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Rethinking the Theology of the World Council of Churches: Toward an Alternative Mission Paradigm
Paul Seung-oh An, dean of the graduate school at Youngnam Theological University and Seminary, has written a book in which he seeks to evaluate how much the World Council of Churches (WCC) contributes to “the healthy establishment and expansion of Christianity” (vii). The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is not much.
Subversive Mission: Serving as Outsiders in a World of Need
Reviewed by Harry Harm, who has served cross-culturally for 38 years in North America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe and is now a consultant for innovation and strategic planning for the SIL Global Sign Languages Team in Dallas, Texas.
Impacting Eternity: A Practitioner’s Guide for Sustained Movement Expansion
This book provides practical strategies and insights for achieving sustained movement expansion.
Missionary Motivations: Challenges from the Early Church
This book seeks to open a window “on the way that Christians in the early centuries of our faith thought about the task of global mission” (page vii).
Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward a New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership
This book’s goal is “to find a better approach to leadership in a world where everything—from supply chains to political conflict to the church—is global” (page 22).
A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad
Reviewed by David Cashin, professor of intercultural studies at Columbia International University, who served nine years in Bangladesh and is also the author of a book on the life of Muhammad, Muhammad and the People of the Book.
Theology of Mission: A Concise Biblical Theology
Reviewed by Marvin J. Newell, ambassador at large for Missio Nexus. With this book, J.D. Payne has provided the current generation with an easy-to-read update on the biblical theology of mission.
Mobilizing Gen Z: Challenges and Opportunities for the Global Age of Missions
Reviewed by Edward L. Smither, professor of intercultural studies and history of global Christianity at Columbia International University
Missiological Reflections on Life and Mission
Reviewed by Brent H. Burdick, DMin, adjunct professor of missions, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina, and director of the Lausanne Movement’s Global Classroom.
Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church
Reviewed by Richard Cook, professor of Church history and missions at Logos Evangelical Seminary in El Monte, California, and a former missionary in Taiwan.
Stick Figures Save the World: Drawing Simply to Share Jesus Well.
Reviewed by Marcus Dean, Professor of intercultural studies and missions, Houghton University, and former missionary in Colombia and Puerto Rico for 14 years
Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward a New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership.
Reviewed by Marcus Dean, Professor of intercultural studies and missions, Houghton University, and former missionary in Colombia and Puerto Rico for 14 years
Is the Commission Still Great? 8 Myths about Missions and What They Mean for the Church
Reviewed by Marcus Dean, Professor of intercultural studies and missions, Houghton University, and former missionary in Colombia and Puerto Rico for 14 years
God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church
Reviewed by Cameron D. Armstrong, Asia Graduate School of Theology, Philippines.
Cultural Identity and the Purposes of God: A Biblical Theology of Ethnicity, Nationality, and Race
Reviewed by Ryan Klejment-Lavin, PhD in intercultural studies and director of Footstool Missions Center, South Korea.