• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In

MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission Matters
          • Members Only Feed
          • Missions Podcast DirectoryNew
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 Resources
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
          • UkraineNew
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Bible Certificate
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • Missions DataNew
    • Publish
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Premier Events
          • Mission Leaders Conference
          • On Mission
        • Upcoming Events

          • Pocket Guide to Being a Missions Pastor: 5 Things Every Missions Pastor Needs to Know
            Wed Jun 1 2022, 01:00pm EDT
          • From Harlem to the World - the Local Church Mobilized for Global Missions
            Wed Aug 3 2022, 01:00pm EDT
          • Innovation Leaders Discussion
            Mon Aug 8 2022, 01:00pm EDT
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missions DataNew
          • Missiographics
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 Resources
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Pocket Guide to Being a Missions Pastor: 5 Things Every Missions Pastor Needs to Know
    Wed Jun 1 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • From Harlem to the World - the Local Church Mobilized for Global Missions
    Wed Aug 3 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • Innovation Leaders Discussion
    Mon Aug 8 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • Peer 2 Peer for Communications and Marketing Staff: Communications and the Mission of God: Aligning organizational communications with God's purposes
    Thu Aug 18 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • Women's Development Weeks
    Thu Sep 8 2022

View all events »

Topics

author interview CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Disciple Making Discipleship Focus Future Innovation Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Member Care Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 MLC2021 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Podcast Presenter Pursuing Partnerships Series Research Risk Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached Weekly Roundup Women Women in Leadership

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Recovering the Full Mission of God: A Biblical Perspective on Being, Doing, and Telling

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Ted EslerJanuary 1, 2015

by Dean Flemming

IVP Academic

—Reviewed by Richard Hibbert, director, School of Cross-Cultural Mission, Sydney and Missionary Bible College

EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS continue to debate whether proclaiming the gospel or demonstrating it should be given priority. Reacting to the “social gospel” promoted by theological liberals in the early 1900s, and despite calls of the Lausanne movement and prominent spokesmen like John Stott, evangelicals have emphasised that the heart of evangelism is verbal communication of the gospel.

In his characteristically lucid style, Dean Flemming succeeds in demonstrating that being, doing, and telling are interwoven in the Bible’s portrayal of mission. Alongside his case for holistic witness, he consistently argues that mission must ultimately and always include verbal communication of the gospel.

Flemming advances his argument by integrating two areas of expertise—New Testament studies and missiology—and thereby complements Chris Wright’s The Mission of God that focuses on the Old Testament. Using a biblical theological framework, each of Flemming’s chapters considers how the relationship between embodying, practicing, and proclaiming the gospel is depicted in a section of the Bible. In this process, the book successfully strikes a balance between providing sufficient exegetical detail and synthesising this evidence to show how it advances its argument that word, deed, and character are interwoven throughout the Bible. The book brings fresh perspectives to the proclamation-demonstration debate.

First, Flemming provides convincing biblical support for variations of emphasis among the three dimensions of being, doing, and telling in mission. He does this by showing that while all the Gospels portray Jesus and his disciples engaged in all three dimensions, Matthew, Mark, and John each highlight a different dimension. Building on this, and his analysis of how the apostles contextualized the gospel for particular audiences, he suggests that churches and mission agencies may justifiably “spotlight certain dimensions of the church’s mission” according to the current needs of the societies of which they are part (p. 111).

Second, this volume refreshingly takes us beyond the “word versus deed” controversy by emphasising that both speaking and doing flow out of identity—the “being”—of the church. “We don’t simply do mission. Mission is who we are” (p. 258). Third, Flemming effectively addresses the question of priority among word and deed by pointing out that the New Testament never treats them as separate and that the question itself needs reframing.

Recovering the Full Mission of God clarifies the mission of the whole Church, and for that reason should be read widely. But because it is encompasses the mission of the Church as a whole, rather than focusing on the task of missionaries, readers will have to look elsewhere for a detailed discussion of the implications of this excellent analysis for how missionaries should engage in their task.

….

EMQ, Vol. 51, No. 1 pp. 125-126. Copyright  © 2015 Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMQ editors.

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 51 - Issue 1

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Home
  • Directories
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Contact Us

Join

  • Join
  • Benefits
  • Learn
  • Meet
  • Engage

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

About Us

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources
Missio Nexus Logo

© Missio Nexus. All rights reserved.
As an Amazon Associate Missio Nexus earns from qualifying purchases.


PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

Annual Sponsors

ECFA Logo Brotherhood Mutual Logo

Subscribe to our Mailing List

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks