Book review 2: God's Missionary People

Chapter 1                                              

            To turn the Church into a missionary congregation, the leaders of the church must gain a new vision of the Church in its local setting. With this view, church leaders should emphasize not on what the Church is, but what it can be and grow toward greater fullness in its nature. The Church’s true nature is that its local congregation is in mission. As the congregation lives out this missionary nature, the local congregation will emerge to become the Church that God intended it to be.

Chapter 2

            Modern ecclesiology defines the Church as having two separate natures: a visible nature (i.e., an imperfect, human church) and an invisible nature (i.e., the ideal and perfect church that God had intended). For the people of the Church to see themselves as the missionary people of God, they need to see the Church as having these two natures.

Chapter 3

            Apostle Paul provides several images of the nature of the Church in his letter to the Ephesians. The first is that the Church is to have unity. This oneness is something given by God, not man-made. The second is that the Church is to be committed to holiness. The third is that the Church is to never cease to be missional, inviting and drawing everyone to Jesus.

Chapter 4

            Through historical perspective, the church is the unifying, sanctifying, reconciling, and proclaiming activity of Jesus in the world. As a unifying force, the Church would be concerned with gathering and inviting others. As a sanctifying force, the church desires for people to be forgiven and healed. As a reconciling force, the Church desires to bring forth renewal and fellowship with God. As a proclaiming force, the Church has a truth to spread.

Chapter 5

            As the church begins to proclaim the good news, the Church manifests physically what its nature truly is, which is to become the bridge between God and humanity. This chapter ties back to the previous chapter in that as the Church accomplishes its mission of proclamation, the Church will then concretely manifest each of the four attributes of the Church (i.e., the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church).

Chapter 6

            The purpose of the church is to have its members increasingly participate in being present in the world through koinonia, kerygma, diakonia, and martyria.  Koinonia refers to that the Church is to love one another and through mutual love. Kerygma refers to how the church is to confess that Jesus is Lord to the world. Diakonia refers to how the church is to serve the least of the world (i.e., providing and sharing with the oppressed, marginalized, etc.). Martyria refers to how the church is to declare and live out in truth and power in the world.

Chapter 7

            The kingdom is coming and local churches are signs that serve as witnesses to the coming of Jesus. The local churches are tools of the kingdom of God, which means there is something greater than the churches themselves.  While the Church cannot build the kingdom, it can still witness to it. Only Jesus can bring the Kingdom to earth. The Church must continue to proclaim, gather, and grow in expectation of the day Christ comes.

Chapter 8

            Jesus’ role serves as a pattern for the Church in the world. For instance, the Church is to be prophetic, called to human love, justice, challenging, discomforting, and warning. The Church is to be priestly, called to console, comfort, accept, forgive, and carrying out sacramental activities. The Church is to be kingly, called to administer wisely and effectively the resources God has given.

Chapter 9

            The missionary Church begins its God-given ministry in the world when its nature is translated into priorities which lead to intentional mission goals. A church’s goal must incorporate the personal and corporate goals of its members. Also, a missionary church’s goal must not be only about its leadership. All the members of the body, through their gifts, are to be part of the ministry in the world.

Chapter 10

            In modern times, the Church appears to be made up of the committed few and the uninvolved many. However, every member of the local church is to be taught, trained, encouraged, and mobilized to find their missionary nature. With this mindset, the Church then is not to be a dictatorship, democracy, or a social club.

Chapter 11

            In building missionary congregations, it is important to understand how to develop leaders. Leaders who only delegate authority will not be enough to mobilize the people of God. Rather, there must be leaders that show the Church a model that presses them to want to achieve intentionally missionary goals for the congregation.

Chapter 12

            Dynamic administration in the Church must be culturally appropriate and contextually equivalent to be effective. Administration is important because knowing what we need to do does not necessarily drive us to do those things. It is in administration that a missionary congregation is given its concrete, practical, livable form. Administration is also important because it aids the Church in avoiding manipulative activities.