I was very happy to get the chance to get a complimentary copy of a book from Amazon dealing with a question that is profoundly important: "What is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission" by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert.
DeYoung and Gilbert do an outstanding job at addressing a question that
is completely fundamental to the Christian faith, simultaneously
profound and challenging, yet not often discussed in churches. What
exactly IS the mission of the church? It's a question that is intimately
associated with the question what is the gospel? Is the mission
primarily or exclusively to proclaim the gospel of salvation in Christ
and save souls? Is it, as some many recent authors and pastors suggest,
much broader than that - including joining God in His mission to restore
the world, to bring Shalom, and to labor hard for social justice? The
answer to this question is not easy, but the authors have made a strong
case for the Great Commission really providing the answer to the
question of the mission of the church. They don't downplay the
importance or value of seeking to do good and bring justice, especially
when individual Christians feel a strong call to do so, but they don't
see attempts to 'broaden' the gospel as fruitful or Biblical. They also don't steer away from touch questions: does "social justice" as the phrase commonly means today, have much to do with how the Bible looks at justice?!
The
real strengths in the book are the careful examination of what
Scripture has to say on this question, and on the respectful pastoral
heart displayed by the authors, which seek to affirm those giving their
lives to important causes carried out in the name of Christ, while
saying true to their understanding of the Bible.
For the person strongly interested in this topic there are two must-read posts I will point out. One is a great review on this book by Ed Stetzer, and the other is this thoughtful response by the authors.
What is the
Mission of the Church is definitely worth reading, especially along with
supporting and contrasting books such as What
Is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert and The
Next Christians by Gabe Lyons.
