The book 'Involved in God's mission' was recently published by publisher KokBoekencentrum. This basic missiology book aims to help students at theological schools and workers in the church to be thoughtfully and positively involved in God's mission in the world.
For students and ministers
The basic missiology book contains up-to-date material for both academic reflection and practical application. This makes it valuable for theology students and for ministers. The book noticeably fills a need: there is considerable interest in it.
In the field of missiology, there is a lot of good, often English-language, literature. The Basic Book of Missiology brings together current knowledge. For the first time, a complete textbook is available for students taking the subject of missiology and preparing for missionary work.
The whole missionary world is in flux, observes Dr Jan van 't Spijker, lecturer in missiology at the TUA and editor-in-chief of this book. 'Society is developing at lightning speed. That raises the question of what that means for theology and what it demands the church. Theological discourse is also changing rapidly and that means the literature you use sometimes needs to be rephrased. This basic book fits in with that topicality.'
To get started
The book encourages to become missionary and, besides theoretical knowledge, gives practical handles and ideas to develop policies on evangelisation. This makes this book also important for the equipping of people with a task in the church, says Drs Ad Heystek, lecturer at TUA and CHE and member of the CGK's national ministers' conferences committee. 'Especially for people leading missionary work, such as ministers, evangelisation committees and evangelisation elders. It gives handles and ideas to develop policies on evangelisation and it encourages to become missionary.'
Mission consultant Rev Willem van 't Spijker thinks it is valuable that we as churches continue to hear the sounds of the global church. 'From the church in the world we can learn a lot. That is why the history of missions is described and a chapter is devoted to the practice of missions worldwide. I would recommend it to anyone involved in mission in any way, so that they know what is going on and what they are doing. Hopefully young people will also be moved in this way.'
Dr Van 't Spijker also welcomes the practical part. 'Being church means really being the voice of the Gospel in society. The church has to show in deeds and words that there is a God and that we belong to Christ. That is sometimes searching and toiling. How do you do that? I hope church councils can draw inspiration from this book.' Drs Heystek fervently hopes that the book will not remain unread on the shelf. 'I would like this book to help people theoretically ground what they are doing and be missionary present. I really hope so.'
Integral mission as a starting point
The editors took the so-called 'missio Dei', God's mission in this world, as a starting point and draw lines from there in each chapter. The book contains a theological exploration of main missionary aspects of the Bible and addresses the question of the purpose of God's mission, the eschatological tension in which that mission takes place and the church's place in it. It then discusses missionary developments over the centuries and the authors address the relationship between mission and colonialism and the five aspects of integral mission. The following chapters deal with being missionary in today's post-Christian society and the related missionary challenges. They further discuss how missionary practices at home and abroad are increasingly intertwined by mobility, migration and the internet. The authors address contemporary practices of world mission and do not shy away from related probing questions.
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The book originated in a collaboration between the theology colleges in Apeldoorn (TUA) and Ede (CHE) and the deputations for evangelisation and foreign mission of the Christian Reformed Churches. This will address the whole palette of mission, evangelisation and diaconate or aid as an integral mission.
Furthermore, employees of the Mission Council, IZB, GZB, Church Point, Viaa University of Applied Sciences and Baptist Seminary contributed to the book. The whole was edited by:
editor-in-chief Jan van 't Spijker, lecturer in missiology at TUA,
Petra de Jong-Heins, missionary counsellor,
Bert Roor, theology lecturer at CHE,
Willem van 't Spijker, missionary consultant.
Series
The National Ministers' Conferences Committee of the Christian Reformed Churches has made the production and publication financially possible. The committee earlier gave the basic diaconate book Serving and Sharing out and is considering publishing a third basic book on the subject of pastoral care.
Involved in God's mission - Basic book of missiology is published by KokBoekencentrum and can be ordered from any bookstore.
