This past week, Mike began wondering where to go to learn more about the role of the church in missions, now and throughout the ages. Some might refer him to Andrew Murray’s classic, “The Key to the Missionary Problem.” But we’re betting there are other options. Can you think of other such resources? If so, please click “Comment” following the web version of this item. Thanks in advance if you can help.
Tradecraft, by Crider, McCrary and the Upstream Collective team
http://store.gmi.org/tradecraft-for-the-church-on-mission-p-1661.html
I would highly recommend “Loving the Church…Blessing the Nations” by George Miley.
I served for 25 yrs in various leadership roles of a traditional mission agency. I currently serve as a Consultant for Global Engagement focusing primarily on supporting the role of global networks in order to facilitate effective global engagement by the global church. I would suggest that we are today in a brand new dynamic when it comes to the role of the local church in missions.
I lead day long workshops on how globalization and the phenomenal growth of the majority church has propelled us into a new paradigm of missions. When the world was round (it is now flat) the local church could do little more than support the work of an agency in their effort to be involved in missions. In the past there was one primary stakeholder in missions – the agency. Today there are three primary stakeholders: the local church in your culture, the mission agency, and the church in the target culture or one near it. No longer can the mission agency assume the local church should “pay, pray, and stay away”. Agencies that are intentionally adjusting to the new reality are asking local churches how they can help them (the church) do missions. They no longer assume that their agency/church relationship should be to convince the local church to support “their program”. There is value added in the agency but not in the same way as before. By the way, local churches in Argentina, Ethiopia, India, and Germany are asking the same question you are. I manage Linking Global Voices dot com.
I teach a course at the Sydney Missionary and Bible College (Australia) called, ‘Local Church and Global Mission’ which is just about this issue. Some of the best books around are:
Becoming Global by Bruce Dipple (SMBC Press)
When Missions Shapes the Mission by David Horner (B & H Publishing)
A Task Unfinished By Michael Griffiths (MARC publishing)
Antioch Revisited by Tom Julien (BMH books)
I hope that helps.
Tim
http://catalystservices.org/ – Catalyst helps mission organizations and local churches to expand and improve their global efforts. Check them out.