Missions [Paperback]

Gailyn Van Rheenen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 1996

How does the church communicate God's unchanging message in an ever-changing world? Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies gives answers by showing the methods and motives for successful missionary work. It lays sound theological and strategic foundations for the missionary of today and tomorrow. But Missions is far more than blackboard theory. Written by a long-time missionary, it carries the conviction and insights of one who has lived his subject. Gailyn Van Rheenen's true-life examples sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous-shed a fascinating, personal light on the missionary cycle, cross-cultural issues, church maturation, selecting mission fields, and other vital topics. This distinctive book both provides answers and provokes questions. Stimulating, comprehensive, and highly readable, it will engage readers on every level -- spiritual, intellectual, and personal.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

How does the church communicate God's unchanging message in an ever-changing world? Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies gives answers by showing the methods and motives for successful missionary work. It lays sound theological and strategic foundations for the missionary of today and tomorrow.

But Missions is far more than blackboard theory. Written by a long-time missionary, it carries the conviction and insights of one who has lived his subject. Gailyn Van Rheenen's true-life examples sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous-shed a fascinating, personal light on the missionary cycle, cross-cultural issues, church maturation, selecting mission fields, and other vital topics.

This distinctive book both provides answers and provokes questions. Stimulating, comprehensive, and highly readable, it will engage readers on every level-spiritual, intellectual, and personal.

From the Author

Gailyn Van Rheenen, Ph.D., served as a missionary in East Africa for fourteen years and is fluent in two African languages. The author of four textbooks on missions, he is associate professor of missions at Abilene Christian University

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (September 2, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310208092
• ISBN-13: 978-0310208099
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #491,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gailyn Van Rheenen ( PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is director of the church planting ministry Mission Alive (www.missionalive.org), adjunct professor of missions at Abilene Christian University, and former missionary to East Africa. His website is www.missiology.org.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A firm foundation on which to build, December 21, 1999

By 

M. Endsley (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Missions (Paperback)

Most students will admit that they often do not read an entire textbook. They will read some parts, skim others and even skip some entirely. This is natural. And it definitely applies to me. However, I read every word of Van Rheenen's "Missions." I was captivated from beginning to end with both the clear writing and the powerful stories. And all this from a text I was required to read!

"Missions" served as the main text for an introductory missions course I just completed. Just recently sensing that God was calling me to the mission field, I needed a comprehensive overview of this new terrain I was exploring. This book provided that and more. In 11 chapters, it addresses the mission of God, motives of missionaries, cross-cultural communication, the role of strategy, the church maturation process, site selection, and other important issues. Not only did reading this book stimulate my head, it also pulled at my heart. "Missions" taught me so much, yet also gave me a glimpse of how much more I still need to learn.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honesty and Transparency in a Treatment on Missions., December 12, 2005

By 

Peter Wilson "Lead Worshipper" (Malibu, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Missions (Paperback)

From the beginning of this book it is obvious that Van Rheenen's task is to align mission work with the writings of the gospels for the purpose of glorifying God. For this reason I find that few missiologists have the ability to write honestly about their missionary experiences in the way that Van Rheenen does. As you read through his countless stories of hope and hardship there is no doubt that this man gives all of his energy toward self-sacrifice for Christ's mission work. Through the stories and biblical principles presented in this book you will be encouraged about the state of current global mission work and strategies.

In Van Rheenen's words, reading a significant introductory missions text "should be the first task of the future missionary." For this reason his book spends significant time underlining theological foundations of missions that are prevalent throughout the Bible. As the reader contemplates Moses' role in God's missionary task the call to do this work becomes clearer. Not only is the call to serve the poor and destitute outlined in the Bible, but it is clear that God is the source of our mission to serve. He desires that through the work of the church missiologists can be led by the Holy Spirit to the target of His mission: the world.

More than likely, Van Rheenen writes his book with the undergraduate student in mind. For this reason, he points to the importance of possessing the correct motives for doing mission work. Yes, everyone should feel called to God's mission, but not everyone is equipped for the difficult task. There are many students who possess a desire to travel to a foreign land, but under the surface their motives are less than perfect. Van Rheenen states the need for the student to study and understand the task of the missionary's work. Impure motives will lead to a malignancy in the missionaries ministry and may even affect the indigenous people for many years. It is vital that the student of missiology completes thorough training and studying if they are to understand God's mission for their ministry.
After Van Rheenen's chapters on foundational information on mission work he writes about the most important aspect of missiology. According to Van Rheenen, a philosophy of strategy must be derived for a successful ministry to sustain itself once the missionary has left. Not only does the missionary need to plant churches, but he/she must effectively train people and nurture them toward a sense of independence. In the long run, this strategy will produce reproductive churches that continue to grow without the aid of outside help.

While this book may be an introductory text for students interested in missions, Van Rheenen's ability to integrate primary biblical foundations with his personal experience provides a worthy text for anyone interested in successful overseas mission work. This is the type of book that should be given to anyone in your church that is interested in going overseas, but lacks the maturity needed to be successful. Through Van Rheenen's book the reader will gain a solid comprehension of the task of the missionary along with important case studies to examine and file away for future work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Van Rheenen should be appreciated for the critical eye he brings to mission strategies that grows out of a theological foundatio, December 12, 2005

By 

R. A. Gillespie "Follower of Jesus and Gradua... (Malibu, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Missions (Paperback)

This book should be required reading for anyone who SUPPORTS a missionary or plays even the smallest part in being involved with mission work. (Especially elders of sponsoring congregations) Van Rheenen is not only a missionary in action, but one who THINKS and critiques how to do mission.

Van Rheenen gives a solid theological foundation for mission that helps ground and guide all further discussion on "how to do missions." This is his most valuable contribution to the discussion of missions.

He says that God is the source of Mission. The message is that of the Kingdom of God and Christ as the embodiment of Mission. He points out that the Gospel without the foundation of the Kingdom does not make much sense. (Which is something that can be seen quite a bit these days.) I wish he had spent a bit more time on the two topics of the kingdom of God and the Gospel. Van Rheenen says the church is now to be the embodiment of Mission. "Few Christians are able to describe vividly in biblical terms what God desires the church to be. Without biblical undergirdings, the church is swept along by the ebb and flow of culture and in various forms degenerates into a social fraternity. When this happens, the church more nearly reflects the world than the nature of God and has little that is distinctive to offer the world." (28) He calls for the church to reinterpret her very nature. This is valuable for the current discussion going on in many congregations of "what does it mean for a church to be missional."

He roots the driving force of God's mission in compassion. (Motive) He exposes a number of secondary motives and defective motives for engaging in Mission. He calls for the primary motive to be Compassion.

Van Rheenen does a thorough job in discussing the difference between Identificationalism and Extractionism. Indentificationalism is a method of mission where a person immerses oneself in the new culture, learning the language and identifying with the nationals. Extractionism is a method of mission where a person establishes a compound or center that stands in contrast to the surrounding culture that forces nationals to learn to identify with that of the compound/center.

Van Rheenen says that people are "influenced and shaped by their culture both before and after they come into a relationship with God." (77) He spends time discussing "what is culture?" and what kinds of cross-cultural evangelism exist. (E1, E2, and E3) He discusses the stages a missionary goes through when adapting to a new culture (the glamour stage, rejection stage, and the identification stage.) Having worked with numerous new missionaries, his insights are grounded in reality.

A major strength of Van Rheenen's is his emphasis on strategy and planning. Of course the strategy always begins with the theological foundation. His chapter on Church Maturation takes a walk through a history of missions and looks at several ineffective strategies in the past that did not lead to mature churches. During this part he looks at both the positive and negative aspects of several possible strategies.