Full of statistics and insights into some the exact questions that a prospective missionary would not know to ask or look into. I definitely appreciate the thoughts he offers in the relations between the local church and cross-cultural missions—along with the seminaries and missions agencies that are often associated with the work.
I still am slightly disappointed with the common ideas of missions or theological trainings relation to the local church. I think there is a misunderstanding that there can somehow be an organization or entity outside of the local church that operates in the capacity of fulfilling God’s designs of building and advancing his church... and still somehow remains in some measure outside of it? It is inconsistent. In the book he goes through this subject thoroughly but I was slightly disappointed in his conclusions. He uses a lot of venn-diagrams, but I find it extremely unconvincing that the church should not be a large circle with the many other agencies and groups existing inside its parameters organically. He proposes that the three (local church, theological training, missions agency) co-exist with a unifying goal being the great commission.
If missions and theological training don’t explicitly grow organically out of the church—to what do they owe their existence? His answer seems to be God called them himself, so the church should not attempt to interfere—but Ofcourse, he says they should partner and work together since they share the same mission. This is awkward. I believe they share the same mission cause ultimately they both belong to the church. Christ has one body, one mission.
Otherwise the value in this book was hit or miss. HeartCry Missionary Society is the best resource I have found for missions. They have a article series on missions that is very insightful;biblically sound. They also do a YouTube #MissionsMonday where they give insight into on-the-field missions work. It has been priceless!
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