Christ Outside The Gate

Solidly theological, amply historical, thoroughly ecumenical, and remarkably current, Orlando Costas' 'Christ Outside the Gate' is the most succinct, yet comprehensive analysis of the missiological issues facing the church and the churches that has appeared in many years."" --Alan Neely, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest Learning and passion come together in Christ Outside the Gate to make it an outstanding contribution to missiology."" --Gabriel Fackre, Abbot Professor of Christian Theology, Andover Newton Theological School You have in your hands a new way of seeing missions--North America as a receiving country, the marginalized as the subject as well as object of missions, world evangelization with one foot in Melbourne and one foot in Pattaya. Few authors blend together so effectively so many worlds--evangelism and scholarship, northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere, sociology, and theology."" --Harvie M. Conn, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia Costas may well be or is on his way to becoming the ablest missiologist alive."" --Jorge Lara-Braud, Director, Council on Theology and Culture, Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Costas writes from the background of an Hispanic Evangelical, but goes far beyond the normal concerns of that tradition. In a series of far-ranging essays, he deals with virtually every aspect of the contemporary missiological debate in a manner that is usually balanced and always provocative. While some readers will violently question his views at certain points, all will be stimulated and challenged to think more deeply and participate more effectively in the total world mission to which God has called His Church."" --Paul E. Pierson, Fuller Theological Seminary 'Christ Outside the Gate' offers us a perspective of missions that focuses on the transition from paternalism to the contextualization of the Gospel."" --Oscar I. Romo, Director, Language Missions Division, Southern Baptist Convention Costas writes from the viewpoint of those who live on the periphery of society. He challenges Christians of all denominations to a renewed understanding of the Christ who 'suffered outside the gates.'"" --John T. Boberg, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Orlando E. Costas is also the author of 'Liberating News', 'The Integrity of Mission', and 'The Church and Its Mission'.

Throughout the history of the Christian church, two narratives have constantly clashed: the imperial logic of Babel that builds towers and borders to seize control, versus the logic of Pentecost that empowers "glocal" missionaries of the kingdom life. To what extent are Westernized Christians today ready for the church of the Pentecost narrative? Are they equipped to do ministry in different cultural modes and to handle disruption and perplexity? What are Christians to make of the Holy Spirit's occasional encounters with cultures and religions of the Americas before the European conquest? Oscar García-Johnson explores a new grammar for the study of theology and mission in global Christianity, especially in Latin America and the Latinx "third spaces" in North America. With an interdisciplinary, "transoccidental," and narrative approach, Spirit Outside the Gate offers a constructive theology of mission for the church in global contexts. Building on the familiar missiological metaphor of "outside the gate" established by Orlando Costas, García-Johnson moves to recover important elements in ancestral traditions of the Americas, with an eye to discerning pneumatological continuity between the pre-Columbian and post-Columbian communities. He calls for a "rerouting of theology"—a realization that theology cannot make its home in Christendom but is a global creation that must come home to a church without borders. In this volume García-Johnson considers pneumatological insights into de/postcolonial studies traces independent epistemic contributions of the American Global South shows how American indigenous, Afro-Latinx, and immigrant communities provide resources for a decolonial pneumatology describes four transformations the American church must undergo to break free from colonial, modernist, and monocultural structures Spirit Outside the Gate opens a path for a pneumatological missiology that can help the church act as a witness to the gospel message in a postmodern, postcolonial, and post-Christendom world. Missiological Engagements charts interdisciplinary and innovative trajectories in the history, theology, and practice of Christian mission, featuring contributions by leading thinkers from both the Euro-American West and the majority world whose missiological scholarship bridges church, academy, and society.

According to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christians are always to be on the move. Christians are to go voluntarily into a kind of exile and to become strangers and sojourners on this earth while doing God’s will "outside the gate" of the mainstream society. Inspired by Hebrews 13:12-14, Bishop Sano examines this theme and its meaning for the original audience and Christians today. This seven-chapter book can be used for individual study but is also an excellent study for Sunday school classes and small groups. Each chapter is divided into three major parts based on the original meaning of Hebrews, an application section with discussion questions, and activities for the group.

Everlasting hell and divine judgment, a lake of fire and brimstone--these mainstays of evangelical tradition have come under fire once again in recent decades. Would the God of love revealed by Jesus really consign the vast majority of humankind to a destiny of eternal, conscious torment? Is divine mercy bound by the demands of justice? How can anyone presume to know who is saved from the flames and who is not? Reacting to presumptions in like manner, others write off the fiery images of final judgment altogether. If there is a God who loves us, then surely all are welcome into the heavenly kingdom, regardless of their beliefs or behaviors in this life. Yet, given the sheer volume of threat rhetoric in the Scriptures and the wickedness manifest in human history, the pop-universalism of our day sounds more like denial than hope. Mercy triumphs over judgment; it does not skirt it. Her Gates Will Never Be Shut endeavors to reconsider what the Bible and the Church have actually said about hell and hope, noting a breadth of real possibilities that undermines every presumption. The polyphony of perspectives on hell and hope offered by the prophets, apostles, and Jesus humble our obsessive need to harmonize every text into a neat theological system. But they open the door to the eternal hope found in Revelation 21-22: the City whose gates will never be shut; where the Spirit and Bride perpetually invite the thirsty who are outside the city to "Come, drink of the waters of life."

The U.S. is notoriously ethno- and Eurocentric, often unaware of the rich contributions that are available to it from its own hemisphere. Pazmino addresses that failing and, for people interested in theology and Christian education, explores the wealth of the Latin American experience. From there he poses a model of Christian education influenced by the Latin American viewpoint.

In every Christian there lies a powerful Spirit. It is up to you—the believer—to enable the Spirit of God to move in the way God desires Him to move. For God did not give us the Spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and self-control (2 Tim.1:7). Do you want to seek God’s guidance? Do you yearn to remove the character defects in your life but have never been able to? How do you know if you need to grow up? Check the list below, and ask yourself: I have kept secrets about some of my faults and have hidden them from others? Have I been avoiding Christian fellowship? Do I feel frustrated that I’m not closer to God? Do I continue to take steps backwards in my Christian walk? Why do some Christians have it together, but I don’t seem to have any Godly fire in my life? Have I attempted to get stronger in my faith but keep coming up short? Can I continue to be just an average Christian? Am I not reading the Bible and failing to memorize Scripture? Am I not meditating, fasting, or consistently witnessing? How many of these apply to you? Are you ready to explore the power of the Holy Spirit in your life through Jesus Christ? If you apply the principles in this book and allow God to use the fire of His Word to refine your impurities, you will become a fulfilled, excited, and humble believer in Christ Jesus. Let’s move beyond Sunday together.