Paul And The Mission Of The Church

This book engages in a careful study of Pauls letters to determine if the apostle expected the communities to which he wrote to engage in missionary activity. It helpfully summarizes the discussion on this debated issue, judiciously handling contested texts and provides a way forward in addressing this critical question. While admitting that Paul rarely explicitly commands the communities he founded to evangelize, Plummer amasses significant incidental data to provide a convincing case that Paul did indeed expect his churches to engage in mission activity. Throughout the study, Plummer progressively builds a theological basis for the churchs mission that is both distinctively Pauline and compelling.

What relevance does the Apostle Paul have for the mission of the church in the twenty-first century? By investigating his socioeconomic background, examining his doxological orientation in mission, delineating how and why he shared resources in the first century, and then relating all this to what has been called the contemporary International Partnership Movement, this book demonstrates that when the church engages in cross-cultural mission and ignores Pauline orthopraxy, it places unnecessary obstacles in the path of the missio Dei. Therefore, Mission in the Way of Paul: Biblical Mission for the Church in the Twenty-First Century is pertinent for any course devoted to learning from and implementing biblical models of mission today.

In this original introduction to Paul's life and thought Sanders pays equal attention to Paul's fundamental convictions and the sometimes convoluted ways in which they were worked out.

Amid conflicting ideas about what the church should be and do in a post-Christian climate, the missing voice is that of Paul. The New Testament's most prolific church planter, Paul faced diverse challenges as he worked to form congregations. Leading biblical scholar James Thompson examines Paul's ministry of planting and nurturing churches in the pre-Christian world to offer guidance for the contemporary church. The church today, as then, must define itself and its mission among people who have been shaped by other experiences of community. Thompson shows that Paul offers an unprecedented vision of the community that is being conformed to the image of Christ. He also addresses contemporary (mis)understandings of words like missional, megachurch, and formation.

Drawing on his monumental scholarly study Early Christian Mission (Volume 2), Eckhard J. Schnabel's gives us an overview of Paul's missionary practices, strategies and methods, and then weighs contemporary evangelical missiology and practice in light of Paul.

In a two-volume work, Eckhard J. Schnabel offers a comprehensive and defiinitive examination of the first century of missionary expansion--from Jesus to the last of the apostles.--From publisher's description.

What does Paul's missions strategy mean for today? A century ago Roland Allen published Missionary Methods: Saint Paul's or Ours?, a missiological classic which tackled many important issues, including what biblically rooted missions looks like in light of the apostle Paul's evangelistic efforts. Although Allen's work is still valuable, new understandings have been gained regarding Paul's milieu and missionary activity, and how his practices ought to inform missions in our ever-changing world. Using the centennial anniversary of Allen's work as a springboard for celebration and reflection, the contributors to Paul's Missionary Methods have revisited Paul's first-century missionary methods and their applicability today. This book examines Paul's missionary efforts in two parts. First Paul is examined in his first-century context: what was his environment, missions strategy and teaching on particular issues? The second part addresses the implications of Paul's example for missions today: is Paul's model still relevant, and if so, what would it look like in modern contexts? Experts in New Testament studies and missiology contribute fresh, key insights from their fields, analyzing Paul's missionary methods in his time and pointing the way forward in ours. Contributors include Michael F. Bird Eckhard J. Schnabel Benjamin L. Merkle Christoph W. Stenschke Don N. Howell Jr. Craig Keener David J. Hesselgrave Michael Pocock Ed Stetzer M. David Sills Chuck Lawless J. D. Payne

In this text, Paul E. Pierson, Dean Emeritus of the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, guides the reader through a missiological view of history from Christ to the present. Pierson particularly highlights the contexts by which the biblical faith moved into new and different cultures. Today, the Christian faith, is the most geographically and culturally diverse worldwide movement that exists. Paul E. Pierson's book illuminates how this amazing fact has come about and how the trend will continue. Sign up for the WCIU Press newsletter to be notified about new books from this author and more! http: //eepurl.com/rB15L