SALE: Evangelical and Frontier Mission from the William Carey Library

Just wanted to give another "shout out" for the recent Regnum book to which I contributed a chapter. I've just noticed that Evangelical and Frontier Mission is available in the William Carey Library for just $25. That's quite a discount from what you can find on Amazon! I encourage you to buy the book. In addition to my chapter focused on Cape Town 2010, you will find great contributions from Scott Moreau, Rene Padilla, Enoch Wan, Ralph Winter and others. Some accolades for the book include:

"This extraordinary compendium documents and illustrates the movement from what Edinburgh 1910 designated as 'unoccupied fields' to what R. Winter strategically designated as 'unreached people groups' thus repioneering frontier missiology focused on 'finishing the task.'"
-- Peter Kuzmic


"This important volume demonstrates that, 100 years after the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Evangelicalism has become truly global. Twenty-first-century Evangelicalism continues to focus on frontier mission, but significantly, and in the spirit of Edinburgh 1910, it also has re-engaged social action. Pentecostalism exhibits a similar direction, and these characteristics (global reach, frontier focus, social engagement) point to a vibrant future for both movements. At the same time, however, the essays in this volume present a cautionary tale of overstating goals and plans as they relate to proclamation and development."
-- Todd Johnson, Associate Professor of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

You can also read a bit of a review and recommendation by American missiologist, J.D. Payne at http://www.jdpayne.org/2011/12/21/evangelical-and-frontier-mission/.

Evangelical and Frontier Mission :: Snodderly, Beth :: Authors and Editors :: William Carey Library: "The centennial celebrations of the Edinburgh 1910 conference offered Christians of all stripes multiple opportunities to reflect on the past century of mission. Over the course of the twentieth century one of the stories of the church that has moved towards center stage is the growth of evangelicalism around the world. While certainly until the late 1980s this went largely unnoticed among the academic elite of the world, even so by then the vast majority of the missionaries serving to and from every corner of the globe were be framed in some way by this evangelical surge. As we reflect on the past century, then, the stories of the evangelical world church deserve to be heard. This volume is part of the Regnum Edinburgh 2010 Centenary Series."

Building Bridges: Perspectives on Baptist Unity (Reviewed)

WARNING: If you are not a Southern Baptist, you might find the following very uninteresting.

Here from the seclusion of my secret personal retreat getaway, I was able to polish off the little book by David Dockery and Timothy George on Southern Baptist unity.  The book is entitled Building Bridges: Perspectives on Baptist Unity [link is to free e-book version!] and weighs in at a mere 64 pages.  In short, let me say that I found the book to be powerful, insightful, and the kind of thing that I hope and pray is embraced broadly throughout my denomination.

Why did I read this book?

Baptist Faith & Message

Ordinarily, many of you know that I spend my energies writing about missiology, contextualization, Hinduism, diaspora and the like.  So, you may be surprised to find me reading a book about Southern Baptist identity.  However, these days I find myself with more and more of a voice among my denominational brothers and sisters.  I train and supervise new SBC church planters; I help to lead one of the largest local Baptist associations in the country; and I pastor two Southern Baptist churches.  Very recently, I've also been invited to serve as a part of a new Southern Baptist North American Mission Board project called "Send Chicago".  Send Chicago consists of a coalition of about 18 missionaries, pastors, and other leaders who are tasked with seeking to develop strategies for church planting in Chicagoland.  I've been to a couple meetings thus far.  Actually, it was the most recent one that stirred in me a desire to read Building Bridges.

What does it mean to be Southern Baptist in Chicagoland?

During our most recent coalition gathering -- the first official one -- the question was asked, "What does it mean to be a Southern Baptist church in Chicago?"  After a bit of discussion, there was a followup question, "What makes Southern Baptists different from other Evangelicals in Chicago?"  This second question was immediately met with an answer from a member of the group that just about made me fall out of my chair, "We preach the word of God!" Astonished, I wondered if as a group we were actually suggesting that only Southern Baptists were preaching the word of God.

My contribution to the ensuing conversation was a challenge that we not make "planting Southern Baptist churches" the end for which we labor in mission.  Rather that we make our focus extending God's Kingdom, reaching people who don't know Christ -- you know, that which Christ actually calls his people to do.  We will plant SBC churches as a means to that end.  I shared with the group that it wasn't the building of our denomination that got me out of bed in the morning, but the building of Christ's Kingdom.

Well, I certainly didn't have the last word and the rest of the conversation around the room on the topic was anything but decisive.  We have much work to do -- that we must do.  Theological, missiological, racial, economic, political, historic, traditional, and ideological elephants abound, stomping around the room, begging to be talked about.  And the question that rang out in all of the discussion that day, that spontaneously emerged from the rather chaotic proceedings and then sort of lingered there was this, "Why are you Southern Baptist?"

For me, the answer comes very quickly from my heart.  It is a family thing.  Not that my biological family was Southern Baptist.  No, but I came to know Christ in the Southern Baptist context in Oklahoma.  Michelle, Jon, Becky, Boyd, Dan, Jim and many others who established, brought me up and mentored me in the faith were all Southern Baptists.  I was baptized, licensed, and ordained and sent out as a missionary by Southern Baptists. And, I should say, I love standing in the tradition of Lottie Moon.  So, it is my heritage and my family.  We live in a culture of leavers and I have been encouraged to jump ship many times over the years. But in spite of the many, many problems I see in our huge denominational family, I just don't believe that leaving is right, helpful, or godly.  I believe we must "test all things" and "hold on to what is good" (1 Thess. 5:21) and try our darnedest to fix the rest!

But, still, what does it mean that I am a Southern Baptist?  Are there reasons besides loyalty to a family and heritage that keep me Baptist?  The answer is yes, but I don't want to spend any real time on that today.  Instead, I want to point especially my Baptist readers to the book Building Bridges.  I commend it to you and believe that God would have the SBC embrace the message therein.  The call that Dockery and George have made is to renewal rooted in a "retrieval" of our historic roots as Baptists, as Protestants, and as Christians.  They call for a renewed Baptist unity (in-house) as well as a "candid ecumenism" of conviction in the service of unity in the universal Church for the sake of world evangelization.  Two quick quotes are due here.  First, regarding Baptist unity:

"We must recognize that Southern Baptists have historically reflected considerable diversity.  While we do not hold out doctrinal uniformity as a goal, we do call for renewed commitments to the inspiration, truthfulness, and authority of Scripture with an accompanying commitment to a hermeneutic of acceptance over against a hermeneutic of suspicion, as well as a re-establishment and reaffirmation of the Gospel center" (p. 33).


Regarding ecumenism:

"A model of dynamic orthodoxy must be reclaimed.  The orthodox tradition must be recovered in conversation with Nicea, Chalcedon, Augustine, Bernard, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, the Pietists, and the revivalists. In sum, our Southern Baptist identity must be rooted in the consensus fidei of the Christian Church . . . . We must take seriously the biblical call to unity in accord with the Nicene affirmation of the oneness and universality of the Church" (p. 33).


If you are a Baptist with an identity crisis, read this book.  It will help you.  If you are being bugged by Baptist elements that think you just aren't Baptist enough, read this and memorize some of its pithier quotes.  I think it is just right on at so many points.  For the record, there is good mention of issues related to the "Conservative Resurgence" and Calvinist v. Arminian disputes.  When you finish the book, you should feel that the conversation has just begun however.  Much more needs to be discussed.  The issue of race was barely touched.  Gender isn't really mentioned.  Sticky subjects like alcohol use, church polity, and "speaking in tongues" were not specifically referenced.  Again, we have much more work to do, but I am thrilled that Dockery and George have boldly and insightfully gotten the ball rolling.

[P.S. - Actually, I noticed that this book came out in 2007.  However, free copies of it were distributed at the most recent associational meeting of Chicago Metro Baptist Association.  That was the first time I saw it.  I'm happy to do what I can to give the worthy title a little more attention.]

Is Heuertz's "New Ecumenism" Sufficiently Christocentric?

I've just finished reading an article by Chris Heuertz called "The New Ecumenism: Becoming the Living Body of Christ."  Chris is one of a growing number of self-proclaimed Evangelicals I know who are more or less championing a kind of ecumenical spirit. I'm doing my best to listen to them and understand what they are saying, but I'm still struggling. I'm not fully on board at this point.

In Chris's article he speaks mostly about traditional divisions between Catholics and Protestants. He shares some personal experiences within his family and ministry and how working through and joining together with each other, they've been able to move closer to Christ as the center. But I have a few honest questions:

1. Chris speaks rather negatively about "doctrinal lines" as if to suggest that none should exist. He describes this as an essentially evangelical effort to determine "who's in and who's out." I want to agree to a point that the demand for absolute theological conformity has often been taken to ridiculous and sinful extremes. But is Chris suggesting that no lines be drawn at all? Perhaps such talk appears safe enough when speaking of Protestant/Catholic relationships, but what about Mormans, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Oneness Pentecostals? Is Chris suggesting that we throw the flood gates open for any and all who call themselves Christians? And if not, on what basis would he exclude some and include others?

2. Chris shared that the incorporation of some Catholics into his ministry resulted in a strengthening of it. I don't want to challenge that; however, he continues to say, "The only hurdle we really experienced was at the communion table. Other than that, community carried on . . ." I find this a troubling statement to simply breeze by. The indication I get is that the incorporation of Catholics and Protestants together in a mission agency resulted in conflict around one of the central aspects of worship -- Communion. I wish Chris would have elaborated on this. I'm not sure how a group of people could be said to be experiencing truly Christian community without taking the Lord's Supper together.

3. Why does Chris label the "tendency to reject other traditions" as a Protestant one? Weren't Wycliffe, Huss, and Luther excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church rather against their will? Aren't Catholic and Orthodox leaders every bit as dogmatic and "divisive" as Protestants?

4. In speaking about the idea of moving towards theological unity, Chris asserts that reductionism is bad, but I'm not convinced that he doesn't go on to do just that. For example, he writes, "We can all agree that God doesn't want children's sexuality exploited and commodified in the commercial sex industry. Discovering theological unity in that tragic space is easy. So we stay in those obvious places and inch our way closer to one another based on what else we can agree on." But Chris doesn't do anything to explain what makes such an issue an "obvious place" theologically. What makes this "easy" and another issue difficult? Is it simply deemed easy on the basis of a kind of straw poll among self-proclaimed Christians? I understand the practical draw to such thinking, but I'm unaware of any Biblical justification for it. And then what happens when a professing Christian suggests that he/she doesn't exactly agree with this "obvious statement"? It may seem far-fetched, but we're having to deal with something very near to that right now. What does Chris's ecumenism do with such a person? If the answer is to throw them out, upon what basis? If its only a matter of majority view, then we're no better off than when we started.

So, I'm left at the end of Chris's article feeling that he simply hasn't provided a sufficient Christocentrism to build a real Christian unity. To simply say that Christ must be the center doesn't mean that He really is. For it means something to be a follower of Christ. It has doctrinal and theological ramifications as well as necessary practical and missional commitments.  I don't claim to know for sure what those are but sincerely believe that the Lausanne Covenant goes a long way in capturing these.  Anyway, my mind is not at all closed to the pursuit of ecumenical unity and I deeply appreciate the heart behind what Christ has shared, but I'm just not convinced that he has done enough to really show us the way forward.

Thoughts?

So What Am I Hearing? Post Cape Town Reflection

Alright, this is dangerous. I'm feeling just simply not ready to put things down on (cyber) paper yet. The Lausanne Blogger Network has been asked to write up some reflections post Cape Town 2010 and submit them before tomorrow, so here goes nothing.

I'm basically asking the question of myself that I so often ask other people, "What do you hear God saying?"

I got home only yesterday. Hugged my wife and kids. Talked. Distributed gifts. Eventually made my way to the bedroom for a nap. I had in my hand a copy of John H. Armstrong's new book, Your Church is Too Small.  Now this is a bit odd in my mind. I know John.  He lives in the same town as me.  And . . . well, can I just confess to you that in the past couple years I've secretly thought that John was going a little bit crazy.  With all his talk of "missional ecumenism" and everything.  I had been putting off getting a hold of his book.  In part because I have so much to read as it is.  And in part because I feared it would finally confirm for me that John really has lost his mind.

But here's the thing.  I'm hanging out in Cape Town sometime before one of the plenary sessions.  Out of nowhere, Phil Miglioratti comes up to me and says something like, "Hey Cody, I think you need this."  He hands me a copy of John's book.

So all during the Lausanne Congress, I've been hearing God on so many issues.  So many themes have flooded my heart and mind.  Diaspora, contextualization, priorities in mission, reconciliation, and so much more.  But nothing has been more overwhelming than the theme of God's Church.  I have never in my life had a stronger, fuller, or more intense encounter with God's Church than I did in Cape Town this month.  At one point, during the closing Holy Communion worship service, considering everything that the Scriptures say about the presence of God in his Church, I just stretched out my hand as if to "feel" God.  Thinking, God is so very here.

This is the big thing for me, friends.  God gathered His Church.  Granted there were people not there that could have been and perhaps should have been, but this was something historic and wonderful.  So, when I packed my bags late during my final night at the super cool Fire and Ice Hotel in Cape Town, I was sure to put my copy of Your Church is Too Small in my carry on.

I haven't finished it.  But I read half of the the thing on my way home.  Still hearing God emphasize the richness, diversity, and beauty of His Church -- the fullness of Him who fills all in all.  So yesterday, it made sense for me to carry that book with me to my nap time.  I only read a few more pages before my eyes started to get heavy with jet lag.  I set it aside and began a sleepy meditation.  I started thinking about the Church and how I had met God in the Church during the past week or so.  I thought about Alvaro, Ruth, Knud, Rekha and the rest of my table group, Paco, Binny, Tek, Christy, Sadiri, Evvy, Niove and others.  Soon my thoughts all sort of landed on one individual.  Which is odd and a bit anti-John Armstrong, but for me, my experience with the Church was all really crystallized in my experience with one sister from East Africa.

Here was grace, communion, love, edification, exchange of spiritual gifts, rebuke, fellowship, and joy.  But gosh, this is getting to be a long post and I really can't get into all the details for a number of reasons.  As I closed my eyes for good afternoon snooze, I asked myself, "What do I hear God saying through all these people and especially through that sister?"  I realize it would mean more if you knew the details behind it all -- another time perhaps.  But let me give you the simple and profound answers that are coming to me:

1. The normal way that God meets our deepest felt needs is through His Church -- This has come to me in a very strong experience this week of being met by God's Church in a critical moment.  I will really try to share the details later, but for now I will simply say that I was very much on the verge of having Cape Town 2010 turn into a total defeat for me personally.  But God intervened through His own Church and just rescued me.  I wept and wept on Sunday night during the closing ceremonies recognizing with joy that God had given me a tremendous victory.  And now, as I consider all that could come from this congress through my life, I realize that it is because of God's Church.

2.  Healthy and joy-filled relationships between God's people have Christ at the center and prayer woven throughout -- This doesn't require a lot of elaboration, does it?  Reflecting on why my connections with certain people at Cape Town were so joyful and profound helped me to realize that it was because we kept Christ right in the middle of every conversation and encounter.  And also that we prayed a lot.  I'm challenged coming back to do the same.  To look at my relationship with my wife first and then others around me.  How do I get Christ in the center of all these relationships?  How do we pray more?

There is more, but this is honestly all I can share at the moment.  This is just where I am right now and everything else is still far too blurry.  Keep praying for me as I reflect on all this.  I believe that God has accomplished and begun a tremendous work through Cape Town 2010.  It is very exciting to see fruit being born in my life.  I am excited to see all that will result.