Theology: Mission Studies: Church Missions

The terrain of church missions is often bewildering.Should we prioritize evangelism or works of service? Local ministries or overseas missions? What's more important: giving our money or giving our time? Crisis relief or building sustainable, long-term ministries? And what about the often debated pros and cons of short-term missions trips?In Mapping Church Missions, Sharon Hoover brings her years of experience in local church missions to bear on these and other thorny questions. Instead of taking a hardline stance on one end of the spectrum or the other, she approaches each question with nuance, adding helpful data, presenting new perspectives, and always pressing gently past surface questions to the heart of the matter.Whether we're fully aware of it or not, our churches come up against these questions whenever we consider how best to use our resources for the mission of God. Written by an experienced guide, this book maps the terrain of church missions in careful detail, helping us plot our church's unique course as we seek to serve Christ's kingdom.

Mission trips have become a staple in youth ministries across the United States. The problem is many mission trips remain disconnected from the rest of a congregation's ministry. As a result, it's often difficult to integrate students' experiences on the field with their lives back home. In this book, veteran youth worker and author, Jen Bradbury, will lay out a philosophy for mission trips that does just that: Connects what happens on the field with students' lives at home. To do so, she'll draw upon Scripture as well as stories from the 15 years she's spent leading mission trips herself, both domestically and internationally. Regardless of how few or how many mission trips a youth worker has led, Jen's words will leave them feeling inspired and equipped to create a comprehensive missions strategy that has the chance to leave a lasting impact on teens, congregations, and the world.

Ordained pioneer ministry is a significant and growing presence in the Church of England and the Methodist Church and in denominations around the world. Here leading practitioners and theologians in the pioneer movement including Doug Gay, Liz Sercombe, Beth Keith and Gerald Arbuckle reflect on emerging trends, practices and the key theological challenges of pioneer work, offering critical reflection on emerging forms of mission and church in changing social contexts. They explore how people experience transformation, contextual engagement, dissent as a form of leadership, emerging patterns of urban ministry, whether the language of sin and guilt works today, assumptions about how pioneer ministry is learned, and more.