Do you have a book to recommend for mission?

I want to read books about missions. Please recommend the impressive book you read.

A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story (Baker Academic, 2011), by Michael Goheen

Goheen calls this book a “missional ecclesiology,” but it also functions as a biblical theology of the Christian mission. Goheen traces the entire biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation to show the reader how God always intended for his people to be a light to the nations. This book is so good that I outlined it and then memorized the outline.

Missiology: An Introduction to the Foundations, History, and Strategies of World Missions (B&H, 2010), by John Mark Terry (ed.)

This book is a one-stop shop, providing both an introduction to and depth of content in the field of missiology. This graduate-level text is divided into five sections (forty-two chapters): introduction to missions, biblical basis of missions, theology of missions, history of missions, and applied missiology. Numerous evangelical authors address a multitude of topics related to contemporary missions. Although this book can be read from cover-to-cover, pastors will also benefit by using it as a reference book—selecting individual chapters to read as needed. An extensive, forty-one page bibliography is included for additional study.”

The Missionary Call: Find Your Place in God’s Plan for the World (Moody, 2008), by David Sills

As a pastor and missionary, one of the most frequent conversations I have is with people young and old about what to do with the passion God is building in their own lives for the nations. My go-to resource for these shepherding moments is David Sills’s The Missionary Call. Sills solidly covers not only the biblical and spiritual foundations of calling but also some of the practical steps and considerations for pursuing the call. He brings Scripture, history, and his own broad experience to bear on one of the most exciting moments in a pastor’s ministry. The book is perfect for a discipling relationship. I keep several copies on my shelf at a time to give away.

Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel (IVP, 2010), by Mack Stiles

If the heart of Christian mission is gospel proclamation, then Marks of the Messenger deserves a spot on every pastor’s bookshelf. While not expressly a missionary text, Mack Stiles’s volume provides concise clarity on the vital subject of living and speaking the gospel. By focusing on messengers themselves, it also avoids common pitfalls in books on evangelism. You won’t find canned presentations here. Nor is there a minimalist view of the Great Commission or conversion. Instead, Stiles drills down to understand, believe, and defend the gospel. He also includes aspects of evangelism often absent in related works, discussing the need for the messenger to be an example of the evangel, for good deeds to accompany and adorn the gospel, and for discipleship and love to express themselves ultimately in the local church. Perhaps most importantly, Marks of the Messenger is readable and stirring. This book won’t simply collect dust on a shelf but will be one pastors will want to recommend for those witnessing to Christ both at home and around the world.

Paradigms in Conflict: 10 Key Questions in Christian Missions Today (Kregel, 2005), by David Hesselgrave

Sometimes one wanders through a familiar area only to discover new concepts, which may not really be new at all. They may pose opportunity mixed with danger. The 10 questions that Hesselgrave examines are just such a blend. Missiologists have faced these issues for a long time. Yet, in this new millennium they take on revised meanings, sometimes with dangerous implications. This book is a clarion call for cautious progress rooted soundly in and determined only by absolute biblical truth. As missiologists and practitioners alike reflect on and shape the future of evangelical missions, this work is essential to those tasks, and David Hesselgrave continues to be viewed as one of the most prophetic voices of our age.

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