What Is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission

Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert have given the church a great gift. By looking at the whole Bible, using their exegetical skills, they give to the church, lay leaders and scholars alike, an understanding of this issue that will help them keep `the main thing the main thing." If, as they say, "this whole issue of mission...is the most confusing, most discussed, most energizing, and most potentially divisive issue in the evangelical church today." (25) and I agree it is, we must grapple with this most important question- "What is the Mission of the Church?" Their `pastoral approach' is refreshing. "...writing for the average Christian and the ordinary pastor trying to make sense of a whole host of missiological questions."The book's three parts challenge the reader to consider varying definitions of common terms and to look to scripture for clarity. They are Understanding Our Mission, Understanding Our Categories and What We Do and Why We Do (understanding our motivation.)Part 1 Understanding Our MissionFirst, the `host of missiological questions'-"What do we even mean by mission?""Is the mission of the church discipleship or good deeds or both?""Is the mission of the church the same as the mission of God?""Is the mission of the church distinct from the responsibilities of individual Christians?""Is the mission of the church a continuation of the mission of Jesus? If so, what was his mission anyway?""What should be the church's role in pursuing social justice?""Are we right to even use that phrase and what do we mean by it?"Does God expect the church to change the world, to be about the work of transforming its social structures?""What about the kingdom?""How do we build the kingdom of God?""Or are we even capable of building the kingdom?""How does the kingdom relate to the gospel?""How does the gospel relate to the whole story line of the Bible?""And how does all this relate to mission?" (16)In the section "A Correction to the Correction" they laud the missional life style, or getting out of your holy huddle, but they express concern about how missional thinking changes the conversation about the church's mission. I share their concerns, especially `...that in all our passion for renewing the city or tackling social problems, we run the risk of marginalizing the one thing that makes Christian mission Christian: namely, making disciples of Jesus Christ." (22)After laying out what each chapter endeavors to do they launch into part two with these words. "We want to say again that we strongly support churches undertaking mercy ministries in their communities. Both of our churches have programs and support missionaries that aim to meet physical needs with also hoping to share the gospel whenever possible. Though we do not believe that the mission of the church is to build the kingdom or to partner with God in remaking the world, this does not mean we are against cultural engagement. Our point is simply that we must understand these endeavors in the right theological categories and embrace them without sacrificing more explicit priorities." (27)Part 2 Understanding Our CategoriesThis part of the book, Understanding Our Categories, begins "It's never a good idea to make a biblical case for something- especially something as monumentally important as the mission of the church-from just a few texts. The bible isn't just a potpourri of pithy sayings from which we can pick up a nugget here and a nugget there. No it's a grand sweeping, world encompassing story that traces the history of God's dealing with mankind from very beginning to very end. If we really want to understand what God is doing and what he would have us do as his people, we need to have a good grasp of what that story is, what its main themes are, what the problem is, what God's remedy to the problem is, and what it all looks like when the story ends." I appreciate that before they look at theological categories the highlight the importance of grasping the whole story first. I've been passionate about reading the bible as one narrative, finding many benefits personally and in ministry. I had not considered that this big picture view is also helpful in organizing our thoughts about mission into categories. The authors choose four categories that most often affect how we think of missions: gospel, kingdom, social justice and shalom. In three of these they discuss the definition and go on to compare different views. Two chapters are given to social justice, one on exposition and one on application. I appreciate the fair, scholarly exegesis throughout the book but especially in the this exposition chapter. In the application chapter they put forth seven proposals for those involved with social justice.The chapter on the kingdom of God is the heart of the matter. After summarizing what the kingdom of God is with these words "So the kingdom of God then, we may say, is God's redemptive reign, in the person of his Son, Jesus Messiah, which has broken into the present evil age and is now visible in the church" they go on to ask when and how will the kingdom be finally and fully established. Again, relying on sound exegesis, rather than anecdotal stories and personal experience/passion, they make the biblical case that the kingdom is not built by human effort.Part 3 What We Do and Why We Do ItThis last part suggests that a new category is needed between that of utmost importance and that of no importance. "The thinking seems to be that good works have to be motivated by the highest imaginable reasons-We're building for the kingdom! We're doing the gospel! We're joining God in his mission! We're spreading Shalom!- or else people will think they're not important at all." (230) They give the example of marriage, not of utmost importance in heaven, for sure, but not by any means unimportant!They also address the difference between what scripture says an individual Christian should do and what the church should do. Humorous examples are given that really drive this point home.Lastly they point out that the church must keep the main thing the main thing."The danger is real. If we do not share the gospel-with words!- the story will not be told. Just as bad, if our priorities mirror the Millenium Development goals, we will be redundant.""Decisions have to be made; trade-offs have to be done. You have to decide not just if something will further the mission, but also how directly it will do so, and therefore whether it is worth doing when there are five other things on the table." (238)For the missions teams grappling with tough decisions I suggest they read and discuss the whole section in chapter nine "So What Should We Do, as Churches?" making special effort to move beyond abstract answers.Who should read this book?Every missions leader/pastor should read this book. I have been part of or leader of my church's missions team for over 25 years. Further, as news editor of Missions Catalyst for the past 8 years I've perused thousands of newsletters, RSS feeds/emails and websites for `missions' material. As such I have read, considered and sometimes rejected more `missions' material in one month than most Christians will read in a lifetime.I have grappled with definitions trying to bring clarity to the task remaining. To gently raise these issues I drafted a handbook for my church to define missions and to guide the team in the difficult task of prioritizing mission opportunities. I needed a tool that would help us make decisions less subjective. I thought a rubric would do the trick but I couldn't define the categories. After reading this book I have some new categories to help me complete the rubric. Yeah!This book is not only for the missions pastor or committee chairperson. This book is for the visiting missionary that says `You are ALL missionaries!" and for the pastor who has no `missions' go-to person in their flock, for the college student who attended Urbana and is overwhelmed at the choices to serve "incarnationally." It is for Christians called to political action, Christian Zionists and lastly I'd say it is for those who mistakenly take God's as commands, making themselves prophesy `experts.' All Christians would benefit from a serious consideration of the questions DeYoung and Gilbert ask."Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission" is exactly what is needed to responsibly, faithfully and biblically serve the church as a missions leader. I pray that readers will rethink their theological categories and consider whether their endeavors could more directly further the mission of the church.Reviewed by Pat Noble, News Editor Missions Catalyst

This is an important book. I appreciate the authors' care and scholarship in making a clear argument for their main thesis that the mission of the church is the proclamation of the gospel. And I don't essentially disagree with that thesis, but I think the authors have a narrow vision of what it means to preach the gospel and what it means to be the church.The second point first. The thesis suffers because the authors propose an incomplete ecclesiology. I don't recall the point ever being stated explicitly but the authors proceed from a basic understanding that the church and Christ are not the same. This can be seen on page 41 where the question is posed, "But what if we are not called to partner with God in all he undertakes? What if the work of salvation, restoration, and re-creation are divine gifts to which we bear witness, rather than works in which we collaborate? What if our mission is not identical with God's mission?"Clearly, the authors are suggesting that God is responsible for one set of functions and the church another. God is to do the work of salvation and restoration, and the church is to bear witness to it. Thus, God and the church are two. The problem here is that if we believe in the Trinity (we do), the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all persons of one God (no separation). If we believe Paul when he writes to the church, "so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." (Romans 12:5 ESV) and, "Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." (1 Corinthians 12:27 ESV) and, "he is the head of the body, the church." (Colossians 1:18 ESV) (we do, and we could go on) then there cannot be any separation of the church from God. When we see it this way the authors' proposal that Christ has one mission and his body another seems exceedingly odd. The mission of the church is the mission of Christ because the church is Christ.The idea of mystical union, or dying to our old life and rising to new life in Christ is fundamental to Paul's theology. His description of the church as the Body of Christ is representative of the relationship of individual Christians to the church. Not all members have the same function, but all members are necessary for the life of the body, and since the body is Christ, the mission of the body is Christ's mission. Paul goes into great detail describing how all parts come together to form the perfection (completion) of the body as "the fullness of Christ." (Eph. 4:13 ESV)So then we have to ask what Christ's mission is. And indeed it *is* to proclaim the gospel. But if we look at the earthly ministry of Jesus we must conclude that proclaiming the gospel is much more than just preaching, much more than just telling people there's a way out. Jesus did do that, and he demonstrated by his acts what the way out looked like, and then he became the way out. Jesus didn't minister only to those in the church because there wasn't any church. Jesus didn't tell his disciples to confine their concern only for those close to them but to everyone, especially those far away. Jesus doesn't just love, or tell his disciples to just love, insiders. He tells them, "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:44-45 ESV) And then Jesus himself demonstrated that love by dying on the cross for those who were his enemies.What do you think Jesus means when he says "love your enemies"? What does he mean by love? Let's revisit the well-known verse where we are told that, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son". (John 3:16 ESV) What does it mean that God "gave" his Son? Doesn't it mean that he sent Jesus on a mission that would lead to the cross? And what is the cross? It is God's complete outpouring of himself to reverse the brokenness that entered the world in Eden. (Phil. 2:6) He suffered the death that we deserve so that we could live the life we were created for. Jesus proclaimed the gospel from the cross. And he provided new life in himself, the church. So again, if the mission of the church is Christ's mission, then the mission of the church is crucifixion. Complete outpouring of self for the enemies of God. It is inconceivable that the mission of the church could be simply to talk about what somebody else did and/or is going to do.I appreciate the complexity of the issue of social justice. It is too easy to confuse good works with surrender to God's will. It is too easy to align Christ's mission with whatever our culture currently defines as justice. It is too easy to conclude that our mission is to solve the problems of the world as Christians, rather than to live and die for the world as a Spirit filled church. That is the world's approach, and its fruits are evident in the news of the day. Jesus is not a liberal or a conservative, neither a socialist nor a capitalist (in spite of the authors' defense of capitalism on p. 191).We return to the beginning: the mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel. But proclaiming the gospel is more than "preaching and teaching, announcing and testifying, making disciples and bearing witness." (59) It is loving the world as God loves the world. If we are to carry out our mission, we must acknowledge that we are here "to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10 ESV)I agree with much of what the authors have written in this book. I disagree with the thesis. But I am richer for having read the book, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the authenticity of the gospel.

Every now and again you read a book that makes a significant impact on you. This book by Kevin de Young is one of those. In fact it's a very long time since I've underlined so much or made as many marginal notes for future reference. He first examines the Great Commission commands of Jesus and explores the meaning of the actual word 'Mission' itself. He reminds us, from a wealth of NT texts that the core of the Church's mission is still to proclaim Christ and his word - repentance, faith, baptism and discipleship. He deals in detail with the issues raised by Jesus' teaching of the Kingdom and in the latter part of the book weighs up the various interpretations of what living and preaching the Kingdom of God mean on a global scale . His conclusion, again well evidenced from scripture, is that we should be taking every opportunity to bring Kingdom values to the world, sharing the compassion and social justice of God, but that to do a Kingdom work we first have to in the kingdom - servants of the King. In the end what will change the world is not social reform programmes but the transforming power of Christ; so this remains the prime mission of the Church.This is a book one could easily use as the basis of a church teaching series or put into the hands of a young preacher. Church leaders could find it a useful way to stay focussed on what matters most - to keep the main thing the main thing. I hugely recommend it, and I only wish it had been available to read a generation ago. If you only read one book this year on what the Church is for, make it this one.

It is a well written book starting with a lot of references of the bible to explain where he come from. It makes you think deeper about our meaning in the society and challenges. It received 4stars as it seemed written towards all christians involved in serving but in the middle I came across lots of discussions I was not aware about. I would def recommend this book if you try to see how you can serve God more in your environment.

Many thanks. Great read.

Good book.

This is one of the best books I have ever read in explaining the true and ultimate mission of the church. We live in an age of confusion and shallow understanding of the Scriptures, rresulting in myriads of local churches lost and oblivious of their chief purpose. And this book is like a mighty prophetic wind that will lift the fog that has obscured the light of God's biblical mandate to make disciples in the name of Jesus Christ. Really thankful to God for this timely book. Highly recommend it for all Christians especially those serving in a leadership capacity.