What is the Missional Gospel? Part 5: The Evangelical Missional Church
By Keith Whitfield
At a recent conference, Tim Keller addressed the challenges of evangelism in a post-modern context and gave six principles on how to pursue evangelism in this context. The first principle was “Gospel Theologizing,” and what he meant by this is phrase that all theology should articulate the gospel message. He says our theology should be an exposition of the gospel, and our presentation … [Read More]
What is the Missional Gospel? Part 5: The Evangelical Missional Church
With Whom Can My Church Cooperate?
In the past few days, I have had several fruitful conversations with seminarians, pastors, and prospective church planters about the nature of interchurch cooperation. One topic that has frequently arisen is that of cooperation with other churches in a given city or county. Specifically, mission-minded Southern Baptists want to know with whom their church can in good conscience cooperate, particularly in church planting. It’s a good and timely question.
Before proceeding much further, I need to … [Read More]
The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention (Pt. 7)
#7) Southern Baptist have a hopeful future if we raise up a generation of pastors who lead their churches to see themselves as a gospel missions agencies equipping and training all their people to see themselves as missionaries for Jesus regardless of location or vocation. (Eph. 4:11-16)
The headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention is the local church. All associations, conventions and national entities exist to serve them not the reverse. Further, these agencies and entities … [Read More]
The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention (Pt. 6)
#6) Southern Baptists have a hopeful future if we have the courage to rethink our Convention structure at every level, clarify our mission so that we maximize our energy and resources for the fulfilling of the Great Commission, and provide a compelling vision that inspires our people to do something great for God.
Are Southern Baptist a Great Commission people? If you listen to our rhetoric then the answer is yes. And yet, though Southern Baptist … [Read More]
Aspect 3(b): A Mission Focused on the Nations (Five Clear Challenges)
(By: Danny Akin & Bruce Ashford)
Five Clear Challenges:
As we fulfill our mission to the nations, we face many decisions, including the five following challenges. With a limited number of missionaries, to which parts of the globe do we send missionaries? It is our conviction that the majority of international missionaries should be sent to unreached and unengaged people groups, those who have little or no access to the gospel. As we mentioned above, there are … [Read More]
Fifteen Factors That Have Changed the SBC Since 1979, Part 3
This is the third article in a four-part series on fifteen factors that have changed the SBC since 1979. As I noted in my previous article, this list is not exhaustive, overlap exists between some factors, and I list them in no particular order of importance. You can read the previous articles in this series here and here.
10. The Americanization of the South
OK, I admit that this one began long before 1979, though it reached … [Read More]
The Church Planter’s Library (3): International Church Planting
The apostle Paul was at once the early church’s best theologian, most perceptive observer of culture, and most active evangelist. As an embodiment of these traits, he provides for us an example of the qualities demanded of an international church planter. He must be both theologically and culturally savvy. He must be a theoretician and a practitioner. He sometimes is asked to be both a church planter and a one-man seminary.
Precisely because of these expectations, … [Read More]
The Church Planter’s Library (2): North American Church Planting & Renewal
North American church planting and renewal is not for wimps, dummies, or dorks. In order to plant and revitalize churches in 21st century America, we need men who are strong in their walk with the Lord, strong as husbands and fathers, and strong in perseverance. Further, the church needs men whose mind is buttressed by sound theology and missiology. Third, we need men who are culturally savvy, having a ready gasp of their socio-cultural context … [Read More]
The Church Planter’s Library (1): Introduction
On Tuesday mornings, I drink and read. By 7:30 a.m., I am sitting around the table in my conference room with a rowdy group of guys, including some of the best students on campus. We start off by drinking coffee (unless Bryan Laughlin makes the coffee, in which case we actually cut it into squares and chew it), cracking jokes, and catching up, but soon we get down to business, discussing how to take the gospel … [Read More]
New! New! Ph. D. Track in North American Missiology
We at Southeastern would like to announce that our Ph. D. in Applied Theology has a new track in North American Missiology. The degree is available to those persons with some experience in church planting, church renewal, or some other facet of North American missiology.
Students in this track will have the opportunity to study with Ed Stetzer, Thom Rainer, Andreas Kostenberger, J. D. Greear, and others.
We provide a delivery system that is custom-built for persons … [Read More]
