What is the Missional Gospel? Part 4: The Emerging Missional Church
By Keith Whitfield
Brian McLaren announced in 2004 at “The Billy Graham Center Evangelism Roundtable” that “we are in need of radical strategic rethinking of our current strategy as gospel-oriented Christians seeking to follow the Great Commission” (“The Strategy We Pursue,”). He argues that this need is urgent and apparent given the low church attendance by people in our culture, the number of Christian kids dropping … [Read More]
What is the Missional Gospel? Part 4: The Emerging Missional Church
What is the Missional Gospel? Part 2: A Brief History of the Term “Missional”
What is the Missional Gospel? Part 2: A Brief History of the Term “Missional”
By Keith Whitfield
The “missional” phenomenon is rooted in a broad movement to engage culture with the gospel. From Vatican II, the ecumenical movement, the rise of the megachurch, and seeker-sensitive churches, to the Gen-X churches of the 1990s, engaging the culture with the gospel is a defining mark of ecclesiology over the last sixty years. In the last twenty-five years, particularly in … [Read More]
What is the Missional Gospel? Part 1: A Survey of Perspectives
What is the Missional Gospel? Part 1: A Survey of Perspectives
By Keith Whitfield
An adjective is causing a controversy. The adjective “missional” has become a popular description of the church and its ministry for many people in recent years. The use of this modifier has attracted concern and criticism from more than a few people.
Some have expressed concern because it seems faddish. It might be. No doubt, there is a certain danger with fads in that … [Read More]
Some Helpful Reviews of Jim Belcher’s Deep Church
A new book that is generating a lot of buzz is Jim Belcher’s Deep Church: A Third Way Between Emerging and Traditional (IVP, 2009). Surprisingly, this is a book I really want to read. I say “surprisingly” because, as a general rule, I am totally uninterested in reading yet another book about the over-hyped emerging church movement. Been there, read that, and now ready to move on. But those of you who know me know … [Read More]
