A Fresh Look at Contextualization Positive cross-cultural communication is an essential skill when sharing the gospel. Unfortunately, many common Western biblical constructs create stumbling blocks for people of different backgrounds, causing them to reject the gospel. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Join Dr. Mary Lou Codman-Wilson and Alex Zhou as they dialogue about Alex’s experience becoming a believer in the US and his struggle to share his faith when he returned to China. They model a process of examining our cultural worldview to overcome the tensions associated with living out our faith in a context dominated by different religious or secular systems. Supracultural Gospel presents: seven principles to adapt the gospel to bridge East and West; essential attitudes and practices of emotionally healthy and spiritually discerning discipleship; and key gospel concepts in non-Western terms, while retaining biblical accuracy Written in a highly conversational tone and validated with personal stories from many Asian internationals, Supracultural Gospel is a powerful and practical tool for those who are passionate about cross-cultural discipleship. Are you ready to unpack your worldview and embrace a supracultural gospel?

As Christianity makes its impact upon widely different social contexts around the world, new questions arise about the interpretation of the church's biblical identity and mission. Contributors include Edmund P. Clowney, P.T. O'Brien, Russell P. Shedd, Ronald Y. K. Fung, D. A. Carson, Sunand Sumithra, and David Adeney. Among the topics dealt with are mission, ministry, worship, syncretism, persecution, the church as a heavenly and eschatological entity and the biblical theology of the church. Published on behalf of the World Evangelical Fellowship.

Christian theology, like all forms of knowledge, thinking and practice, arises from and is influenced by the context in which it is done. In Doing Contextual Theology, Angie Pears demonstrates the radically contextual nature of Christian theology by focusing on five forms of liberation theology: Latin American Liberation Theologies; Black Theologies; Feminist Informed Theologies; Sexual Theologies; Body Theologies. Pears analyses how each of these asserts a clear and persistent link to the Christian tradition through The Bible and Christology and discusses the implications of contextual and local theologies for understanding Christianity as a religion. Moreover, she considers whether fears are justified that a radically contextual reading of Christian theologies leads to a relativist understanding of the religion, or whether these theologies share some form of common identity both despite and because of their contextual nature. Doing Contextual Theology offers students a clear and up-to-date survey of the field of contemporary liberation theology and provides them with a sound understanding of how contextual theology works in practice.

There is no shortage of books these days on new ways of "doing church." New church models have been both warmly embraced and roundly criticized. What are church leaders and others concerned about the state of the church to make of all this? Does the Bible prescribe a standard model for doing church? Or is there freedom within certain guidelines? In A New Kind of Church, respected church consultant Aubrey Malphurs addresses these important questions and suggests that there is room for new ways of doing ministry while being true to Scripture. In the process, he offers a theological and interpretive framework for evaluating any church model, new or old. He also offers suggestions for implementing change in the local church.

Pastoral ministry is challenging work, especially when a pastor ignores the church's "congregational culture" when seeking to minister to church members or implement changes. Just as a pastor studies to interpret the Scriptures in order to understand and preach the Bible, he or she must interpret the local church culture to better understand and move it toward accomplishing its mission and vision. In Look Before You Lead, trusted church leadership expert Aubrey Malphurs shows pastors how to read their church's unique local culture, how to change or revitalize it, and even how to combine two cultures when one church adopts another. This unique resource approaches leadership and discernment from a solid, biblical perspective and includes a number of helpful appendixes, such as a behavior, belief, and a values audit, that are key to reading and understanding the culture.