The new and different frontiers and factors discussed in missiology are reshaping the meaning of mission. Christian mission today is searching for new directions to approach the postmodern, postcolonial, and ecumenical paradigms. This book argues that mission is the process of embodying the content and praxis of the gospel, not the transmission of knowledge that keeps an established structure and culture alive (often justified by a specific ecclesiological model). Thus, mission initiates a transformative process of faith, which leads to personal and social transformation. This work brings into dialogue Stephen Bevans’s notion of mission as prophetic dialogue and Paulo Freire’s concept of conscientização. The aim is not to discover a method to do mission but to rescue the process that leads to transformation, allowing one to encounter the other where they are while respecting the uniqueness of every person, culture, church, and society. Prophetic dialogue enriched by conscientização (and vice versa) can open new perspectives within missiology and provide a new approach to mission praxis. This approach is then analyzed through the experiential and transformative elements of the Verbum Dei charism applied in ministry, demonstrating the effectiveness of prophetic dialogue and conscientização in the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity mission praxis.

The new and different frontiers and factors discussed in missiology are reshaping the meaning of mission. Christian mission today is searching for new directions to approach the postmodern, postcolonial, and ecumenical paradigms. I would like to argue that mission is not just a transmission of knowledge that keeps an established structure and culture alive (often justified and glorified by a specific ecclesiological model). Rather, mission aims at the process of embodying the content and praxis of the gospel. Mission can be understood as an invitation to initiate a transformative process of faith, which leads to personal and social transformation. This work brings into dialogue Stephan Bevans’s notion of mission as prophetic dialogue and Paulo Freire’s concept of conscientização. The aim is not to use Freire’s conscientização as a method to do mission but to rescue the process that leads to a transformation in both concepts, allowing one to encounter the other where they are while respecting the uniqueness of every person, culture, church, and society. Prophetic dialogue enriched by Freire’s thought and vice versa can open new perspectives within missiology and provide a new approach to mission praxis. The concept of conscientização is shown to support the conscious dedication, preparation, dialogue, and commitment to incarnate the gospel in every culture. It sets up the interior attitude to read, interpret, as well as to intervene in specific realities. Likewise, this work is limited to understanding mission as prophetic dialogue. Introduced by Bevans and Roger Schroeder but further developed by Bevans, this work focuses more on Bevans's contribution to prophetic dialogue. Besides revealing the riches that prophetic dialogue offers to mission praxis, this work explores questions and challenges in missiological discourse today, such as how to promote the gospel in a more experiential way. My mission praxis is then analyzed through the experiential and transformative elements of the Verbum Dei charism applied to my ministry with the Latino immigrant population in California. Bevans's and Freire's work is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of prophetic dialogue and conscientização in the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity mission praxis.

A collection of essays that demonstrates that to be effective in the twenty-first century, mission must be prophetic as it encounters other cultures and religious traditions. "When we speak as mission as dialogue, then, we are about as far away from imagining mission as 'conquering the world for Christ' and missionaries as 'marines of the Catholic Church' as we probably can get. There has indeed been a radical shift, both in the world in which the church does mission and within the church's own consciousness of the goodness and even holiness of that world." These words from one of the essays in this superb collection clearly demonstrate the changing of mission today. In this volume, Fathers Bevans and Schroeder address a primary challenge faced by Christians missioners today: How can they bring the Christian tradition to interact respectfully and effectively with members of other cultures and traditions from around the globe and still be prophetic?

Few missiologists have impacted mission theory and practice among Churches of Christ as significantly as has Dr. Gailyn Van Rheenen, yet his global missiological influence has extended far beyond the boundaries of his denominational heritage. This Festschrift, in honor of Gailyn Van Rheenen, contains original missiological contributions from colleagues and former students. Most chapters were presentations at the inaugural Gailyn Van Rheenen Sessions in Mission and World Christianity at the 2021 Christian Scholars’ Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The volume is organized to parallel the phases of Van Rheenen’s career—Africa, academic missiology, and Mission Alive, a North American church-planting organization. His legacy is one that wonderfully embodies critical theory and robust practice.

Think Write is a comprehensive critical thinking, research methodology, and academic writing handbook. It is designed to aid students to understand and meet the varied expectations of higher theological studies. Concepts such as critical thinking, theological thinking, problem statement, primary question, methodology, plagiarism, citation format, can all be difficult to grasp. This book explains each of these in a way that would make sense to MTh and PhD students from the various theological departments. Along with advice to enhance academic research and reading, practical suggestions are offered to improve research assignments, Thesis Proposals, and dissertations. Included is a citation guide based on the Chicago Manual of Style.

"Few missiologists have impacted mission theory and practice among Churches of Christ as significantly as has Dr. Gailyn Van Rheenen, yet his global missiological influence has extended far beyond the boundaries of his denominational heritage. This Festschrift, in honor of Gailyn Van Rheenen, contains original missiological contributions from colleagues and former students. Most chapters were presentations at the inaugural Gailyn Van Rheenen sessions in Mission and World Christianity at the 2021 Christian Scholars' Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The volume is organized to parallel the phases of Van Rheene's career--Africa, academic missiology, and Mission Alive, a North American church-planting organization. His legacy is one that wonderfully embodies critical theory and robust practice." --