A veteran pastor challenges and motivates churches and their leaders to radically commit their best resources to the mission of spreading the gospel worldwide.

"Why are more churches not engaged in practical, substantial ways of taking the gospel to the nations?" When Missions Shape the Mission unpacks a statistical study of traditionally evangelical churches that reveals their anemic level of commitment to the biblical mandate of making Christ known around the world. Veteran pastor David Horner makes the data easy to understand, challenging other pastors to radically assign their best leadership and resources to missions as he looks at where the church is today, how it got there, and where we must go from here: "Let's dream a godly dream. What if you committed to step up and lead your church in the pursuit of becoming a mission-focused church? Then, what if you invited ten of your pastor friends to join you in the effort—and each of them did the same? What would happen to the available missions force beginning right here in the West?"

In this addition to the highly acclaimed Encountering Mission series, two leading missionary scholars offer an up-to-date discussion of missionary strategy that is designed for a global audience. The authors focus on the biblical, missiological, historical, cultural, and practical issues that inform and guide the development of an effective missions strategy. The book includes all the features that have made other series volumes useful classroom tools, such as figures, sidebars, and case studies. Students of global or domestic mission work and mission practitioners will value this new resource.

A primary resource introducing missions for the passionate follower of Christ

This is no ordinary missions book. The theme isn't new, but the approach is refreshing and compelling, as contributors David Platt, Louie Giglio, Michael Ramsden, Ed Stetzer, Michael Oh, David Mathis, and John Piper take up the mantle of the Great Commission and its Spirit-powered completion. From astronomy to exegesis, from apologetics to the Global South, from being missional at home to employing our resources in the global cause, Finish the Mission aims to breathe fresh missionary fire into a new generation, as together we seek to reach the unreached and engage the unengaged.

"Mission" has become, for many North American Christians, an ambiguous and often uncomfortable term. To many it brings to mind a past in which western culture was identified with the gospel in missionary practice and programs. Distressed with this history and uncertain about how to overcome it, many prefer to ignore the New Testament mandate that the church must be in mission if it is to be the church. Others swing the other way, declaring that everything the church does is mission, depriving the idea of mission of its power to define those specific actions of God which proclaim the gospel and build God's kingdom. "The church exists by missions, just as fire exists by burning." With these words of Emil Brunner, the author reminds us that to be the church is to be in mission. After describing the various "captivities of mission" which plague North American Christianity, the author argues for a robust and engaged practice of mission, beginning in congregations and extending to the broader community.