Prevette Research

Holistic Mission

Transformation

You may know of the book Mission as Transformation by Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugdenm, a collection of 25 articles, conference reports and papers documenting the last 25 years of Evangelical work on the theme of transformation and holism in mission.

Haddon Willmer wrote a review of the book and I include here some of his comments: “In this volume the contributing authors and editors argue that the 19th – 20th century division between evangelism and social action has been overcome by a theological and biblical validation of social action as obedience to God, as down to earth demonstration of the life in the Spirit, and as witness to the Kingdom of God. The argument put forward here is that evangelism occurs with invitation to everyone to put their trust and faith and hope in God who is behind, and in, and beyond truly human development. People are invited not to be the mere recipients of aid and development, but to become partners of God and all his creatures in working and praying, imagining and venturing toward the full realization of the promise of God. To be evangelized is not to get religion but to be invited to live life fully on earth in joining God in his redemptive purposes.”
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DOCUMENTS

BOOKS
WalkingWiththePoorWalking With the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development
by Bryant L. Myers

The purpose of the book, in Myers’ own words, “is to describe a proposal for understanding the principles and practice of transformational development (positive material, social and spiritual change) from a Christian perspective. It is my intention to try to bring together the basic streams of thinking and experience. The best of the principles and practice of the international development community needs to be integrated with the thinking and experience of Christian relief and development nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Then these two streams of experience need to be informed and shaped by a biblical framework for transformational development.”


41pojKn+P0L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Good News and Good Works: A Theology for the Whole Gospel
by Ronald J. Sider

Promotes an authentic, biblical faith and suggests ways to combine evangelism with social action for effective witness in today’s world.

 

 

41heYwp-A2L._SX330_BO1,204,203,200_Gospel, Culture and Transformation
by Chris Sugden

“Mission as Transformation” has become a mainstream definition of mission in orthodox Christian circles, especially in the Two-Thirds World and among those involved with ministry to the poor. Gospel, Culture and Transformation explores the practice of mission especially in relation to transforming cultures and communities. This stirring book studies mission in the context of the work of leading Indian mission theologian, Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel.

 

Other Resources

Community Development

General Missiology

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DOCUMENTS

 

CHURCH AND SOCIAL CONCERN

Below are some resources I have found helpful in getting students started in thinking about the church and social concern. It is important that the church become more concerned for both society at large and we should enlarge out understanding of obligation to both neighbor and community.

 

LINKS

DOCUMENTS

  • Book Review of Transformation as Mission
    This article was written for the journal Transformation (and is quoted above). Willmer questions some of the premises of the book and asks questions about how we balance the “already/not yet” dynamic of the future reality of the Kingdom of God with the present reality of our humanity and contemporary society.
  • Selected bibliography on evangelization and social concern
    This is a selective bibliography, recommended and originally published by Transformation journal (1999).

BOOKS


41LdIdWlP9L._SX333_BO1,204,203,200_God of the Empty-Handed: Poverty, Power & the Kingdom of God
by Jayakumar Christian

“Jayakumar Christian argues that in order to provide sustainable solutions to powerlessness, poverty and oppression, it is critical to challenge and redefine power from the perspective of the kingdom of God. Only when we realise that we are all ’empty-handed’ before God can broken relationships be restored.”