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The Continuing Conversion of the Church (The Gospel and Our Culture Series
Western society is now a very different, very difficult mission field. In such a situation, the mission of evangelism cannot succeed with an attitude of "business as usual." This volume builds a theology of evangelism that has its focus on the church itself. Darrell Guder shows that the church's missionary calling requires that the theology and practice of evangelism be fundamentally rethought and redirected, focused on the continuing evangelization of the church so that it can carry out its witness faithfully in today's world.
In Part 1 Guder explores how, under the influence of reductionism and individualism, the church has historically moved away from a biblical theology of evangelism. Part 2 presents contemporary challenges to the church's evangelical ministry, especially those challenges that illustrate the church's need for continuing conversion. Part 3 discusses what a truly missional theology would mean for the church, including sweeping changes in its institutional structures and practices.
Written for teachers, church leaders, and students of evangelism, this volume is vital reading for everyone engaged in mission work.
In Part 1 Guder explores how, under the influence of reductionism and individualism, the church has historically moved away from a biblical theology of evangelism. Part 2 presents contemporary challenges to the church's evangelical ministry, especially those challenges that illustrate the church's need for continuing conversion. Part 3 discusses what a truly missional theology would mean for the church, including sweeping changes in its institutional structures and practices.
Written for teachers, church leaders, and students of evangelism, this volume is vital reading for everyone engaged in mission work.
238 pages, Paperback
First published January 31, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 16, 2014
A missional understanding of the church.
Guder, D. L. (2000). The Continuing Conversion of the Church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
“The Bible is not a collection of universal ideas cloaked in a particular culture. Universal ideas cannot be the good news that the concrete testimony of a particular people can well be. Such universal ideas are merely the product of human imagination and creativity.” [p.29] ?? This raises two questions. What set of universal truths is Guder speaking of? Can this be true?
“The presentation of the gospel is the form of the Kingdom of God.” [p.46] ?? Why does he say this? Is there any evidence for such a view?
“Religion (and sin) is the attempt to control God. A translatable gospel is fundamentally not controllable.”[p.90]
Guder’s concept of “continuing conversion” is his way of capturing the church’s deepening understanding of the gospel as they take it to other cultures and peoples.
“Every particular culture’s translation of the gospel contributes a witness that corrects, expands, and challenges all other forms of witness in the worldwide church.”[p.90]
The translatability of the gospel, combined with the sin nature of the saints, results in a desire to control the gospel message. The desire to control results in reductional translation. Translation is a continuous work because no culture is stagnant and the gospel should be continuously reinterpreted in every culture based on insights from every other attempt at translation.
“Jesus has always admitted that if we entrust our life to him and his cause, we will never be proven right until beyond the end of the story and cannot count on being positively reinforced all along the way.” (Stanley Hauerwas, “Royal Priesthood”, p. 112-3)
“Now, Christian activity was being recast as the disciplines of Christian belief that would prepare one for heaven. Rather than reading the canonic Scriptures as equipping for mission, the church began to understand them as sacred texts that provided guidance for spiritual improvement and perfection. This orientation was, then, the completion of the saints’ salvation rather than missional witness”[p.111] ?? Does Christian activity have to be either missional or beneficial for oneself? Can it not be both/and?
“I have located the challenge of gospel reductionism in the constant drive among sinful Christians to bring the gospel of God’s sovereign love under human control. The fundamental form of the reductionism is the mission-benefits dichotomy that has established itself so firmly … The impact of this reductionism upon the church, as I have just argued, is to make the church primarily into an institution administering salvation.”[p.136-7]
Guder, D. L. (2000). The Continuing Conversion of the Church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
“The Bible is not a collection of universal ideas cloaked in a particular culture. Universal ideas cannot be the good news that the concrete testimony of a particular people can well be. Such universal ideas are merely the product of human imagination and creativity.” [p.29] ?? This raises two questions. What set of universal truths is Guder speaking of? Can this be true?
“The presentation of the gospel is the form of the Kingdom of God.” [p.46] ?? Why does he say this? Is there any evidence for such a view?
“Religion (and sin) is the attempt to control God. A translatable gospel is fundamentally not controllable.”[p.90]
Guder’s concept of “continuing conversion” is his way of capturing the church’s deepening understanding of the gospel as they take it to other cultures and peoples.
“Every particular culture’s translation of the gospel contributes a witness that corrects, expands, and challenges all other forms of witness in the worldwide church.”[p.90]
The translatability of the gospel, combined with the sin nature of the saints, results in a desire to control the gospel message. The desire to control results in reductional translation. Translation is a continuous work because no culture is stagnant and the gospel should be continuously reinterpreted in every culture based on insights from every other attempt at translation.
“Jesus has always admitted that if we entrust our life to him and his cause, we will never be proven right until beyond the end of the story and cannot count on being positively reinforced all along the way.” (Stanley Hauerwas, “Royal Priesthood”, p. 112-3)
“Now, Christian activity was being recast as the disciplines of Christian belief that would prepare one for heaven. Rather than reading the canonic Scriptures as equipping for mission, the church began to understand them as sacred texts that provided guidance for spiritual improvement and perfection. This orientation was, then, the completion of the saints’ salvation rather than missional witness”[p.111] ?? Does Christian activity have to be either missional or beneficial for oneself? Can it not be both/and?
“I have located the challenge of gospel reductionism in the constant drive among sinful Christians to bring the gospel of God’s sovereign love under human control. The fundamental form of the reductionism is the mission-benefits dichotomy that has established itself so firmly … The impact of this reductionism upon the church, as I have just argued, is to make the church primarily into an institution administering salvation.”[p.136-7]
March 20, 2012
What to say about a dense book on the ongoing work of God in the midst of the institutional church, especially in North America? Firstly, this book is rather tedious at many junctures. The technical language, and a book in translation, makes this a challenge to read and to get much flow going. But going beyond that, I think this book is well-meaning and informative.
Some of the key points of this book include reminding believers that we are always in danger of reducing the Gospel to some manageable concept. In so doing we withhold God from renewing, revitalizing, and moving the church beyond a static relationship with the world. “Reductionism doesn’t mean what remains is wrong: it means that what remains is too little. (189).” This is so deliciously written! How are we reducing God’s message in the Gospel to something less than it could and already is.
I like he reminds us to translate the Gospel:
"I suspect that many of our so-called seeker-friendly or contemporary worship services are really evangelistic gatherings which, quite rightly, are translating the gospel into the language and culture of people who do not know what worship is nor how to do it. They have to find out who God is through their encounters with Jesus Christ." - 157.
YES! We all have to find Christ, but in a way that is in our own language. That language can be the Pub Church or the local church traditionally known. Still, Guder reminds us that we’re not to hide behind the secondary silliness that often we use to mask the REAL Gospel: that God so loved the WORLD that He gave his Son.
And we are to be a contrast society. A place where there is a difference, not just a club. This is a message certainly I need to hear!
Fine book, but difficult to plod through.
Some of the key points of this book include reminding believers that we are always in danger of reducing the Gospel to some manageable concept. In so doing we withhold God from renewing, revitalizing, and moving the church beyond a static relationship with the world. “Reductionism doesn’t mean what remains is wrong: it means that what remains is too little. (189).” This is so deliciously written! How are we reducing God’s message in the Gospel to something less than it could and already is.
I like he reminds us to translate the Gospel:
"I suspect that many of our so-called seeker-friendly or contemporary worship services are really evangelistic gatherings which, quite rightly, are translating the gospel into the language and culture of people who do not know what worship is nor how to do it. They have to find out who God is through their encounters with Jesus Christ." - 157.
YES! We all have to find Christ, but in a way that is in our own language. That language can be the Pub Church or the local church traditionally known. Still, Guder reminds us that we’re not to hide behind the secondary silliness that often we use to mask the REAL Gospel: that God so loved the WORLD that He gave his Son.
And we are to be a contrast society. A place where there is a difference, not just a club. This is a message certainly I need to hear!
Fine book, but difficult to plod through.
April 3, 2014
"The Continuing Conversion of the Church" is a convicting prophetic word for church leaders. Guder asks the reader, "Where are you proclaiming, or living a reducted gospel?" The Gospel is not the means by which we save ourselves from our sins. The Gospel is the good news that God has made peace with the world through Jesus Christ. We are invited into a living and vibrant faith in God and we are not saved once and for all into that status, but we are constantly being converted.
Guder imagines that evangelism is best conceived of as a faithful and steady witness to the world of what God is continuing to do in our midst. I don't need to imagine that my job as an evangelist is to convice my neighbour of the propositional truth that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died for my sins on the cross, and was raised three days later. Guder calls a reduced gospel. It's not that it isn't true, it's just that it is too small. The gospel is bigger than that.
The church itself is not the priority of witness but the means; in other words, the gospel is the continuing witness shared by the church of what God is doing right now to save us from our own selfish devices. The point is not to grow and establish the local church. The church is the way the approaching Kingdom of God makes itself known. The way we forgive each other and live in community is a proclaimation of the gospel. It speaks to the reality that God has converted, and continues to convert his church into a people of a new age.
Guder imagines that evangelism is best conceived of as a faithful and steady witness to the world of what God is continuing to do in our midst. I don't need to imagine that my job as an evangelist is to convice my neighbour of the propositional truth that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died for my sins on the cross, and was raised three days later. Guder calls a reduced gospel. It's not that it isn't true, it's just that it is too small. The gospel is bigger than that.
The church itself is not the priority of witness but the means; in other words, the gospel is the continuing witness shared by the church of what God is doing right now to save us from our own selfish devices. The point is not to grow and establish the local church. The church is the way the approaching Kingdom of God makes itself known. The way we forgive each other and live in community is a proclaimation of the gospel. It speaks to the reality that God has converted, and continues to convert his church into a people of a new age.
October 24, 2012
Here's the thing about this book: It says some very important truths about the purpose of the church. But I feel like Guder could have said what he said in this 222 page book in 50 pages. I did not find the historical sections of the book particularly helpful. That's why it only gets 3 stars from me.
November 12, 2013
This is a subject I find interesting. The author approaches the topic thoughtfully and has lots of good ideas. But the language is very academic. Discouraging since the whole point of the exercise is to make Christianity accessible.
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July 11, 2007My introduction to missional theology. Revelutionary for me, I certainly was reformed.
Thanks for the afternoon talks, Pastor Glenn.
Thanks for the afternoon talks, Pastor Glenn.
November 8, 2012
Dense, but filled with excellent insights about the church in a post-denominational culture. The last chapter is where its at.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews