Transforming Mission Theology

by Charles E. Van Engen

Missiology permeated with theological reflection. This volume is the culmination of Van Engen's teachings, but takes us to an even deeper level. Since mission is first and foremost God's mission, theological reflection must be permeated by missiological understanding and our missiology must be permeated with theological reflection. Mission theology is an activity of the Church of Jesus Christ seeking to understand more deeply why, how, when, where, and wherefore the followers of Jesus may participate in God's mission, in God's world.

436 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 2, 2017

About the author

Chuck Van Engen is the Arthur F. Glasser Professor Emeritus of Biblical Theology of Mission and Senior Professor of Biblical Theology of Mission and has taught in the School of Intercultural Studies since 1988. Before coming to Fuller he was a missionary in Mexico, working primarily in theological education. Van Engen also taught missiology at Western Theological Seminary in Michigan and served as president of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America from 1998 to 1999. He is the founding president and CEO of Latin American Christian Ministries, Inc.

Reviews

[Rennae de Freitas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A barn full of cows will also be full of gadflies. These small flying insects have the power to move the laziest and largest of animals in the barn. The barn must have inspired missiologist David Bosch (1991,596) when he wrote, “Missiology acts as a gadfly in the house of theology, creating unrest and resisting complacency…” This theology on the move serves as the premise of Charles Van Engan’s Transforming Mission Theology. Van Engan (2017, 25) explains, “This is a book about doing mission theology… mission theology is an activity that seeks to discern what God wants to do primarily through God’s people at a specific time, place, and context in God’s world.” In this book, Van Engan aims to stimulate the reader to explore ways to transform their beliefs about God into participation with God’s mission in their own context and connected to what God is doing all over the world. Transforming Mission Theology offers the reader insight related to theological reflection, the action of missions, and the impact of globalization on the local church.

Van Engan begins part one of the book by presenting the agents of mission theology: the Holy Spirit, the church, local congregations of believers, missionaries and the recipients of the Gospel. The role of each agent remains a significant part of partnering with the God of mission because, over time and across cultures, “new understandings of God and new visions of God’s mission spring up and flourish each time the gospel takes shape in a new place and a new culture” (Van Engen 2017, 50), This fact demonstrates the significance of mission theology as a verb rather than a noun, or, as Van Engan (2017, 50)argues; “It is something we do, not something we have…we do theology in the midst of life and ministry. This activity is broader, deeper, more pervasive, and more thoroughly transformational than merely stating a set of propositions that we hope folks will accept.”

Part Two presents a historical overview of the ways that the Church has defined “mission,” and discusses the history of missions concepts developed over the years, including the dichotomy between evangelism and social action. Van Engan offers a helpful understanding of the evolution of the word mission, as well as presents the challenges related to the word today. Van Engan believes the way forward may involve describing the action of the church as “missional” He (2017, 151) explains, “‘Missional,’ with reference to the church, sees the church as the instrument of God’s mission in God’s world… a church that is missional understands that God’s mission calls and sends the church of Jesus Christ, locally and globally, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to be a missionary church in its own society, in the cultures in which it finds itself, and globally among all peoples who do not yet confess Jesus as Lord.” The insights in this chapter have much to offer at a time when there is so much controversy and misunderstanding surrounding the definition of mission and missionary work.

In part three, Van Engan discusses methods for mission theology drawing from past articles that address contextualization. He outlines five characteristics of contextually appropriate mission theology: “Integrational, local, incarnational, praxeological, dialogical” (2017, 151). These characteristics provide a helpful process for doing the work of mission theology. Building on this Van Engan discusses the goals of mission theology in part five. This part of the book discusses receptivity and resistance to the gospel. Van Engan (2017, 354) makes this important point;

Particularly in the West, I believe the church’s lack of authentic witness may be too easily excused or ignored by simply labeling those outside the church as being “resistant.” Matters of spiritual renewal, revitalization, reformation, and conversion of members and leaders in Christ’s church must be reexamined carefully in order to see how they may or may not be contributing to the supposed “resistance” of a particular receptor group.

The final part of this book offers case studies of mission theology. These models demonstrate the value of praxis that integrates reflection of mission theology and provides concrete examples of what this looks like. The hopeful picture of healthy missional churches that demonstrate the value of unity in diversity makes this section particularly enriching. Van Engan (2017, 465-66) eloquently describes the hopefulness of the transforming work of the church: “The biblical motivation for multiplying healthy churches resides in the loving and compassionate mission of the triune God (missio Dei), who desires for all men and women to be disciples of Jesus Christ, actively involved members of a local church, and committed agents of the transformation of their reality. As such, these congregations are witnesses to the coming reign of God for the honor and glory of God.”

Perhaps a fly represents the ugliest of creatures to represent mission theology, after all the fly represents a nuisance in the barn. However, even a nuisance can be admired or even transformed to play a vital role in the barn. Van Engan (2017,509-10) hopes to encourage the church to understand that mission theology is never a stagnant concept but rather, he explains that “together we are called to be continually transforming our mission theology to grow closer to Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Head of the Church, in whose mission we participate as deacons and messengers.”