DESCRIPTION

How can pastors inspire missional faith communities that are willing to participate in God's healing of the world? This book suggests several answers by gathering a variety of contributors who together re-imagine spiritual formation through the lens of mission. It covers such topics as the role of Scripture, congregational discernment, and short-term missions, drawing on case studies from diverse contexts, including Ethiopia, England, Leipzig, and San Francisco.

The contributors offer no quick and easy programs or models to follow. Instead, they call readers to deepen the core practices that have defined Christians for centuries — and to reclaim them within the context of cultural adaptation and innovation. Full of rich practical, theological, and sociological insights — for example, the idea that spiritual formation for socially privileged churches will involve a process of dispossession and a movement outward into unlikely places — this volume offers inspiration for missional church leaders.

Table of Contents

Preface Craig Van Gelder vii

Contributors ix

Introduction xi

1 A Missional Theology of Spiritual Formation Dwight J. Zscheile 1

2 Formation in the Missional Church: Building Deep Connections between Ministries of Upbuilding and Sending Richard R. Osmer 29

3 Exiles on Main Street: Refraining Short-Term Mission Scott J. Hagley 56

4 Living into the Big Story: The Missional Trajectory of Scripture in Congregational Life Allen Hilton 81

5 Practices of Dispossession: The Shape of Discipleship in a Church Taken, Blessed, Broken, and Given Christian Scharen 102

6 Ministry in the First Third of Life: Human Development or Missional Formation? Nancy S. Going 124

7 Congregational Discerning as Divine Action in Conversation David C. Hahn 145

8 Missional Spiritual Formation in the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) Dinku Bato 166

9 A Baptismal Example: Communal Prayer and the Missional Church Dirk G. Lange 186