The Best Missiology Textbook on the Market

Missiology professors are constantly looking for good missions textbooks, largely because the field is growing and continues developing at a rapid pace. Keep in mind that whenever there are major events in the news and pews there are missiologists scratching their heads to find a strategic response to the challenge. For instance, a major game changer was 9/11 and the concomitant dynamics of international travel, new visa restrictions, and a burgeoning awareness among evangelicals of Islam in its multifaceted manifestations. Globalization and urbanization each lend their own contributions to the difficulties of missionary effectiveness. Among our own members in many churches, the increase in international adoptions brings a new front to global-minded Christians. Sadly, one of the most rapidly growing industries on a global scale is human trafficking. Reports have revealed that some criminals are abandoning drug cartels and gun running in favor of the profits of sex slavery trade both because more money can be made more quickly, and so far there are fewer laws on the books to prosecute them when caught. Natural disasters occur all over the globe but they play out in our living rooms on big screen TVs. All of these events challenge missiologists and missionaries to find methodologies that will enable them to do what Jesus has called them to do in the places where He calls them. The church in the Global South (Latin America, Africa, and Asia) is growing exponentially. Indeed, believers in the North sit in the shadow of our younger “big” brother in the Southern Church. However, the aberrant theology, heresies, and syncretism that abound in much of that reality burdens many in the USA to facilitate deep discipleship, pastoral training, and theological education around the world. As rapidly as the news agencies shift from one breaking news story to the next, missionaries are scrambling to meet needs, reach, and teach the nations in new and changing ways. The search for the best introduction to missions textbooks continues, and so far none of the new ones scratches where it itches.

However, I find that the Bible is at once ancient and as fresh as this morning’s newspaper. The Bible is not only the best commentary on the Bible itself, it is the best missiology textbook. Recently I was reading and studying through Acts 18 and smiled to myself at its relevancy for what some are calling modern missiological dilemmas. This single chapter is a great passage for illustrating missiological principles at work today.

Tentmaking and Creative Access Strategies
Paul left Athens and went to Corinth where he met Priscilla and Aquila. He stayed with them since they all were tentmakers. Joining in with them gave Paul not just companionship, a place to sleep, and a place to take meals, but also income, immediate legitimacy in society, and value in the community. However, even though he was a tentmaker and had to work as such in actual fact (not just a job title to put on his visa application or business card), Paul “reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.” Acts 18 also says “Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.” Yes, he was a tentmaker, but he did not allow that to zap all of his time on one extreme, nor was it merely a cover story at the other. He modeled the balance.

Insider Movements and C-5 Strategy
We also find an absolute lack of sympathy with the Insider Movement or C-5 approach in Paul’s ministry. For those unfamiliar with these terms, they can be summarized (or some would say unfairly caricatured) as “putting a cross on top of what people were already doing before the gospel arrived.” Rather, in Paul’s ministry we see him leaving the rejecting Jews, shaking the dust out of his coat and telling them that their blood was on their own head. There was no room for an insider movement. I think Paul would agree with the trustees of the missions sending organization of my own denomination that says “C-4 and no more.” In fact, the Bible repeatedly emphasizes repentance from what one was trusting in prior to the preaching of the gospel, whether the rich young ruler and his money or the idol-makers in Ephesus and the goddess Artemis.

Leadership Training and Theological Education
When Paul returns to Antioch he stops at Ephesus where he leaves Priscilla and Aquila and headed home alone. There the missionary couple encountered Apollos speaking boldly for the Lord. He had been instructed some in the way of the Lord, but lacked thorough teaching. “He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.” They took him aside and taught him further before sending him on. When you consider all Apollos had right, it seems a trivial matter that they felt needed to be corrected. However, they rightly understood the crucial need for theological education if he would be able to provide clear, accurate, and precise preaching and teaching. Yes, he had fervency, as well as competency in much of the Scriptures and was a bold speaker, but he lacked the whole Truth. He was already at the level many missionaries wish their national partners would attain. Yet, Priscilla and Aquila rightly judged that the establishing of doctrinally sounds churches requires sound teachers. When you think about it, how much heresy is okay and how much is too much? What would you choose for your own church and family’s pastor?

We have these great examples and models in one single chapter of one book of the New Testament. Of course, there is an ongoing need for new missions textbooks to address modern phenomena and the myriad of challenges facing us today, but we must never overlook the helpfulness of the Bible when read through the modern missiological lens.

The modern missiological arguments and dilemmas that leave many stumbling, mumbling, and grumbling today could be addressed quite easily by shining the light of God’s Word on them. After all, there is nothing new under the sun.