GlobalChurch: Reshaping Our Conversations, Renewing Our Mission, Revitalizing Our Churches

by Graham Hill, Scot McKnight (Foreword by)

Overview

Christianity seems to be in decline in the West. But many churches in Asia, Africa, Latin America and other parts of the Majority World are growing rapidly. Western Christianity can no longer claim to be the center of the global church. Before long, two-thirds of Christians will live in Asia, Africa and Latin America. What does this mean for global Christian mission? What does it mean for worship, theology, faith and evangelism in the West? In GlobalChurch, Graham Hill engages with more than one hundred high-profile Majority World Christian leaders to find out what they can teach the West about mission, leadership, hospitality, creation care, education, worship and more. He challenges the Western church to move away from a Eurocentric and Americentric view of church and mission, and he calls the church to construct global missional conversations. The future of the global church—including the churches of the West—exists in these global exchanges. This resource engages with the work and thought of Majority World theologians and missiologists including

• Simon Chan
• Ruth Padilla DeBorst
• Samuel Escobar
• Ajith Fernando
• Makoto Fujimura
• Gustavo Gutiérrez
• Emmanuel Katongole
• Nelson Mandela
• Vishal Mangalwadi
• C. René Padilla
• Lamin Sanneh
• Sadhu Sundar Singh
• Vinoth Ramachandra
• Amos Yong

GlobalChurch is an indispensible guide for the church as it navigates the unique global experiences of the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830840854
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	12/07/2015
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Graham Hill (PhD, Flinders University) teaches practical theology at Morling College in Sydney, Australia, where he is also the vice principal. A former church planter and pastor, he is a member of the Baptist World Alliance International Commissions on Ministry and Evangelism. He is also the author of Salt, Light, and a City: Introducing Missional Ecclesiology.

Scot McKnight (PhD, University of Nottingham) is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. He is the author most recently of A Fellowship of Differents and The Heaven Promise.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables
Foreword by Scot McKnight
1. Introduction: Being Salt, Light and a City

Part I: Salt: Reshaping Our Conversations
2. Glocalizing Conversations

Part II: Light: Renewing Our Mission
3. Contextualizing Mission
4. Liberating People
5. Showing Hospitality
6. Embracing the Spirit
7. Caring for Creation
8. Living Ethically
9. Transforming Neighborhoods

Part III: City: Revitalizing Our Churches
10. Indigenizing Faith
11. Devouring Scripture
12. Renewing Education
13. Practicing Servantship
14. Recovering Community
15. Developing Spirituality and Discipleship
16. GlobalChurch: Embracing a New Narrative

Appendix 1: GlobalChurch Project Video Series
Appendix 2: Study Guide
Appendix 3: Who Are These Majority World and Indigenous Thinkers?
Appendix 4: Resources and Glossary at TheGlobalChurchProject.com
Author Index
Subject Index

What People are Saying About This

Scott Moreau

"It is long past time those of us from the West learned how to learn from our global colleagues. Graham Hill leads us across a large and varied terrain of glocalized Christian holistic reflection and action, helping us see not simply how to listen but to learn and grow from the insights, actions and priorities of the Majority World church. Western Christians absolutely need this book. I pray that God will use it to spark a movement toward genuine servanthood among those who have been privileged to glean from the wise counsel Hill has gathered and brought to the table. At the same time, Majority World Christians also absolutely need this book. I pray that for them it will affirm the central role they have in contributing to God's work in every nook and cranny of our globalized planet and spur them on to continue living and reflecting on God's word in their own contexts for the benefit of all of us."

Amos Yong

"Graham Hill has gone to the ends of the earth and back—crossing theological traditions, cultures, and even oceans and continents—to bear witness to the gospel through the many perspectives of world Christianity at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Here is a missional heart that is wide open to the winds of God's Spirit coming from and going in unexpected directions. GlobalChurch unfolds the many tribes, languages, peoples and nations that anticipate the coming reign of God. Here is a discerning guide to what all this means today."

Editorial Reviews

"It is long past time those of us from the West learned how to learn from our global colleagues. Graham Hill leads us across a large and varied terrain of glocalized Christian holistic reflection and action, helping us see not simply how to listen but to learn and grow from the insights, actions and priorities of the Majority World church. Western Christians absolutely need this book. I pray that God will use it to spark a movement toward genuine servanthood among those who have been privileged to glean from the wise counsel Hill has gathered and brought to the table. At the same time, Majority World Christians also absolutely need this book. I pray that for them it will affirm the central role they have in contributing to God's work in every nook and cranny of our globalized planet and spur them on to continue living and reflecting on God's word in their own contexts for the benefit of all of us."

Scott Moreau

"Reading GlobalChurch is like paging through a photo album and encountering family members you have never met in person. It leaves you with a deep sense of the faithfulness of God in calling the nations to Himself and also a renewed sense of urgency in seeking to fulfil our calling in the little spot in a big world where He has placed us."

Phillip Scheepers

"Already GlobalChurch is a significant initiation into the thought and practice of the Majority World Church, with a passionate invitation for Western Christians to listen and learn."

Albert Strydhorst

"Graham Hill has gone to the ends of the earth and back—crossing theological traditions, cultures, and even oceans and continents—to bear witness to the gospel through the many perspectives of world Christianity at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Here is a missional heart that is wide open to the winds of God's Spirit coming from and going in unexpected directions. GlobalChurch unfolds the many tribes, languages, peoples and nations that anticipate the coming reign of God. Here is a discerning guide to what all this means today."

Amos Yong

"Hill's book provides a valuable summary of many theologians outside the Western context for missiology. It is best used as a reference text or as a reader in seminars on missiology."

Aaron Perry