Spirituality for the Sent: Casting a New Vision for the Missional Church

by Nathan A. Finn (Editor), Keith S. Whitfield (Editor)

Overview

Since their rise in the midst of the revivals of the eighteenth century, evangelicals have been dedicated to the importance of both spirituality and mission. In recent years, evangelicals have engaged in the missional theology discussion that advocates a more holistic Christian mission grounded in the eternal mission of the triune God. At the same time, evangelicals have also been key participants in the spiritual formation discussion that seeks to recover biblical and classical practices for contemporary spiritual growth. While these two movements have been largely independent of each other, the time is right to join them together into a single conversation for the sake of ongoing evangelical faithfulness. Spirituality for the Sent brings together evangelical scholars from a variety of disciplines and ecclesial traditions to address the relationship between spiritual formation and a missional vision of theology and practice. The contributors share a common vision for a missional spirituality that fosters spiritual maturity while also fueling Christian evangelism, cultural engagement, and the pursuit of justice.This collection features contributions by

• Craig G. Bartholomew
• Susan Booth
• Mae Elise Cannon
• Diane Chandler
• Anthony L. Chute
• Michael W. Goheen
• George R. Hunsberger
• Christopher W. Morgan
• Soong-Chan Rah
• Timothy W. Sheridan
• Gordon T. Smith
• Gary Tyra

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830891580
Publisher:	IVP Academic
Publication date:	03/28/2017
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	253
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Nathan A. Finn (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is dean of the School of Theology and Missions at Union University, where he also serves as professor of Christian thought and tradition.Finn is the author of History: A Student's Guide and coauthor of The Baptist Story: From English Sect to Global Movement. He serves on the editorial board for the sixteen-volume Complete Works of Andrew Fuller and edited the volume dedicated to Fuller's Strictures on Sandemanianism. He also serves on the editorial board of the Monographs in Baptist History series, and is a general editor of the forthcoming fifteen-volume series Theology for the People of God.Finn is a member of the steering committee for the Baptist Life and Thought Study Group of the Evangelical Theological Society and a member of the continuation committee for the International Conference on Baptist Studies. He also serves as a fellow for the Research Institute of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies at Southern Seminary, and the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern Seminary. He is also an adjunct associate professor of historical theology and Baptist studies at Southeastern Seminary. He and his wife Leah have four children.

Keith S. Whitfield serves as vice president of academic administration at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and assistant professor of Christian theology. He is the editor of Trinitarian Theology and Loving Your Muslim Neighbors, and serves as the editor of ETS eBook Series for BH. He has also contributed two chapters to Theology and Practice of Mission: God, The Church, and The Nations and co-wrote a chapter for Theology for the Church and a chapter for Missiology: An Introduction to Missions.Prior to joining the faculty at Southeastern, Keith served churches in Indiana, Virginia, and Tennessee, and served as an elder at Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. He and his wife Amy have two children.

Nathan A. Finn (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of historical theology and Baptist studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and also serves as the director of the seminary's Center for Spiritual Formation and Evangelical Spirituality.

Keith S. Whitfield (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is vice president of academic administration at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction (Nathan A. Finn and Keith Whitfield)
1. The Missional Church and Spiritual Formation (Nathan A. Finn and Keith Whitfield)
2. Spirituality, Mission, and the Drama of Scripture (Craig G. Bartholomew)
3. Missional Spirituality and Global Missions (Susan Booth)
4. Missional Spirituality as Congregational (Anthony L. Chute and Christopher W. Morgan)
5. Missional Spirituality and Cultural Engagement (Timothy W. Sheridan and Michael W. Goheen)
6. Welcome to Paul's World: The Contextual Nature of Missional Spirituality (Gary Tyra)
7. Lament as Appropriate Missional Spirituality (Soong-Chan Rah)
8. Godly Love: The Primary Missional Virtue (Diane Chandler)
9. Missional Spirituality and Worship (Gordon T. Smith)
10. Missional Spirituality and Justice (Mae Elise Cannon)
11. Journey in the Spirit (George R. Hunsberger)
General Index
Scripture Index

What People are Saying About This

Ed Stetzer

"Within evangelicalism, two dispositions have coexisted without much crossover into each other's paths. Evangelical churches express their faith in active missional engagement, or they express their faith through cultivating personal spiritual lives. The truth is that both of these impulses are irreplaceable. Spiritual formation is key to missional living, and missional living is key to spiritual formation. Indeed, all of God's people are called to all of God's mission, but we cannot reach others to be fully devoted followers of Christ if we are not living under his lordship and for his glory. Spirituality for the Sent frames an important conversation on the interrelatedness of robust spiritual lives and the church fulfilling God's mission."

Darrell L. Guder

"Finn and Whitfield's Spirituality for the Sent is a welcome broadening and deepening of the missional church discussion. It represents a generous concept of what constitutes evangelical scholarship, bringing a remarkable diversity of voices and approaches into productive interaction. The ongoing challenge of the missional-theological initiative worldwide has been its translation into the practice of the community and the formation of the individual Christian. This substantive volume is a resource that addresses that challenge and leads the conversation forward. It should foster much discussion, encourage ever more provocative research, and embolden more contributions to the conversation."

Ross Hastings

"Grounded in conciliar Christology, this book represents a significant advance in the understanding of 'missional' in a way that brings together differentiation—a deep spirituality and ecclesiology—with identification, leading to a wide and well-contextualized transformational mission. I highly recommend it!"

Michael Frost

"In Spirituality for the Sent, Nathan Finn and Keith Whitfield have presented us with a framework for a spiritually rich and missionally engaged church. By assembling this formidable group of scholars, they have woven together a fresh vision for the church that values spiritual formation, but not at the expense of the church's mission. Indeed, in their vision, spiritual formation is essential for missional effectiveness and sustainability. This book is generous enough in its scope to encourage contemplatives and activists alike."

Editorial Reviews

"Finn and Whitfield's Spirituality for the Sent is a welcome broadening and deepening of the missional church discussion. It represents a generous concept of what constitutes evangelical scholarship, bringing a remarkable diversity of voices and approaches into productive interaction. The ongoing challenge of the missional-theological initiative worldwide has been its translation into the practice of the community and the formation of the individual Christian. This substantive volume is a resource that addresses that challenge and leads the conversation forward. It should foster much discussion, encourage ever more provocative research, and embolden more contributions to the conversation."

Darrell L. Guder

"Within evangelicalism, two dispositions have coexisted without much crossover into each other's paths. Evangelical churches express their faith in active missional engagement, or they express their faith through cultivating personal spiritual lives. The truth is that both of these impulses are irreplaceable. Spiritual formation is key to missional living, and missional living is key to spiritual formation. Indeed, all of God's people are called to all of God's mission, but we cannot reach others to be fully devoted followers of Christ if we are not living under his lordship and for his glory. Spirituality for the Sent frames an important conversation on the interrelatedness of robust spiritual lives and the church fulfilling God's mission."

Ed Stetzer

"In Spirituality for the Sent, Nathan Finn and Keith Whitfield have presented us with a framework for a spiritually rich and missionally engaged church. By assembling this formidable group of scholars, they have woven together a fresh vision for the church that values spiritual formation, but not at the expense of the church's mission. Indeed, in their vision, spiritual formation is essential for missional effectiveness and sustainability. This book is generous enough in its scope to encourage contemplatives and activists alike."

Michael Frost

"This is an easily readable book that provides a good first step into a very under-discussed and needed topic. It calls for more engagement from the academic community to further develop the ideas and topics that this book has ventured to call out as significant to the development of an Evangelical missional spirituality for the future of the church in North America."

Shawn Behan

"Grounded in conciliar Christology, this book represents a significant advance in the understanding of 'missional' in a way that brings together differentiation—a deep spirituality and ecclesiology—with identification, leading to a wide and well-contextualized transformational mission. I highly recommend it!"

Ross Hastings

"This is an easily readable book that provides a good first step into a very under-discussed and needed topic. It calls for more engagement from the academic community to further develop the ideas and topics that this book has ventured to call out as significant to the development of an Evangelical missional spirituality for the future of the church in North America."

--Shawn Behan, Mission Studies 35 (2018)

"Within evangelicalism, two dispositions have coexisted without much crossover into each other's paths. Evangelical churches express their faith in active missional engagement, or they express their faith through cultivating personal spiritual lives. The truth is that both of these impulses are irreplaceable. Spiritual formation is key to missional living, and missional living is key to spiritual formation. Indeed, all of God's people are called to all of God's mission, but we cannot reach others to be fully devoted followers of Christ if we are not living under his lordship and for his glory. Spirituality for the Sent frames an important conversation on the interrelatedness of robust spiritual lives and the church fulfilling God's mission."

--Ed Stetzer, Billy Graham Professor of Church, Mission, and Evangelism, executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism, Wheaton College

"Finn and Whitfield's Spirituality for the Sent is a welcome broadening and deepening of the missional church discussion. It represents a generous concept of what constitutes evangelical scholarship, bringing a remarkable diversity of voices and approaches into productive interaction. The ongoing challenge of the missional-theological initiative worldwide has been its translation into the practice of the community and the formation of the individual Christian. This substantive volume is a resource that addresses that challenge and leads the conversation forward. It should foster much discussion, encourage ever more provocative research, and embolden more contributions to the conversation."

--Darrell L. Guder, Henry Winters Luce Professor Emeritus of Missional and Ecumenical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, senior fellow and scholar in residence, St. Andrew's Hall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

"Grounded in conciliar Christology, this book represents a significant advance in the understanding of 'missional' in a way that brings together differentiation--a deep spirituality and ecclesiology--with identification, leading to a wide and well-contextualized transformational mission. I highly recommend it!"

--Ross Hastings, Sangwoo Youtong Chee Associate Professor of Theology and Pastoral Theology, Regent College

"In Spirituality for the Sent, Nathan Finn and Keith Whitfield have presented us with a framework for a spiritually rich and missionally engaged church. By assembling this formidable group of scholars, they have woven together a fresh vision for the church that values spiritual formation, but not at the expense of the church's mission. Indeed, in their vision, spiritual formation is essential for missional effectiveness and sustainability. This book is generous enough in its scope to encourage contemplatives and activists alike."

--Michael Frost, author of The Shaping of Things to Come

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