In our previous installments of the "Mondays are for Missiology" series, we investigated the unique connections between the kingdom of God, eschatology, the church and mission (and all the interrelationships therein). As we've walked through this discussion I made the comment, "I see much missional historical naïveté." What exactly do I mean by that? Well, some of what I am hearing from some (not all) missional thinkers are the same words that other individuals said decades earlier-- and it subsequently led to theological ruin in the missio dei movement (something to which almost all, not just evangelicals, would agree).

So how do we not make those same mistakes again? I believe it helps by going back and looking at the roots of the missional movement and having a robust theological discussion that heightens our awareness of the issues at hand.

To that end, today I want to shift gears and begin to look at these missional issues through a more soteriological (the study of the doctrine of salvation) lens, covering the nature of salvation.

In September Brent Thomas, pastor of Church of the Cross in Peoria, AZ, took issue with a 9 Marks review of Jim Belcher's Book, Deep Church. Brent saw the review by Greg Gilbert as not only "snarky," but also unfair. In fact Gilbert's review actually received a response from Belcher himself on Trevin Wax's blog. There Belcher explained how Gilbert had somehow missed the point of his book. In his blog post Brent wondered if there was something of a growing rift within Reformed Evangelicalism related to the issue of the "missional church."

Just last week Brent's suspicions seem to have been confirmed through another 9 Marks publication by Jonathan Leeman. Leeman's article, "Is the God of the Missional Gospel Too Small" is troubling in that he argues missional thinkers place a heavy emphasis on social justice that moves the church away from a proper emphasis on the gospel. Brent explained,

If you're online and read blogs then you probably know Adrian Warnock. Adrian is a Christian writer, preacher and part of the Jubilee Church, London, UK leadership team for more than ten years. His new book, Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything, addresses the great hope of the Christian faith; that Jesus died-- and rose from the dead! Do we need another book written on the resurrection? Well, let's be honest. How many books have you read on this most central doctrine of our faith? Not only is this a book that needed to be written, it is a book you need to read. Check out the interview with Adrian below, and be sure to jump in engage him in the comments as he'll be hanging with us to talk through the issues.

Why did you decide to write about the resurrection?

Continue reading Adrian Warnock and The Resurrection.

As I mentioned and shared details on Saturday, I'm doing a conference tomorrow in Chicago. Whenever I come to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, I do a one-day seminar for pastors as part of my class.

In this case, I will be focusing on "missional leadership." I recently taught on the subject in Oklahoma. Here is the video:

Missional Leadership from Ed Stetzer on Vimeo.

You can get more information about this training at the One Day web page.

Here is the outline that I used in the video and I will be using tomorrow:

Missional Leadership

1) Reconsideration of Leadership

a) From superman to everyone
b) From church to kingdom
c) From me to we
d) From personal power to people empowerment

2) Rejection of Clergification

a) From three tiers to one mission
b) From "called to the ministry" to "called to ministry"
c) From "called to missions" to "sent on mission"
d) From exceptional to ordinary
e) From "priests" to a "priesthood of believers"

3) Renewed focus on mission

a) From "full service" to "simple mission"
b) From "pay, pray, and get out of the way" to "join God on His mission"
c) From decisionism to disciple making
d) From "mission statement" to "Jesus mission"
Luke 4
Luke 19:10

4) Realignment of priorities

a) God is a missionary God
b) I personally join Him on mission - modeling
c) I lead others to join Him on mission - leadership
d) I equip others - multiplication

I hope that is helpful. Be sure to watch the video to get the context.

Oh so many moons ago, I wrote a book with Elmer Towns called Perimeters of Light. In that book, we talked about how to choose your music. In light of my comments last week about, "Ending the Worship War Without a Truce," I thought you might find this helpful.

The ideas are a bit of me and a bit of Dr. Towns. Here is the excerpt:

We must test everything by the Word of God. All of us are responsible to interpret the Bible and apply it to our life but this is where disagreement comes because we interpret differently. Music is a form that is used to convey meaning. It may be the most challenging of all forms because it involves preference, emotions, vocalization, etc.

The following seven test statements each relate to biblical principles that we should apply to our music to determine if it is Christian. Examine these seven test statements to determine if the music you prefer is Christian.