Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (4th Ed): A Reader

Tough to take in a book on evangelism written from a reformed perspective. If you believe that Jesus commanded us to spread the gospel to everyone, then this will not be a good guide for you. Basically a Puritan view of the Great Commission.

If you're getting the Perspectives Reader, get this too. I'm not usually into study guides, but this is excellent. Not only does it weave the articles from the reader into a coherent and powerful presentation (to say that it is similar to what you would expect from a class is an understatement), but Steven Hawthorne writes with a depth and perception that matches the finest pieces from the reader. This is anything but a dry, utilitarian study guide--highly recommended! Structure... 15 lessons divided into Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic Perspectives/Dimensions of the missionary task. This book is usually required for the Perspectives course. (www.perspectives.org)

This book was intended to accompany a course of the same title. I know more than a few people who took this course. One guy is a missionary in India; one guy went to work at the US Center for World Missions; another guy is a pastor of a church; others are full-time ministers; I don't know where some of the others are - probably the uttermost parts of the earth. So I always wanted to read the book that broadened the perspectives of so many people. The book consists of a collection of essays written by scholars, seminary professors, ministers and missionaries. The theme of the book is to explain that the bible describes a Judeo-Christian God who, from the very beginning, had a missionary purpose - to reach the world - to reconcile the entire world to Himself. When He contacts Abraham, His intention is to bless many nations through Abraham (and his descendents), and the rest of the Bible is the story of the process through which that original goal is accomplished. The book's conclusion is that Christians today are and should be being used by this same God to accomplish this original purpose. Some of the essays are very technical, examining the original Hebrew texts and their meaning. Other essays offer interesting comments. One of my original impressions could have got me convicted of white man phobia. Most of the authors (and there are some exceptions) are western white men writing about how western white men must bring their western white message to save the world. But fortunately I got over my phobia and read the actual content of the book, and evidently, so did many others. I hear comments by Christians in Korea and India and Africa, and often I hear the same phrases used in this book. The Koreans often use the term "unreached peoples" and "people groups" which come right out of this book. This book has influenced people all over the world and has clearly defined and mapped out the objective of Christianity - the Great Commission.

I first bought this book as a required text for my seminary class "Intro to Global Missions," and I can honestly say that out of the many many books I've had to buy for my seminary career, this book remains as one of the single most important. The book is broken into four major sections, labeled:The Biblical PerspectiveThe Historical PerspectiveThe Cultural PerspectiveThe Strategic PerspectiveEach of these then has dozens of articles written by authors such as Brother Andrew, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Greg Boyd, John Piper, John R. W. Stott, Hudson Taylor, and many other excellent authors. Not to use a cliche, but you'll both laugh and cry as you read through this volume and read incredibly diverse accounts of the Christian experience around the world like you can in no other book I know of. This book definitly helped me break out of my very limited frame of reference, and really opened my eyes up to the state of the world...

Back in 1981 when this book was compilled at the US Center for World Missions. My class reviewed and help determine which articles would be in the final copy. This book changed my life. I went to India as a missionary and applied the information in this reader. Anyone who wants to truly understand missions and the World Christian movement this book is a MUST. If you read with an open mind it will change your life as well.

This book completely blew my world view apart! It ended up propelling my family to the wilds of Outer Mongolia for three years during which time we planted a church movement among the Mongols - all by using principles learned thru Perspectives! A MUST READ FOR EVERY ONE WHO PROFESSES TO LOVE CHRIST!