Category Archives: Missional Christianity

Thompson reaches a conclusion very different from Christopher Wright’s — For Paul the missio Dei is the transformation of a people into the image of Christ. The church is the new humanity, which is now being transformed. Paul’s mission is … Continue reading →

Several years ago, “spiritual formation” was all the rage. The movement was built on — (Gal. 4:18-19 ESV) 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with … Continue reading →

At his Jesus Creed blog, Scot McKnight has posted a quick review of James W. Thompson’s The Church according to Paul. Thompson is right: we need to begin, if we want to understand Paul and the church, with this corporate … Continue reading →

Christopher Wright’s outline of mission is very sensible, and there’s much to support it in scripture. But there are problems, too. Thompson points out some difficult truths that force us to add a layer of nuance. And we American Christians … Continue reading →

We’ll return to Thompson’s book shortly. I want to digress just a hair to cover Wright’s understanding of mission so we can then reflect on the two differing perspectives. In a recent lecture, Wright broke mission down into five elements: … Continue reading →

The Missional Church Missio Dei Technically, “missional” is a newly coined adjective for “mission.” A church truly on the right mission is missional. But, sadly, the term has been co-opted by some to refer to their particular way of being missional. … Continue reading →

Thompson begins his book by summarizing several possible views on the mission of the church. Political Action Committee Thompson explains, While liberals and conservatives choose different issues, they agree that the task of the church is to mobilize and influence … Continue reading →

As I mentioned in the last post, James W. Thompson, a professor at Abilene Christian, just published The Church according to Paul: Rediscovering the Community Conformed to Christ. He begins by reviewing several popular theories of church mission. Having observed … Continue reading →

I earlier introduced the readers to the writings of Christopher J. H. Wright (no kin to N.T.) in my review of his commentary on Ezekiel. Wright is a marvelous writer, and he’s twice turned his attention to the doctrine of … Continue reading →

I do not like vision statements. I think they’re a colossal waste of time and energy. As Exhibit A, allow me to introduce into evidence these statements I found by searching “Church Vision Statement” in Google Images: