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Ripe for Harvest

Facing the challenge of mission

RIPE FOR HARVEST
Editor: R.J. Gibson
Paternoster Press. 150 pages
ISBN 0 85364 980 4

This book consists of five essays on the subject of world mission. It is based on papers presented at Moore College's 1997 School of Theology and includes Michael Railer's inaugural address as the Head of the new Department of Mission at Moore.

The book aims to be a 'useful resource for those who engage in mission'. It is also a very helpful contribution to the continuing debate about the meaning, significance and practice of mission. Indirectly it shows us the strong biblical ethos of the new department.

The book is marked by two things. First there is a strong emphasis on biblical theology and sound exegesis. This is found throughout, but particularly in the first two essays. While so much mission thinking today is based on the social sciences, these essays seek to ground it in the Word of God. So the first essay shows that our commitment to mission flows out of the mission of Christ and his apostles described in the New Testament. This is much more than Matthew 28.18-20, since mission is 'close to the heartbeat of the Biblical Tradition'. The second essay is a response to the pluralistic denial of absolute truth. It consists of a careful exegesis of 1 Corinthians, a letter written to a church trying to find its way in a multi-cultural society.

Secondly, there is a stimulating and critical interaction with some trends in modern missionary thinking and especially the Church Growth Movement. Phillip Jensen reminds us that our faith should be in 'God and his Word, not Sociology and its findings'. Proclamation of the gospel with the power of the Holy Spirit may be foolish in the eyes of the world, but it will be much more effective than the latest techniques.

Michael Railer's essay is particularly stimulating. Based on a careful analysis of the way the New Testament uses the word 'Send', he argues for a definition of mission which is narrower than is perhaps usual today. It is 'the verbal proclamation of the Gospel to the end that more Churches are planted and established'. Works of compassion are valuable in themselves, but they are not 'mission'. All our thinking must be based on the two pillars of biblical studies and Christian theology.

As a brief introduction to missiology this is an excellent and assessable book for the serious reader. Each essay begins with a synopsis and ends with a series of questions that could be used for group discussion. Of course there is an Australian flavour (Australia is made up of a 'European people soaking up the sun ... in a climate for which they were never intended!') but this is not too obtrusive.

The book defines mission as 'the work of God, springing from him, empowered by him and ultimately brought to completion by him'. These essays will give the reader confidence in seeking to fulfil this biblical mandate.

Paul Mallard, Worcester