In August, the WRF published a major book (in both printed and e-book versions) dealing with missional theology and ministry.

We have listed below the chapter titles of the book along with a number of WONDERFUL endorsements we have received for the book.

 

Reformed Means Missional – Following Jesus Into the World 

Edited by Dr. Samuel Logan 

Chapter Outline – eBook
{Note: Items marked with an * appear ONLY in the e-book.  Unmarked items appear in both the e-book and the printed book.} 

Preface

“What Do We Mean by ‘Missional’?” by Dr. Christopher Wright, International Director of the Langham Partnership and author of The Mission of God and The Mission of God’s People.

Introduction 

 “Why the World Reformed Fellowship Seeks to Encourage Missional Theology and Practice” by Dr. Samuel Logan, Editor

Section One – Laying the Foundation

1.  “What a Missional Church Looks Like” by Dr. Martin Allen, retired minister of the Church of Scotland and Chairman of the Crieff Fellowship

2. “What’s the Point in Believing and Doing the Right Things: A Missional Approach to Orthodox Belief and Moral Behavior” by Dr. Samuel Logan, International Director of the World Reformed Fellowship, Special Counsel to the President of Biblical Seminary, and President Emeritus of Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia)

3. “The Book of Romans and the Missional Mandate” by Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, Chair of the WEA Theology Commission and Founder/President of Martin Bucer Theological Seminary

Section Two – The Church Reaches the World

4. “A Missional Response to Poverty and Social Injustice,” by Dr. P. J. Buys, Founder and President Emertius of Mukhanyo Theological College and Associate International Director of the World Reformed Fellowship

5. “What is God’s Global Urban Mission?“ by Dr. Timothy Keller, Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, New York

6. “A Missional Approach to the Health of the City,” by Dr. Susan Post, Executive Director of Esperanza Health Service in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

7. “A Missional Response to Global Violence Against Women,” by Dr. Diane Langberg, Founder of Diane Langberg and Associates and author of On the Threshold of Hope: Opening the Door to Healing for Survivors of Sexual Abuse

8. “Worship and Children: A Missional Response to Child Abuse” by Dr. Basyle Tchividjian, Assistant Professor of Law at Liberty University School of Law, Founder and Executive Director of G.R.A.C.E. (Godly Response to Abuse in Christian Environments), and former Assistant State Attorney for the 7th Judicial Circuit of Florida

9. “God Scatters to Gather Through His People: A Missional Response to Migrant Churches,” by Dr. Elias Medeiros, Harriet Barbour Professor of Missions at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi

10. “Dogma Meets Diversity in Europe – A Missional Response to Secularity,” by Rev. Robert Calvert, Senior Minister of Scots International Church, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

11. “The Missional Challenge of Islam: A Very Diverse People, Religion, and Culture,” by Dr. John Leonard, Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

12. “A Missional Understanding of Hidden Believers,” by Dr. John Nicholls, Chief Executive Officer of the London City Mission.

13. “A Missional Understanding of the Jewish People,” by Rev. David Zadok, Director of HeGefen Publishing Company and Israel Field Director of Christian Witness to Israel*

14. “A Missional Approach to Homosexual Strugglers in the Church and the Gay Community,” by Rev. John Freeman, Founder and President of Harvest USA

Section Three – Building the Church

15. “Keeping Christ’s Church Faithful” by the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of Uganda (Church of England)*

16. “Missional Theological Education: 21st Century Majority World Challenges,” by Dr. Matthew Ebenezer, Professor of Church History at New Theological College in Dehra Dun, India*

17. “Understanding Denominational Structures Missionally” by Dr. Ron Scates, Senior Minister of Highland Park Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Dallas, Texas*

18. “When Schism is NOT Schism: A Missional Approach to Leaving a Denomination” by Dr. Rob Norris, Senior Pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland* 

19. “The Missional Unity of the Church” by  Dr. John Armstrong, Founder and President of ACT 3, a ministry for equipping leaders for unity in Christ's mission. He is former pastor and church-planter, of more than twenty years, and  the author/editor of 12 books, including Your Church is Too Small: Why Unity in Christ's Mission Is Vital to the Future of the Church*

20. “Oneness and Witness: Missional Reflections on the Prayer that Changed the World” by Rev. Mark Johnston, Senior Pastor of Proclamation Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania*

21. “Word and Deed in Missional Worship and Ministry,” by Dr. Craig Higgins, Senior Minister of Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA)  in Rye, New York*

Conclusion

22. “Crafting an Evangelical, Reformed, and Missional Theology for the 21st Century” by Dr. Andrew McGowan, Chair of the WRF Theology Commission and Senior Minister of Inverness East Church (Church of Scotland).

Afterword

24.  “Missional is Mission Critical,” by Dr. Frank James, President of Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania

Appendix

The World Reformed Fellowship Statement of Faith *

 

Edorsements

of

Reformed Means Missional: Following Jesus into the World 
 

(1)  I have sometimes been annoyed when 21st century leaders trumpet the mantra that their ministry is "missional" - as if no one else had ever discovered this concept before.  However these essays, edited by Dr. Logan,  focus God's own mission for his church, immersed in a shape-shifting culture.  Here are arrows that fly from the Spirit's own bow, still quivering from a bulls-eye impact! 

Michael A. Rogers
Senior Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Lancaster, PA

 

(2)  The heartbeat of Reformed theology at its best has always been its missional thrust. This extraordinary collection of essays explores from many angles how the gospel translates into God's people serving as his instruments of redemptive healing in a very broken world. It will help us follow Jesus more faithfully into his world that his kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven. 

Leo R. Schuster III
Lead Pastor, East Side Congregation, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City

(3)  What is it after all to be ‘missional?’ Finally, this remarkable book shows us the way. We recognize our calling to build upon our Reformed heritage and to passionately look ahead. By God’s grace we will fulfill our calling to bring both gospel and long-needed change in our world, engaging issues too long neglected. Some will need to leave our denominations, others not, but we will labor together. This book unites us and stretches us at the same time--a must read to equip us for our Lord’s vast and deep calling to us all.

D. Clair Davis
Professor and Chaplain, Redeemer Seminary, Dallas

(4)   This is the book to read if you are serious to be part of God's mission of reaching the world through the proclamation of the gospel. Articles by experienced missionaries from 4 continents, focusing on 24 different aspects with one conclusion: Reformed means missional! A thorough, biblically sound, God-centered, focus. I pray that thousands, through reading it, would be equipped and encouraged to fulfil their calling in the coming of his kingdom!

Henk Stoker
Professor of Apologetics and Ethics, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

5)    God is a missionary God. He reaches out to claim and bless His people and through them to bless others. When God called Abraham, He said     to him: “I will bless you… so that you will be a blessing…and in you all     the families of the earth shall be blessed.”We are called by God to be missionaries, to be “missional”. We cannot all reach all families of the earth; but we can reach some families near or far. This book will help you become intentional in your focus to be missional in some area where you can have influence. Where are you a blessing? Where are you missional?  

Robert C. (Ric) Cannada, Jr., Chancellor Emeritus, Reformed Theological Seminary


(6)  Our Lord Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth and the life."  "Reformed" usually connotes for us a commitment to the truth.  But our sovereign Lord commissioned his followers to apply this truth to all of life.  This new book presents challenges from some of the best Reformed thinkers who also are leaders in application of our faith to a great variety of needs in our world.

William S. Barker, Professor of Church History Emeritus, Westminster Theological Seminary and former Moderator of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church in America


(7)  The European Reformers followed Jesus, the eternal Creator who lived in time-space history as a provincial carpenter-turned-rabbi, into their particular worlds half-a-millennium ago.     In exemplary fashion, our reforming forefathers were both faithful to God’s enduring covenant and relevant to their contemporary settings. This volume’s heartening example of semper reformans, semper reformanda     (“always reformed, always reforming”) serves today’s world Christian     movement well toward following Jesus in faithful, relevant, and “missional” ways.

J. Nelson Jennings, Executive Director, Overseas Ministries Study Center

(8)  Jesus plainly explained to the disciples that the good news of his story of life, death and resurrection was moving to the ends of the earth and perhaps more surprisingly, their lives and the churches they would start were drawn into the same path of mission.   The reach of Jesus is, “far as the curse is found,” we sing. It is broad and it is deep. Unfortunately proclaiming is often easier than plumbing the depths of the corruption in the world, our lives, our bodies, our families,     our friendships, our neighborhoods, our sexual experience, our political and economic ordering of life, and the ecology of life on the earth. But Jesus calls his Body into all spaces of earthly life – as sick and ruined and corrupt as they may be.  Sam Logan has assembled a publication that reminds those of us within the tradition of the reformation that our attention to truth is always in some practical sense, for the sake of the world not as an abstract proclamation, but to embody in     real, though incomplete and imperfect ways his future now. This collection of essays not only remind us of the missional aim of Christ, but helps us imagine the reach of Christ – far as the curse is found.

Tuck Bartholomew,  Pastor, City Church, Philadelphia, PA

(9) Building on “Mission and Evangelism” in the WRF Statement of Faith, Reformed Means Missional brings theological substance to “missional,” ensuring the term doesn’t become a “passing fad.”  A collection of the world’s top Reformed thinkers have provided rich, compelling insights as to how the church in the 21st century must change the way it thinks and behaves if it is sent into the world to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and promote the expansion of His Kingdom.

Jeffrey Jeremiah,  Stated Clerk, Evangelical Presbyterian Church


(10)  Searching for gold to enrich your convictions about being Reformed and missional? Here’s a robust mine in which the most imminently qualified Reformed scholars and practitioners help you discover the reasons, ways,     and specific venues our missional God is glorifying himself in this broken world. It is difficult to imagine a more comprehensive, compassionate, compelling, theo-centric, accessible, scholarly, Biblically-grounded, and inspiring treatment of the complex dimensions of the missional landscape.   

Michael Sharrett , Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Lynchburg, Virginia

(11)  Reformed Means Missional is a foundational and strategic call to all in the Reformed tradition to truly be His church, on His mission taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World! My friend, Sam Logan, understands this reality and articulates this call, both in terms of its theological groundings and its global implications, more persuasively than anyone I know. This book is required reading for any leader in the Reformed tradition who wants to be able to participate in     21-century conversations with respect to the Reformational church and the core of Christ’s calling.  

S. Douglas Birdsall, President, The American Bible Society, Former Executive Chair of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization

(12) In Reformed Means Missional ,  Dr. Sam Logan brings together both well known authors and some hidden jewels of the church who labor, Jesus-like, in dark places, and serve the least and the lowest. Refreshingly, the theorists are also practitioners, while the practitioners think biblically and theologically about how God’s mission shapes their work.  The result? This wide-ranging volume which is calculated to give mind, conscience, and, yes, emotions also, a serious gospel work-out.  

Sinclair B. Ferguson,     Professor of Theology, Redeemer Theological Seminary,  Dallas

(13) At a time when some people are asking how to be missional and Reformed at the same time, this book comes to show that being Reformed IS to be INTRINSICALLY missional.  Written from different perspectives, with specific foci, the book is honest to its title, as it challenges us to see, in practice, just how true it is that being really Reformed and being really missional are one and the same!

Davi Charles Gomes,     Chancellor, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo, Brazil

  

Statement excerpted from the "Preface"  

Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission—God’s mission. If it isn’t missional, it isn’t church. A “church” may be a group of people doing religious things together, but if it is not participating in the purposes of God in the world and for the world, it has lost the plot and forgotten the reason for its own existence     . . . . Because this is what being missional involves, I am pleased to commend this present volume to all who desire to be part of the mission of God.

Christopher J. H. Wright,  Theologian and author of The Mission of God; Langham Partnership’s International Director