Be My Witnesses: The Church's Mission, Message, and Messengers

by Darrell L. Guder

Overview

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

What is the church's mission in the world? What message does it proclaim, and who is to proclaim it? The mission, says Darrell Guder in this book, is to complete the work of salvation that God began in the incarnation of his son Jesus Christ. The message is the gospel — the good news of the incarnate Christ. And the messengers are the Body of Christ — the church — who have been called to be his witnesses. Only as we understand Christ's incarnation and the church's role in proclaiming its meaning, according to Guder, can we understand our calling to be witnesses of God's salvation.

Written out of Guder's wide-ranging experience as a minister and professor in the United States and Europe, and especially his work with the Fuller Seminary Institute of Youth Ministries and with Young Life, this book will challenge students and educated laypersons to grapple with serious theology about the church as it relates to what Christians are doing daily about their faith.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802800510
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	10/15/1985
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.57(d)

About the Author

Darrell L. Guder is Henry Winters Luce Professor Emeritus of Missional and Ecumenical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. 

Table of Contents

	Preface	vii
Part 1	Toward a Theology of the Church's Mission
Chapter 1	The Church's Place and Purpose in Salvation History	3
1.1	The Power of the Presuppositions	3
1.2	Called to Serve	8
1.3	Christ in Salvation History	12
1.4	The Church as Part of the Gospel	15
Chapter 2	The Incarnation: the What and the How of God's Action	18
2.1	God's Way of Disclosing Himself	18
2.2	The Incarnation of Christ and the Continuing Enfleshment of the Gospel	24
2.3	The Church as the Body of Christ	27
Part 2	The Church's Mandate: Be My Witnesses
Chapter 3	The Vision of the Church in Acts	35
3.1	From Jerusalem to the End of the Earth	35
3.2	"Be My Witnesses"	40
3.3	The Enabling Event of Pentecost	44
3.4	The Community of Witness	48
Chapter 4	Realism About the Church	55
4.1	The Disappointment of History	55
4.2	The Sobering Challenge of the Institutional Church	65
Part 3	Defining the Church's Mission Incarnationally
Chapter 5	What is the Gospel?	75
5.1	Saying Too Much and Saying Too Little	75
5.2	Some Summary Statements	78
5.3	Doing Modest Theology of the Church	88
Chapter 6	Being the Witness: the Equipping Community as Witness	91
6.1	The Risks of Defining Witness as Persons	91
6.2	Being and Becoming the Witness	96
6.3	The "Equipping Community" as the Presupposition for Being the Witness	105
Chapter 7	Doing the Witness: Christian Action as Witness	112
7.1	Incarnation Instead of Abstraction	112
7.2	"Saved to Serve"	117
7.3	The Inward Dimensions of Doing the Witness	124
7.4	The Outward Dimensions of Doing the Witness	128
Chapter 8	Saying the Witness: Understanding Evangelization	133
8.1	"Evangelization" Rather Than "Evangelism"	133
8.2	The Possibility of Evangelization	136
8.3	The Necessity of Evangelization	140
8.4	The Inward Dimension of Evangelization	148
Chapter 9	Saying the Witness in the World: Incarnational Evangelization	153
9.1	"Earning the Right to be Heard"	153
9.2	Every Witness an Evangelist	159
9.3	The Gift of Evangelists	167
9.4	The Prophetic Witness	174
Part 4	Becoming the Church of Incarnational Witness
Chapter 10	Correcting the Church's Course	181
10.1	A Cautionary Approach to Criticism	181
10.2	Changing How the Church Views Itself	182
10.3	"In but not of the World"	195
10.4	The Cultural Bondage of the Gospel	197
Chapter 11	Ministry for Incarnational Witness	204
11.1	General Ministry and Specialized Ministry	204
11.2	Equipping the Equipping Community	211
11.3	The Authority of Ministry	219
Chapter 12	On not Separating the Inseparable	226
12.1	An Appeal for Theological Unity	226
12.2	The Inseparable in our Concept of Salvation	230
12.3	The Inseparable in our Concept of the Church	233
	Bibliography	236

Editorial Reviews

Bishop Williams C. Frey
—Diocese of Colorado
"A superlative book. the most refreshing and challenging work on missionary theology to come out of this country.. Any church that takes Guder's agenda seriously will be greatly strengthened and equipped for ministry and mission in the years to come."

From the Publisher