Abstract
Introducing World Missions, the first in the series of nine books, was first published in 2004. It was written by a team of three authorities in the field. A. Scott Moreau, served with Campus Crusade for 14 years, 10 of which were divided between Swaziland and Kenya in Africa. He has been on the graduate faculty of Wheaton College since 1991 and serves as the editor. Gary R. Corwin has served with SIM International Leadership and Services, with 36 years with SIM in Ghana and in various international roles. The late Gary B. McGee was an academic researcher and distinguished professor at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. These three pooled their expertise to produce this book.
The first two parts of the book are foundational. First there is an introduction to missions and establishing terminology. This is followed by a systematic, and biblical presentation of missions in the Old and New Testaments followed by an understanding of missiological theology. It continues into an historical assessment of the early church and its initial growth, the different eras of outreach and growth over the past 2000 years, and the challenges of continuing to present gospel in our world today.
The third and fourth division looks at who should consider missionary service and preparation steps to get from here to there. This includes personal and family evaluation, developing the right attitude and skills to work across different cultures, and building a necessary support team.
The fifth division looks at contemporary issues we encounter today including intercultural communication, trends and paradigm shifts, the challenge of world religion, and a brief challenge about the future of missions.
This book is primarily a textbook, which could be for both undergraduate and graduate students. The Case Studies taken from Paul and Francis Hiebert’s Case Studies in Missions (1987), and the Side Bars are great for small group interaction and classroom discussion. There are numerous changes from the first edition and attractive colors in the second edition. The articles from the Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions are accessible online through Baker Academic’s Textbook eSources for each chapter, helpful for the graduate students at the start of their research. This gives students the ability to expand on almost every subject that comes up in reading and discussing the book.
When the first edition came out, we adopted the book for the Introduction to Missions class at the University of Northwestern. We now use the second edition, and the students find it very helpful at the start of their preparation for the Intercultural Degree.