Edward Rommen

Leading Voices from across Christian Traditions Discuss the Mission of the ChurchWhat is the mission of the church? Every seminarian and church leader must wrestle with that question. No matter what designation a church uses to describe itself, it must also think critically about why it exists and what it should be doing. In this book, five leading voices representing a range of Christian traditions engage in an enlightening conversation as they present and compare their perspectives on the mission of the church. Each contributor offers his or her view and responds to the other four views. Contributors include Stephen B. Bevans, Darrell L. Guder, Ruth Padilla DeBorst, Edward Rommen, and Ed Stetzer. The book's format is ideal for classroom use and will also benefit pastors and church leaders.

According to William Leach, religious communities that have come to North America have not been able to withstand the damaging influence of its consumer-oriented society which has subverted ecclesial customs, values, and practices. Rather than resisting, most of these groups have sought to integrate Christianity into the new culture. By doing so, they run the risk of marginalizing the church and fundamentally altering its teachings and practice. Of course, the real danger does not reside in the occasional use of isolated elements of our culture, the unreflected application of any technology available, the replacement of traditional ecclesial practices with the techniques of the business world, or even the substitution of ecclesial foundations of authority. Rather, danger lies in a set of fundamental principles that together define a basic orientation which is naturally and almost mindlessly attracted to these secular devices, sees no harm in them, justifies and amplifies their effects, and effectively supplants the mind of Christ which is supposed to govern the church. This study analyzes and documents the effects of that mindset and calls us back to the biblical and traditional alternatives that alone can bring healing and recovery to the church.

The mission of the Church is to introduce the person of Christ to individual human beings who by faith enter into communion with God. This does not involve adapting information to a particular context, but rather establishing the context prescribed by God for the presence of Christ wherever we happen to be among the peoples of the world. Contextualization, then, creates a new invitational core context which is host to the presence of the divine person. This is defined with the help of the gifts of ecclesial Tradition, which enables conditions that facilitate communion, and which thus helps us engage the world.

The Gospel is more than information about the death and resurrection of our Lord. It is an invitation to enter, by way of personal faith, into a relationship with the person referenced by our propositions. Our task as believers is to mediate saving communion with a personal being upon whose will our very existence is contingent. It is precisely this personal aspect of our message, the Gospel-as-Person, that is in conflict with the late-modern notions of the Self and social discourse. Get Real: On Evangelism in the Late Modern World describes how the late-modern phenomena of existential anxiety, social alienation, and epistemic uncertainty have resulted in what some have called "the loss of Self." It also identifies ways in which that loss obstructs both the presentation of and the reception of the Gospel-as-Person. Finally, it shows how the Gospel-as-Person facilitates the recovery of the Self and social discourse, and how that message can be effectively presented in the late-modern context.

Those who have come to expect expert analysis of contextualization from David Hesselgrave will not be disappointed with this work. "His expertise," writes George Peters, "shines through in this book." Teaming up with Hesselgrave is Ed Rommen, who, according to Peters, is "becoming an authority in practical contextualization." Together they skillfully bring the labyrinth of meanings, proposals, and tasks of contextualization into clearer focus. The result, says Peters, "is the most comprehensive treatise on the subject produced by evangelical scholars."