Keith Fraser-Smith reviews The Missiology Behind the Story, a book that is full of optimism, reversing the long-held pessimism of dwindling Christian communities in the Middle East. Indigenous ministries, leadership training and the growth in numbers of those coming to faith from non-Christian backgrounds is transforming a once bleak picture. Find out more about this timely book that provides a wealth of stimulating reading here.
The church as the community of the redeemed in Christ is called out of the world not to serve and maintain itself, but to come back and serve society and God’s mission in the world. The church outside of MENA, that has been used to occupying the position of majority in society, is going through a major crisis as it increasingly morphs into a minority community. The church globally needs to learn carefully what it means to live in a post-Christian world. Seminaries will need to play a major role in graduating students with this new sense of purpose, if the church is to continue as God’s transforming agent in a world often without purpose.
