This image is the cover for the book Missional God, Missional Church

Missional God, Missional Church

"As the Father has sent me, I am sending you" (John 20:21). With the reality of broad-scale secularization in the West and the attendant cloud of insignificance hanging over the church, is there any hope for the re-evangelization of the West? In this comprehensive theology of mission, Ross Hastings directs the fretful gaze of the church to the trinitarian commission of John 20. There we find Jesus granting peace to his disciples by breathing his Spirit on them. He formed them into his community of shalom. Leaving their locked room, these "sent ones" went out to participate in God's own ongoing mission to the world. Hastings also tackles the dual challenges of isolation from and accommodation to the surrounding culture. Building on the works of David Bosch, Lesslie Newbigin, Christopher Wright and Darrell Guder, the author corrects numerous dichotomies that hinder the church. In the power of the Spirit the gathered church is spiritually transformed and also scattered as it proclaims God's forgiveness and freedom. This comprehensive theology of mission opens possibilities for renewal of faithful effort as we join in Christ's mission to the world.

Ross Hastings

Ross Hastings is associate professor of pastoral theology at Regent College. Hastings holds two Ph.Ds, one in chemistry from Queen's University in Kingston Ontario, and the other in theology from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. From 1992 to 1995 he served as a pastor in Montreal before returning to British Columbia to become the senior pastor of Peace Portal Alliance Church. Hastings also previously served as a sessional lecturer for two years at Regent College, teaching in the area of pastoral ethics. He is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and a much sought-after conference speaker. Widely published in the fields of chemistry and theology, his primary interestes are in Trinitarian theology and the practice of ministry and mission, pneumatology, the development of missional churches, theological ethics, and the interface between theology and science.

InterVarsity Press