Bruce Riley Ashford

Theology and Practice of Mission: God, the Church, and the Nations Bruce Riley Ashford

Jacket Description/Back: Theology Disconnected From Mission is Not Christian Theology at All. In order to build a biblical-theological framework for understanding God's mission, the church's mission, and the church's mission to the nations, one must first understand the unified biblical narrative, including its four major plot movements--creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. It is with this in mind that thecontributors to Theology and Practice of Mission address some of the most compelling, practical, and crucial issues facing the global church today, issues such as justice, discipleship, community, and unreached people groups. Faithfully addressing a comprehensive understanding of mission through the lens of those most directly involved and engaged--God, the church, and the nations--the contributors don't just establish the need for theory and practice to cooperate. They walk the reader, whether student, scholar, or practioner, through how that can be done to the glory of God no matter the context. It is enormously encouraging to read a book on mission that consistently puts God and God's mission first, that applies the grand biblical framework of creation, fall, redemption and new creation thoroughly and repeatedly across almost every issue it addresses, and which tackles some very controversial areas with grace, wisdom, and biblical thoroughness. Here is a book that will richly reward all who patiently digest it, but will especially nourish teachers and practitioners of the mission that God has entrusted to His church.-Christopher J. H. Wright, International Director, The Langham partnership International, author of The Mission of God Bruce Riley Ashford is associate professor of Theology and Culture, dean of the College, and research fellow for the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture at southeastern Baptist Theological seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, where he received his M. Div. and Ph. D. Biographical Note: Bruce Riley Ashford is married to Lauren, with whom he has two children, Riley Noelle and Anna Katherine. He was born in Chesapeake, VA, but spent his childhood years in Roseboro, NC. He received his B. A. in Communications from Campbell University. Upon graduation from Campbell, he entered Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received his Master of Divinity. After spending two years in Central Asia as a university instructor, he returned to the United States to enter the Ph. D. program at Southeastern. He defended his dissertation, "Wittgenstein's Impact on Anglo-American Theology: Representative Models of Response to Ludwig Wittgenstein's Later Writings," in December 2003. Southeastern College and Seminary hired him in 2003, where he has taught courses in theology, philosophy, and missiology, and where he remains today as Associate Professor of Theology & Culture. He is the editor of Theology & Practice of Mission (Nashville: B&H, 2011). In January 2009, Ashford became the Dean of The College at Southeastern. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Evangelical Philosophical Society, the Evangelical Theological Society, American Philosophical Association, and the Evangelical Missiological Society. In addition to his teaching schedule, Ashford has taught or preached for churches of various denominations, including Southern Baptist, American Baptist, Mennonite, Presbyterian Church-USA, Presbyterian Church of America, United Methodist Church, Episcopal, Assemblies of God, Church of God, United Pentecostal, Four Square, and Russian Baptist. He has also worked and toured overseas in The Pacific Rim (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), North Africa & The Middle East (Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Oman, United Arab Emirates), West Africa (Ivory Coast, Liberia), Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda), Central Asia (Armenia, Turkey, Uzbekistan), South Asia (India), East Asia (China), Central & Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Russia), Western Europe (France, Germany, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Switzerland) and the Caribbean (The Bahamas, Jamaica). He has lectured or spoken on college campuses, including UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, University of Florida, Appalachian State University, Methodist College, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro, Gardner-Webb University, Campbell University, West Virginia University, Marshall University, Anderson College, Criswell College, and Kazan University (Russia). Recently, he was a co-recipient of a creative teaching grant from Yale Divinity School's Center for Faith and Culture. Together with David Nelson, associate professor of theology at Southeastern, he received one of four $5,000 awards from Yale for a course they designed to help pastors equip their congregations to live wisely in the context of contemporary American culture. Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Table of Contents: Dedication -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- I. God's Mission -- 1. The Story of Mission: The Grand Biblical Narrative -- 2. The Triune God: The God of Mission -- II. The Church's Mission -- 3. The Agents of Mission: Humanity -- 4. The Heart of Mission: Redemption -- 5. The Community of Mission: The Church -- 6. The Gospel and Evangelism -- 7. The Gospel and Social Responsibility -- 8. The Gospel and Culture -- 9. The Gospel and Lifestyle -- III. The Church's Mission to the Nations -- 10. The Hebrew Bible and the Nations -- 11. The New Testament and the Nations -- 12. Mission and Unreached People Groups -- 13. Mission and Discipleship -- 14. Mission and Church Planting -- 15. Mission and Suffering -- 16. Mission to Muslims -- 17. Mission to Hindus -- 18. Mission to Buddhists -- 19. Mission to Animists -- 20. Mission to Postmoderns -- IV -- Concluding Challenges -- 21. A Theologically Driven Missiology -- 22. A Challenge for Our Churches -- Name Index -- Subject Index -- Scripture Index. Publisher Marketing: Theology disconnected from mission is not Christian theology at all. The pastors, professors, and missionaries writing "Theology and Practice of Mission" provide a clear biblical-theological framework for understanding the church's mission to the nations. Toward that goal, the book holds three major sections: God's mission, the church's mission, and the church's mission to the nations. Part one explores the canon of Christian Scripture from narrative and systematic angles, explaining how the mission of God-to redeem a people who will be a kingdom of priests to the praise of his glory, bear witness to his gospel, advance his church, and dwell with him forever on a new heaven and earth-is communicated in the Bible's four movements: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. Part two sees the mission of God's people in the light of God's mission, emphasizing not only preaching and church planting but also gospel witness in every dimension of human culture-glorifying God in family, church, work, community, through the arts, sciences, education, business, and the public square. The writers encourage us to live missionally, leaving all of our resources at God's disposal for the sake of his kingdom. Finally, part three contends that the North American church must come to terms with its missional calling-just as international missionaries do-and gives a starting point and parameters for conceiving the church's mission to all people groups and cultural contexts. Chapters here include ones on unreached people groups, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Postmoderns.

Contributor Bio:  Ashford, Bruce Riley Bruce Riley Ashford is married to Lauren, with whom he has two children, Riley Noelle and Anna Katherine. He was born in Chesapeake, VA, but spent his childhood years in Roseboro, NC. He received his B. A. in Communications from Campbell University. Upon graduation from Campbell, he entered Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received his Master of Divinity. After spending two years in Central Asia as a university instructor, he returned to the United States to enter the Ph. D. program at Southeastern. He defended his dissertation, ?Wittgenstein's Impact on Anglo-American Theology: Representative Models of Response to Ludwig Wittgenstein's Later Writings, ? in December 2003. Southeastern College and Seminary hired him in 2003, where he has taught courses in theology, philosophy, and missiology, and where he remains today as Associate Professor of Theology & Culture. He is the editor of Theology & Practice of Mission (Nashville: B&H, 2011). In January 2009, Ashford became the Dean of The College at Southeastern. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Evangelical Philosophical Society, the Evangelical Theological Society, American Philosophical Association, and the Evangelical Missiological Society. In addition to his teaching schedule, Ashford has taught or preached for churches of various denominations, including Southern Baptist, American Baptist, Mennonite, Presbyterian Church-USA, Presbyterian Church of America, United Methodist Church, Episcopal, Assemblies of God, Church of God, United Pentecostal, Four Square, and Russian Baptist. He has also worked and toured overseas in The Pacific Rim (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), North Africa & The Middle East (Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Oman, United Arab Emirates), West Africa (Ivory Coast, Liberia), Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda), Central Asia (Armenia, Turkey, Uzbekistan), South Asia (India), East Asia (China), Central & Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Russia), Western Europe (France, Germany, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Switzerland) and the Caribbean (The Bahamas, Jamaica). He has lectured or spoken on college campuses, including UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, University of Florida, Appalachian State University, Methodist College, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro, Gardner-Webb University, Campbell University, West Virginia University, Marshall University, Anderson College, Criswell College, and Kazan University (Russia). Recently, he was a co-recipient of a creative teaching grant from Yale Divinity School's Center for Faith and Culture. Together with David Nelson, associate professor of theology at Southeastern, he received one of four $5,000 awards from Yale for a course they designed to help pastors equip their congregations to live wisely in the context of contemporary American culture.