Vital Missions Issues: Examining Challenges and Changes in World Evangelism
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
World evangelism presents difficult issues which must be faced in light of the whole of Scripture. Vital Missions Issues: Examining Challenges and Changes in World Evangelism provides guidance and wisdom from many Godly writers on this valuable subject.
This volume introduces readers to a wide variety of complex, but essential topics for anyone interested in missions work. Covering questions of missions in the bible, a number of chapters present biblical exegesis of passages from Acts, Philippians and other biblical texts. Other chapters ask hard questions about missions, evangelism and Christianity, such as whether or not the bible teaches annihilationism or the final fate of those who never hear the gospel message.
Key Features
- Includes contributions from a respected expert scholarship
- Lays out compelling exegesis of biblical passages essential for understanding mission in the bible
- Examines missional topics from the perspective of systematic theology
Contents
- “Missions in Biblical Perspective” by George W. Peters
- “Missions in Historical Perspective” by George W. Peters
- “Missions in Cultural Perspective” by George W. Peters
- “Missions in a Religiously Pluralistic World” by George W. Peters
- “The Destiny of the World and the Work of Missions” by Michael Pocock
- “Paul’s Approach to the Great Commission in Acts 14:21–23” by David F. Detwiler
- “Paul’s Corporate Evangelism in the Book of Acts” by George W. Murray
- “Paul’s Corporate Witness in Philippians” by George W. Murray
- “Soteriological Inclusivism and Dispensationalism” by Ramesh P. Richard
- “Isaiah, Jonah, and Religious Pluralism” by Wayne G. Strickland
- “The Fate of Those Who Never Hear” by Millard J. Erickson
- “Is There Opportunity for Salvation After Death?” by Millard J. Erickson
- “Is Hell Forever?” by Millard J. Erickson
- “Does the Bible Teach Annihilationism?” by Robert A. Peterson
- “Major Flaws in Liberation Theology” by J. Ronald Blue
- “Defending God Before Buddhist Emptiness” by Russell H. Bowers Jr.
- “Islamic Values and the Gospel” by Patrick O. Cate
- “Principles and Methods of Household Evangelism” by Ronald D. Runyon
- “Relationships: The Missing Link in Evangelistic Follow-Up” by Gordon L. Everett
- “Go, Missions” by J. Ronald Blue
Top Highlights
“What is 750,000 miles long, reaches around the world thirty times, and grows twenty times longer each day? Answer: The line of people who are without Christ.” (Page 7)
“Such theocentricity in missions is a rarity, and it sounds almost like a novelty in an anthropocentric society, ecclesiocentric Christendom, and world-revolutionary humanism. It should find a welcome echo in the mind and heart of the evangelical who is trained in the Scriptures and who loves the biblical order of priorities.” (Page 10)
“‘The vitality of a local church may be measured by its interest in the evangelization of the world.’” (Page 7)
“Mission begins in God.… Mission is a divine activity springing directly from God’s own nature” (Page 9)
“Third, the church in history has a missionary purpose and is called to be a colaborer with God in proclaiming the gospel among the nations and thus to actualize the purpose of God. Fourth, man is a responsible, moral being and in hearing the gospel man is able to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation if he so wills. Fifth, God is operative in history. The church must be God’s colaborer in history because God’s cause will triumph in history.” (Page 23)
About Dr. Roy B. Zuck
Dr. Roy B. Zuck (1932–2013) was Senior Professor Emeritus of Bible Exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary where he served in various professorial and administrative positions since 1973. A former executive vice-president for Scripture Press in Wheaton, Illinois, Zuck always had a passion for solid, Bible-based publications in the realm of Christian youth ministry education. He wrote or edited hundreds of books and journal entries and currently serves as the editor of the oldest theological quarterly in the western world—Bibliotheca Sacra.
Born on January 20, 1932, in Phoenix, Arizona, the older of two children, Zuck quickly developed a love for Scripture and heard God's calling at age 11. He was so anxious to begin his Bible training that he wrote Biola University in La Mirada, California, to request an application for admission. Biola told him to wait a couple of years before applying. Zuck entered Biola in 1949, held the position of president of the student council his senior year and served as the class speaker while on his way to graduating cum laude at the top of his class in 1953. He met his wife-to-be Dottie while they both served on student council, and they were married in 1954.
After earning his B.A. from Biola, Zuck attended Dallas Theological Seminary, completing his Th.M. in 1957, writing his thesis on the challenging imprecatory Psalms. During his doctoral residency, he assisted Howard Hendricks as a teaching fellow, and gained his Th.D. in 1961 after writing his subsequently published and re-published dissertation The Place of the Holy Spirit in Teaching, which is presently in print as Spirit Filled Teaching. Dr. Zuck's graduate studies at Northern Illinois University and North Texas State University have fed his search for knowledge since then.
Dr. Zuck spent fourteen years in the publishing business, and then returned to Dallas Theological Seminary in 1973, taking on the tasks and responsibilities of assistant academic dean and associate professor of Bible exposition. He became academic dean in 1985, serving as such until achieving the position of department chairman and Senior Professor of Bible Exposition in 1992. Dr. Zuck retired from Dallas Seminary in 1996.