Cat & Dog Theology, Bob Sjogren & Gerald Robinson This may not sound like a missions book, but don’t let the title fool you. Offered as a live seminar at BridgePoint a few years back, Cat & Dog Theology uncovers the subtle ways in which Christians often focus on the blessings side of Scripture as opposed to God’s call to be a blessing to all nations. This easy to read book provides a solid biblical foundation to missions.
Edinburgh 2010 Study Process Papers, Prepared by a team of trans-national and trans-denominational leaders in preparation for the the Edinburgh 2010 World Missionary Conference, these papers are not light reading but do provide well processed responses to major missions themes of the 21st century. You can find the papers here.
Eternity in Their Hearts, Don Richardson Twenty-six incredible but true stories that paint an incredible picture of how God has set eternity in the hearts of people from every tribe and people. This book, perhaps more than any other, lets us know that God has not just prepared the gospel for every person, but that God has prepared every people for the gospel. Like Let the Nations Be Glad, this book has also had a profound impact on missiology.
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, Ruth A. Tucker From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya helps readers understand the life and role of a missionary through real life examples of missionaries throughout history. We see these men and women as fallible and human in their failures as well as their successes. These great leaders of missions are presented as real people, and not super-saints. The book covers all 2,000 years of mission history and contains both a general and an “illustration” index where readers can easily locate particular missionaries, stories, or incidents.
The Great Omission: A Biblical Basis for World Evangelization, Robertson McQuilkin Written by the former President of Columbia International University (perhaps the world’s leading mission training university), this book provides a concise Scriptural argument for world missions.
Kingdom Without Borders, Miriam Adeney This book is perhaps the most engaging introduction to missions present today. Filled with modern day stories from a across the globe, Miriam Adeney does a masterful job of drawing the reader into real life drama while teaching powerful lessons ranging from hermeneutics to community development to cross-cultural relationships.
Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper Drawing on texts from the Old and New Testaments, Piper demonstrates that worship is the ultimate goal of the church and that proper worship drives missionary outreach. He describes prayer as the fuel of missions work because of its focus on a relationship with God rather than the needs of the world. He goes on to illustrate that while suffering is the price of missions, God is worthy of any sacrifice. He examines whether Jesus is the only way to salvation and discusses the extent of the missionary enterprise, seeking to define the scope of the task and the means to reaching "all nations." No book in the last 15 years has impacted the theology of missions more than this one.
A Muslim's Heart: What Every Christian Needs to Know to Share Christ with Muslims, Edward J. Hoskins Only about 50 pages in length, this book is a perfect primer for someone who is interested in sharing Christ with Muslims. While the book offers basics on Islam, it spends many of its pages on relational tips and keys to communication.
No Graven Image, Elisabeth Elliot With so many fantastic non-fiction accounts of missionaries, why would one bother with reading a fictional account? Perhaps because in doing so Elisabeth Elliot is able to paint a more honest picture of the difficulties of being a missionary and along the way redefine success.
Operation World, Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk This is the most comprehensive informational book on every country of the world. Designed for prayer, it is packed with everything you need to know to pray for God’s work around the globe.Daily prayer information taken from this book can also be found at: www.operationworld.org
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, Ralph D. Winter, Steven C. Hawthorne, etal Perspectives on the World Christian Movement is a collection of readings exploring the biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic dimensions of world evangelization. Writings from more than 90 mission scholars and practitioners introduce lay people and students to the astounding potential of the global Christian movement. Each of the 125 articles offers practical wisdom enabling Christians to labor together in bold, biblical hope to finish the task of seeing Christ named and followed among all the peoples of the earth.
Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries, Gerald L. Sittser Not really a book about missions or missionaries, nonetheless this book draws heavily from those whose sacrifice, simplicity, and community has a great deal to say to anyone who thirsts to obey God to the ends of the earth.
The Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel & Culture, The Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization This is an excellent primer on a Christian’s response to culture. Many in the world would say that Christian missions destroys or tampers with culture. This article provides a thoroughly Christian perspective. The report may be accessed here.
Through God's Eyes: A Bible Study of God's Motivations for Missions, Patrick Cate This study guide is
designed to bring readers into the Word personally, help them discover inductively
what God is saying, and gain a better sense of His direction for their lives. Through God’s Eyes can function as a personal Bible
study, or as part of an introduction to missions or a biblical theology of
missions course for a small group, Sunday school, college or seminary class. When Missions Shapes the Mission: You and Your Church Can Reach the World, David Horner "When Missions Shape the Mission unpacks a statistical study of traditionally evangelical churches that reveals their anemic level of commitment to the biblical mandate of making Christ known around the world. Veteran pastor David Horner makes the data easy to understand, challenging other pastors to radically assign their best leadership and resources to missions as he looks at where the church is today, how it got there, and where we must go from here:"
Worth Keeping: Global Perspectives on Best Practices in Missionary Retention, Rob Hay, Valerie Lim, Detlef Blocher, Jaap Katelar & Sarah Hay Ever wonder the factors that make missionaries leave the field? They are many and complex and no book does a better job of correlating everything from member care to education to preparation time to spiritual warfare with missionary retention. Produced by the World Evangelical Alliance, this book is a statistical mother lode.