Footprints of God: A Narrative Theology of Mission

Twenty-five doctoral students from around the world recently set out to forge a new path toward a theology of mission. As they blazed a new trail they discovered the footprints of God--evidence that God was their trial guide. Charles Van Engen led this group of mission practitioners pastors teachers and mission executives as they set out to discover answers to important questions such as What is theology of mission? and What is missiology? The team used a new approach to answer these questions employing narrative to integrate personal story community stories cultural stories and biblical stories. Each writer brings his or her own unique context to bear on these important questions through personal story and by highlighting the work of a major missiologist who has impacted their life and work. By drawing from personal stories the authors show how human factors affect missiology. All of the chapters are set within a unique theological framework created by Charles Van Engen that focuses on mission of the way mission in the way and mission on the way. This framework reveals that mission must be of the way (Christ-centered) in the way (happening among the peoples and cultures of the world) and on the way (moving forward over time through Gods people as they anticipate Christs present and coming kingdom). If you are concerned about connecting the Bible theology and ministry with the complexity and variety of contexts facing Christians today then you will want to join this journey to discover the footprints of God. As Van Engen says you will be encouraged to think theologically about mission and missiologically about theology. The genius of this book is that it uses biography and narratives of personal pilgrimage to shape and inform our missiology. . . . This puts flesh on the bones of theory and encourages an integrative process of missiological reflection. -- from the foreword by Gerald H. Anderson Charles Van Engen earned his PhD in missiology from Free University in Amsterdam. He is currently F. Glasser Professor of biblical theology at Fuller Theological Seminary and is author of several books including Mission on the Way and co-editor of God So Loves the City. Nancy Thomas served with the Friends Church in Boliva for eighteen years where her work revolved around church planting leadership training and encouraging Bolivian writers. She has published several volumes of poetry and writes regularly for magazines and devotional booklets. Robert Gallagher was formerly a Pentecostal executive pastor in Australia and theological educator in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. He currently serves as Associate Professor in the Intercultural Studies Department at Wheaton College Illinois.