Book reviews for Summer 2019
The Vine Project / Discipling in a Multicultural World / Paradigms in Conflict
The Vine Project: Shaping Your Ministry Culture around Disciple-Making
Colin Marshall and Tony Payne (Matthias Media, 2016). 355 pp.
Marshall and Payne, both from Australia, have teamed up to write one of the best books I have read on ministry. They show how to shape the whole culture of a church in the direction of disciple-making. The book builds on their 2009 work, The Trellis and the Vine, and gives a refined presentation of the ministry principles introduced there.
The process for change they introduce has five phases. First, we must sharpen our convictions to clarify what we believe about disciple-making and ministry. This phase helps a ministry team think biblically about—why to make disciples, what a disciple is, how disciples are made, who makes disciples, and where to make disciples. The second phase is reforming our personal culture and making sure that we are demonstrating our convictions by how we live and minister to others. The third phase is loving, honest evaluation. This means we examine everything that happens in our church to see how well it reflects our convictions. Phase four is implementing and planning new pathways for making disciples. Maintaining momentum is the last phase where we review and look at obstacles and how to overcome them.
Each chapter ends with discussion questions and there are application projects. This practical book will benefit every missionary team who works through it and puts into practice the wisdom that Marshall and Payne have so clearly and compellingly expressed.
Reviewer rating is 5 of 5 stars ★★★★★
Discipling in a Multicultural World
Ajith Fernando (Crossway, 2019). 284 pp.
Fernando, Youth for Christ’s teaching director in Sri Lanka, gives us the fruit of 40 years of faithful discipleship ministry. Rather than offering a “how-to” manual, he gives biblical principles on discipling and shows how they apply in daily life and ministry. He presents discipling as a kind of parenting—something that is messy and inconvenient. Leaders must show that investing in others is a key aspect of ministry. Working in a largely Buddhist context, Fernando explains that we need to help new converts from non-Christian backgrounds honor their families. He has an excellent chapter on preparing new believers for suffering and persecution. He encourages us to be patient with those we disciple. The last chapter on healing for wounds is a wise reminder that helping new believers grow and be fruitful involves being agents of healing. Every missionary will find much profit in this excellent work.
Reviewer rating is 5 of 5 stars ★★★★★
Paradigms in Conflict: 15 Key Questions in Christian Missions Today
David J. Hesselgrave and Keith E. Eitel, editor (Kregel, 2018). 378 pp.
This expanded and updated edition of Hesselgrave’s 2005 work helps missionaries to think wisely as they face complicated questions. Six missiologists have contributed short reflections on the issues Hesselgrave addressed in the first edition and they add another five issues that are now influencing missions. There was not much new material in the original chapters, but several of the updates are incisive, especially the ones by Christopher Little on holism, prioritism, and incarnationalism. Little’s new chapter, “Is Creation Care Mission?”, is also worth careful study. This edition was published just after Hesselgrave’s death in 2018 and is a trustworthy guide for missionaries working through difficult issues.