Current Outline for The Scripture Way of Mission: Reading the Bible Missionally for the Church and the World
Here is my current tentative outline for my book on missional interpretation. It will be available in 2010 through Wipf and Stock. The book will be available in both North America and in the United Kingdom.
The Scripture Way of Mission: Reading the Bible Missionally for the Church and the World
By Brian D. Russell
Chapter One “The Centrality of Mission” examines mission as the center of Christ following movement. A missional reading of the Scriptures is the key to creating a missional ethos in our communities of faith.
Part One: (Re)aligning with the Mission of God
Part One of the book aims at facilitating a rediscovery of the Bible—not as a science textbook, a history book, a theology book, or even a devotional classic. The Scriptures are a narrative about God’s mission and God’s interaction and invitation to humanity to participate fully in the work of God. In Chapters Two through Seven, we will offer a reading of the grand story of the Bible from a missional perspective: Creation ? Fall ? Israel ? Jesus ? Church ? New Creation.
Chapter Two, “(Re)Alignment,” opens our journey through the Scriptures with the initial words of Jesus’ public ministry in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus launches his effort by proclaiming, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 4:17). This message illustrates a central thesis of Unleashing the Scriptures—the goal of biblical interpretation is conversion.
Chapter Three, “Creation, Paradise Lost, and the Mission of God,” explores God’s missional actions in creation. The highlight of Creation is God’s forging of humanity in God’s image to serve as a missional community to represent God’s character and intentions before the World. Creation is fractured by human sin and rebellion against God. This leads to the loss of paradise for humanity and the brokenness of creation. Even in the midst of this, God begins to reach out to work for the reconciliation and redemption of humanity and the creation itself.
Chapter Four, “A New Hope: Israel’s Calling and Covenant,” studies the role of Israel in God’s plan of salvation. Beginning with Abraham, Israel was called to serve as the vanguard of a new humanity that would participate in God’s mission. The Exodus from Egypt and Covenant at Sinai serve as ethos shaping events for understanding the identity and vocation of God’s people. God’s people were delivered from Egypt to forge an exclusive relationship with God and to serve as God’s missional community to the nations by embodying and reflecting God’s character in their corporate life.
Chapter Five, “A Peculiar People: Life as the People of God,” reflects on the successes and failures of Israel as God’s missional people. In Joshua—Esther, life in the Promised Land and the despair of Exile offer a compelling portrait of the potential and pitfalls of a people forged to fulfill God’s desires for Creation. The rest of the Old Testament serves as commentary on Israel’s story. The books of Psalms—Song of Songs contain the prayers of God’s people as a missional community and their reflections on life and love in conversation with the surrounding cultures of the day. Isaiah—Malachi serve to call Israel back to its roots as God’s people and to point forward to the coming age of salvation.
Chapter Six, “The Mission of Jesus the Christ,” focuses on the earthly ministry of Jesus. Jesus fulfills the mission of Israel and announces the arrival of God’s age of salvation. His life, death, and resurrection bring God’s mission to a climax. Jesus models humanity the way that God intended for it to be in all its glory and makes it possible through his death on the cross and resurrection for women and men to become fully human again.
Chapter Seven, “The Mission of God’s New Humanity,” explores the contours of the New Testament. The New Testament is the story of the mission of God’s New Humanity. In response to the resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, followers of Christ were unleashed into the 1st century world to extend the Gospel explicitly and intentionally to the cultures surrounding Israel. The mission was simple: Make disciples. The struggles and controversies that sparked the writing of the books of the New Testament offer profound reflection for the practice of mission in the early church. God’s mission to restore humanity continues until the creation of a New Heaven and Earth.
Part Two: Reading the Bible for the Mission of God
Part Two of The Scripture Way of Mission focuses on specific practices for unleashing the missional message of the Scriptures into our lives and the lives of our communities of faith. If God’s mission is the core theme of the Scriptures, then it must become the focus of our reading and teaching of Scripture.
Understanding the centrality of mission in the Scriptures demands action. It is not enough to understand that mission stands at the center of the biblical witness. Our use of Scripture must (re)align with the Bible’s overarching aim of creating and shaping a missional community to reflect and embody God’s character to and for the World. This message needs to permeate throughout existing communities of faith and be experienced anew by those outside of these communities. In short, we must be reconverted to God’s mission and allow God to deploy us as agents of change in our communities and as ambassadors for God to those on the peripheries of our communities.
Chapter Eight, “Scripture Unleashed: Learning to Speak Human,” provides a method for engaging in the missional reading of Scripture. It will offer a step-by-step guide for reading the Bible through the lens of mission. It includes practical advice for transforming one’s current reading practices and for learning to read the Bible for humanity—for both insiders and outsiders to the Gospel message.
Chapter Nine, “The Practice and Possibilities of a Missional Reading,” offers concrete examples of missional interpretation that will enhance your own ability to read the Scriptures and translate their message for humanity.
Chapter Ten, “Transforming Our Communities—Engaging the World: A Conversion to Mission,” offers a framework for transforming Churches into missional communities. This chapter explores the role that missional interpretation plays in shaping a missional ethos in contemporary communities of faith and how this impacts the Church’s engagement with contemporary cultures. We will explore strategies for integrating a missional reading into all aspects of our communities.
Chapter Eleven, “Deployment,” brings Unleashing the Scriptures to a conclusion. It will summarize key findings and end with a challenge to those who teach and preach the Scriptures in local churches to unleash the Scriptures as a catalyst to mission.
What’s missing? Any suggestions?
© 2009 Brian D. Russell
[...] book on reading the Bible missionally Brian Russell (Asbury Seminary, Kentucky) has blogged about his forthcoming book on the missional interpretation [...]
Hey Brian,
The book looks fascinating! I’ve highlighted your post on my own blog to encourage others to engage with it. I’ll respond in due course; hope you get some helpful feedback.
Tim
Brian,
This looks great!
Really excited to see how this all comes together.
Matt
Brian - I’m really looking forward to your book. I’m working on a DMin final project at Fuller on missional preaching and I’d LOVE to access your brain on these things. Our church is 3 years into a 40 year commitment to the redevelopment of the city of Compton (home of NWA and gangster rap) and we just passed the mark of 50,000 volunteer hours put into the city. We’re constantly looking for theological and practical guidance on being missional so I’d love to hear what sources have been most instrumental to you. If you’d like any feedback on chapter 10 of your book, I’d be happy to chip in from a practitioner’s perspective, though neither I nor anyone here would claim any particular expertise.
bill white, Emmanuel Church, Paramount, Ca
Thanks, Bill. I will certainly keep you in mind. I will be looking for some readers for feedback. I appreciate your offer. Your D.Min. works sounds exciting. We need to touch base.
[...] contains some initial reflection on the topic of deploying a missional hermeneutic in exegesis. My book will include a full blown methodological summary and model for missional [...]
In your chapter on learning to speak human, does your method include telling the story of the Bible in a missional context? It seems that the human mind receives and responds to the story and reading the Bible missionally reveals as amazing story of a seeking God.