Understanding Christian Mission

Christianity Today 2014 Book Award Winner

Named one of Ten Outstanding Books of 2013 for Mission Studies, International Bulletin of Mission Research

This comprehensive introduction helps students, pastors, and mission committees understand contemporary Christian mission historically, biblically, and theologically. Scott Sunquist, a respected scholar and teacher of world Christianity, recovers missiological thinking from the early church for the twenty-first century. He traces the mission of the church throughout history in order to address the global church and offers a constructive theology and practice for missionary work today.

Sunquist views spirituality as the foundation for all mission involvement, for mission practice springs from spiritual formation. He highlights the Holy Spirit in the work of mission and emphasizes its trinitarian nature. Sunquist explores mission from a primarily theological--rather than sociological--perspective, showing that the whole of Christian theology depends on and feeds into mission. Throughout the book, he presents Christian mission as our participation in the suffering and glory of Jesus Christ for the redemption of the nations.

Scott W. Sunquist (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He previously served as dean of the School of Intercultural Studies and professor of world Christianity at Fuller Theological Seminary. Sunquist is author of The Unexpected Christian Century, winner of the 2015 Book Award for Excellence in Missiology from The American Society of Missiology, and the Christianity Today Book Award winner Understanding Christian Mission. He is also coauthor of the multivolume History of the World Christian Movement and coeditor of A Dictionary of Asian Christianity.