“Hospitality,” he answered. That was not what I anticipated. I had just asked my new friend, a Chinese pastor serving in Hong Kong (25 years ago), about the harder parts of the ministry.

“It is part of our church’s mission to know each other better,” he explained, “not just to worship together in that rented schoolroom for two hours each Sunday morning. We want to walk with each other in Christ more personally, but how can we? Where? None of us have space for discipleship!”

I must have looked as confused as my middle-class American brain was. He explained: “Most of our members rent ‘coffin homes’ or other slightly larger single-room accommodations in high rises. They barely have enough room for a portable one-burner hob alongside their kids! Where our congregants live, no one has any place to host anyone else.”

Global Christianity. If we are willing to listen, I think God’s global family has a way of asking, “But do you really understand how to accomplish the mission here?” That presupposes we even understand precisely what “the mission” is, let alone the myriad essential topics related to it are if we are to engage it with responsible thinking and wise practice. The mission of the Church is vital to understand, as is missions, as is anything related.

1. This Journal’s Mission: Is versus Related

For over a decade, the Journal of Global Christianity (JGC) has sought to promote international scholarship and discussion on “key issues related to the mission of the Church.” In this volume alone, the contributors—men and women with various types of doctorates and experience in requisite fields—are from, have served in, or currently serve all over the world: Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Togo; Philippines and east Asia; Chile, Brazil, and Panama; Romania, the Netherlands, and the UK; and various minority- and majority-cultures within the USA.

All contributors hope to equip those laboring for the gospel around the world through careful extended research (Articles), thoughtful snapshots and reflections (Short Communications), and analyses of potential resources for the global Church (Book Reviews)—all on various exciting and challenging topics related to the Church’s mission.

Notice the repeated term “related.” It is important for at least two reasons.

For one, not all our readers—not to mention everyone you interact with—will agree on missio- definitions and scope: e.g., what is “the mission of the Church,” what is “missions,” who is a “missionary,” and even what is God’s mission? The next section provides some rough sketches of how people answer those is-questions. It also highlights the second important reason “related” is an important term: is-questions are not the only vital questions to ask if we are to carefully navigate and wisely practice all things missio-. In the final section, I introduce important explorations related to the Church’s mission in this volume of JGC.

2. The Church’s Mission Is . . . No, It Is . . . No, It Is . . .

The contents of this journal are worth careful consideration regardless of your definition and scope of missio- terms. That said, missio- terms and concepts are important. Sometimes they are not defined and parsed clearly. Other times, different resources do define and parse the missio- terms clearly but in such different directions that the big picture “clarity” is virtually opaque. Here are a few samples.

2.1  Evangelism and Frontier Evangelism

When some hear the terms “mission” or “missions,” their minds focus on evangelizing people who have never heard of Jesus. Some of them nuance mission(s) in this way: “evangelism” is when you bring the gospel to people around you, but “missions” is when you bring the gospel to peoples (people groups) on unreached frontiers. Go-to biblical texts are often Matt 24:14; Rom 10:13–15; 15:20–21; and 1 Cor 9:19–22.

Having lived and served churches in such places as Mississippi (USA), Chile, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ohio and Minnesota (USA), and having worked face-to-face with pastors in such additional places as Mongolia, India, Philippines, Turkey, Tanzania, Uganda, Romania, Brazil, and Panama, I have seen people in pulpits and pews around the globe commonly prioritize pioneering gospel proclamation as “mission” or “missions.” And some of the logic is compelling. Which seems like it should have priority, getting people into Christ or growing them in Christ? Helping even one more person be saved from hell or helping one more person who is already saved mature a bit more? When “mission” or “missions” is mentioned to many, the notion that helping others cross into new gradients of maturity in Christ seems relatively less crucial than helping people cross the boundary from eternal death into eternal life in Christ.

2.2   Discipleship and Frontier Discipleship

Others focus on go-to biblical texts like “the Great Commission” in Matt 28:18–20; Paul’s fuller-than-evangelism missio- pattern throughout Acts 13–20;[1] and Paul’s passionate missionary labor and goal that people would not merely be “saved” but also have “Christ formed in and among” them (Gal 4:19), even all the way to being presented “mature in Christ” (Col 1:28–29). Indeed, Paul felt he was not really “living” if he did not know if people already saved were “standing firm in the Lord” (1 Thes 3:9).

These people are convinced that the “mission” or “missions” should convey something a bit broader than evangelism, like discipleship. “Discipling all the nations” involves both making disciples (“baptizing them”) and maturing disciples (“teaching them all” that Christ has commanded). Thus missio- definitions among this group include evangelizing non-believers but also nurturing new believers and planting churches. (Some also include training church leaders.) Some of them nuance mission(s) in this way: “the mission of the Church” is discipleship anywhere, but terms such as “missions” and “missionary” should be reserved for the pioneering or frontier discipling work among unreached (or unengaged?) places or peoples.

2.3   Ministry in Christ’s Name

Still others have been persuaded that, in addition to all the gospel tasks mentioned in the first two categories above, we should see other “missions” within what God has “sent” the Church to do “in Christ’s name,” like bringing water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned—each of which Jesus also relates to eternal destinations (see Matt 25:34–46). And these Christ-centered mercy missions are to be done in one’s own neighborhood and throughout the world. Go-to biblical texts are often Matt 10:5–42 (and don’t forget v. 42);[2] Jesus’s stark statement that those receiving children in his name receive him (Matt 18:5–6), which is part of being disciples (Mark 9:36; Luke 9:46–48); and Paul’s pattern of taking care of the poor (Gal 2:10) and the struggling (1 Cor 16:1–6) alongside his other seemingly more “missional” gospel work.

2.4   Representing God in Christ in Everything

Still others wonder whether “mission” and “missions” should be broader still, though no less Christocentric. If I am intentionally representing God in Christ through my stewardship or governance of whatever arena God has placed me in—or can I say “sent” me into?—should I not consider myself in essence a “missionary”? Is missions not about proclaiming that God in Christ is King and portraying his character? If people are “sent” to do this through evangelism at home and on the frontiers (#1), discipleship at home and on the frontiers (#2), and other gospel-explicit ministries of mercy at home and on the frontiers (#3), then what about being “sent” to proclaim Christ’s reign and portray his character via counseling, engineering, overseas banking, local church planting, mothering, garbage disposal, pastoring, managing parks, fathering, being a chef, etc.?

Some may respond that these things are not the mission of the Church as much as personal callings as a Christian (or, sure, personal “missions” as a Christian). Others may push back by asking where exactly such Christians are supposed to get “equipped” to wisely represent God in Christ through their stewardship or governance in any sphere of influence if not, at least in part, the Church—which means the Church’s mission still seems inseparably related.

3. Does Is or Related Render an Issue More or Less Important?

Push a bit further for just a moment. Suppose our existence and work representing God in Christ (in anything we do) is a related- missio-issue rather than an is- missio-issue. Is it thereby less important for us to deeply explore for the sake of doing the mission or missions wisely? I do not think so. Set aside the following tidbits as worth pondering and discussing more later.

Have you noticed that the end of “missions” is global worship and the saints co-reigning with God and the Lamb forever and ever (Rev 22:1–5; cf. Rev 2:26–27; 3:21; 5:9–10; Rom 5:17; 2 Tim 2:11–12a)?[3] Have you noticed how such God-glorifying co-reigning (Rev. 22:3–5) is the final and global fulfillment of God’s original great commission for humans, which was to exercise dominion as God’s representative “image,” which in its context implied proclaiming God’s kingship and portraying God’s character to the watching world, which they were supposed to fill (Gen 1:26–28)?[4] And have you noticed how both the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul inextricably connect discipleship activity now (Jesus) and Christian living now (Paul) as of the same type of work, in the same category, as our end-time forever reign with Christ (Luke 19:15–17 and 1 Cor 6:2–3, respectively)?

The fact that the Bible’s bookends (not just Genesis 3 or 12 and Revelation 7, but Genesis 1 and Revelation 22) relate to the definition, scope, and practical doing of missio- (whatever that exactly is) raises huge questions. For example:

• What should evangelism look like, whether at home or on the frontier, if it is meant to aim at being saved into learning how to govern with Christ (Luke 19:15 – 17; 1 Cor 6:2–3) while being renewed according to the image of the Creator (Col 3:10)?
• What must discipleship include, whether at home or among unreached peoples, if its very design is to learn-and-teach how to follow and mimic in every situation the One who will in the end share his own Father’s throne with us—which was his intention commissioned in seed form in Genesis 1?!
• What might church planting or mercy in Christ’s name need to consider, whether at home or among unengaged peoples, if the High King of the beginning, end, and all in between is intentionally Fathering us by his Spirit via saving and training us in his Son toward a worshipful and regal eternity of reigning together?

This brief discussion of what is and what relates to “mission” and “missions” is actually meant to blur the lines a bit, not between what is missio- versus what relates to mission-, but on what is worth robustly researching and deeply discussing if we are to pursue the mission of the Church and missions with wisdom. This brief discussion also serves as a provocative introduction to the current volume of JGC and the contributions herein that are related to the mission of the Church for the sake of helping “gospel workers” around the world.

4. Contributions in this Volume

In this volume, we have three Articles, four Short Communications, and six Book Reviews that explore various important issues and resources related to God’s mission for his Church.

4.1  Articles

All over the world, Christians engage people committed to other religions who have their own sacred writings. Has God revealed (generally) aspects of himself and his ways within other religions?

Some people claim that such an idea is relatively new, even growing out of an increasingly pluralistic world and the rise of postmodernity. Dr. Timothy Tennent, in “Biblical Faith and Other Faiths: Examination of Historical Views of General Revelation Operative in the Context of Other Religions,” gives some historical guidance as to how Justin Martyr, John Wesley, and nineteenth-century fulfillment theologians have engaged this notion of general revelation in other faiths. It is certainly not a modern question and issue related to the Church’s mission.

All over the world, Christians should respond with gratitude to God’s (special) saving grace in Christ. But how? What are appropriate forms of gratitude to God’s unearned and unearnable grace? Should we stop with a warm internal feeling? With an articulated “thank you” given back? How about with a more-than-verbal gift reciprocated?

Some people claim that certain versions of reciprocal gratitude are simply inappropriate and by nature convert grace into something like “a debtor’s ethic.” Drs. Benjamin Shin and Ruth Whiteford, in “Relational Grace, Reciprocity, and Culture,” challenge us to consider that Western Christians and Eastern Christians (and any other culturally embedded Christians—which is all Christians) understand and express gratitude toward a gracious gift in different ways, and we should carefully examine which resonates more closely with the apostle Paul’s cultural context and his use therein of “grace,” “gift,” and appropriate versus inappropriate reciprocity.

All over the world, God cares deeply for the children within his Son’s communities of faith. How should the Church engage in care of such children? What about local church leaders? And how could pastoral training and other theological education engage in child theology within their higher educational programs and curricula? In “Start Small, Think Big: The Place of ‘the Next Generation’ in Biblical Higher Education,” Drs. Sara Sosa, Wendy Sanders, and Esther Zimmerman with others explore global interest in child theology as well as various institutional attempts (also global) to incorporate child theology in different ways within theological training programs.

4.2 Short Communications

This section of JGC is meant to provide thoughtful snapshots of notable resources, people, or topics in global Christianity. In this volume, Drs. Liz Mburu and Trevor Yoakum have kindly provided a summary of their important new book, African Pedagogies: A Fusion of Orality, Higher Education, and Pastoral Formation (HippoBooks, 2026). Dr. Isuwa Atsen has compiled “A Taxonomy of African Christologies within Global Evangelicalism,” which provides a necessary foundation for further analysis. One of our own editors interviewed Dr. Octavian Baban about the newly launched Bible commentary series in Romanian and for Romanian contexts. And Dr. Weymann Lee has given his reflections on retiring for a second time—i.e., retiring from his “retirement ministry,” which was to train pastors and other church leaders all around the Majority World who had little to no access to biblical training.

4.3 Book Reviews

Finally, one of the biggest factors around the world hampering local churches from accomplishing their mission and related work is a lack of sound (or any) biblical, theological, and ministerial resources in their leaders’ hands. Our Book Review editor, Dr. Tom Marinello, has not only compiled a helpful list of six books but this time reviewed all of them himself!

I am grateful to these men and women from around the world. They have thought hard and worked diligently to provide guidance that will strengthen the global Church. Whatever “the Church’s mission” is, and whatever “missions” is—and we do have some ideas—everything in this volume is related to helping you accomplish them with vigor, Scripture, and wisdom.