Missional Church Reading Room (Goertz)

Note: this content was originally curated by Donald Goertz and is no longer being maintained. Some links may not work. Content posted for archival purposes only.

You will find that most of the links below to newer, published, copyrighted books and articles are sufficiently numerous--and the previews sufficiently generous--to allow all who have access to the World Wide Web to enter into some of the most exciting and important discussions about the church in our day.

Missional Church: Foundational Texts

• Barrett, Lois Y. and Walter C. Hobbs. Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness. Eerdmans, 2004.
• Bosch, David J. Believing in the Future: Toward a Missiology of Western Culture. Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series. Gracewing, 1995.
• Brownson, James V. et al., eds. Stormfront: The Good News of God. Eerdmans, 2003.
• Conder, Tim and Dan B. Allender. The Church in Transition: The Journey of Existing Churches Into the Emerging Culture. Zondervan, 2006.
• Chilcote, Paul W., Laceye C. Warner, eds. The Study of Evangelism: Exploring A Missional Practice of the Church. Eerdmans, 2008.
• Collier, Jane and Rafael Esteban. From Complicity to Encounter: The Church and the Culture of Economism. Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series. Continuum, 1999.
• Cragg, Kenneth. The Secular Experience of God. Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series. Gracewing, 1998.
• Guder, Darrell L. and Lois Barrett et al. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Eerdmans, 1998.
• Guder, Darrell L. The Continuing Conversion of the Church. Eerdmans, 2000.
• Harvey, Barry A. Another City: An Ecclesiological Primer for a Post-Christian World. Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series. Continuum, 1999.
• Hiebert, Paul. The Missiological Implications of Epistemological Shifts: Affirming Truth in a Modern/postmodern World. Continuum, 1999.
• Hunsberger, George R. ed. The Church between Gospel and Culture. The Emerging Mission in North America. Eerdmans, 1996; Bearing the Witness of the Spirit: Lesslie Newbigin's Theology of Cultural Plurality. Eerdmans, 1998.
• Kenneson, Philip D. Beyond Secularism: Re-Imagining the Church and World. Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series. TPI, 1999.
• McLaren, Brian D., A Generous Orthodoxy. Zondervan, 2006; The Church on the Other Side: Doing Ministry in the Postmodern Matrix. Revised. Zondervan, 2003.
• Newbigin, Lesslie. See both Newbigin.Net and Tyndale's Newbigin Reading Room for on-line materials by and on Newbigin.
• Pickard, Stephan K. Liberating Evangelism: Gospel, Theology, and the Dynamics of Communication. Continuum, 1999.
• Rouse, Rick and Craig Van Gelder, eds. A Field Guide for the Missional Congregation: Embarking on a Journey of Transformation. Augsburg Fortress, 2008.
• Snyder, Howard. The Community of the King. InterVarsity Press, 2004.
• Sweet, Leonard I., Brian D. McLaren and Jerry Haselmayer. A Is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church. Zondervan, 2003.
• Taber, Charles R. To Understand the World, to Save the World: The Interface Between Missiology and the Social Sciences. Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series. Continuum, 2000.
• Van Gelder, Craig. Confident Witness--changing World: Rediscovering the Gospel in North America. Eerdmans, 1999; The Missional Church in Context: Helping Congregations Develop Contextual Ministry. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007; The Missional Church and Denominations: Helping Congregations Develop a Missional Identity. Eerdmans, 2008.
• West, Charles C. Power, Truth, and Community in Modern Culture. Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series. Continuum, 1999.
• Wright, Christopher J. H. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative. InterVarsity, 2006.

Missional Leadership Resources

• Tyndale's Missional Leadership documents
• Tyndale's MDiv In-Ministry Resources for the Missional Church, including Missional Leadership Job Descriptors
• Creps, Earl, Dan Kimball. Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders. Jossey-Bass Wiley, 2006.
• Gibbs, Eddie. LeadershipNext: Changing Leaders in a Changing Culture. InterVarsity Press, 2005.
• Gibbs, Eddie. Preparing Leaders for an Emerging Church. In: Mission to the World: Communicating the Gospel in the 21st Century. Ed. T. Engelvisken. Oxford Centre of Mission Studies.
• Greenman, J. The Value of Mentoring (Tyndale)
• Guder, Darrell L. Walking Worthily: Missional Leadership after Christendom. The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Vol. 28 No. 3 (2007), pp. 251- ; Leadership in New-Congregations: New Church Development from the Perspective of Missional Theology. In: Extraordinary Leaders in Extraordinary Times: Unadorned Clay Pot Messengers. Ed. H. Stanley Wood. Eerdmans, 2006.
• Mancini, Will. Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement. Jossey-Bass, 2008.
• Roxburgh, Alan ALLELON -A Movement of Missional Leaders
• Roxburgh, Alan J. The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, and Liminality. Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series. TPI, 1997.
• Roxburgh, Alan, Fred Romanuk, Eddie Gibbs. The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World. Jossey-Bass Wiley, 2006.
• Sheffield, Dan. Leadership Requirements for the Multi-Cultural Congregation. McMaster Journal of Theology and Ministry, Vol. 5 (2002).
• Suderman, Robert J. Missional Ecclesiology and Leadership: Toward an Understanding of the Emerging Church
• Sweet, Leonard. AquaChurch 2.0: Piloting Your Church in Today's Fluid Culture. David C. Cook, 2008.
• Woodward, J.R. Re-envisioning the Church with the Help of an Ancient Master: Engaging in the Craft of Equipping(Leadership for the Missional Church), 2008 (.pdf)

Other Leadership Materials

• Hybels, Bill. Courageous Leadership. Zondervan, 2002; also When Leadership and Discipleship Collide. Zondervan, 2007.
• Quinn, Robert E. and Kim S. Cameron, Jeff Degraff, Anjan V. Thakor. Competing Values Leadership: Creating Value in Organizations. Edward Elgar, 2006.

Missional Hermeneutics

• Beeby, Harry B. Canon and Mission. Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series.Continuum, 1999; A Missional Approach to Renewed Interpretation, in: Renewing Biblical Interpretation. Ed. Craig G. Bartholomew, Colin J. D. Greene, Karl Möller. Zondervan, 2000. Ch. 13.
• Brownson, James V. Speaking the Truth in Love: New Testament Resources for a Missional Hermeneutic. Continuum, 1998.
• Missional Bible Study Questions (Tyndale's MDiv InMinistry Program)
• Redford, Shawn B. Appropriate Hermeneutics. In: Appropriate Christianity. Ed. Charles H. Kraft, Dean S. Gilliland. William Carey Library, 2005. Ch. 14.
• Ware, James P. The Mission of the Church in Paul's Letter to the Philippians in the Context of Ancient Judaism. Brill, 2005.
• Wright, Christopher. Mission of God. Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative. InterVarsity, 2006; see also edited extract; book review.
• Wright, Christopher J. H. Mission as a Matrix for Hermeneutics and Biblical Theology. In: Out of Egypt: Biblical Theology and Biblical Interpretation. Ed. Craig G. Bartholomew et al. Zondervan, 2004. Ch. 5 (limited preview).

Missional Theology

• Congdon, David. Primer on Missional Theology.
• Flemming, Dean. Theology of Mission and Missional Theologizing.
• Franke, John. Teaching Theology from a Missional Perspective.
• Guder, Darrell L. From Mission and Theology to a Missional Theology, 2002; see also copy, The Princeton Seminary Bulletin Vol. 24 No. 1 (2003).
• Langmead, Ross. The Word Made Flesh: Towards an Incarnational Missiology. University Press of America, 2004.
• Missonal Church Network: Theology
• Perriman, Andrew. Otherways: In Search for an Emerging Theology. Lulu.Com, 2007.
• Roxburgh, Alan. What is Missional Church? An Interview with Craig Van Gelder (17 min. video), 2007.
• Tienou, Tite and Paul G. Hiebert. From Systematic and Biblical to Missional Theology. In: Appropriate Christianity. C.H. Kraft, D.S. Gilliland, eds. Wllm. Carey Library, 2005. Ch. 8.
• See also Tyndale MTS Modular's Systematic Theology Page

Missional Education

• Aleshire, Daniel O. Earthen Vessels: Hopeful Reflections on the Work and Future of Theological Schools. Eerdmans, 2008.
• Banks, Robert. Reenvisioning Theological Education: Exploring a Missional Alternative to Current Models. Eerdmans, 1999.
• Detrick, Don. Developing a Missional Mindset. Enrichment Journal, Assemblies of God.
• Greenman, Jeffrey. Toward a Missional Paradigm for Theological Educational (Tyndale Seminary)
• Ott, Bernhard. Beyond Fragmentation: Integrating Mission and Theological Education. A Critical Assessment of Some Recent Developments in Evangelical Theological Education. Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, 2001.
• Penner, Peter F. ed.Theological Education as Mission. Neufeld Verlag, 2005.
• Savage, Carl, William Presnell. Narrative Research in Ministry. A Postmodern Research Approach for Faith Communities. Wayne Oates Institute. 2008.

Other Missional Articles and Books

• Bakke, Ray. A Theology as Big as the City. InterVarsity Press, 1997.
• Billings, J. Todd. What makes a church missional?
• Bliese, Richard H., Craig Van Gelder. The Evangelizing Church: A Lutheran Contribution. Augsburg, 2005.
• Campagnola, Shelly. Come to the Table: Landing the Missional Church in Canada (Summary)
• Clapp, Rodney. A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society. InterVarsity, 1996.
• Dawn, Marva J. Worship to Form a Missional Community. Direction, vol. 28.2, Fall 1999; Truly the Community: Romans 12 and How to Be the Church. Eerdmans, 1997; A Royal Waste of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World. Eerdmans, 1999; Is It a Lost Cause?: Having the Heart of God for the Church's Children. Eerdmans, 1997; How Shall We Worship?: Biblical Guidelines for the Worship Wars. Tyndale House, 2003; Joy in Our Weakness: A Gift of Hope from the Book of Revelation. Eerdmans, 2002; Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Turn-of-the-century Culture. Eerdmans, 1995; Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting. Eerdmans, 1989; The Sense of the Call: A Sabbath Way of Life for Those Who Serve God, the Church, and the World. Eerdmans, 2006; Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God. Eerdmans, 2001; Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society. Westminster John Knox, 2003.
• Guder, Darrell L. Church as Missional Community. In: The Community of the Word: Toward an Evangelical Ecclesiology. Ed. Mark Husbands, Daniel J. Treier. InterVarsity Press, 2005; Growing Evangelizing Churches. In: Teaching Mission in a Global Context. Ed. Patricia Lloyd-Sidle and Bonnie Sue Lewis. Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.
• Hall, Douglas John. An Awkward Church. "Theology and Worship Occasional Papers." Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
• Hsu, Albert Y. The Suburban Christian: Finding Spiritual Vitality in the Land of Plenty. InterVarsity Press, 2006.
• Keller, Tim. A Biblical Theology of the City.
• Migliore, Daniel. The Missionary God and the Missionary Church. The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Vol. 19 No. 1 (1998). Pp. 14ff.
• Murray, Stuart. Translocal Ministry After Christendom (see also other articles by Murray on this site)
• Prosser, Bo, and Charles Qualls. Missional Framework for Marriage Ministry. In: Marriage Ministry: A Guidebook. Smyth & Helwys, 2004.
• Putman, David, Ed Stetzer. Breaking the Discipleship Code: Becoming a Missional Follower of Jesus. B&H Publishing Group, 2008.
• Putman, David and Ed Stetzer. Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community. B&H Publishing, 2006.
• Rempel, Elise. Worship in the Missional Church.
• Samuel, Vinay, Albrecht Hauser, eds. Proclaiming Christ in Christ's Way: Studies in Integral Evangelism. OCMS, 2006.
• Senter, Mark, Wesley Black, Chapman Clark, Malan Nel. Four Views of Youth Ministry and the Church: Inclusive Congregational, Preparatory, Missional, Strategic. Zondervan, 2001.
• Schattauer, Thomas H. Inside Out: Worship in an Age of Mission, Augsburg Fortress, 1999.
• Snyder, Howard. The Missional Church and the Missional Life
• Snyder, Howard.  Creation Care and the Mission of God.
• Stetzer, Ed. Planting Missional Churches. B&H, 2006.
• Suderman, Robert J. Footprints: Indicators of a Missional Church.
• Suderman, Robert J. Navigating the Missional Church: Understanding the Journey.
• Towns, Elmer, Gary McIntosh, Paul E. Engle, Howard Snyder. Evaluating the Church Growth Movement: Five Views, Zondervan, 2004.
• Walls, Andrew F. From Christendom to World Christianity: Missions and the Demographic Transformation of the Church. The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Vol. 22 No. 3 (2001). Pp. 306ff.
• White, Randy. Encounter God in the City: Onramps to Personal and Community Transformation. InterVarsity Press, 2006.
• Empirical Indicators of a "Missional Church" (Gospel and Our Culture Network)
• See Tyndale's eJournal Database --search "missional" - approx. 80 full-text articles available. Note: for Tyndale students and faculty only. (Choose EBSCOhost database; log in; choose "EBSCOhost" and then "All" databases; over 170 full-text theological journals available to you from home; for a few additional journals, go back to Tyndale Journal Database and choose the ProQuest Religion or JSTOR databases); see list of Tyndale's academic ejournals with full-text articles for download.
• Theological Journals Search (theological journals for which full text is freely available on the Internet; search "missional; links to many good articles).

Religion in Canada

Missional Websites and Blogs

• After-Christendom Series (with great downloads -Stuart Murray)
• ALLELON -A Movement of Missional Leaders (Alan Roxburgh et al)
• Centre for Parish Development (with downloadable essays)
• Common Ground Journal
• Ekklesia Project (see Publications downloads)
• Emergent Village (Brian McLaren et al, with blogs, podcasts, etc.); see also Emerging Church Resources: A Beginners Reference Guide
• Forge Missional Training Network (Cam Roxburgh et al)
• Friend of Missional
• The Gospel and Our Culture (United Kingdom)
• The Gospel and Our Culture Network (USA)
• Lifeway Research - with Ed Stetzer's Blog
• Missional Challenge (Dave DeVries)
• Missional Church: A Primar, JR Woodward (definitions, extensive links - very good)
• Missional Church Center (Milfred Minatrea, Exec. Dir.)
• Missional Church Resources, annotated book list, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
• Missional Church Network
• Missional Living in Suburban America, Todd Hiestand
• Newbigin On-Line Bibliography and Documents
• New Monasticism (Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Shane Claiborne etc.)
• NextReformation (Len Hjalmarson; many impt. downloadable essays)
• Outbox: Missional Resource Blog (Presbyterian Global Fellowship)
• Resurgence Missional Theology Cooperative, Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church, Seattle)
• Tall Skinny Kiwi

Other Resources for the Missional Church

• Assessing your Church: Mission or Membership?
• First Hamilton [ON] Reformed Church. Sample Missional Church Vision/ Purpose Statement
• Congregational Assessment Inventories, Hartford Seminary
• Christian Faith and Postmodernity
• smallTall Music (Bryan Moyer Suderman's music for "small and tall" is explicitly missional)

Tim Keller - Characteristics of a Missional Church

• See Tim Keller's new book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age Skepticism. Penguin/Dutton, 2008 (Christianity Today's 2009 Book Award Winner for Apologetics/Evangelism).

For other video netcast conversations on the missional church, see Allelon Netcasts