This scholarly book, Mission moves: Cultivating communities of the Gospel, published by AOSIS Scholarly Books, is the final result of a team-research project, done by ten Practical Theologians from three denominations in the Reformed tradition in South Africa. The authors posed the following research problem and-question: What would be the relationship (if any) between preaching (and the liturgy of which it is a part) and the development of missional congregations? And secondly, what kind of preaching and preacher would best serve (even facilitate) such a process of missional congregational development in preaching and worship?
Copyright © 2021 Malan Nel (Volume editor) of Mission moves: Cultivating communities of the Gospel
What an inspiring book this is! The title is moving and very descriptive of the content of the book. The authors – all practical theologians – engage excellently with the South African context and disseminate original research that will contribute immensely to missional orientated congregations. It shows how critically important local congregations are in missional thinking. To be missional is to be contextual. The authors confess the importance of servant-leadership, and that leaders and congregations must be trained in cultural intelligence. Although it is written from a specific South African perspective, the authors’ reflections are also translatable to other countries, both within and outside the African continent. The data assembled and reflected on in this text will be of significant use to faith communities in South Africa who want to build, develop, and cultivate faithful Kingdom seeking congregations. The book creates a platform for further and future discourse and research. The deep theological reflection and content will add knowledge to everyone who reads it, through the authors’ reflectivity on the different building blocks of what is required of ministry in its totality.
Dr Chris Jones, Department of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology,
Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa