The earth is the Lord’s

MISSION MATTERS
Love Says Go.
By Tim Chester
IVP/Keswick. 155 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 783 592 807

I have a confession to make: I have a number of Tim Chester books on the go, each with a bookmark half way through. They’re all so engaging, but somehow the next one distracts me before the previous one is finished. I want to shout ‘Time out!’ for three months so that I can catch up. (What is it about Christian authors called Tim? They just can’t stop publishing!)

So why read this one as well? Because UK churches, and especially pastors, really need it right now. World mission is off most people’s agendas and gets treated as a specialist job for mission agencies. To be frank, most pastors don’t get it, nor do many Christian conferences. Tim places world mission where it should be: right at the heart of the local church, as a job for everyone.

Crossing cultures

This is not a book about being missional. This is a book about cross-cultural world mission, with a passion for the nations, which grows out of the love of God the Holy Trinity for his world. Three opening chapters cover the Father’s love, the Son’s name and the Spirit’s power, covering the conversation in the world mission community over the last 40 years. I was glad to see Tim give a brief biblical theology of the nations – lacking in many individualistically minded books on mission – and overjoyed to read the chapter on church-based mission.

The second half of the book is packed full of practical wisdom, tackling well the issue of proclamation and social action and the needs of a changing world. Tim looks at the cultural and personal challenges of cross-cultural mission and finishes by challenging us to match God’s big ambitions. Written as one of several books by different authors that capture the ethos of the Keswick Convention, each chapter weaves in lots of unheard-of missionary stories you will want to quote and rejoice in.

Buy this book for your church elders and make sure it becomes the book of the term in your church. Everyone needs to read it, so make sure you finish it!