Review & Expositor

In this article the thesis is set forth that the old idea of the Bible Belt of the South has to be replaced with new imagery in light of migration trends, secularization, and cultural shifts occurring in the United States. The concept of sandals suggests the idea of the “going dimensions of the Great Commission.” Developing cross-cultural competency as we travel along in mission requires an incarnational journey into the ethos of other people and another world.

Postmodernism is not just a North American or Western European phenomenon. The same characteristics of postmodernity that mark European or American culture can be found in many other parts of the world. This essay uses the culture of Brazil, South America's largest country, as a matrix for illustrating the postmodern turn within individuals and society. Following a description of selected aspects of life in Rio der Janeiro, the essay continues an earlier discussion by the same author concerning how the Church must do missions in the context of a postmodern world. Stories of various Brazilian congregations, Christians, and church leaders—including several Baptist missionaries to Brazil—are related in order to “give a human face” to the theological and methodological principles that make missions possible in a postmodern world.

An interesting discourse has emerged in the past few years that is bringing the discipline of missiology into conversation with the discipline of ecclesiology in relationship to understanding congregations. Growing out of this conversation is a conception of a missional church that stands in contrast to an understanding of a corporate church. This essay identifies the primary differences between these views and assesses their implications for congregational ministry. The position taken is that decades of trying to fix the denominational, organizational approach to church—a corporate understanding of church, through movements of renewal, growth, and effectiveness has been largely misdirected. Now, deeper and more basic issues are being addressed that relate the essential missionary nature of the church to a Trinitarian understanding of the mission of God in the world, one that is grounded in the Kingdom of God as announced by Jesus.

In contemporary usage the language of evangelism is often estranged from its biblical foundations and used in polemics. This article expands notions of evangelism to include the holistic proclamation of the kingdom of God, thus reuniting the term with biblical foundations. Helen Barrett Montgomery (1861–1934) makes a significant contribution to this effort both in her ministry and writing. Probably best known for her New Testament translation, perhaps the first by a female scholar, Montgomery's text The Bible and Missions offers a biblical theology of mission and evangelism that highlights the significance of the kingdom of God for shaping such practices.

The 21st century is poised to present challenges to mission that we cannot yet imagine. These challenges will impact the way in which churches think about their role within the missio Dei. What are the hurdles that will need to be overcome? How will the missional church communicate the good news? What will be the character of the church that takes seriously the Kingdom of God? How will churches think theologically about mission in the 21st century? A primary task for the church of the 21^st century will be to rethink mission and to move beyond tradition, old programs, and structures that may have limited mission in the past.”