MISSIONAL PREACHING

Description

Pastor, professor, and missionary Al Tizon introduces the essentials of missional preaching and then offers chapters grounded in biblical themes for mission, including:

• Alternative Community
• Holistic Transformation
• Justice and Reconciliation
• Whole-Life Stewardship

To illustrate how those themes may be proclaimed from the pulpit, Tizon invited sermons from leading Christian preachers, including:

• Greg Boyd
• Shane Claiborne
• Brenda Salter-McNeil
• Ron Sider

Those looking for a resource which combines preaching with the aims of the missional church will appreciate Tizon's in-depth look at the integral relationship between the two.

Reviews

"In this book Al Tizon contends that the problem with much of today's preaching is that we have not allowed the missio Dei to permeate the message. Our sermons lack awareness of that which gives ultimate meaning to the church—namely, the mission of God. And this lack of missional substance makes preaching boring and irrelevant—which means we need new definition of "church." Tizon makes it abundantly clear that mission is the interpretive framework from which all of Scripture derives its meaning. Without mission there is no church. Ultimately, the author is driving us back to New Testament preaching. This is a timely book addressing one of the most important issues of our time." —Bill Easum, President, 21st Century Strategies, Inc.

"Missional Preaching is much richer than its title suggests.  A gem in our time, this book addresses the real issues of how the church is to relate to the world as it engages in its missional task.  Deeply theological and biblical yet very accessible, the book grounds the church's mission in her sense of being and purpose in Christ, and not merely in her doing. 

With experience in urban and rural ministry, community development and holistic ministries in the United States and the Philippines, and training as a theologian, Al Tizon looks at the mission of the church, the missio Dei, as a way for the church to evaluate its history, identity, and community in order to live the gospel in the world today.  He does not skirt around the issues of pluralism but challenges us to engage in meaningful dialogue and prayer with different cultures and religions, reaching out from the strength of our foundations in the love of Christ for the world.  He maintains the values and commitments of the Christian community and paints the picture of a church that is well informed and full of the Spirit as she embraces others with genuine love and purposeful witness. Witness is explained in expanded ways that all Christians need to consider for living in today's world.

He confronts the pitfalls of doing missional work in culturally diverse settings with suggestions for becoming more effective.  He names the idols that become barriers to becoming a missional church and shows us the way forward.  He brings us into conversation with a vast diversity of other voices from different cultural perspectives, modeling for us the very things he writes about. Even where I differed with his theology or politics, I found the space (and grace) to disagree.

Each sermon in the book inspires and gives us different vision of mission that helps expand and refresh our understandings while providing excellent models and styles of preaching for our own growth as preachers.  In short, the arguments and format

"Missional Preaching is a book that truly fills a needed void in the missional conversation.  This book is not about the "how" of preaching, but the "what" and even more so, the "who" of preaching.  Emerging from his considerable experience as an academic, missionary and preacher, Al Tizon addresses preaching at its core, it's missional core!"—Rob Fairbanks, D.Min., President - Christian Associates International

"Al Tizon's Missional Preaching gives us a much needed resource.  He brings together critical theological and pastoral insights in ways that strengthen the call and practice of preaching for the sake of the Kingdom of God.  His honest, passionate and experienced pastor's voice is strong and encouraging.  He leaves us with the sense that the mission of God is not only urgent to share, but possible to enact.  Preaching has its essential contribution to make and Al Tizon helps explain why and how." —Mark Labberton, Ogilvie Associate Professor of Preaching and Director, Ogilvie Institute of Preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary

"If the conversation about the missional church is going move beyond the confines of the academy and into the life of local congregations, preaching will undoubtedly be one of the major conduits by which this occurs. In this volume Al Tizon provides a lively, holistic, and compelling description of missional preaching coupled with a set of illustrative sermons that admirably demonstrate the principles he articulates. It is a welcome addition to the literature on the missional church, but more than that, this is a book that can assist in bringing about the sort of transformation that the missional conversation has always envisioned."—John R. Franke, Theologian in Residence, First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, PA and General Coordinator of The Gospel and Our Culture Network.

"Al Tizon gets what lies at the heart of the missional movement—that it represents a sea-change in identity and life for the churches of North America. He also gets that once that is clear, preaching can never again be the same. With this book, Tizon makes a major contribution to the emerging field of missional preaching by focusing not on how but on what and why and to what end. Here is an overarching curriculum, in a widening evangelical vision, guided by the revelation of the missio Dei in the scriptures, a worthy conversation partner for day-to-day, week-to-week preacher-teachers of the church." — George R. Hunsberger, Professor of Missiology, Western Theological Seminary, Founding Coordinator of the Gospel and Our Culture Network

Author Bio