Mere Missions

12 • M ere M issions : M oving F orward to M ultiply

This small but remarkable text captures some of Bob’s wealth of insights drawn from his own careful biblical reflection as well as his rich and relevant experience in winning people to Christ. This book contains the most basic principles and truths of mission, i.e., the critical foundation of thinking why we should do Gospel missions in the world today. When many leaders and denominations are advocating for the end of classic Gospel mission (i.e., evangelism, discipleship, and church-planting), Bob advocates for a return to “mere missions,” a play on C. S. Lewis’s classic text, Mere Christianity . In the same spirit as Lewis’s key summary work, Bob’s Mere Missions lays out what must be considered as a crash course in biblical missions approaches and truths, making it an essential “Missions 101” text. Not just for those called to church planting and evangelism, this book should be widely read and studied by anyone interested in getting a firm grasp on the perspective, vision, and strategies to do effective twenty-first century cross cultural Gospel missions work. Starting from the assumption that biblical missions is still both valid and necessary in today’s world, he lays out an effective strategy that takes the apostolic witness and historical experience about the proclamation of Christ seriously. It is written with the clarity of a skilled practitioner and with the heart of an apostolically gifted leader with much to teach on how to represent Christ in unreached neighborhoods of poverty. Mere Missions deserves a slow, prayerful, and thoughtful read. It highlights the urgency for the Gospel in our ever-changing society and world, and bluntly identifies the vast numbers of people who have yet to hear of God’s love in Christ. He pulls no punches. For Bob, the stakes could not be higher, and this present time could not be more critical. Those of us who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ must redouble our efforts immediately to rediscover the nature of the missionary call and enterprise, and do all that we can to make our contribution count, while