Fall 2015 Reading List: Books on Missions

8 Must-Read Mission Books for Your Reading List

1. Ministering Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Personal Relationships

by Sherwood G. Lingenfelter and Marvin K. Mayers

“In Ministering Cross-Culturally, the authors demonstrate that Jesus needed to learn and understand the culture in which he lived before he could undertake his public ministry. The authors examine how this can help us better understand what it means to establish relationships of grace with those from different cultural and social backgrounds.”

2. Introducing World Missions: A Biblical, Historical, and Practical Survey

by A. Scott Moreau, Gary R. Corwin, and Gary B. McGee

“Introducing World Missions, the first volume in the Encountering Mission series, provides readers with a broad overview of the biblical, theological, and historical foundations for missions. It considers personal and practical issues involved in becoming a missionary, the process of getting to the mission field, and contemporary challenges a mission worker must face.”

3. Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches that Send

by J.D. Greear and Larry Osborne

“When Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission, he revealed that the key for reaching the world with the gospel is found in sending, not gathering. Though many churches focus time and energy on attracting people and counting numbers, the real mission of the church isn’t how many people you can gather. It’s about training up disciples and then sending them out. The true measure of success for a church should be its sending capacity, not its seating capacity. ”

4. Let the Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Missions 3rd Edition

by John Piper

“Let the Nations Be Glad! has become a modern missions classic. A trusted resource for thousands of missionaries, pastors, church leaders, and laypeople, it provides a biblical basis for missions and worship. This third edition has been expanded to include timely new material on the prosperity gospel.”

5. On Being A Missionary

by Thomas Hale and Gene Daniels

“Dr. Hale’s practical wisdom is here freely offered to the missionary-to-be and others interested in missions–wisdom hard-earned in Nepal on everything from calling to raising a missionary family to cross-cultural communication.”

6. Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility

by Duane Elmer

“Duane Elmer asked people around the world how they felt about Western missionaries. The response? ‘Missionaries could be more effective if they did not think they were better than us.’ The last thing we want to do in cross-cultural ministry is to offend people in other cultures. Unfortunately, all too often and event though we don’t mean it, our actions communicate superiority, paternalism, imperialism and arrogance. Our best intentions become unintentional insults. How can we minister in ways that are received as true Christlike service?”

7. Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence

by David Livermore

“Short-term mission trips are a great way to impact the kingdom. Yet they can lack effectiveness because of mistakes or naivete on the part of participants. In this insightful book, David A. Livermore calls us to serve with our eyes open to global and cultural realities so we can become more effective cross-cultural ministers.”

8. An Innocent Abroad: Life-Changing Trips from 35 Great Writers

by John Berendt, Dave Eggers, Richard Ford, Pico Lyer, Alexander McCall Smith, and Jane Smiley

“More than 20 well-known writers and celebrities share the travel experiences that shaped their personalities and changed their lives.”