Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions?

By David Alan Black

Everyone is called to be a missionary, and that call comes at the same time as the call to follow Jesus.

The church in America has come to depend on professionals to do ministry. In many churches, the pastor, paid to do the job, is the one who is expected to carry out all functions of the church. But it was not always this way. Jesus came as God-in-the-flesh. The pattern portrayed in the New Testament is that every Christian is part of the body of Christ, and the function of Christs body is to be incarnational, to be Jesus Christ for the world (John 20:21).

Author David Alan Black takes on this attitude of outsourcing our mission in his shortest book, yet one he has said might be the most important that he has written: Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions? If you expect here a call to go to seminary and become a professional missionary, you will be sorely disappointed. Instead, Dave calls for us to replace outsourcing with insourcing. Instead of looking for professionals to do the ministry while the rest of us fill the pews, he is pointing us back to the Gospel Commission and the call on every Christian life to fulfill that Commission.

It is not enough in the 21st century to put a little bit of money into the church and expect the pastor and paid staff to do the work. Each one of us is called to also give of our time and talents. This little book might be dangerous. You may not be able to put it down without seeing your life radically changed. In fact, the book ends with a call to make precisely that promise.

So will you join the cause of global missions?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Energion Publications
• Release date: Feb 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9781938434655

David Alan Black

David Alan Black (ThD, University of Basel) is Professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. His recent publications include Perspectives on the Ending of Mark, Why Four Gospels?, and The Jesus Paradigm. He and his wife live on a 123-acre working farm in southern Virginia and are self-supporting missionaries to Ethiopia.

Book preview

WILL YOU JOIN

THE CAUSE OF GLOBAL MISSIONS?

DAVID ALAN BLACK

Energion Publications

Gonzalez, Florida

2012

Copyright © 2012, David Alan Black

Cover Design: Jason Neufeld (jasonneufelddesign.com)

EPub Edition

Print ISBNs:

ISBN10: 1-893729-18-4

ISBN13: 978-1-893729-18-6

Energion Publications

P. O. Box 841

Gonzalez, FL 32560

850-525-3916

www.energionpubs.com

To the memory of my translator James — brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier (Phil. 2:25) — who gave his all in the cause of the Gospel.

His name should not be forgotten.

FOREWORD

Christianity at its core has little to do with buildings, programs, or events. At its heart we find the MESSAGE of God — the unchanging, supernatural Gospel — which compels those changed by it to give their lives to the MISSION of God — the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

My friend Dave Black gets this. Don’t let the fact that he is a highly regarded Greek scholar, accomplished author, and winsome professor hide the reality that above all else he is a missionary. He and his bride Becky have been faithful missionaries to their neighbors and to the nations, including annual trips to Ethiopia.

Dave lives as a missionary because he is convinced that every follower of Christ above all else, regardless of vocation or location, has the high honor of serving Christ as a missionary. In these pages you will glean from his wisdom and feel his heart. We live in a time where the Western church is seeing a much needed, growing revolution shifting from professional preachers to living witnesses who live the mission. We need less superstars and more servants, and this book explains why.

If you follow Christ there is within you a fire, a passion for your life to matter for Him. It was Zinzendorf who said,

Reviews for Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions?

[Patty Nermal · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Simple and good read. It reminds us that we can all participate in God’s mission.