Schell, Justin A. The Mission of God and the Witness of the Church. Short Studies in Biblical Theology 17. Wheaton: Crossway, 2024. 108pp excluding end matter.
Summary and Critique
Mission of God is a solid introduction to the goal, purpose, and method of missions. The salvation-historical approach that Justin Schell employs aligns with Scripture and with the approaches taken by the other books in the SSBT series. Schell’s thesis is that God is bringing many people into His family through His revelatory work.
Those who have read the previous 17 books in the SSBT series will find that there is almost nothing new in Mission of God that has not been previously stated. This is encouraging for the SSBT series in that all the authors are united in the Bible’s salvation-historical storyline and in God’s goal for his creation. However, it may hint that the editors are running out of topics for the series.
Overall, I recommend Mission of God as an introductory book on missions and evangelism that will provide a solid biblical foundation for the goal, purpose, and method of missions that can be built upon by more in-depth and robust scholarship.
Summary of Each Chapter
Introduction: The Mission of God
Schell’s methodological approach to the mission of God is an “evangelical and redemptive-historical” approach (9).
Schell defines the mission of God as: “God’s revelatory work intended to establish a divine-human communion within creation” (2). Schell elaborates on this definition with three points:
- Revelation is the activity of mission (2–3).
- Communion is the aim of mission (3–5).
- Creation is the setting for mission (5–6).
The mission of the church, then, is to witness to the revelation of God (6–8).
Chapter 1: The God of Mission
The mission of God is “to bring many sons and daughters into his family (John 1:12)” by revealing himself in time and space (19). God reveals himself in Jesus’ teaching, ministry, and person (15). The church, then, declares what God has done in Christ (20).
Chapter 2: Mission in the Garden
For mankind to be made in God’s image and likeness means mankind is to image, reveal, and witness to God (26). Being made in God’s image and likeness also means that mankind are God’s sons (at least before the Fall) and therefore are God’s vice-regents on/over the earth (27–28).
“Creation exists so that humanity might come into union with the triune God” (30). The garden of Eden was where God dwelled with mankind and the entire earth was to become like that garden (31–32). Adam and Eve participated in God’s mission by representing God as sons and priest-kings who reflect God and his reign in the world. “They were his witnesses in all creation” (32).
The Fall challenges God’s three-part mission:
- The revelation of God is challenged (32)
- Communion with God is impossible (32)
- Humanity is expelled from the garden, the place where God’s presence dwells (33).
Chapter 3: Father of All Nations
The promises of Genesis 12:1–3 to Abram set forth God’s method for accomplishing his mission. Schell sums up the call of Abram as follows: “the promise of the coming seed to reverse the curse is announced (revelation) in order that men and women might believe it and be brought into the family of God (communion) from every nation” (42).
Chapter 4: Yahweh Saves
The exodus is a typological event that reveals and predicts that God’s revelation of himself is the means for rescuing and communing with his people: “the Lord reveals himself to make it possible to dwell with his people in committed relationship” (54). “God’s saving work . . . is accomplished through the revelatory deliverance of God and results in the formation of a people in communion with God” (57). “The first exodus was a sign pointing to a future, global, and eternal exodus when God is revealed as our Passover Lamb (John 1:29; 1 Cor 5:7)” (57).
Chapter 5: Land and Exile
God has given three gifts to Israel to enable them to be his witnesses to the surrounding world:
- Law
- Temple
- Kingdom.
When stewarded and practiced according to God’s word, they produce a positive witnessing effect among the nations, drawing the nations to Yahweh. However, this did not happen and Israel was exiled from the land.
Chapter 6: The Great Commission
There is continuity and discontinuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament’s display of God’s mission.
- Continuity: “In both creation and redemption, God creates a people for relationship through his revelatory work” (69).
- Discontinuity: “God is preparing the world for the time when he will act definitively and finally to redeem a people for himself from all nations” (69).
“The Great Commission [Matt 28:18–20] is Matthew’s summary text to understand how God’s mission will come to completion and what it now looks like to join God in his mission as his people” (72). Jesus has all authority and is creating a “new Israel” of Jews and Gentile who will reflect and represent God in all the earth.
Chapter 7: The Church on Mission
“God’s mission now advances through the testimony of his Spirit-filled church in order to redeem a people for fellowship from all nations” (85). The testimony/witness of the church is Jesus’ death and resurrection (88). The church has been commissioned to witness by the power of the Spirit to the end of the earth (89).
Chapter 8: Mission and Consummation
The New Testament letters repeat what God has done and promised in the Old Testament and what was inaugurate by Jesus (99). The mission of God is fulfilled in Christ and the church is called to witness to this redemption (100). When Jesus returns, all of God’s people will dwell with him in the eschatological city—the New Jerusalem (103).
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