On the scope of the church’s mission.
CHR Comment: Peter J. Leithart offers an interesting and helpful theological review of Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert’s book, “What is the Mission of the Church?” Along with Leithart’s comments, one does well to see that DeYoung and Gilbert raise an important question for the modern church.
Historically we see that when churches become focused on social justice and ecumenism, they tend to lose focus on evangelistic mission work. Their efforts and energy make them more and more like secular aid societies—which can be great and wonderful things—but they lose interest in Jesus’ goal (and the Spirit’s goal) for making disciples. This is perhaps best illustrated by the increasing emphasis on interfaith dialogues and interfaith worship services where Christians and non-Christians profess a belief in the same God while describing God in obviously different ways or by their efforts to redefine God. The mission in these cases becomes peace with other religions and even an express desire to end mission work. See, for example, the article page in the link below about “Interfaith Relations Deemed More Important than Mission Work.”
church history review 