Great Story and the Great Commission, The: Participating in the Biblical Drama of Mission

Winner in the Missions/Global Church category of Christianity Today's 2024 Book Awards

In The Great Story and the Great Commission, Christopher Wright explains that how we read the Bible has a profound impact on how we understand what mission is. According to Wright, "People read (and preach) the Bible in tiny bits and pieces, for its promises or rules or doctrines, and fail to take it . . . as the true story of the universe, past, present, and future, within the plan and purposes of God--a story in which we are called to participate as coworkers with God."

Wright encourages us to explore the Bible's grand narrative and to bring the whole counsel of God in Scripture to our understanding of who we are and what we must do as God's people. He helps us understand mission in its broadest sense, including our creational responsibilities, by exploring the question, "How does our purposeful activity as God's people in God's world reflect the breadth of God's own intentions for his whole creation and all nations?" Wright's goal is to get readers excited about the dramatic vista of the whole Bible and to help them understand the breadth and depth of missional engagement that they are called to live as actors in that drama.

This book will appeal to professors and students of the Bible and mission as well as pastors, lay theologians, and other Christian readers.

176 pages.

Contents
Introduction
1. A Missional Hermeneutic of Scripture
2. The Great Story as a Drama in Seven Acts
3. What Does the Great Story Do?
4. The Great Commission and the Five Marks of Mission
5. Building the Church through Evangelism and Teaching
6. Serving Society through Compassion and Justice
7. The Goodness and Glory of Creation
8. The Goal of Creation
9. The Great Story, the Great Commission, and the Church's Mission
Index