The Essence of the Church

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Richard J. Mouw

“An important next step in the recovery of the church in North America. A helpful theological and biblical way for us to think about the implications of becoming missional.”

Rev. Alan Roxburgh

“Wrestles in a fresh way with the ancient problem of the Christian church: that it is both spiritual and social, both the work of the Holy Spirit and a human organization working in society. All who care about the way the promise of God for the world expresses itself in human community and human witness will be helped by his study.”

Dr. Charles C. West

“What lay leaders are saying about this book “As a layman serving in leadership roles of local churches, I have felt the need for a biblical foundation upon which the Holy Spirit could build a local ministry unique to time and place yet set upon the solid foundation of Scripture. Van Gelder provides this biblical basis.”

Charles M. Bollar Jr.

“A constructive and stimulating contribution to the growing conversation about the missionary vocation of the church in North America. Introduces perspectives into the conversation that will assist in the movement of the church towards its missional vocation.”

Dr. Darrell L. Guder

“What pastors are saying “A primer for rethinking the nature of the church in North America. This is better than seminary, better than journals, better than ten big books a year. Put in the hands of lay leaders, this book will create a revolution of new thinking, understanding, and learning in the church in North America.”

Rev. David Risseeuw

“This fine introduction to thinking about the church helps us understand how biblical, historical, and contextual forces shape the church’s self-understanding. A danger to the status quo and foundational for reshaping the church.”

Rev. Dirk Hart

“At a time when church leaders are more inclined to seek after the latest ministry trend than to discern the Spirit’s leading, Van Gelder is a direction setter. Affirming the essential missionary nature of the church, this book will keep the church on course in the twenty-first century.”

Don Posterski

“The people of God have too long been frozen out of their rightful calling as the most exhilarating project God has conceived in our day and age. Practitioners of ministry will be well served by this reasoned and well-crafted primer on the central calling of our faith.”

Rev. Doug Ward

“A challenge to contemporary North American functional and organizational approaches to the church. A clear call from a biblical and missiological perspective to right imbalances within the contemporary Western church.”

Rev. Dr. Mary Lou Codman-Wilson

“Calls us to respond to the North American context in which the church finds itself as fully in a ‘missionary situation.’ Helps us discern the missiological interrelationships of the church’s nature, ministry, and organization as it fulfills God’s call to mission in a post-Christian world.”

Rev. Eugene Heideman

“Most church leaders acknowledge that the church needs to change. This book helps us build the foundation for a sound missiological ecclesiology so we may become re-engaged in God’s mission among us.”

Rev. James H. Furr

“What mission organization leaders are saying “When facing difficult decisions, pastors and lay leaders need help from many places at once, such as the Bible, theology, management, missiology, and sociology. Van Gelder brings together insights from these fields and presents them in ways that are both readable and practical.”

Rev. James M. Phillips

“Most pastors I know are stressed because they are taught that they need to be successful. They say, ‘If only I had the key to help my church grow or perhaps the right organizational grid or . . .’ Van Gelder cuts through this false, secular notion and helps church leaders formulate the right questions.”

Rev. John McLaverty

“We need to again gain clarity on both the nature of the church and the nature of her mission. Van Gelder brings such clarity through his multidisciplinary study and effectively argues that a missiological ecclesiology can bring light instead of heat in reflecting on the nature, ministry, and organization of the church.”

Rev. Jul Medenblik

“What professors of mission are saying “Eureka!!—a book which officiates the long-awaited wedding of ecclesiology and missiology. Behold, a missiological ecclesiology! What Van Gelder has joined together, let no theologian put asunder!”

Dr. Justice C. Anderson

“Offers church leaders hope by showing how the church of Jesus Christ has always been and will continue to be built through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. As a church planter, it left me hungering to see how the Spirit will organize our newly emerging congregation into a visible missional community.”

Rev. Ken Nydam

“An important statement on the missional nature of the church within the context of North America. Challenges the how-to books that skip the discussion of what the church is and go directly to what the church should do and how it should organize.”

Rev. Lois Barrett

“A valuable contribution to discussions about the church in North America’s changing cultural context. Offers challenging new insights for integrating an understanding of the biblical nature of the church with the practice of ministry. Essential reading.”

Meri MacLeod

“An excellent history of ecclesiology. Van Gelder helps us see the changing assumptions of church organization through the years. An important reflection on the missional nature of the church. Every missiologist should read it.”

Rev. Robert J. Scudieri