I Believe in the Great Commission

The "great commission" is Jesus Christ, the message as well as the messenger of salvation. A gift to the whole world, the promise of the gospel does not change, though its progress through history is spelled out in different contexts. Max Warren looks carefully at the New Testament mandate to spread the gospel and at the commission as understood and practiced by the church throughout history in its preaching, teaching, healing, and witness ministry. Addressing himself to believers troubled by what may seem an unmanageable burden in light of the bewildering events of this century, the author urges them to recover faith in an irrepressible God, whose mastery over history cannot be disputed. He pays critical attention to contemporary options for dealing with religious pluralism, e.g., implications that sprang from theologies of liberation; from the belief that religious truth is relative; or from the image of the church as the "sacrament of humanity." Warren sees several indications of the divine imprint in today's world, among which are the growth of compassion, even amidst increasingly violent societies; the search for unity--social, political, and religious; and the passion for justice, particularly evident in the global concern for the plight of "third wolrd" nations. Christianity's past, present, and future are summed up in the great commission, which enables and instructs the faithful to imitate Christ's love for all his people.