Paul's Missionary Methods: In His Time and Ours Paperback – December 19, 2012

One hundred years after Roland Allen's immensely popular book Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours? was published, Robert Plummer and John Mark Terry revisit the insights of Allen from a modern perspective in their Paul's Missionary Methods: In His Time and Ours. The book has chapters from several contributors and the editors divide the material into two sections: Paul in the New Testament and Paul's Influence on Missions.Paul in the New Testament: this section focused on Paul's message in the first century context.Paul's missionary work focused on regions with certain similarities: "provinces that contained a Roman administration, Greek culture, and Jewish influence and that bustled with commercial activity." Allen speculated that "these centers were the more conducive to promoting the gospel in its wide environs." Though Paul went to Gentile regions and communicated in ways that were understandable to Gentiles, he identified himself as Jewish teacher and often began his work in an area at the synagogue, spoke in the international language of Greek, and seemed to engage anyone who would listen, "men and women, rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles, in the synagogue and in the marketplaces and in homes."Paul sees missionary work as "laying the foundation" through proclamation, but reminds readers that God causes the growth. His goal is boldness and faithfulness to the message to win as many people as possible, not pragmatic effectiveness.Benjamin L. Merkle's chapter on ecclesiology is especially helpful for cross-cultural ministers. For some reason the disorientation that comes from living cross-culturally causes workers to either assume that their home church structure should be wholly adopted into the new culture or wholly ignored as irrelevant to the new culture. Merkle offers clear New Testament handles that are especially useful for cross-cultural ministers as they give instruction in a context where the gospel has not been established.Christoph W. Stenschke's chapter on the mission of the church gives practical instruction for churches in being involved in mission. His insights on a church's mission commitment, financial maintenance of missionaries, supplying co-workers, prayer for unbelievers, and prayer and encouragement of missionaries are useful for any church.Paul's influence on Missions: this section focused on Paul's strategy in missions. Did he really have one and does it apply today?David Hesselgrave's chapter focused more on continuing Allen's principle of "Generational Resubmission" (a re-examining of ministry principles in the context of a new generation) that were relevant to Allen's work in 1912, but even more in around 1960 when his book become much more popular. For today Hesselgrave recommends resubmission for examination such current issues as: Evangelicals and Catholics Together, New Perspectives on Paul, The Emerging Church, Supersessionism and "Replacement Theology", and Revisionist Holism.The authors draw principles of missionary strategy from Paul's teaching and example. He saw his role as an itinerant church planter that worked on a team, went to more responsive people within hub cities in concentrated area, appointed and developed local indigenous elders to lead churches that are properly contextualized to their culture according to God's Word, and financed with local (and not dependent upon outside) resources.The only beef I have with the book is that it tries too hard to both be the new "Missionary Methods" for today and at the same time honor Roland Allen. At times when reviewing a missions principle, the authors seemed just as concerned to confirm that Roland Allen would have agreed as the New Testament.I recommend this book to those who have enjoyed Roland Allan's Missionary Methods and those who want to get a handle on New Testament principles in cross-cultural ministry.

This book is an essential primer on missionary method. I was at a disadvantage because I have not already read Roland Allen's book, but this is good as a stand alone. I am confident that I am thoroughly prepared for that classic. And I desire to read it soon. I will definitely make use of this book whenever I teach on missions in my church. It is an indispensable missions resource.

It is an understatement to merely say Allen was a pivotal voice. He put together ideas which continue to unfold today. This reflection upon Allen's work is a fantastic refresher and modern discussion of his writings. I found that it reminded me of many of Allen's great observations while adding another beneficial dimension. I would enthusiastically recommend this great work to anyone engaged in missiological activity (ex. Pastors, Church Planters, Missionaries, and all Non-Vocational Gospel Stewards).

Just over 100 years ago, Roland Allen wrote a book called Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours? Though it took a few years for everyone to catch up to Allen's insights, when they did, his book became a missiological classic.Now, 100 years later, Robert L. Plummer and John Mark Terry have edited a collection of essays that revisits Allen's book. As they explain in the introduction, several questions prompted their study (9):What contributions has it made to missiology?How has Allen affected New Testament study?Are the teachings found in his book still valid today?In what ways do our current missiological questions and concerns differ from Allen's day?To answer these questions and more, Plummer and Terry assembled a team of missionaries, pastors, scholars, and church planters to interact with both Allen's book and Paul's message and methods. Plummer edited the section of the book on the former, Terry the latter.In Plummer's section, the important questions animating the study are (9-10):What was Paul's gospel?How did he envision the organization of the churches that he started?How were these churches related to the ongoing advance of the gospel?For Paul, what is the role of suffering in missions?A team of mostly New Testament scholars wade through these questions and others starting with Michael F. Bird's essay "Paul's Religious and Historical Milieu." From here we go on to look at Paul's missionary career (Eckhard Schnabel), his gospel (Plummer), his doctrine of the church (Benjamin Merkle), his understanding of his own mission and that of the church universal (Christoph Stenschke), his theology of suffering (Don Howell Jr.), and his understanding of spiritual warfare (Craig Keener).In Terry's section, the important questions for study are (10):Did the apostle Paul have a strategy? If he did, what was it?Is Paul's strategy still applicable today?For these questions, a team of mostly missiologists are brought in. David Hesselgrave answers the question of whether or not Paul had a strategy (short answer: yes). Then, Michael Pocock (from my alma mater) discusses whether or not Paul's strategy is still determinative for us, and to what extent. Terry then explores Paul's example when it comes to indigenous mission, followed by a chapter on Paul and church planting from Ed Stetzer and Lizette Beard. The ever thorny issue of contextualization comes up next and is handled by M. David Sills before the section is closed out by Chuck Lawless' examination of Paul and leadership development. The book is then brought to an end by a brief postscript from J. D. Payne on the legacy of Roland Allen's book.I found this book to be particularly interesting. The essays are for the most part right around the 10 page mark. They simultaneously provide a window in Paul's thought and method, as well as Allen's contribution. Most of the essays give nod to Allen without extensively interacting with him. The exception would be Hesselgrave's article which follows Allen's lead closely and then moves beyond his initial insights. The whole second half of the book in general has this feel to it, i.e. "Allen started the conversation and now we're reflecting on his work and advancing and critiquing it where necessary."Having not read Allen's book and only being a freelance missiologist on small scale, I don't have much to critique in this volume. It is highly accessible to pastors and Bible students and given its close reading of Paul, is a great resource for anyone entering into traditional mission work.My biggest takeaway was an appreciation for the format used in this book. By that I mean, here we have a solid collection of 21st century pastors and scholars interacting with a 100 year old book and paying respect to the author, while also advancing his insight. I think we would all benefit from more volumes of this type. It fosters a respect for older thinkers and their works and gives a new generation reason to not focus so myopically on the latest and most recently published work (which may be forgotten by next year). I know I'm particularly guilty of this kind of inadvertent "chronological snobbery," and while I wasn't riveted by the content of this book, I was impressed by these scholars' interaction with Allen's work.In the end, anyone who is interested in missiology primarily, and Paul secondarily, should check out this book. It covers a broad range of topics related to Paul's thought and method, as well as contemporary missiological issues. Drawing simultaneously from Allen's seminal work, and the apostle Paul's foundational methodology, the authors in Paul's Missionary Methods offer readers plenty of food for thought and practice.[A free review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher]