The Churches Mission in the World Research Paper

The Churches Mission in the World - Research Paper Example This paper will look at 2 of the most reliable and popular sources in the world of Christian literature regarding information on the church’s mission. These 2 sources are â€Å"Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World† by Robert E. Webber and â€Å"Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World† by Lee C. Camp. The chapters that are most appropriate for this paper’s questions will be taken studied and assessed. There will be feedback given on these sources and then the paper will provide its own reflection regarding the church’s mission. It will also explain weather or not it agrees with the information from the sources. It will take on these subtopics as such: Discussion on â€Å"Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World† by Robert E. Webber Discussion on â€Å"Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World† by Lee C. Camp. Reflection on both sour ces and personal feedback Discussion on â€Å"Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for A Postmodern World† by Robert E. Webber This paper took information from chapters 17, 18 and 19 from this book by Robert E. Webber as the portions of the book that most relate to the question this research is trying to answer. In this book, Webber’s approach on explaining the church’s role is mainly associated with evangelism or sharing the word of God. His approach in telling us about the church’s role starts with explaining some historical information about how the church’s evangelism began then moved to telling of evangelism’s progression and how this idea changed or evolved thru time. The book also provides information regarding the church’s shift in how it viewed baptism. According to the book, ancient churches treated baptism as the first step toward conversion, while the early church viewed baptism as â€Å"the culmination of a pr ocess of personal salvation†. (Webber 141-42) According to the book, this is also why the medieval church used force as a tool for evangelism. The book also tells us about the church’s role or its purpose. It tells us that there came a time where reform was needed in the church’s ideas and methods, but despite these reforms, the role of the church was still understood and still remained the same. In essence, the church’s role is to â€Å"Christianize† the world, all while emphasizing the importance of faith, rather than works. The reform movements worked toward letting people know that God initiates salvation. Many movements also worked thru evangelism in their own ways and making sure to introduce God and his teachings into society. The book tells us of â€Å"The great commission† which is the church’s ultimate goal, to convert people to Christ. (Webber 143) The book also tells us about â€Å"problems inherited from the enlightenment †. This tells us about the movement’s association with individualism as being the major problem in the situation. It tells us that this approach focuses too much on â€Å"You† and loses the ultimate message of the gospel. This section of the book also provides deeper differentiation between evangelical and Baptist movements. It provides us both the positive and negative sides of these movements as well as tells us about evangelism’s apparent separation from the church. Along with this information is the