When Everything Is Missions

In an age of deconstruction and rethinking, the Church should not be surprised to find itself confused by words like mission, missions, and missionary. Some struggle to redefine these categories and some seek to reclaim them, while others reject them outright, with or without providing new terms to guide us forward. But words and their meaning matter; our confusion has a cost. Competing priorities pressure us to stretch our mission definitions as wide as they can go, releasing our people to creatively engage in service of every description. Some churches turn away from traditional mission efforts all together, giving preference to local service and evangelism while outsourcing any cross-cultural effort to those who surely must be more effective than we would be. As an unfortunate result of these tendencies, many of our churches lack a coherent, compelling sense of what we're all about as we engage with the world. And if we lose our scriptural moorings, how far will our missions efforts drift? Matthew Ellison and Denny Spitters call us to refocus our gaze on the gospel and the Great Commission. They assert that thinking must come before doing and shape our world mission practices and priorities. When Everything Is Missions is for church and ministry leaders and all who look to clarify their own answers to questions like these: What is the mission of God? What is the mission of the Church? Is every Christian a missionary?

About the Author :
Denny Spitters, Vice President of Church Partnerships for Pioneers USA, has served in many church staff roles as worship, missions, and small group pastor and understands the significance of missions in the local church. During his vocational ministry, Denny served on the staff of two mega-churches, directed a para-church ministry, and helped plant several churches. He also spent 15 years as a business owner. Matthew Ellison served as a missions pastor at a mega-church for nine years.During this time he realized that there was a growing wave of churches no longer content to only support missions. Instead they desired active global engagement. This led to the founding of Sixteen: Fifteen, where he serves as President and Church Missions Coach. Since 2004 he has been coaching churches across the United States, helping them to develop missions vision and strategy.

Review :
Denny Spitters and Matthew Ellison have done the churches of the new millennium a great service. When Everything Is Missions is just the book for churches struggling with how to envision and fulfill their part in God's global purposes in the world. -- Gary Corwin, Missiologist with SIM International and Associate Editor of Evangelical Missions Quarterly Spitters and Ellison have taken up the banner of giving much needed correction to misunderstandings and mistaken mission practices that have become prevalent in many church mission programs. Tactfully yet candidly, the authors tackle these issues in a clear and helpful manner. -- Marvin Newell, Senior Vice-President of Missio Nexus This book will sharpen your perspective, as a church or mission leader, with regard to one of the watershed issues of our time. -- Steve Richardson, President of Pioneers-USA Denny Spitters, and Matthew Ellison take on several critical "drift" issues. To this task they bring both biblical clarity and a passionate call for kingdom-minded churches to embrace the sacrifices required to make disciples and plant churches everywhere people are living and dying without a viable Jesus option. -- Jerry Trousdale, Director of International Ministries, Cityteam International; author of Miraculous Movements: How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims are Falling in Love with Jesus Denny and Matthew's love for the nations compels them to think deeply about what this means. This book will lead you into a conversation about missions. God's love for the nations demands our lives, our soul, our all. Grab this book to engage your heart and mind in deeper engagement among the nations. -- Pastor Phil Auxier, Crestview Bible Church in Hutchinson, Kansas This book will penetrate both pulpit and pew to provide a catalyst for world-rocking change. Read it and weep over our selfishness, then get going. -- Pastor Chip Lusko, Calvary Chapel As Matthew and Denny clearly demonstrate, the Western portion of God's earthly body has been infected with cultural values that downplay clear definitions and dilute distinctions that God has created to reflect His glory among the nations. -- Pastor Jeff Jackson, Shepherd's Staff Mission Facilitators