__Are we really fulfilling Jesus's final command?__   
Many churches in America today want to be powerful, relevant, and influential in personal and social transformation. A plethora of programs for outreach, discipleship, and spiritual disciplines are available at any bookstore and on countless websites. Yet what we need most is a renewed understanding of and commitment to the Great Commission. We assume that we already know the nature of this commission and the appropriate methods of carrying it out.  
  
But Michael Horton contends that it too often becomes our mission instead of God's. At a time when churches are zealously engaged in creating mission statements and strategic plans, he argues that we must ask ourselves anew whether we are ambassadors, following the script we've been given, or building our own kingdoms with our own blueprint.   
  
Pastors and church leaders will value this frank and hopeful next-step exploration of the Great Commission as a call to renewed understanding and good practice.  
  
"Mike Horton has written the best book I've ever read on the Great Commission. Mike demonstrates in delectably deep and down-to-earth ways that no matter how hard we try or how 'radical' we get, any engine smaller than the gospel that we depend on for power to do what God has called us to do--most importantly, the Great Commission--will conk out."--__Tullian Tchividjian__, senior pastor, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church; author, Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels

Michael Horton (PhD, University of Coventry and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford) is J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. He hosts The White Horse Inn radio broadcast and is editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. He is the author/editor of more than twenty books, including Christless Christianity and The Gospel-Driven Life.

__Whose kingdom are we building? God's? Or our own?__   
"A rigorous yet accessible exegesis of both the Great Commission and contemporary Western culture. Today's evangelicals all too often retreat from mission in light of social pressures or rush forward with a faulty missionary enterprise that is untethered from theology, unconcerned with discipleship, and obsessed with quantifiable results. Against this backdrop, Horton calls us to recover a biblical understanding of mission and restore its centrality in the life of the church. The Gospel Commission is filled with both penetrating analysis and pastoral guidance, and I recommend it enthusiastically."--Doug Birdsall, chair, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization  
  
"Writing from the perspective of one who for more than fifty years has been involved in helping people in Africa know God through Bible study and acts of mercy, this book on missions by Michael Horton is the most comprehensive, helpful, and encouraging I have ever read. All mission sending agencies and their long and short-term missionaries should read it. It will be required reading for Rafiki's missionaries and should be read by anyone who wants to participate in Christ's great commission."--Rosemary Jensen, founder and president, Rafiki Foundation, Inc.

__Michael Horton__ (PhD, University of Coventry and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford) is J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. He hosts The White Horse Inn radio broadcast and is editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. He is the author or editor of more than fifteen books, including Christless Christianity and The Gospel-Driven Life.

Many churches in America today want to be powerful, relevant, and influential in personal and social transformation. But whose kingdom are we building? God's? Or our own? A plethora of programs for outreach, discipleship, and spiritual disciplines are available at any bookstore and on countless websites. Yet what we need most is a renewed understanding of and commitment to the Great Commission. We assume that we already know the nature of this commission and the appropriate methods of carrying it out.  
  
But Michael Horton contends that it too often becomes our mission instead of God's. At a time when churches are zealously engaged in writing up mission statements and strategic plans, he argues that we must ask ourselves anew whether we are ambassadors, following the script we've been given, or building our own kingdoms with our own blueprint.   
  
Pastors, church leaders, and readers of Horton's Christless Christianity and The Gospel-Driven Life will value this frank and hopeful exploration of the Great Commission as a call to understanding and good practice.

Well-regarded Reformed thinker and author directs readers to a renewed biblical understanding and practice of the Great Commission.

Horton, Michael

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part One: The Great Announcement

1: Before You Go

2: Exodus and Conquest

Part Two: The Mission Statement

3: An Urgent Imperative

4: One Gospel and Many Cultures

5: The Goal

Part Three: The Strategic Plan

6: How to Make Disciples

7: Disciples and Discipline

8: The Great Commission and the Great Commandment

9: Mission Creep

10: Until He Comes

About the Author

Back Ads

Notes

Many churches in America today want to be powerful, relevant, and influential in personal and social transformation. But whose kingdom are we building? God's? Or our own? A plethora of programs for outreach, discipleship, and spiritual disciplines are available at any bookstore and on countless websites. Yet what we need most is a renewed understanding of and commitment to the Great Commission. We assume that we already know the nature of this commission and the appropriate methods of carrying it out.  
  
But Michael Horton contends that it too often becomes our mission instead of God's. At a time when churches are zealously engaged in writing up mission statements and strategic plans, he argues that we must ask ourselves anew whether we are ambassadors, following the script we've been given, or building our own kingdoms with our own blueprint.  
  
Pastors, church leaders, and readers of Horton'sChristless ChristianityandThe Gospel-Driven Lifewill value this frank and hopeful exploration of the Great Commission as a call to understanding and good practice.

Eden Customer

This book is a comprehensive look at the Great Commission from the standpoint of an evangelical (Presbyterian Reformed) American context and it makes many good points. It is however a bit of a ramble, and on the way Horton conversationally offers his opinions on everything from the sacred nature of Sunday to the vacuous nature of the goal of evangelical reunion. His basic thesis is that the church suffers from mission creep - that is, it does all the sorts of things it hasn't been mandated to do, and neglects those which it has. 'Disciples' is a bit of a catch all term - the book is really what the church is and should be doing, or rather not doing. If you were raised in a conservative evangelical background with an emphasis on getting saved, an individualistic approach to your faith and a desire to build the kingdom through your own efforts; and you are comfortable with the kind of rather in-house vocabulary used in that kind of setting, then this books will offer a helpful and detailed challendge to your assumptions.

This book will offer a helpful and detailed challenge to your assumptions

The Good Book Stall

Horton is from the USA, has a PhD from Coventry University in the UK, and is now professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. This book comes with commendations from the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and the chair of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. It's a comprehensive look at the Great Commission from the standpoint of an evangelical (Presbyterian Reformed) American context and it makes many good points. It is however a bit of a ramble, and on the way Horton conversationally offers his opinions on everything from the sacred nature of Sunday to the vacuous nature of the goal of evangelical reunion.  
  
His basic thesis is that the church suffers from mission creep – that is, it does all sorts of things it hasn't been mandated to do, and neglects those which it has. "Disciples" is a bit of a catch all term - the book is really about what the church is and should be doing, or rather not doing.  
  
If you were raised in a conservative evangelical background with an emphasis on getting saved, an individualistic approach to your faith and a desire to build the kingdom through your own efforts; and if you are comfortable with the kind of rather in-house vocabulary used in that kind of setting, then this book will offer a helpful and detailed challenge to your assumptions.

The Gospel Commission

The Gospel Commission [eBook]

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