For Further Reading About Missional Church

Click here to return to Jannie Swart's article, “What is Missional Church?”

Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site.

One of the frequent refrains we heard at the spring conference was a request for more reading materials on the missional church. While a fuller bibliography may be found in the back of Patrick Keifert’s recent book, We Are Here Now: A New Missional Era, the following list offers a place for readers to begin. Many can be purchased through our store; in those cases, links are provided.

Introduction to the Missional Church and Missional Leadership

Barrett, Lois. Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2004.

Guder, Darrell L., ed. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1998.

Keifert, Patrick R. We Are Here Now: A New Missional Era. Eagle, ID: Allelon, 2006.

Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier. Washington, DC: Alban Institute, 1991.

Roxburgh, Alan J. The Sky Is Falling: Leaders Lost in Transition. Eagle, ID: ACI Publishing, 2005.

Roxburgh, Alan J., and Fred Romanuk. The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006.

Going Deeper

Ammerman, Nancy Tatom. Congregation & Community. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Bosch, David Jacobus. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991.

Branson, Mark Lau. Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2004.

Guder, Darrell L. The Continuing Conversion of the Church. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000.

Hadaway, C. Kirk. Behold I Do a New Thing: Transforming Communities of Faith. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2001.

Heifetz, Ronald A., and Martin Linsky. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

Hunsberger, George R., and Craig Van Gelder. The Church between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1996.

Keifert, Patrick R. Welcoming the Stranger: A Public Theology of Worship and Evangelism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.

LaCugna, Catherine Mowry. God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.

Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1980.

Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1989.

Newbigin, Lesslie. The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1995.

Rogers, Everett M. Diffusion of Innovations. Fifth ed. New York: Free Press, 2003.

Sanneh, Lamin O. Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989.

Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004.

Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. 1st ed. New York: Doubleday/Currency, 1990.

Van Gelder, Craig. The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000.

Walls, Andrew F. The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996.