"e;As the Father has sent me, I am sending you"e; (John 20:21). With the reality of broad-scale secularization in the West and the attendant cloud of insignificance hanging over the church, is there any hope for the re-evangelization of the West? In this comprehensive theology of mission, Ross Hastings directs the fretful gaze of the church to the trinitarian commission of John 20. There we find Jesus granting peace to his disciples by breathing his Spirit on them. He formed them into his community of shalom. Leaving their locked room, these "e;sent ones"e; went out to participate in God's own ongoing mission to the world. Hastings also tackles the dual challenges of isolation from and accommodation to the surrounding culture. Building on the works of David Bosch, Lesslie Newbigin, Christopher Wright and Darrell Guder, the author corrects numerous dichotomies that hinder the church. In the power of the Spirit the gathered church is spiritually transformed and also scattered as it proclaims God's forgiveness and freedom. This comprehensive theology of mission opens possibilities for renewal of faithful effort as we join in Christ's mission to the world.

Introduction1. The Greatest Commission2. Breaking free through discerning inculturation3. Breaking free of the entrapment of indiscriminate enculturation4. Greatest Co-mmission: The missional TrinityPart One: Discovering Shalom5. Communities of Christ's Risen Presence6. Mission of incarnation and resurrection7. Communities of Christ's Crucified Presence ... Beautiful Scars8. Mission about the cross, mission under the crossPart Two: Disseminating Shalom ...9. Communities of the triune missional God: mission the mother of theology, theology the mother of mission10. Mission in participation with the Son by the Spirit: the spirituality of mission as theosis11. Communities of the Spirit: gathered and scattered12. Communities of forgiveness: mission of absolution and freedom