Jake Taube wrote this on his blog. I wanted to make sure and share it with everyone of you. Also at the end of the article you will see that I want to give away several copies of the book. Read on to see how to get your own free copy.
Last week was an exciting one for me as CLC released my book ‘Send Me, I’ll Go’. A lot has gone into this project, and I’m very thankful for this new opportunity to talk about missions. As the purposes of the book and the purposes of this blog overlap considerably, I thought it would be appropriate to share some of the book’s content for readers here (an excerpt from the introduction is in the last section of this post).
Why did I write it?
Over the last several years, my wife and I have hosted many short-term missions groups. This has given us lots of chances to interact with a generation of young believers who are interested in missions (interested enough, at least, to come on a missions trip). And overall we have been impressed by how little consideration they have given to long-term missions service. So, first of all, I wrote the book to be a challenge to the objections usually raised against becoming a missionary. I endeavor to give responses to the most common reasons for not going. Additionally, I wrote the book to be a tool for all those who, like myself, are desirous of increasing the number of believers who are exported to the world. If you are a regular advocate for those who haven’t heard the gospel, I trust this book will aid you in your mobilizing efforts.
What’s the main idea of the book?
There’s a widespread opinion that only a small minority of Christians could be effective missionaries. Say, maybe, less than one in a hundred. Consequently, no one is very surprised when no one around them is moving toward the unreached. My contention, however, is that most any mature believer should be considered a potential candidate. Not that they are ready to go today! But if they would volunteer, the church could prepare them. The military does not recruit soldiers, they recruit those who could be made into soldiers. This shift in perspective alone has the potential to dramatically increase our global missionary forces. Indeed, I work with a team of missionaries that is constantly growing primarily because it has embraced the notion that volunteering for the mission is commendable, as long as it is paired with a commitment to undergo training. The vision for church-based mobilization presented in the book, then, is ‘every member a volunteer, every member a trainee.’
Who will be helped by this book?
I hope the book will serve you well if you…
- are trying to decide if you should become a missionary
- have questions about a missionary’s job description
- wish to see your church do more for global missions
- want to mobilize other believers to the world’s unreached
- are responsible for making missions-related decisions
- simply desire to magnify God with your short life!
What will I do with the massive royalties?
Well, maybe I should say ‘modest’ royalties! As there’s no Disney theme park in Taiwan, my share of the profits from the book will go towards the church-planting ministry here and in mainland China. So even if the book is just an overpriced paperweight, it is at least a missions fund-raising paperweight!
What’s in the book?
I try to answer this question in the introduction:
“First, this book is an examination of the gap between western churches and missionary service. What exactly are the factors that keep young Christian leaders – who love Jesus and who love people – from being exported to the world? This is a diagnostic task requiring us to open the hood of Western evangelicalism and run some tests that we ordinarily might not think about.
Second, this book is an extended application of theology. There is certainly no new theological innovation to be found here (so the Inquisition can clock out early today), but I do believe that there is something about God and the gospel to be learned. What I hope to accomplish is to follow the threads of the theology you already believe to some of its logical conclusions concerning the world’s unreached. I pray that those who love Jesus will find ways to apply the truth of his Gospel in more radical ways to their lives.
Third, this book is an argument meant to be taken personally. In other words, much of what it has to say is directed at your will, the decision-making part of you. I deeply desire that something said here might, in its weakness, be used to effect a change of mind – specifically, that you would change your mind about going as a missionary. These are the parts that might upset some, because such argumentation necessarily implies that there might be something wrong with how you’ve chosen to live your life.
Fourth, this book is a presentation of a vision. I praise God that it is a vision that was passed on to me by others. It is a vision of churches and believers living with the Great Commission at their very core. Some of you may have met such a Christian before – or maybe even a group of them – and if you have, you know what a rare breed they are. They are not just people with a general evangelistic concern for unbelievers they happen to already know and love; they are people who live and court death to bring the Gospel to the world’s unreached millions. I have asked God to use this book to conform me to this vision, and I pray he does the same for its readers as well. May we see clearly the eternal gains that might be made for God’s kingdom if the abundant reservoirs of Western Christianity were to surge forth to the arid ends of the earth!
If something written here helps to loosen the sediment or dislodge the debris that has dammed up young Christian leaders and all the other valuable resources of western churches, the effort will have been worthwhile. I personally leave this project more sure than ever before that I want the embankment in my own heart to break open, that whatever portion of my energies that I am holding back from the mission might flow out into the nations. That I may spend and be spent like so many great missionaries in the church’s history, and in joyful reenactment of the complete sacrifice of the greatest Missionary who has ever lived.”
You can get a copy of this book Send Me, I’ll Go by clicking here.
World Evangelism would like to give away 10 copies of this book. It is for the first 10 people who will leave a comment below and then email your mailing address to info@ourgenerationpublishing.com. We will get you a copy in the mail. I believe this book will be of enormous value.