Reaching and Teaching: A Call to Great Commission Obedience

by M. David Sills

 

Clarifying the missionary task

All Christians understand that Christ has commanded us to reach the lost around the world. Yet, Christ's command is broader and deeper than simply reaching them. He has called His church to make disciples of all people groups and to teach them to observe all He commanded us. Reaching and Teaching examines this task and emphasizes the need for a thorough and balanced missiology that is obedient to it.

 

While evangelism and church planting are essential components of a biblical missions program, they are merely the first wave of the task to which we have been called. Reaching and Teaching surveys contemporary missions methodologies and advocates a return to the biblical task of reaching and teaching the nations for Christ’s sake. Outlining issues essential to establishing a ministry that results in discipled and trained national believers, Sills provides examples of what is left in the wake of reaching and leaving too quickly.

 

Whether you are a seasoned missionary, student, or newly curious about missions, Reaching and Teaching will reveal ways you can be more faithful to what Christ has called and equipped you to do.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 2010

About the author

M. DAVID SILLS (B.A., Belhaven College; M.Div., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; D.Miss., Ph.D., Reformed Theological Seminary) is professor of Christian Missions and Cultural Anthropology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He joined Southern Seminary after serving as a missionary in Ecuador, where he served as church planter and general evangelist among the Highland Quichua people in the Andes and as president and professor at the Ecuadorian Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Sills is the author of The Missionary Call and two books on the Highland Quichua people published in Spanish: Quichuas de la Sierra and Capacitacion Pastoral En La Cultura Quichua.

David and his wife, Mary, have two grown children.

Reviews

[Jason Seville · Rating 2 out of 5]

NOTE: I read this book this past week as I was preparing for and speaking at a missions conference. I knew nothing about the author other than what was on the back cover of the book.

I read the book and found it really helpful.

After posting it on my goodreads a friend alerted me to Sills’ massive, horrible moral failure.

I still know nothing of Sills’ current situation but I pray that he repents and that the Lord would comfort his victim(s) and lead them towards healing. Very tragic.

If not for this new info, I’d probably have given the book 4 stars. Honestly, the content of the book was good but I also don’t want to endorse Sills’ life or ministry.

Still processing through how to handle situations like these.... 😢🙏🏼

[Stan · Rating 5 out of 5]

M. David Sills has given us a timely and excellent book about the mission of the church. He examines many current practices in missions, mainly related to rapid advance that often leaves churches a mile wide and an inch deep. He examines the task of missions in Scripture and concludes that the missionary task is to reach and teach - making disciples and training church leaders. His book is thorough and excellent!

Perhaps the most important chapter is the one on teaching and training in oral contexts. As 70+% of the world's population are oral preference learners, this chapter speaks to one of the greatest needs in missions - oral training for oral learners.

His chapter on critical contextualization is also excellent.

If you're interested in missions, this book is a must read! Enjoy!

[Zachary Horn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty average read. Sills makes some salient points about the failure of the modern missions to major on discipleship in favor of rapid-growth, number-padding strategies. The argument in favor of more theologically trained missionaries/educational strategies is also well-taken and much needed. However, Sills misses the mark in a few areas, the book could certainly have been more concisely written, and it is difficult to overlook the revelation of Sills' moral failures subsequent to publication.

[Dr. Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sills' personally has now been tainted by scandal, unfortunately, but the book holds up as one of the clearest articulations of a Biblical missiology as against popular pragmatic approaches that do not take account of ALL the Bible calls us to in mission.

[Justin Lonas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sills makes the case that the greatest need in the global missions enterprise today is for faithful teaching of Scripture and doctrine to new believers, specifically in the area of training indigenous pastors.

He argues that the “completion” strategy (reaching the most people in the shortest timeframe) tends to be short-sighted (despite its eschatalogical focus on hastening the second coming of Christ) and ignores the realities of syncretism and shallow faith that can only be addressed through long-term teaching.

Though a bit heavy handed at times, it’s hard to disagree with his premise that we have, in too many cases, left off the crucial follow-up side of missions. There is a cruel irony in the fact that the teaching side of ministry is so prevalent (and rightly seen as crucial) at home but far less so on the field. Are those we desperately want to reach with the Gospel somehow undeserving of the same quality of teaching and training that produced the missionaries we sent them?

The Great Commission is a call to constant replication–-you can’t make and multiply disciples without teaching.

[Bob Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like Sills painted with huge brush strokes and implicated many, many missionaries as being of the opinion that training and teaching are not important. While I certainly can lay no claim to knowing even a majority of missionaries from all the evangelical missions organizations around the world, in our own affinity within our own organization, there are not many who hold the views that Sills claims they do. OK, once I got past that, I agree with and appreciate Sills' main point ��there is a need for better, deeper teaching and training on the mission field. That's not a new phenomenon, though he seems to think it is (a problem with many former missionaries ��"in the past, we did so well, but now things have gone to pot"). But, he refers to shallow theology among NIgerian churches while he also points to long-standing theological education in Nigeria ��if there's whacked out theology in Nigeria, much of it comes from people who were trained in the past!!

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, and a must-read for anyone currently involved in missions, or considering international missions. Especially if you think that you or your organization have it all figured out, read this book! Written by a seminary professor who ALSO has decades of real-life missionary experience and an incredible heart for the Lord, every word said in this book will challenge you and help you reconsider what is really needed today in the task of global evangelism.

[Joe Marlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

why wouldn't i love this? our passions are the same. so how do we see ourselves as missionaries in a place that has had some access to the gospel for a couple generations? David gives articulates it well in his book here "don't stop teaching until you have taught teachers, don't stop training until you have trained trainers."

[John Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sills confronts the currently trending CPM methodology of many mission sending agencies with a call to slow down the task of Matthew 24:14 for the sake of not neglecting Matthew 28:18-20. A well written and thought provoking book for anyone involved in missions strategies or engagement.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. A bit repetitive, though.

[Jason Hoke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book concerning a path for future evangelism. Southern Baptists have been looking for a path forward for a while. I think we are still looking.