Series Page Title Page Introduction Part 1 Context, Text, and Pre-texts 1 Context: The World of Religion Today 2 Text: What the Bible Says 3 Pre-texts: Theology and Personality Part 2 Practices: Beyond Competition and Cooperation 4 Universality: Reaching Out to All, Including Christians 5 Fellowship: Belonging Precedes Believing 6 Localization: Focusing on Questions and Concerns of the Local Community 7 Commitment: Holding Ideas with Conviction; Acting Decisively on Those Ideas; Not Letting Those Ideas Be Divisive 8 Freedom: Honoring the Principle of Religious Choice 9 Effectiveness: Allowing the Context to Determine the Form of Witness 10 Consistency: Striving for Consistency between Methods and Goals 11 Variety: Communicating the Gospel in Many Forms 12 Respect: Not Disparaging Others in Order to Champion Your Own; Not Disparaging Your Own in Order to Respect Others 13 Charity: Loving Those to Whom We Witness 14 Missional Ecumenicity: Practicing Mission as the Joint Project of the Church 15 Jesus, Mission Innovator: Jesus’s Model of Giftive Mission Part 3 Method: How Do We Do It? 16 The Spiral of Knowledge Acquisition: Learning about New Cultures and New Religions 17 Experiencing: The Influence of Our Personal Histories 18 Bracketing: Putting Convictions on Hold 19 Encountering: Learning from a New Culture and Religion 20 Evaluating: Appraising the New Culture and Religion from a Christian Viewpoint 21 Integrating: Reshaping Our Own Views and Mission Practices Part 4 Giftive Mission 22 Metaphors for Mission Contents 23 The Four Gifts 24 Giftive Mission Appendix: Biblical Interreligious Encounters Bibliography Index

The current religious climate poses unique challenges to those engaged in mission. Thus the authors of this book propose a new, yet very biblical, model for interacting with people of other faiths. They term this model giftive mission, as it is based on the metaphor of free gift. We bear the greatest gift possiblethe gospel message. Adopting this perspective not only has the potential for greater missionary success but also enables us to more closely imitate God's gracious activity in the world. The core of the book explores eleven practices that characterize giftive mission. Each practice is illustrated through the story of a figure from mission history who embodied that practice. Further discussion shows how to incorporate these practices in specific mission settings.