"Christians are to be in the world, but not of it"

This popular phrase can be used to justify pretty well anything- from homeschooling to church-bus trips to protests. Regardless of what you feel about its meaning, the phrase touches on an age-old debate amongst evangelical Christians: what should involvement in matters of “the world” look like for the Church? Is there such a thing as a distinctly Christian response to social issues like child homelessness in Uganda or clean water access in the Dominican Republic, or should we just “stick to preaching the gospel”?

Today, we at iTeams Canada understand Christian mission to involve both social action and evangelism as two intertwined elements of the transformative work God is doing in lives and communities around the world. But we haven’t always thought this way.

We put together this short E-book, based on an excerpt from iTeams Canada Alumnus Greg Reader’s Paper entitled, Challenge of Contemporary Ministry : When Words Don’t Communicate to introduce you to some of those influential events, voices, and ideas that have informed who we are today, and as a resource for grounding on-going conversations about social action, evangelism and Christian mission in history.