The Reformation’s Evangelistic Impact

The Reformation Takes Christians on a Mission

I think the most lasting impact of the Reformation is gospel-centered mission. So the Reformation—with its return to the gospel—unleashed a movement that continues today as Christians everywhere take the good news to the entire world.

It involves leaving your family, leaving your friends, leaving your country. It involves learning a new language and a new culture. It means contextualizing yourself and your church in order to announce the gospel in a way that other people understand.

Roman Catholic Theology and Practice

Gregg R. Allison

A theologian and church historian walks readers through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, winsomely evaluating Roman Catholic doctrine and practice from the perspective of both Scripture and evangelical theology.

It involves Christians going to reach Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists—learning a different religious context. It entails learning different worldviews, like the honor/shame culture, rather than our guilt/innocence culture. It involves great contextualization of who we are and what we engage in as we announce the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The global missional movement began with the Reformation.

Gregg R. Allison (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is professor of Christian theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is secretary of the Evangelical Theological Society, a book review editor for the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, an elder at Sojourn Community Church, and a theological strategist for Harbor Network. Allison has taught at several colleges and seminaries, including Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and is the author of numerous books, including Historical Theology; Sojourners and Strangers; and Roman Catholic Theology and Practice.