Book Review: You Are Sent by Nathan Sloan
Book Review: You Are Sent by Nathan Sloan
18 February 2023
In You Are Sent, Nathan Sloan gives communities a guidebook on living out mission and discipleship simultaneously.
Just like living on mission, this book is meant to be experienced together.
You Are Sent – Finding Your Place in God’s Global Mission is not meant to be read alone. This book is a communal workbook, and it is best to be read together in a small group or church-wide context. This is a book to be read in a community that will transform the culture of those surrounding the community.
One of the biggest appeals of this book by Nathan Sloan is its format and delivery. This is packaged as a nine-week missions course written for use in local churches. Therefore, it can be fit contextually to your local church. The flexibility and the variety of its topics are its main appeals.
The central idea of You Are Sent is ‘renewal mission’. It is the idea that, as author Nathan Sloan says, “God desires to see His kingdom come both in our own hearts (renewal) and in the world (missions), and these happen together.” In other words, personal growth in repentance and faith, and going out in mission, are not two separate things. Mission and discipleship are one thing. Mission is not what we do after we have done discipleship or the result of our discipleship. But mission and discipleship are one. Sloan highlights this saying, “Renewal keeps leading to more mission, and mission keeps leading to more renewal.”
That central idea is expressed in multiple ways: Biblically, by looking at God’s mission in the Old and New Testament. Second, historically, by giving a high-view survey of the church’s missions throughout history. And third, culturally, by teaching us how to read and understand cultures and how to engage culture with the Gospel.
Designed to be read and discussed in a group over a nine-week period, each week starts with an article that serves as the main thought to be discussed, which is then followed by the teaching component. The next part of the lesson is the application. This is done by answering and discussing questions on how to apply what the group has just learned to their hearts and everyday life. The last part of the lesson is renewal in the Gospel. This is where the group considers how the Gospel speaks to their heart and invites them into a deep relationship with God.
At the end of the course, You Are Sent also encourages us to participate in a cross-cultural experience that will live out what has been learned. The book gives tips on how to do this in a one-day, three-day, and even a short-term trip experience.
You Are Sent is a ‘why’ book, not a ‘how’ book. This means that the book inspires and encourages you to see missions in light of your discipleship. It does not give you tips on how to do a mission but inspires you to do it. That is a shortcoming of this book. However, I appreciate the flexibility to cater for different groups in different contexts. It would be helpful to have an appendix to inspire the group on ‘what’s next’. Simple dot points of a list of missional activities the group can do together would be beneficial.
I recommend this book to pastors and leaders who want to inspire their church and small groups to see missions as part of their discipleship journey.
Available online and at Christian bookstores.
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