Similar to Winter and Hawthorne (the Perspective book),  Michael Pocock, Gailyn Van Rheenen, and Douglas McConnell combined the works of various authors into one missiologoy book. The main difference being that each chapter of The Changing Face of World Missions was written expressly for the book instead of being chosen from previously published works and compiled, like the Perspectives book.

In the introduction, Pocock, van Rheenen and McConnell lay out the missions theology they used to create their book.

“We hope this book will positively affect the progress of the missionary task, not simply in numerical expansion but also in qualitative depth . . . Such engagement involves a renewed focus on God's glory and a renewed love for one another.”  

This focus on the glory of God is very similar to the theology of missions promoted by John Piper in his book Let the Nations be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions. [@more@]

With a name like The Changing Face of World Missions: Engaging Contemporary Issues and Trends, you would expect to find a plethora of trends and issues facing world missions. Pocock, van Rheenen and McConnell follow through on their book title and provide twelve trends and issues within three contexts:

1. the global context
2. the missional context
3. the strategic context

They also make a point to differentiate between a trend and an issue. To them, trends are “what is characteristically happening and they intensify over a period of time.”  Issues, on the other hand, are “points often raised by those trends that become the focus of debate.”

Within these twelve trends and issues, there are three main themes that run throughout the book:

1. disillusionment with modernity
2. use of modern technology
3. the shift of Christianity from the West to majority world cultures.

The first theme, disillusionment with modernity, refers to the syncretism of Western Christianity with Western Enlightenment principles that left modern missionaries ignorant of “key elements of the supernatural.”  

The second main theme of the book is the increased use of modern technology. While generally a good thing, in several cases the reliance on modern technology has created “tension between those who have access to certain capabilities and those who do not . . .”  

Pocock, van Rheenen and McConnell define the term “majority world” as that “part of the world's population living outside Europe and North America.”  The shift of Christianity from the West to majority world cultures is a major theme throughout the book as this shift affects all areas of world missions. The authors even go as far as to state that:

“North American evangelical schools and their graduates can remain relevant only to the extent that they read, listen, and interact with believers from around the world about the conduct of the missionary enterprise.”

In summary, the authors of The Changing Face of World Missions promote a theology of missions based upon God's glory and the love for one another. Surrounding this missions theology are the main themes of disillusionment of modernity, technology, and the shift of Christianity from the West to majority world cultures.

These three themes weave their ways through all twelve trends and issues discussed in the book. In an ironic way, the three themes of the book are also the three main challenges that face the Global Church in world missions today.

At 782 pages, the Perspectives book quite the read. In fact, it is less of a “book” and more of a compilation as it is comprised of 124 articles from various theologians, missiologists, pastors, missionaries, and church leaders.

At first it may seem that there is no way a book with that many authors can have a central theme or theology. However, as you read the book it becomes apparent that the Perspectives book was edited specificity to help the reader “live strategically” towards “finishing God's work.”

In fact, this theme of “finishing God's work” or closure is the dominant missions theology for the book. The entire Perspectives course is geared around Matthew 24:14 [Revised English Version]:

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the earth as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come.”

[@more@]In keeping with the closure theme, Winter and Hawthorne chose articles that emphasised people groups, church planting and frontier missions. The phrase “people groups” is defined within Perspectives as the largest possible ethnic or cultural group “within which the gospel can spread as a discipling, or church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance.”

Realizing that the evangelism of every individual on earth is both impractical and un-Biblical, Winter and Hawthorne emphasize planting churches within each people group. They chose Kenneth Mulholland's article “A Church for All People” to define and promote this viewpoint:

“Although intensely personal, the Christian faith is not individualistic . . . He came to establish communities of His followers among every people group on the face of the earth.”

The last motif in the Perspectives closure theology of missions is frontier missions. Frontier missions is “cross-cultural Christian work that seeks to establish churches within people groups where it does not yet exist . . .”  Winter and Hawthorne spend the most time and energy on this motif as they seek to motivate the Christian church to devote money, people and resources to this area of world missions.
    
About three-quarters of the way through the Perspectives course, Winter and Hawthorne lay out what they see as the remaining tasks for the Global Church. These tasks are as follows:

1. Establishing a “viable, indigenous church planting movement within every people,”  
2. Establishing a “breakthrough in every people group on earth,”  
3. Verifying the “progress towards closure.”  

I must point out that while task one and two seem the same, they are actually different as task two is focused on completing the Great Commission [Matthew 28:18-20] while task one is focused on contextualization of the gospel.
    
In summary, the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement has a missions theology based upon completing the Great Commission with the motifs of people groups, church planting and frontier missions. Winter and Hawthorne stay very positive throughout the book, believing whole heartedly that closure can happen in their lifetime. This optimism is very prevalent throughout all the articles selected with only a few articles mentioning or referencing the one issue, according to Winter and Hawthorne, that is slowing down the Christian movement.

This issue is one of cultural barriers:

“If the messengers are not sensitive as they convey the message across cultural barriers, then the message becomes only so much intercultural noise.”

However, given the rise in cross cultural training among mission groups, this issue is referenced with optimism and high hopes.