Introduction
Part 1: Context, Text, and Pre-Texts
1. The Context of World 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 as Free and Uncoerced
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, Verbal and Nonverbal
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, Not an Occasion for Competition
15. Jesus, Mission Innovator: Jesus' 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 Our Christian Point of View
21. Integrating: Reshaping Our Own Views and Mission Practices Part 4: Giftive Mission
22. Metaphors for Mission
23. The Four Gifts
24. Giftive Mission
Appendix A: Biblical Inter-Religious Encounters
Appendix B: Inter-Religious Encounter Mode Instrument
Reference List
Scripture Index
Subject Index

A Relational Model for Interacting with People of Other Faiths

Given the unique religious climate of the twenty-first century and the challenges to Christian mission it poses, Christianity Encountering World Religions proposes a new model for interacting with people of other faiths. The authors term this model "giftive mission," since it is based on the metaphor of free gift. They suggest that seeing mission activity as giving the greatest gift possible--the gospel message--not only has the potential for greater missionary success but also enables us to imitate more closely God's gracious activity in the world.

"Finally we have in a single volume a sustained, creative, and approachable argument describing how Christians should think about their relations with people of other faiths. There is neither a more important issue in missiology today nor a better presentation of the material in a constructive piece. The authors lucidly lay out the various positions and approaches, but they also clearly spell out their own commitments. I now have a book to point to and say, 'Read this, and then we can talk about Christian life and responsibility in a religiously plural world.'"--Scott W. Sunquist, Fuller Theological Seminary

"In an era when Christians are frustrated by the devotion of whole peoples to religions that are fiercely resistant to gospel missions, this book will come as a bold and liberating proposal for both mission theorists and practitioners. Professors Muck and Adeney draw from decades of experience and scholarship to construct a model based on imitatio Christi and missio Dei. Perhaps the most helpful feature of this book is its expert use of stories from twenty centuries of missions to illustrate, in fascinating detail, 'giftive mission.'"--Gerald R. McDermott, Roanoke College