cover image Godspeed: Making Christ’s Mission Your Own

Godspeed: Making Christ’s Mission Your Own

Britt Merrick with Allison Trowbridge. David C. Cook, $14.99 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-7814-0754-0

Amid a slew of titles encouraging Christians to become more “missional”—intentionally pursuing God’s mission in everyday life—veteran “surfer-pastor” Merrick (Big God) urges his readers to adopt Missio Christi. Missio Christi, a term coined at Merrick’s multi-location Reality Church in California, is the essence of “living life at Godspeed.” It is living the way Jesus Christ did, reaching out and changing the world through ministry to the marginalized poor and sufferers. To spur his readers to go and do the same, the author exhorts, encourages, and equips with the characteristic no-nonsense discourse of a surfer swapping stories on the beach. Pulling no punches, Merrick indicts the American Christian church for its judgmental past and encourages American Christians to reclaim their sense of “sent-ness” as God’s missionaries within their own community. The book is best digested in part two, with its practical applications, called a “playbook for mission based on the historical life of Jesus.” Merrick utilizes personal stories, everyday analogies, and meaningful metaphors to bring his points home. Lacking theological depth, his populist, surfer-style approach will certainly prove inspirational for everyday Christians. (June)