Missio Alliance Essential Reading List

The cross means more than we've let it mean.

Proclaiming the gospel and forming the faithful: these are the most practiced disciplines of the evangelical church. As central as these disciplines are, however, they are only part of the story. And as Christian Community Development Association CEO Noel Castellanos has learned over a lifetime of ministry and mission, the neglect of the gospel's full implications for the world has contributed to the erosion of communities and the languishing of poor and other marginalized people.

In Where the Cross Meets the Street Castellanos shows the strengths and limitations of a narrowly focused church and broadens our imaginations to embrace a gospel that proclaims Christ and forms disciples. This life-giving gospel also demonstrates compassion, confronts injustice and restores individuals and communities to wholeness. This is the whole work of the cross; this is the privilege of those who follow the Word made flesh.

Gordon, Wayne

Wayne Gordon (D.Min., Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is founding pastor of Lawndale Community Church and chairman/president of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA).

Castellanos, Noel

Noel Castellanos is the CEO of the Christian Community Development Association. He was the founding president of the Latino Leadership Foundation, a training and development organization for Latino pastors, and the founding pastor of Chicago's La Villita Community Church.

Perkins, John M.

John Perkins, the son of a sharecropper, grew up in Mississippi amid dire poverty and rampant racism. Though he had fled to California after his older brother was murdered by a town marshal, he returned after his conversion to Christ in 1960 to share the gospel with his community. His leadership of civil rights demonstrations earned him repeated harassment, beatings and imprisonment. However, in recent years Perkins has received recognition for his work with seven honorary doctorates from Wheaton College, Gordon College, Huntington College, Geneva College, Spring Arbor College, North Park College and Belhaven College. He continues to speak and teach around the world on issues of racial reconciliation, leadership and community development. Perkins is the founder of Voice of Calvary Ministries in Mendenhall, Mississippi, Harambee Ministries in Pasadena, California, and the Christian Community Development Association. His books include Let Justice Roll Down, With Justice for All, A Quiet Revolution and Linking Arms, Linking Lives.