





































Ecclesial Futures
2024 – Volume 5 – Issue 2

93
Ecclesial Futures – DOI: 10.54195/ef20158

B O O K  R E V I E W

DOI: 10.54195/ef20158

Bevans, Stephen B. 2024. Community of 
Missionary Disciples: The Continuing Creation 
of the Church

Maryknoll, NY: Orbis
ISBN: 978-1-62698-555-1

Reviewed by James Butler

I’ve been excited to read this book since I first heard that Stephen Bevans was writing 
it, and then even more so when I heard him present the main ideas from the book 
at a research seminar at the University of Roehampton. His book seeks to develop 
an ecclesiology based on the insight that it is not that the church has a mission, 
but the mission has a church. He argues that the church is continually coming into 
being on its pilgrim journey. For those familiar with Bevans’ writing the book has a 
familiar feel. It has his detailed, insightful and generous approach, showing his deep 
engagement with his own Catholic tradition, as well as an informed and appreciative 
engagement with theologians and sources from across the ecumenical spectrum. 
Some of the discussion draws heavily from his previous work, bringing ideas from 
a number of his books and articles into one, longer treatment of mission ecclesi-
ology. One thing I particularly appreciated was Chapter 2, which is a complete revi-
sion of the first chapter of Constants in Context, telling the story of Acts. This story 
is narrated in a much more pneumatological way, picking up much more clearly the 
Church coming into being through the mission of God and the work of the Spirit.

The book is split into three parts which focus on three different words from the title 
Community of Missionary Disciples. Part 1 focuses on “missionary” exploring of the 
missio Dei and the essence of church as missionary. There is plenty of biblical work 
in Chapters 1 and 2, followed by engagement with church teaching in Chapter 3. 
Chapter 4 explores mission as a “single, complex reality” with depth and breadth 
before giving an account of prophetic dialogue in Chapter 5. Part 2 focuses on 
“community”, developing an account of church through the biblical metaphors of 
the “people of God” (Chapter 6), “Body of Christ” (Chapter 7) and “Creation of the 
Holy Spirit” (Chapter 8). Chapters 9 and 10 explore the credal marks of the church, 



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which Bevans prefers to see as dimensions. Part 3 focuses on the word “disciples” 
with the comment that the structure of the church serves mission. He discusses the 
identity of disciples in their baptism (Chapter 11) before turning to discussion of lead-
ership (Chapter 12), ministry (Chapter 13) and ordination (Chapter 14 and 15). Those 
aware of Pope Francis’ writings, and particularly Evangelii Gaudium, will immediately 
notice that the phrase he has picked up for talking about church – the community of 
missionary disciples – is straight out of Francis’ work. Pope Francis is a key conver-
sation partner for Bevans throughout the book, and he highlights the ways in which 
Francis’ work has drawn out these key themes from the Catholic tradition, particu-
larly the writings of the Second Vatican Council.

This book is more clearly Catholic than many of Bevans’ writings, spending a lot of 
time engaging with papal documents and the Catholic tradition. This, I think, is a 
real strength, drawing out insights which come from Catholic theology about eccle-
siology in the light of the missio Dei. The book also acts as a helpful commentary 
on Pope Francis’ missiological and ecclesiological emphasis, combining his writings 
with his biography and history. This book still demonstrates Bevans commitment to 
ecumenical work as he engages with a wealth of missiology across the traditions. The 
comprehensiveness and detail which he goes to does, however, mean that the book 
has more of a textbook feel for much of the time. We are taken in detail over many 
arguments and discussion which will be of great service to those approaching these 
ideas for the first time, but in developing an argument for the church as a community 
of missionary disciples I wondered if perhaps some of the details could have been 
referenced and footnoted rather than included within the main text.

The skill of Bevans is of being able to bring together a huge wealth of writings, knowl-
edge, wisdom and theology, in a coherent and engaging way. This is one reason 
among many that he will have an impact on the field of missiology for many years 
to come. Perhaps, though, this breadth and depth means that at times Bevans’ own 
voice becomes slightly lost. For someone who has had such a significant impact on 
the field, I think he could feel a little freer to speak in his own voice and make clearer 
his own constructive contributions. Perhaps this is in part down to his humility 
and generosity, where he sees the good in everything, and values the diversity of 
missiology. Which brings me to the second point, that at times I would like to have 
heard a more critical voice. While it is great to have the diversity of voices, I couldn’t 
help thinking that voices which he engaged with together, might have quite robust 
critiques of each other, and perhaps this kind of conversation would have benefitted 
the book. For example, Christopher Wright’s framing of the missio Dei is distinct 
from, say, Pope Francis or the conversation in the missional church literature and 
these differences could have been explored.



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This book will be a significant textbook for mission ecclesiology, and will be used 
by many students to great effect. Personally, the thing which I most value about 
the book is the way Bevans offers a commentary on Pope Francis’ thought about 
mission and ecclesiology, placing his Evangelii Gaudium and Fratelli Tutti in the wider 
context of Catholic missiology and in Pope Francis’ own history as an Argentinian 
priest. I would highly recommend the book as a thorough and detailed engagement 
with a breadth and depth of writing and reflection around mission and ecclesiology. 
At the same time, I would like to see Stephen Bevans write a shorter book, perhaps 
80 pages or so, which take this book as a foundation and allow him the freedom 
to articulate his own account of mission ecclesiology more clearly. I’m thinking of 
something like Herbert McCabe’s God Matters, offering pithy insights and theological 
depth, freed from the need to heavily evidence, reference or footnote.

About the Reviewer
James Butler, University of Roehampton, London; Church Mission Society, Oxford. 
Contact: James.butler@roehampton.ac.uk

mailto:James.butler@roehampton.ac.uk

