Seminarian finds new German voice

Translation to bring more readers to reinventing mission book

An Avondale academic’s book describing the local church as the future of Seventh-day Adventism but challenging it to biblically reinvent is now published in German.

Mission Shift—or Mission Umdenken—by Avondale Seminary Head Dr Kayle de Waal calls for a reformation in the practice and structure of the church for mission. “It’s on point and refreshingly down to earth, motivating to read and easy to understand,” says Daniel Wildemann, Book Editor at Advent-Verlag, the Adventist publishing house in Germany, who worked on the translation. “It’s a truly biblical study of what mission is all about in the first place and a brief survey of how it became entirely something else in the history of the church.”

Citing his German heritage, de Waal is pleased to see the new German edition of Mission Shift. “It’s humbling to know the book is now helping advance God’s kingdom in Europe,” he says.

Since the book’s launch in English at Avondale in early 2017, de Waal has received feedback from leaders and members of churches around Australia. He has also “recommended” it to his students. “It’s a required textbook, so I’m grateful it’s helping shape the missional heart of the next generation of ministers.”

But Wildemann wants to bring the book to a wider readership among German-speaking Adventists. “That the future of the church lies in the local community is a claim every reader can understand and apply,” he says.

Mission Shift is the first Signs Publishing book by an Avondale staff member to be translated and published internationally. However, Can We Still Believe the Bible? by former president Dr Bryan Ball has been translated into a number of languages, and Manifest—published in Romanian—and Do Justice—in Norwegian—include chapters by a number of Avondale staff members.

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