CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

A. Introduction

This study focuses on, “The Theological Analysis on the Negligence of Individual

Christians Non-Involvement in Missions and its Peril to Church Expansion.” The loving,

relational nature of God and the outpouring of God’s Trinitarian self into the world are the

source of mission. The calling of God’s creatures to participate in God’s love and care for the

world is our mandate both individually and as a church. Such is the comprehension of the

foundation for mission that gained prominence in the twentieth century.1

It places mission at the centre of the being and activity of Father, Son and Spirit – God’s

heartbeat. Thus mission is at the centre of theology and of Christian action. In what sense can we

speak of individual involvement in mission? This is in order the lay a solid foundation for

mission. A well-built house requires foundations. A foundation is a vital and integral part of a

building. The whole structure is dependent upon solid foundations. The most frequent New

Testament use of the word ‘foundation’ concerns the being and work of God in creation. The

phrase ‘foundation of the world’ signifies the existence of God beyond all that we, the created,

know and can experience. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ uses a metaphor

of solid foundations when he calls people to act on his words and tells the parable of the houses

built on sand and rock (Lk 6:46-49, Mt 7:24- 29).

Many buildings have their foundations sunk deep in the ground, they are vitally important

but invisible and ignored. In some parts of the world, however, houses are raised on stilts. Their

foundations are visible and may form part of the living function of the building. In this research

1
Kirsteen Kim and Andrew Anderson (eds), Edinburgh 2010: Mission Today and Tomorrow (Oxford:
Regnum, 2011), 120.

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work, I view individual involvement as one of the foundations the church cal lay in order to

advance God’s kingdom here on earth through Christian missions and evangelism.

Today’s realities demand a new look at the biblical basis of missions. Modern missions

are the fad of the few, not since the first century has missions been given its rightful place in the

ministry of the church of course, efforts have been made to take the gospel to the uttermost parts

of the earth by churches, missions boards, societies, and individuals; but if we were to count all

those involved in any phase of missions, the percentage would be dismally small.2

If there is one question the church must constantly be addressing, is the question of the

nature of mission. The ultimate goal of the mission of God and His Church is always the same:

that of bringing under the lordship of His Son, Jesus Christ, the kingdoms of this world (Rev.

11:15). Thus, Jose said the mission of the Church is to reach the Good News about the Kingdom

of God so as to provide opportunity for every person of every nation to decide for or against the

saving grace of God's Kingdom. This is the ultimate goal of the mission of God and of His

Church.3

Everything we do in life, whether as pastors, teachers, students, administrators,

employees, business persons, homemakers, children, whatever, should have this ultimate goal in

the background, as the basis for all our activities. If we don't, then we become like the unfaithful

servant who began to take advantage of his fellow servants due to the mission to which his

master had called him, becoming obscured in his mind.

2
Willis, Avery Indonesian Revival: Why Two Million Came to Christ (South Pasadena, Calif. William
Carey Library, 1977).

2 Comblin, Jose, The Meaning of Mission. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1977), 35.

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 In this research work, I will argue that the evangelical church has developed parameters

which have limited its capacity by not grooming the members on how to carry out individual

mission activities. I will look at the church internally and argue that the activities of mission and

evangelism have essentially been hampered by the way the Evangelical church has evolved over

the past years. This has led to the church no longer conducting effective, relevant and regular

mission or evangelism.

I will examine the situation outside of the church and those external parameters which

have hampered the church’s capacity to be relevant and effective in individual participation in

mission and evangelism. I will argue that the church has not managed to keep in-step with the

world around it. For the church to overcome this, it must develop competencies in mapping,

responding, strategies and also subverting change.

I will take the issues gleaned from the first two chapters and make an argument for an

appropriate response. This response includes a move towards an involvement of individual in

missions and evangelism and also good understanding of mission and evangelism and a

measured reaction to different shifts.

Both primary and secondary data will be generated and analyzed. The final chapter

concludes that what is required for the whole church to practise mission and evangelism in a

relevant, regular way is not another set of parameters, but rather what Kent refers to as Embodied

Church.4 This demands a change in thinking throughout all the church on what it means to be

Christians who both individually and corporately conduct mission and evangelism in the twenty-

first century as a way of life. For this to happen, there are exciting lessons to be learnt from

4
Kent Kim, Witnessing Today (Oxford: Regnum, 2010), 89.

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recent church movements but also crucial issues to be addressed. The most pressing of these is

how to recruit, train and encourage an outward-looking and pioneering leadership for the whole

church without laying down its traditional pastoral and caring qualities.

B. Statement of the Problem

In the words of Emil Brunner,5 ‘The church lives by mission as fire lives by burning.’

Should this be the case, and if the good news is to be experienced as good news, it would seem

evident that mission, and its constituent part, evangelism, should be engrained into the regular

functioning life of the individuals in the church and furthermore, relevant to the people around it:

the thesis here is that neither of these two things are the case: Individuals in the church are not

living and breathing mission and the peril to the church is that, it will not live to fulfill its

mandate which is clearly stated in Mathew 28:19-20.

Not only is this the case, but to change, the church will have to radically alter its

understanding of mission and evangelism by teaching its members the importance of individual

participation in Christian missions. When discussing on how a Purpose Driven Church should

be, Rick Warren notes that, “A great commitment to the great commandment and the great

commission will grow a church.”6 For this great church in question come to place, the need for

individual involvement in Christian missions cannot be negotiated.

As Jesus commanded, every Christian believer needs to participate in the Great

Commission. Jesus left us with the unfinished task of reaching and disciplining every people

group in the world. Unfortunately, the people groups that have the least opportunity to hear the

5
Emil Brunner, Mission in the Twenty-first Century: Exploring the Five Marks of Global Mission (London:
Darton, Longman & Todd, 2008), 84.
6
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 102.

4
good news of Jesus have relatively few missionaries and few resources dedicated to them. Thus,

it is urgent to prioritize these unreached people groups. Every believer can play a role and make

an eternal difference. In other words, there is a need for individual participation in the Great

Commission.

C. Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this research is to seek to Analysis the Negligence of Individual

Christians Non-Involvement in Missions and its Peril to Church Expansion,” for myself and for

the benefit of the Kingdom of God (or the Church of Jesus Christ). The great commission is the

unfinished task of the body of Christ. Jesus’ last command was to “Go and make disciples of all

nations” (Matthew 28:19) and to “be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Disciples of Jesus are still here to proclaim His gospel in

the whole world as a testimony to all people. It appears that we can hasten the Lord’s return (see

2 Peter 3:12) by making disciples of every people and fulfilling the Great Commission. This

great commission has been neglected by individuals only the church is involved.

That is why the researcher sees the need to explore, “The Theological Analysis of the

Negligence of Individual Christians Non-Involvement in Missions and its Peril to Church

Expansion.” The researcher discusses this analysis through five chapters which concern

themselves predominantly with the activity of the Evangelical church, mainly due to the fact that

the Evangelical church claims mission and evangelism as one of its very defining features.

D. Delimitation/Limitation

The researcher recognizes that this study will be limited by several factors. Due to time,

finance and other factors, the researcher may not cover more than the stated case study area. In

5
terms of delimitation, this study will not attempt a full study of Christian missions rather the

researcher will restrict his study to the aspect of individual involvement in Christian missions.

E. Research Questions

The following research questions will guide this study:

1. Do your local church partake in Christian missions and evangelism?

2. What do you think are reasons that stop individual involvement in Christian missions?

3. What are the factors that affect Christian missions?

4. What do you think are the solutions towards curbing the factors that affect Christian

missions?

F. Significance of the Study

This research work is believed to serve some tremendous significance not just to

individuals in the church but to the body of Christ at large. This research work will help show:

why it’s urgent to prioritize the unreached, why so many people have heard little or nothing

about the truth of Jesus, and how we can pray for a different unreached people group every day.

This research work will help Christians to better understand the urgent need for the

gospel to be preached among the unreached through individual participation and motivate us so

we can more effectively serve our unique roles and make a difference using the different talents

bestowed on us in First Corinthians Chapter 12. It will help the church place greater emphasis on

unreached people by telling its members the importance of individual participation in Christian

missions.

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 Any good research work must be geared towards filling some gaps. This research work is

also geared towards fulfilling this purpose. The materials that speak on Christian missions are

plenty but not all discuss the involvement of individual Christians in Christian missions. That is

why this research work will make an attempt to discuss this issue which is paramount to the

advancement of God’s kingdom.

G. Summary

In order to lay a background to the “Analysis of the Negligence of Individual Christians

Non-Involvement in Missions and its Peril to Church Expansion,” the importance and brief

discussions on the concept of mission were put in place in this chapter, the problem of this

research was stated in clear terms, the purpose of carrying out this research was discussed

briefly.

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 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Introduction

B. Exploring the Bible as a Foundation for Mission

In what way is there evidence within the Bible for considering experience as one possible
foundation for mission? I want to address the issue by referring to biblical texts which have been
relatively neglected by missiologists. I will only consider some texts of the book of Proverbs. I
write as missiologist and not as Old Testament researcher. I do not intend to offer an overall
definition of mission, but mainly to search how far the approach of some passages of the wisdom
tradition can illuminate a contemporary search for faithfulness to God’s mission.

The Practical Tension Between Bible and Mission

The practice referred to as the ‘hermeneutic circle’ in Bible reading has demonstrated
effectively that questions taken to the text from the point of view of a critical vision of the living
reality create suspicion of the interests and inclinations of the preceding reading and open the
possibility of new interpretations. In our case, the forms and dimensions taken by the missions of
different Christian churches on the American continent offer us a historic panorama that creates
the possibility for rereading biblical sources and rediscovering their meaning for a new
missionary praxis in the continent.

The Christian religion first arrived in what is now called Latin America through the
Iberian expression of Christianity towards the end of the fifteenth century and beginning of the
sixteenth century. It saw itself as a civilising force confronting the ‘barbarous people’ who
inhabited the territory. Columbus himself understood the significance of his name from the
Greek, Christopherous, to be the Christ bearer. According to David Bosch it was the Jesuits (an
order of Spanish origin) who were the first to use the word ‘mission’ in the sense of sending to
evangelise non-Christian territories, just at that time and with that objective.7 Conquest and
evangelization went hand in hand, the cross and the sword acted as one.

There were exceptions that vindicated the need of a respectful evangelization of the
indigenous peoples. But the general rule was the thirst for gold, that dominated this period,
7
David Bosch, MISIÓNAL Transformation (Grand Rapids, MI: Libros Desafio, 2000), 16

8
including the evangelising endeavours and ecclesiastical mentality.8 In this context the Bible was
a closed Bible, which acted more as a symbol of power or cultural artefact than a provider of
doctrinal content for the task of evangelization. Centuries later a new evangelising mission
arrived with the Protestant/evangelical churches. In this case the reading of the New Testament
text predominantly emphasized a conversionist theology, based fundamentally on the
interpretation of the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel. Clearly here the biblical text was presented
open and its reading was encouraged. But that reading was already conditioned by the biases of
missionary sources principally from England and the United States of North America. It was a
reading ‘of the missionaries’ and it was not exempt from cultural and political and, sometimes
indirectly, economic interests.

The development of capitalism accompanied this phase, and even though its religious
impact at a popular level was less than expected, the Protestant churches emphasized their
missional intention of being a ‘modernising force’ to combat obscurantism of the original
religions as well as of dominant Catholicism. Together with evangelical zeal they brought a
political and cultural attitude that was open to the interests of those powers which began to
impose their dominance in this part of the world.9 The dominance was achieved in great
measure, but the evangelization was hardly effective.

On the basis of this brief historical background I assume the task of reexamining the
missionary mandate from the pages of the Scriptures. The spurious motives that accompanied
Christian mission have already been rehearsed and criticised sufficiently so I will not delay too
long over them.

We discover the bias given to previous Bible readings and we propose a different
approach, that may be valid for the current situation in our continent and also serve as an opening
to dialogue with other contexts and situations with which current globalisation both helps and
obliges us to interact.

The first thing to acknowledge is the place of the readings of the so called ‘missionary
texts’, noting that Matthew 28:18-20 is the most often quoted. A way of reading, the location of

8
Gustavo Gutiérrez, Dios o el oro en las Indias Siglo XV1 (Lima.Perú: Ediciones CEP, 1989).
9
Jean-PierreBastian, Brief History of Mission in América Latina (México: Ediciones CUPSA, 1990).

9
the readers and their social context is in the case of mission rapidly transformed into a way of
action.

To bring a simple example, the mandate ‘to go and make disciples’ given to eleven
humble, doubting men taken by surprise in a rural environment in the immensities of a hostile
empire, is not the same as the mandate being read from the power base of an imperial potentate
which would use all its force, its arms and tools of dominance. What in one case is a challenge to
a weak and incipient group to take a life-threatening proposal to confront an imperial crucifying
power, in the second is seen as an eternal authorization of conquest, the justification for the
expansion and imposition of its power.

Nor is its reception the same: a pilgrim preacher who lives humbly with those with whom
he shares his faith does not transmit the same message, as one who preaches as he disembarks
from a gunboat, accompanied by armed troops, or who announces his presence with oversized
publicity posters and stays in a luxurious five star hotel, or who descends from a private jet,
ostentatiously adorned with gold and projecting symbols of infallible authority. The words may
be the same, but the message is not.

The missionary texts read from positions of non-power, from weakness, are a message
that restores threatened dignity, that brings confidence in the sense of divine mercy to the humble
poor, affirms the power of life over death (which is what the eleven received in Galilee). Then
the sending assumes another dimension: it can be understood as an alternative to the oppressive
powers that religious pride allied to imperial power have thrust upon them. Only when the poor,
the humble, the victims of plunder and prejudice signify anew the message to transform their
pain into hope, to recover sense and joy, to anticipate the messianic time as a time of life
abundant, to sense themselves strengthened to challenge injustice, is the mission converted into
evangelization, the proclamation of good news (Lk 4:16-19).

For this to happen, the biblical texts have to speak to daily problems and demonstrate
their transforming power. It is not the missionaries’ Bible that converts, it is the complex
revamping of the message from below ground level of enslaved humanity that calls out for their
dignity. There God makes Godself ‘missionary’, drawing near to enslaved humanity to redeem it
(Ex 3 6-9). The missionary God emptied God’s divinity and assumed the form of a slave to show

10
the human liberty of the slave (Phil 2:6-11). That makes the difference between the religious
varnish imposed by the brush of the colonizer and the liberating power of the messianic force in
us.

To read the Bible as missionary text and to see the Christian faith as a missionary faith
today supposes, therefore, that we look at the problems that affect our people and affect – in
different ways in our globalised world. This will be our reading guide, which will enable us to
see the biblical basis of mission. It also implies attending to texts that have rarely been
considered as missionary texts, and rescuing them as words of evangelical commitment and
announcement. In that sense we must revalue vetero-testamentary texts as indicators of mission.

The First Missionary Task: Care of Creation

Is the Christian mission different to the mission commended to all humanity? The first
critical observation that comes from the experience of being a missionised continent, is that the
mission has been understood as something that Christians have done ‘towards’ the rest of
humanity. But, is it really like this? Is it not the missionary task of faith to make us more human,
in order to fully fulfil our human vocation, and not to distinguish us in contrast to the world that
God created and loves? It is worth considering the first command that comes from God and is
directed to humanity as a whole:

And God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creeps upon the earth.’ So God created humankind in God’s own image, in the image of
God created them; male and female created them. God blessed them, and God said to
them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves
upon the earth.’ (Gen 1 26-28 NRSV).
That is to say, that the first divine mission to human beings is established in the same act
of creation and obliges us to connect responsibly to the whole of creation. We are conscious of
the abuses that have lead to an exaggerated understanding of the verb ‘dominate’.

Mission ended up denying its first mandate. But care for creation did not cease to be a
divine mandate. Nature did not stop being the source of food for all humanity (Gen 1:29-30),
even for those who neither have money nor control the markets, although greed excludes them

11
from the benefits of creation. The possibility and responsibility to share and expand the work of
creation places us in a position to comply with divine will. And I cannot think of another basis
for the mission than that of obeying and fulfilling the express will of God.

In today’s world, where lack of responsibility for creation puts in check the totality of life
on the planet, where lack of restraint in accumulation and gross waste and inequality in the use of
resources creates hunger for a great part of humanity, the verses in Genesis chapter 1 should be
read as part of our mission. This obligates us to think that there is no mission ‘from’ the church
‘to’ non believers without needing to understand first that there is a mission of the church ‘with’
the whole of humanity.

The Mission: Summary of Mandates

Often it has been thought that the advent of each new mission implies forgetting or
denying the previous ones, that each new mandate closes a stage, leaves behind one time and
supposes the beginning without continuity. However the ministry of Jesus, as a model of the
mission of God commended to humanity and to his church, results in assuming each one of the
previous mandates and integrating them into the proclamation.

Jesus as the Christ of God dialogues with the whole creation (‘Who then is this, that even
the wind and sea obey him?’ Mk 4:41), seeks to restore his people (‘I was sent to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel,’ Mt 15:24), seeks justice for the poor and feeds the hungry (2 Cor 9:9-10),
is in himself the presence of the messianic Reign.

A reading of the whole Bible, and not just a selection of ‘missionary text’ passages,
opens the horizon of the mission and commits one to a total task. In this way the church is called
to participate actively with the rest of humanity in the mission of the care of creation, to
recognize itself as part of the work of the creator, but at the same time as responsible for the
common house we inhabit. In each place Christian mission recognizes the identity and dignity of
each people and culture, participates in their life and encourages their dignity, it affirms their
right to their land, to their languages, to their families and organization as a nation. In each
context a missionary community identifies itself and makes its own the clamour of the poor,
understanding by this not only those who live in economic penury, but all women and men, boys
and girls who suffer prejudice, abandonment, starvation, the violence of being ‘collateral

12
victims,’ and the plundering by oppressive systems. In this identification is announced the
presence of Jesus Messiah in our lives.

The missionaries, that is, every Christian, makes himself a witness of God´s Reign,
discovers, in the dark clouds of sin that overwhelm him or her, who is the light of the world. We
acknowledge the fissures of human history, and know that this does not come to an end through
the unbridled desire of the ideologues of power, but rather will culminate in the Reign that God
has promised, in the eternity that awaits in the resurrection. In this way all our Bible gives
testimony to the Word of God and sustains the mission that God commends to God’s own.

C. The Meaning of Mission

In any study of this kind there is an ever-present temptation to plunge right into the body
of research under the assumption that the reader will share the writer’s communicative
background and that terms used will have more or less the same meaning in the mind of
researcher and reader. But even when writers and readers share in common the context of the
same educational institution and similar histories of having learned and taught theological
prolegomena, the possibility of assigning different meanings to terms remains. For this reason
prudence dictates that a study such as this one should begin by re-stating the key terms under
discussion, not with any intent of changing their denotation, but with that of recalling the
commonly held meaning of terms while simultaneously taking care to explore the assumptions
that underlie them.

It was with some degree of unease that the word “missional” was included as part of the
title of this study, for several reasons. First, it has become a buzzword, resulting in overuse that
has threatened to empty it of meaning.10 Many Christian denominations and parachurch
organizations have the stated goal of urging congregations and Christians to be missional.2 Other
groups and individuals have appropriated the term to make a stylistic statement which is little
informed by theology, reducing the word “missional” to pop-Christian jargon meaning little

10
Timothy Conder, “Out of Ur,”
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/01/missional_buzz.html; Internet; Accessed 15 August,
2018.

13
more than “cool.”11 Still others have abducted the term to suggest that to be “missional” means
accepting uncritically postmodern epistemic approaches and often rejecting confessional
theology or propositional truth.12

One of the lesser purposes of this study, then, is an attempt at a reminder that “missional”
belongs in the lexicon as a term informed by theological truth. This raises a natural question:
Why use the word missional when it would arguably be simpler to use the term “missionary”? A
valid point, but we ought to recall that the latter term, too, has acquired its own layers of
meaning in Western ecclesial parlance. Gerald Anderson refers to the “so-called ‘mystical
doctrine of salt water’–the idea that being transported over salt water, the more of it the better, is
what constitutes missionary service.”13 George Hunsberger agrees. “In most of our churches, ask
what people think about ‘mission’ and immediately you get responses about ‘people over there’
in faraway places across the globe… ‘Over there, helping the poor, recruiting members,’–these
have become the operational missiologies of our churches. And they are not just uninformed
notions of laypeople. They are fueled and undergirded by the guidance implicit in the language
of missiological institutions and movements.”14

The existence of this sort of terminological habituation has come to form such an
ingrained backdrop to discussion of the themes this study examines, that it becomes helpful if not
necessary to engage in a preliminary exercise of restating definitions. The goal is not to change
the meaning of terms but simply to get past what can be conflicting or unwarranted assumptions,
with the goal of ensuring that writer and reader reach a reasonable consensus. The greater
question at issue remains, whether mission, properly considered, is or ought to be a mark of the
church. It is necessary enough to restate definitions simply to ensuring that terms are understood.

11
Chad Hall, “Resourcing the missional leader” [online article]; (Cool Churches);
http://www.coolchurches.com/; Internet; Accessed 10 August, 2008
12
Brian A. McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy (El Cajon, Grand Rapids: Youth Specialties/Zondervan,
2004), 30,146,249;
13
Gerald K. Anderson, “A Moratorium on Missionaries?,” Christian Century 91 no. 2 (January 1974): 43-
45.
14
George R. Hunsberger, The Church Between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North
America (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1996), 4.

14
 But it is also the author’s conviction that the terms of discussion themselves, if we will
but recall their full meaning, will point toward the answer to the question. The question is
whether mission is a mark of the church will hinge first on the meaning of mission itself, and it is
to that meaning we now turn.

The Need to Define Mission

David Bosch observes that, “Attempts to define mission are of recent vintage. The early
Christian church undertook no such attempts–at least not consciously.”15 Even in the early
twentieth century, the church was beginning to realize that two hundred years of missionary
activity had taken place without adequate reflection. In 1938 Hendrik Kraemer observed that,
“To a shamefully high degree the Church, in the confusion of the times, has become confounded
about its nature and mission.”8 Half a century later David Bosch expressed a similar concern
over a “crisis in the church’s understanding of mission.”16

Francis DuBose likewise stated that he was “bothered by the lack of a clear biblical
definition of mission,” and urged a fresh quest to better understand the meaning of mission. 17
The need for self-critical reflection and perspicuous definition of the nature of mission is not
new, nor does the current study in any way attempt to break new ground in defining mission.
Rather, it attempts to glean from the authors already cited and others a practical approach toward
a working definition. A good place to begin is a generic definition of mission to which we can
add a theological layer. Christopher Wright provides a very solid start with his description of
mission in the abstract: Mission is “a long-term purpose or goal that is to be achieved through
proximate objectives and planned actions.”18 A non-ecclesial perspective helps to illustrate this
generic idea: In the Second World War, the allied countries had a long-term purpose or goal of

15
David Jacobus Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll:
Orbis,1991), 511.
16
David Jacobus Bosch, “Theological Education in Missionary Perspective,” Missiology: An International
Review X no. 1 (January 1982): 13-34.
17
Francis M. DuBose, The God Who Sends (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1983), 14-15.
18
Christopher H. J. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative (Downers Grove:
InterVarsity Press Academic, 2006), 23.

15
stopping the Axis Powers from achieving their hegemonic design for world conquest. That was
the Mission of the war.

The mediate objectives that advanced the accomplishment of that main goal were many:
campaigns, battles, skirmishes, advancements, regroupings. Organizations, military units and
individuals each would have been able to declare their own specific “mission” at a given time
during their participation in the war effort. A manufacturer might have had as a goal producing
so many thousand rifles, a Merchant Marine fleet that of moving so many million tons of
materiel from the United States to the European theatre of operations, etc. The difference
between the local mission and the overall Mission was one of scope, not substance, a distinction
of degree, not kind. Becoming aware of this difference is helpful in exposing and critiquing our
assumptions.

The presence of unexamined of assumptions themselves forms one dimension of the

problem. As Bavinck asserts, “The ancient church conducted missionary work as though it were
self-explanatory; it never asked: Why do we have missions? And so it never subjected its
methods to criticism. Its testimony was so spontaneous and natural that it had no need of a
carefully thought out basis.”19 The church has tended to operate at some point along a continuum
that runs between reflective and activistic extremes. The enthusiastic church, operating even
under the genuine impetus and unction of the Spirit of God, has often failed to reflect on the
implications of its actions and methods, as Bavinck averred. 20 Though most often a simple lack
of self-critical reflection is not harmful, failure to examine and critique assumptions runs the risk
of handicapping the church when it comes to multiplying, through training, the missional
impulse among the current generation of would-be missionaries, and makes it harder to pass
along an effective missional legacy to subsequent generations.

An effective definition of mission, then, will not attempt to change the meaning of
mission, but will result from critical reflection on its commonly held meaning, while exposing
and expressing the assumptions that underlie it. Such a definition can help to provide a schematic

19
J. H. Bavinck, An Introduction to the Science of Missions (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed,
1960), 11
20
Ibid, 13.

16
framework that can be used to train and pass along the concept and help the church to pursue its
methods with greater cognizance and intentionality.

Toward a Working Definition of the Mission of God

If the generic definition of mission is clear already then we can proceed to the task of
adding the theological layer, distinguishing between the generic and the theological meaning.
This study will denote the latter using the phrase “The Mission of God,” meaning the longterm,
overarching redemptive purpose of God that will form the taxonomic, lexical and theological
context for all that follows. A working definition of the Mission of God must involve a minimum
of five components: (1) A subject (who is doing something), (2) an act (what is being done), (3)
a direct object, agent or instrument (4) an indirect object or recipient and (5) a motive with an
intended goal or result. The target of this list is not oversimplification or reductionism, but
schematization for the sake of accurate analysis.

The Subject of the Mission of God

The Mission of God is first and foremost a theological concept. It has as its subject the
Triune God–Mission is God’s mission, not that of the church, or of Western Christians. Mission
makes a statement about the very nature and heart of God–God is a missionary God.21 Although
Bavinck began his description by identifying missions as an activity of the church, he clearly
understands God as the one who is really the subject of mission. He writes, “all the time it is God
who completes his work… through us.” (emphasis added).22 A more fully orbed discussion of
God as the subject of mission follows in the section on theology proper. For the purpose of
defining the term mission, though, identifying God as subject is sufficient for now.

The Act of Mission

God, the subject of mission, is the “who” of mission. If this is so, then what is the action
that makes mission? First, the action is sending. Wright is dissatisfied with accounts of mission

John R.W. Stott, “The Living God is a Missionary God,” You Can Tell the World, James E. Berney, ed.
21

(Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 22.

22
Bavinck, An Introduction to the Science of Missions, 43.

17
that stress the etymological root in the Latin verb mitto, “to send,”23 and properly so. The mere
parsing of verbs does not do justice to the concept of the sending of God. One can send a letter
and expect nothing more than that it will arrive at its destination. There is more to mission than
merely a Sender and the act of sending–there is an expectation of result inherent in the idea.
Mission connotes intentionality.

Instrument of Mission

The direct object, agent or instrument of Mission

The primary direct object of the Mission of God is God himself. God is both sender and
sent. Were God not triune, this would be a paradox, but in the divine economy of three divine
persons who share one essence, the missionary Father sends his missionary Son and the
missionary Spirit. The study will return to consider the doctrine of God and the Trinity during
consideration of the theological aspects of Mission and their implications for the nature of the
church. For the immediate task of looking for a working meaning of the term Mission, it suffices
to assert the Son and the Spirit as the primary agents of Mission, sent by the Father.

The indirect objects or recipients of Mission

If God is sender, then to whom or what are the Son and the Spirit sent? At this point the
definition becomes a bit more complicated, as there are multiple recipients of the act of mission.
The first and widest recipient category of mission is the world under which rubric can be
understood the whole of the cosmos. “God so loved the world that he sent is only begotten
Son…” John 3:16a. But the Son and Spirit are not sent to the world in the abstract.

The cosmos of matter and energy in motion considered apart from humankind has no
need of the divine Mission. While the world itself receives and will ultimately receive the benefit
of mission, the primary recipients are those who bear the image of God. The Son and Spirit are
sent to the human race.

Here Mission becomes recursive, as among those who are recipients of the action of
Mission are some who are themselves invited to join in the Mission as its agents and heralds, and
join with the Son and the Spirit in advancing the redemptive plan. Being a recipient of mission is
23
Wright, The Mission of God, 23.

18
not only a matter of grace and privilege, but privilege becomes responsibility and those to whom
the Son and Spirit were sent, are themselves sent, and join in putting into effect the Mission of
God for the whole world. In the words of Edward Dayton and David Fraser “the church is a
result of and participant in the mission of God.”24 As Bavinck observes, “God is concerned not
only with individuals, but also with ‘the world,’ and in turning to the world, God takes us
along.”25

The Motive and Goal of the Mission of God

Thus far we have seen that God is the subject, Sending is the action, the Son and Spirit
are the primary agents, and the whole world and humankind are the recipients (some of whom
are subsequently sent themselves) of the Mission of God. The design or telos of the Mission of
God is the redemption or reconciliation of the fallen world to God, and its restoration to a state
that fully glorifies him as creator, sustainer, and redeemer.

The Mission of God

With a summary description of the five components of The Mission of God, then, we can
restate a working definition. The Mission of God describes the sovereign action of the Triune
God, as the Father sends the Son and the Holy Spirit as his agents to redeem the fallen race of
mankind. In turn God invites the redeemed to participate in the redemptive program of
reconciling his people to himself, restoring his image within them and appointing them his
caretakers and regents in the created realm. The entire pageant of redemption is subsumed under
the rubric of Mission, and the ecclesiastical dimension of the redeemed as God’s instrument of
his mission is subsumed under this head.

D. Historical Overview of Christian Missions

Missions in the Old Testament

24
Edward R. Dayton with David A. Fraser, Planning Strategies for World Evangelization (Grand Rapids:
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 45.
25
Bavinck, An Introduction to the Science of Missions, 43.

19
 Probably the last thing a person is likely to think about in connection with the Old
Testament is a missionary message to the Gentiles.26 From Genesis 1 He gave the first command
to man to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen 1:28). Sadly, man rebelled and God
promised that He would destroy Satan and sin through the “seed of the woman” (3:15), called the
protoevangelium. God wanted man to take His name and the promise to Adam throughout all His
creation.

Why would anyone be “interested in missions?” Often it goes back to a moving in the
spirit or to an emotional response to a missionary speaker who described the need of thousands
or millions who are suffering now and will be for eternity. Such emotional responses are easily
experienced and just as easily disappear, especially in the midst of the mundane, problematic and
sometimes miserable circumstances of living cross-culturally. Home never looked so good.

However noble, the willingness to undertake the difficult tasks of mission, emotional
motivations will be so tested and overwhelmed with everything from conflicts to grief that one
begins to wonder, “Why am I here?” When in the midst of the jungle, the desert or a mega-city,
by far the deepest motivation that never fades or varies is the deep conviction gleaned from
indepth Bible study that it is God who wants this people group to know about Himself. You
cannot quit until you can say “mission accomplished.” It does not matter how much you may be
hurting, how disillusioned, frustrated or frightened. You must be convinced that world
evangelization is what is most on His heart … it is and it always has been. The confidence that
you know “lo, I am with you to the ends of the earth” has special meaning to you. Then it is
possible to say, “I’ll go through anything if He goes with me. If reaching this people is the
eternal value on His heart, then I’ll make it the same in my heart … no matter how I feel.”

Mission is rooted in the nature of God, who sends and saves. When Adam and Eve
acquiesced to Satan's temptations in the Garden of Eden, God came searching for them, calling,
"Where are you?" (Gen 3:9). This question testifies to the nature of God throughout all
generations. He continually seeks to initiate reconciliation between Himself and His fallen
creation. “God demonstrated His nature by sending His one and only Son into the world. The
emphasis of John 3:16 is on God, who loved the world so much that He "gave." “This is the very

26
Kaiser, W. C. J. Mission in the Old Testament: Israel as a Light to the Nations. (Grand
Rapids: Baker Book 2000), 14.

20
nature of God. He is always giving, relating, reconciling, redeeming! He is the spring that gives
forth living water -- the source of mission! From the very foundation of the world God has been
the great initiator of mission, as vividly portrayed by the acts of God in both the Old and New
Testaments”.

To develop this conviction one must see the Bible as a whole, not as 39 books in the OT
and 27 books in the NT with different messages, but one book with a global focus. If the Bible is
God telling man what He is like, then you would expect to see mission through-out this
revelation. This chapter will walk us through the development of this revelation. It is written
with the objective that reader will allow God to inculcate His heart’s desires , touching the
reader’s heart with His love for the nations.

For many Christians, mission began on the Mount of Ascension when the risen Jesus
gave his disciples something with which to fill their time till he returned. It is not often
recognized that the mission of Jesus himself, as well as the mission he entrusted to his followers,
was shaped and programmed by the Scriptures we call the Old Testament. While a number of
works on the theology of mission have paid attention to its Old Testament roots, 1 the most
recent classic of the genre by D Bosch sadly devotes only four pages to the Old Testament. 2 A
comprehensive OT theology of mission still remains to be written. The following article merely
sketches in a number of themes that such a project will need to include, without developing
further the detailed exegetical and theologically constructive work that will need to be done
around them.

The Foundations of Mission: The Creation Platform

Paul, speaking by invitation in Athens to a sophisticated but polytheistic audience,

skilfully managed to preach a scriptural (Old Testament) world-view, but without quoting the
OT! The Hebrew scriptures would have carried little weight with his hearers (in contrast to his
mission practice when speaking to Jewish audiences in synagogues and elsewhere), yet with a
few well chosen phrases, and some quotations from their own cultural heritage, Paul lays down a
platform of OT creation theology on which the message of Jesus is built. It includes monotheism,
God as creator, God as non-material and distinct from creation, God as Lord of human history,
God in relation to human life, ignorance and idolatry, God as moral judge (Ac. 17:24-31).

21
 A biblical basis of mission must begin with this creation platform because it provides the
basic biblical world-view of reality: God, the earth, and humanity in reciprocal relation to each
other. It also sets before us the basic human obligations: love and obedience towards God; care
and keeping the earth; and mutual love and care for one another. All of these relationships and
obligations can be observed and expounded from the early chapters of Genesis and are essential
to an understanding of Christian mission, inasmuch as one cannot understand what makes the
gospel to be good news unless one has grasped what the bad news is in relation to the way God
meant human life on earth to be. The biblical gospel makes sense only in relation to a biblical
worldview, which means an OT creation worldview and all its implications.27

Humanity-on Earth With a 'Mission'

Humanity has been given a purpose, a mission, under God. Our mission begins with
being human, not just being Christian. We were put on the earth with a task and a goal, which
our Christian identity does not replace or rescind. There is a paradoxical balance between the
command in Gen. 1:27 to ' ... have dominion' over the rest of creation and the instruction in Gen.
2:15 ' ... to serve the earth and keep it'. Dominion through servanthood is humanity's role, which
in itself is an interesting reflection of Christ's. Earthkeeping, stewardship of creation, all this is a
vital human duty, and a legitimate part of Christian mission, since being a Christian should
enhance, not deny, our human obedience to the Creator. God will hold us accountable as much
for our humanity as for our Christianity.

The right and responsibility of work is part of the image of God in human life. Human
life on God's earth requires economic structures and relationships. Christian concern for
economic justice can also be included as a legitimate dimension of mission. It is a major biblical
concern.28

Humanity-Made in, and for, Relationship

'Male and female he made them' ... 'It is not good that man should be alone' (1:27, 2:18).
God's creative intention for human life includes social relationship. So, active concern for just

27
D. Burnett, God's Mission, Healing the Nations (Monarch, 1986); R. Hedlund, The Mission of
the Church in the World (Baker, 1991), 78.
28
C. J. H. Wright, Living as the People of God (Eerdmans, Paternoster, 1990), 89.

22
and loving relationships between people and communities is a vital part of Christian mission, just
as it was an essential element in the power of the gospel, according to Paul (Eph. 2:11- 3:6).

Christian mission must work with a holistic view of sin and evil. Sin affects every
dimension of the human person. The profound simplicity of the story of the fall in Gen. 3
describes the entry of sin into human life in its spiritual dimension (distrust of God), physical
mental dimension (Eve's use of rational and aesthetic faculties in a disobedient direction),
physical dimension (she took and ate), and social dimension (she shared it with her husband 'who
was with her'.

The early Genesis narratives describe the spread of sin from family to society, and
through generations of nations. There is also the 'prophetic' perspective on human evil, in both
the Former Prophets (the historical books) and the Latter Prophets. Sin is more than individual,
but also affects the conditions and structures of human life, and the historical context into which
each generation is born. Our missiological analysis of any context or culture, therefore, must
look more deeply at these aspects of its sinfulness than merely the 'presenting symptoms' of
particular individual evils.

Awareness that we live in an earth under curse (Gen. 3), will save our mission strategies
from unrealistic idealism. But a balancing awareness that we live in an earth also under covenant
(Gen. 8:20-9: 17) will save us from equally unbiblical despair. The earth is still the Lord's and
everything in it, and its future lies in God's hands.

Missions in the New Testament

The mission of the church in the book of Acts

In the book of Acts, Luke records the growth and spread of the little flock that began
explosively on the day of Pentecost. The believers in Jesus, led by the apostles, shared the good
news of Jesus wherever they went. After three years of theological training and mentorship with
Jesus, the apostles must have been at once thrilled and overwhelmed at the launch of the
Christian community. In one day they went from being fugitives hiding in an upper room to the
leaders of a vast multitude that clamored to know more about the crucified and risen Savior.
They were touched by the power of the preached word.

23
 Just prior to his ascension, Luke recorded the prophetic promise Jesus had given his
disciples:

“‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what
my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from
on high., first in Jerusalem and Judea, then in Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the
earth.’” Luke 24:46b-48.
Jesus had delivered on his promise in a way none could have predicted. One can only
imagine what the experience must have been like for Peter, James, John and the other nine
apostles as the thrill of the multitudes thronging to join the church gave way in their minds and
affections to what must have been an almost unbearable consciousness of the weight of
responsibility involved in leading the fledgling church.

Pentecost had overthrown the linguistic pandemonium of Babel. Almost immediately

ethnic tension grew between the Hellenists and the Hebrews over distribution of food.29 Vestiges
of Babel still linger in a fallen world’s church. The mission of the church was very nearly
aborted by the centripetal institutionalizing impulse, and proceeded only under the dual
centrifugal incentives of persecution from the outside and conflict from the inside. The early
Christians surely experienced conflict and persecution as threats to the life of the church. But
these threats were possibly, in God’s providence, the very instruments that motivated its mission
and saved it. As it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be: Hendrik Kraemer’s words
describe this dynamic. The church, he says, “has always needed apparent failure and suffering in
order to become fully alive to its real nature and mission.”30

Surveys of the early history of the church commonly describe the outward progress of the
Gospel against outward persecution and internal heresy and conflict. Again hear the words of

29
Steve De Gruchy, “Mission in Acts 1-11: An Experiment in Bible Study,” International Review of
Mission 2005): 228-234.
30
Hendrik Kraemer, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications,
1977), 26.

24
Hendrik Kraemer: “Strictly speaking, one ought to say that the church is always in a state of
crisis, and that its greatest shortcoming is that it is only occasionally aware of it.”31

This was arguably the case with the Jerusalem church, which would have experienced the
persecution and conflict as the crisis, but remained blissfully unaware that the real crisis that
threatened its very existence was the relentless institutionalizing impulse. It was this impulse
God had to overcome providentially.

At the same time that same institutionalizing impulse that threatened mission would
absolutely vital to the development of the church’s theology and identity and the emergence of
its catholicity and ecumenicity (both of which can be expressed in a single Russian word,
sobornost’).32 This impulse toward institutionalization may in fact be analogous to the immune
system of the body–absolutely necessary to its function but absolutely destructive when it over-
functions. The life of the church emerged historically in and through the constant tension
between its centripetal institutionalizing impulse and its centrifugal missionary passion.

This tension continues as an influence in the shaping of the church even to our day. Most
of the contemporary problems plaguing the church can be traced to an issue of giving too much
priority to one or the other of the two forces.

The Mission to the Roman Empire

Luke records in the book of Acts the missions of Paul to Galatia, Pamphylia, Iconium and
the other provinces of Asia, as well as Cyprus, Macedonia, Achaia and the Peloponnesus. Acts
ends with the arrival of Paul in Rome, but the apostle’s letter to the Romans, probably written
from Corinth,33 records the existence of a Christian community already there. The missions and
letters of Paul record the burgeoning vitality of the Gentile mission, which was based of
operations at Antioch on the Orontes in Syria (Acts 11-13).

31
Ibid. 24-25.
32
Jaroslav Pelikan, Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture Since 1700 (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1989), 282-288.
33
Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1996), 3.

25
 The character of the Antiochene church deserves attention. The city was built by
Seleucus I Nicator as the western capital of the Seleucid kingdom about 300 BC, named in honor
of his father Antiochus.34 In the time of Paul, it was the third largest city in the Roman empire,
behind only Alexandria and Rome itself.35 A cosmopolitan city with a rich diversity of ethnic
presence owing to its position on several major trade routes, Antioch was an urban center of
strategic importance in commercial, cultural and military terms. And as a territorial urban center,
it becomes the archetype of the strategic territorial cities that became the hubs of Paul’s
missionary activity.

The leaders of the church at Antioch reflect an astonishing diversity as well. Luke wrote
that the persecution after the stoning of Stephen scattered all “except the apostles” (Acts 8:1).
through Judea and Samaria. Those who were scattered later traveled to Phoenicia, Cyprus and
Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. But some men from Cyprus and Cyrene, Luke tells us,
went to Antioch and began to tell Greeks also (Acts 11:19-20.) With this account, Luke records
the events that led to the Antioch church. He said nothing about the organization of the church,
only that many converted (Acts 11:21.)

When what could be called the “home office” at Jerusalem heard about this upstart
Gentile church at Antioch, they dispatched Barnabus, a Jewish believer from Cyprus15 to meet
the fledgling church. Barnabas had the heart of a missionary, and became a leader in the Antioch
church, but brought Paul down from Tarsus and together they discipled the Antiochene believers
(Acts 11:25-26). The leaders of the church that commissioned Paul and Barnabus according to a
supernatural revelation included three Jews: Barnabas, Manaen, and Saul (Paul). Two of the
leaders–Simon called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, may have been from Africa.36 The ethnically
diverse leaders of an ethnically diverse church commissioned Barnabas and Saul on the first
organized mission, to an ethnically diverse world.

To this point the church had grown organically, without a focused, intentional strategy
for apostolic witness and mission. The extended period of missionary activity that would begin

34
Janet Tassel, “Antioch Revealed,” Harvard Magazine 103 no. 2 (November-December 2000): 50-53.
35
H. V. Morton, In the Steps of Paul (Cambridge, New York: DaCapo Press, 2002), 96.
36
Bernd Kollman, Joseph Barnabas: His Life and Legacy (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2004), 21.

26
with this first Pauline missionary journey would establish the centers from which Christianity
would spread to the remainder of the empire. Paul’s consciousness of this fact is evident in his
confident proclamation that he had “fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ…from Jerusalem all
the way around to Illyricum.” Romans 15:19.

Several features of the Pauline mission and the shape it gave to the subsequent mission in
the Roman Empire are noteworthy. Firstly, the mission in the empire was primarily urban. By
AD 300, the cities of Rome were predominantly Christian, while the countryside remained pagan
(the word pagan itself is from the Greek word for someone from a rural area).37

Although many histories of mission have suggested that Christianity spread primarily
among the dispossessed and disenfranchised, sociologist Rodney Stark disagrees, suggesting that
there is an emerging scholarly consensus that in fact Christianity grew most among the urban
middle and upper classes.38 This is harmonious with the idea of a mission centered on cities. Tim
Keller observes that the city considered in the abstract is a cultural/mining development center,
meaning that it draws together the dynamic human resources that shape culture. The city is the
key place to reach the culture, the region, the world.39 Though Paul never articulated a systematic
urban strategy, reaching regional centers is precisely the pattern that emerges from Luke’s
account of his mission.

A second aspect of the Roman mission is that Christianity spread primarily through
laypeople. Paul was an apostle, but he made his living as a tentmaker, as did Priscilla and Aquila.
As Latourette observes, “The chief agents in the expansion of Christianity appear not to have
been those who made it a profession of a major part of their occupation, but men and women
who earned their livelihood in some purely secular manner and spoke of their faith to those
whom they met in this natural fashion.”40

37
Timothy Keller, “A New Kind of Urban Christian” [online article];
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/may/1.36.html?start=2; Internet; accessed 22 January 2008.
38
Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1996), 29-33.
39
Timothy Keller, “A Biblical Theology of the City,” [online article]; (Evangelical Now Magazine, July
2002); http://www.e-n.org.uk/1869-A-biblical-theology-of-the-city.htm; Internet; Accessed 14 August 2018.
40
Kenneth Scott Latourette, The First Five Centuries, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970), 55.

27
 Another important aspect of the urban mission in the Roman Empire was the generosity,
hospitality and mercy of Christians. Rodney Stark describes the pestilential squalor of most
ancient cities and the plagues that periodically swept through the cities and decimated the
population. Christians tended the sick when unbelievers would throw their own relatives onto the
street for fear of contagion, sometimes becoming sick themselves, but declaring their joy at the
privilege of giving their lives for others, after Christ’s own pattern.41

We must not however pass on without looking at an important dynamic that emerged in
the early Gentile mission. When Barnabas and Paul returned to Antioch after the first missionary
journey, they joyfully reported the results of their mission.42 Conflict soon arose in Antioch, as
self-styled leaders “from James,” (the home office in Jerusalem) began preaching throughout the
region of Phoenicia up to Syria that being a Christian required compliance with Jewish cultural
and cultic requirements, including circumcision.25 Adherents of the “southern Galatian theory”
of the time and occasion of the letter to the Galatians (including the author) hold that the same
teaching threatened the churches resulting from the mission of Paul and Barnabus in the regions
around Iconium, Lystra, Derbe and down to Antioch in Pisidia and Perga. Accordingly, Paul
wrote the letter to the Galatians at some time in close proximity to the Jerusalem Council of Acts
15, in AD 49-50,43 (incidentally making Galatians the first of Paul’s epistles and among the
earliest of the written documents of the New Testament.)

E. The People of God and Mission in the Bible

Christopher Wright has suggested that a proper approach to Biblical study will use what
he terms a missional hermeneutic. This approach, argues Wright, is not so much a matter of
looking at Scripture in search of proof-texts that constitute a “biblical apologetic for mission,”
but rather approaches all of Scripture using mission as an integrative principle. Mission becomes
in such an approach the focus of hermeneutical coherence for all of Scripture.44

41
Stark, The Rise of Christianity, 73-94.
42
Acts 14:27.
43
Walter A. Elwell and Philip W. Comfort, eds., Tyndale Bible Dictionary (Wheaton: Tyndale House,
2001), 508.
44
Christopher H.J. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative (Downers Grove:
InterVarsity Press Academic, 2006), 34-40.

28
 Such an approach could take one of several forms. One could adopt the approach
advocated by Newbigin, much of whose theology was informed by Michael Polanyi’s coherence
theory of truth45. This would take the form of a universal intent toward the interpretation of the
story the Bible tells.46 This approach to scripture would resonate well with the presuppositional
affirmation of the self-witness of Scripture affirmed by, among others, John Frame.4 For the
same reasons it also does not conflict with the redemptive historical and biblical-theological
approaches to Scripture that have such a well-honored place in the Reformed tradition, but also
addresses some of their shortcomings.

As regards practical implementation of such an interpretative framework, Michael

Barram helpfully suggests that a missional hermeneutic would be concerned primarily with
articulating the kind of questions we ask of the text, and cites five missional questions
paraphrased from Darrel Guder: (1) How does this text evangelize us (the gospel question)? (2)
How does the text convert us (the change question)? (3) How does the text read us (the context
question)? (4) How does the text focus us (the future question)? And finally, “How does the text
send us (the mission question)?47 This approach has the advantage of greater apprehensibility
and also avoids the problems of unarticulated assumptions.

Focus of the Scriptural Study NT Texts That Integrate the OT

One way of ensuring a healthy Christocentrism in the application of a missional

hermeneutic is by reading the Old Testament texts through the lens of the New Testament.

Christopher Wright points out that Luke provides the messianic-missional hermeneutic of
the Hebrew canon in chapter 24 of his Gospel. Describing the post-resurrection discourse of
Jesus with the disciples who he met on the Emmaus road, Luke wrote these words:

“He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be
fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then
he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” Luke 24:44-45.

45
Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge (London: Routledge 1958,1998), 255-256.
46
J.E. Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1989), 77.
47
Gerald K. Anderson, “A Moratorium on Missionaries?,” Christian Century 91 no. 2 (January 1974): 43-
45.

29
 To use Christopher Wright’s words, “Jesus himself provided the hermeneutical coherence
within which all disciples must read these texts, that is, in the light of the story that leads up to
Christ (messianic reading) and the story that leads on from Christ (missional reading).48 Jesus
himself asserts that the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms are all fulfilled in himself,
and here he obviously has more in mind that what are ordinarily considered messianic passages–
Jesus is speaking of the whole of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is part of one story, and
that story ultimately is about Jesus Christ and his mission, continued in the New Testament.

Another gospel-centric hermeneutical principle for looking at the OT Scripture comes

from the pen of Paul the apostle, who wrote these words:

“The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the
gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you.” Galatians 3:8.
This passage from one of the earliest letters in the Pauline corpus points to a pattern in
the book of Genesis which links covenant and mission, and forms a valuable set of associations
between the people of God and the Mission of God in the covenantal calling of Abraham, whose
calling has as its purpose the blessing of all nations.

The Missional Covenant in Genesis

Abram’s father Terah had gathered his possessions and extended family including Abram
his son and Lot his grandson, and moved from Ur of the Chaldeans intending to make a new
home in Canaan. Instead, the family settled in Haran. Haran is the setting for this passage from
Genesis:

“‘The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's
household and go to the land I will show you. ‘I will make you into a great nation and I
will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those
who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be
blessed through you.’” Genesis 12:1-3.
This text is the first expression in Genesis of the Abrahamic covenant. As William
Dumbrell observes, the actual language of covenant does not appear until chapter 15, but the
details of that chapter clearly show the ratification of the covenant in the context of an already

48
Hendrik Kraemer, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World (London: Edinburgh House Press,
1938), 32.

30
existing relationship.49 In the language of sending in this passage, God does not indicate anything
about where Abram is to go, only that he is to be obedient to God’s call to do so. In the initial
commission there is no indication of a design or goal in the sending of Abram. God sends,
Abram goes. But the sending is not without promise. First, God makes a threefold promise of
progeny, prosperity, and protection: Abram will have descendants who will multiply to become a
great nation, and Abram himself will have a legacy of renown. God promises to bless those
(plural) who bless Abram and to curse the one (singular) who curses him.50 This, it may be
argued, shows an expectation that those who bless Abram will be greater in number than those
who oppose him.

Of special interest for this study is the formula of blessing which occurs here and in
several other texts. Abram will be blessed in order to be a blessing. We cannot help but to recall
the discussion in the defining of the Mission of God that the recipients of the divine Mission
would be sent forth as its agents. The language here is a biblical reminder of this recipient/agent
dynamic. Finally, God tells Abram that all the peoples, (in some translations nations) would be
blessed through him. Although this is surely a messianic reference, for now the focus is on the
formulaic blessing of the nations, a pattern that will be repeated as the covenant is re-affirmed to
Abraham and to several of his descendants. The covenant promises made to Abram in this
passage involve not only the privilege of covenantal blessing and the responsibility of being set
apart from all other peoples; Abram is only the proximate recipient of blessing. From God’s
perspective, all the nations of the earth are in view as the eventual recipients of the blessing.
Abram is sent not only from Haran, but in the sending he becomes the missional agent of God’s
blessing for the sake of all the peoples of the world, joining in God’s program of redemption.
Abram is the progenitor of the covenant people of God in a genetic as well as a spiritual sense,
and in Abram the covenant people of God are included in his commission to be a blessing to all
the nations of the earth.

At the oaks of Mamre the theophanic Angel of Yahweh appears to Abraham in the
company of two others, who are simply described as “men.” The text says:

49
William Dumbrell, The Faith of Israel (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002), 27-28.
50
Keith Nigel Grünberg, Abraham, Blessing and the Nations: A Philological and Exegetical Study of
Genesis 12:3 (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2003), 171-175.

31
 “Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will
surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed
through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household
after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD
will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” Genesis 18:17-19.
The passage begins with perhaps the only glimpse we have of the internal deliberations of
the divine council. Here again in v. 18, the blessing formula of “all nations being blessed through
him” Just as importantly the rationale for Abraham to keep the way of the LORD is set forth in
this passage: Abraham is to keep God’s ways so that Yahweh will bring about what he has
promised him, i.e. the blessing of the nations. The covenant people of God are to be what
Michael Goheen calls a “so that” people, meaning a people cognizant of the missional calling
they have received in the blessing of God, intended to make them agents of blessing to all.51

God reiterates the same formula of blessing in his theophanic encounter with Abraham’s
grandson Jacob at Bethel, when the latter was fleeing in exile from Esau. “Your descendants will
be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and
to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” Genesis
28:14.

This is the third recurrence of the blessing formula of God in which the blessing of all
nations is communicated to the patriarchs as the ultimate design of their own blessing from the
hand of God. Texts containing the “all nations” formula of blessing in Genesis chapters 12, 18,
and 24 provide manifest and multiple attestation to the missional focus of the covenant between
God and his people. The covenant people of God are also the commissioned people of God, who
are to become the agents of blessing to all the peoples of the earth in God’s redemptive and
restorative design. Christopher Wright calls these texts “the launch of God’s redemptive
mission.”52

A missional hermeneutical approach does justice to the formulaic promises of blessing to

all nations in the Genesis text surveyed, taking into account their historical context as well as

51
Michael Winston Goheen, “Missional Life Emerges in the Local Church” [online recording]; (Roxburgh
Journal, Audio Interview by Alan Roxburgh); http://www.allelon.org/roxburgh/?p=4; Internet; accessed 13 August,
2008.
52
Wright, The Mission of God, 212.

32
their eschatological import. The seminal contribution of Meredith Kline regarding the literary
structure of Old Testament covenants prompted a review of two of his works to see if there was
any acknowledgment of their missional aspects. Alas, for all his brilliant exposition of the
eschatological intrusion of God’s redemption through the covenants, he does not seem to have
recorded anything resembling acknowledgement of the covenant blessing of all nations in
missional terms.53

New Testament Claims on the Old Testament Covenant

The New Testament community’s consciousness of continuity with the Old

Testament is a theme which comes to light often. As Louis Berkhof observes, the covenant of
Abraham is “still in force and is essentially identical with the ‘new covenant’ of the present
dispensation.”21 It is this continuity and identity of covenant to which our attention now turns.

In the opening passages to Luke’s gospel, Simeon, a righteous and devout man, awaits
the comfort (paraklesis) of Israel and Zion, recalling Isaiah 40-66.22 Simeon connects the
salvation of Israel with the messianic presence of God made manifest to all nations:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my
eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light
for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32, cf.
Isaiah 42:6, 49:6.)
Simeon recalls the prophecies of Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6, seeing the child Jesus as a gift to
the covenant people of Israel for her redemption, and recalling the missional covenant that
equally promises messianic redemption through Israel for the Gentile nations. This continues the
very same theme of Israel as blessed by God to be a blessing to the nations in the Genesis
blessing formulas.
One of the most direct witnesses to the consciousness of the New Testament community
of its continuity with the Old Testament covenant is found in Paul:

“Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture
foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in
advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who have faith
are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” Galatians 3:7-9.

53
Edward R. Dayton with David A. Fraser, Planning Strategies for World Evangelization (Grand Rapids:
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 45.

33
 The apostle draws a direct connection with the promise of redemption for the nations in
the Abrahamic covenant to New Testament Gentile believers, evoking the very passages that
have been listed from the blessing formulas of Genesis in making his case.54 Let us not forget the
context of the epistle, which is Paul’s polemical response against those who are trying to make
redemption primarily ethnocentric, requiring the adoption of Judaism’s cultural and cultic
practices for membership in the covenant community. It is against any such idea that Paul here
asserts that Gentile believers are heirs by faith of Abraham, the man of faith. The connection is
clear and incontrovertible–there is absolute redemptive continuity between the OT and NT
covenantal communities, and this continuity is inherent in the covenantal promises given to
Abraham that his descendants would bless all nations. The nations themselves join Abraham’s
ethnic progeny in the promise as recipients of blessing commissioned to bless the nations. The
recursive promise of the missional covenant extends to all of God’s people.

F. Strategies for Evangelizations

As a general definition of the term strategy, we can say that a strategy is an overall
approach, plan, or way of describing how we will go about reaching our goal or solving our
problem.55

Approach through Holistic Preaching

In evangelizing, it is important to have in depth knowledge of their beliefs. The common

problem of evangelizing is when the evangelizers do not understand the culture and religious
themes of the people they are preaching to. Western and traditional missionary methods of
evangelism ignore these and deal only with high religious themes. Proclamation of the Gospel to
the new converts therefore involves holistic preaching that integrates both low and high religious
themes. To common people, what matters more is their immediate problem of every day life.
They may fear the evil spirits to that they need to pacify them. They are to observe rituals and
purify themselves from evil contamination. The methods of communication and presentation of
the gospel therefore needs not to be restricted by traditional methods. The key of successful

54
Robert A. Pyne, “The ‘Seed,’ the Spirit, and the Blessing of Abraham,” Bibliotheca Sacra 152 no. 606
(Apr- Jun 1995): 211-222.
55
Edward R. Dayton and Davif A. Fraser, Planning Strategies for World Evangelization. MARC, 2nd
Edition, 1990:13

34
Gospel communication is to utilize as much variety as possible, with special attention to biblical
principles, the gifts of the evangelists, and the preferences of the audiences. The chief danger is
that one may get into ruts and be unnecessarily restricted in methods. The failure to apply a
holistic presentation in our evangelistic method is not only obscure the power of the Gospel, but
also weakens the faith of those converts.

Understanding the religious belief of the people therefore, is to be taken seriously. Paul’s
approach to the Gentiles or the Greeks in the Greek culture is useful for today’s presentation of
the gospel. At Athens, he interpreted the Gospel using quotations from Greek philosophers (Acts
17). He appreciated their religiosity and thus identified with their belief and practices, and
communicated the Gospel in their context. He says:

Men of Athens, I see that in every religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully
at your objects of worship. I even found an altar with his inscription to an unknown god.
Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you (Acts
17:21-22).
Holistic preaching therefore involves “truth encounter” at the level of high religion and
“power encounter” at the level of low religion. When the immediate problems of every day life
that trouble common man is dealt with in relation to the reality of the sovereign God and man’s
allegiance to him, then power encounter is possible. The supreme power of God over Satan must
be reaffirmed and reestablished. Such presentation will not only prevent syncretism but will also
make the message clear to the unreached. They want to experience power in their lives in terms
of miracles and healing. The power of Jesus Christ should be demonstrated as a “greater power”
than their belief. Miracles are a powerful evidence of the Gospel.

Holistic Ministry Approach

Ezra Sargunam says

… because the church has failed to uphold truth, justice and has lacked compassion for
the poor and needy and shirked its responsibility to liberate the oppressed and suppressed
for generations. Marxism was born and began to infiltrate, thrive and literally tool control
of two-thirds of world’s population. It is no accident that communism arose in
Christendom.56

56
M. Ezra Sargunam, “Holistic Evangelism” in M. Ezra Sargunam ed., Mission Mandate (Madras, India:
Mission India 2000, 1992), p. 256

35
 There are many ways to define evangelism because there are different kinds of definition.
Even today no definition has been considered to be acceptable either by the liberals or the
evangelicals. Even among the evangelicals there is no unanimity on the definition. The three
prominent ways of defining evangelism in Christian world today can be labeled presence,
proclamation, and persuasion. Presence holds that evangelism is helping people to fulfill their
needs. It is giving a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus. It is lending a helping hand.

Proclamation recognizes that presence is necessary, but goes beyond it and says that
evangelism is making known the message of Jesus so that people hear it and understand it. But
once people are exposed to the gospel message they are evangelized whether they accept it or not
according to a strict proclamation definition. Persuasion argues that presence and proclamation
are both necessary, but that biblical evangelism goes beyond that and insists on making
disciples… a person should not be considered evangelism until he or she has become an ongoing
disciple of Jesus Christ.57

One need not go far or labor much to discover the theological basis for the church’s
involvement in socio-economic development. Nor does one need to adduce much elaborated
arguments to justify its action. The mission of the church in general and the specific task of
Christians in society is to ensure Christian presence to people in the reality in which they live
and to respond to their desires, needs and situations with all that one has and one is. The church
has been living with the poor and reaches out to them through service. If the definition for
evangelism is proclamation it is also “presence.” If this aspect of the mission of the church can
be utilized for converting people is still a matter of debate in the evangelical circle. Many
evangelicals accept this aspect and term it as “holistic evangelism.”

Communicating the gospel in a new context is not favorable by an explicit oral and
verbal proclamation. The church has to express itself in deeds. Relief and development work
among sections of Burmese Buddhists are needed. Thus Christian involvement in social service
or economic development is valuable not only due to transformation and reorientation of the
temporal order and to the greater humanization and integral development of man.

57
C. Peter Wagner, “On the Cutting Edge of Mission Strategy” in Ralph D. Winter and Steven C.
Hawthorne eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (Pasadena, California: William Carey Library,
1981), p. 47

36
 There are many people who needed to be helped. They expect community development
through openings of hospitals and creating job opportunities. Some of them are aged, homeless
and orphans. The church should respond positively and meet the necessary basis needs. The
Burmese tradition of community service is very strong. It is deeply rooted in their tradition. It is
based on the worldview that man cannot exist in isolation.

The church should take advantage and be wise use insight from the social behavior of the
community people. Now it is high time for churches to become sensitive to the needs of the
society. Wherever the spirit of Christ at work, the gospel values are lived and embodied, sharing
in some forms or others take place. There the gospel is proclaimed and Christ is glorified.

Involvement of Lay People

One of the reasons of the growth of the early church was the participation of the lay
people in the work of evangelization. McGauran says that when the churches start spreading in
the New Testament fashion across the country, laymen are frequently the agents of extension.58
The book of Acts records the participation of lay people in preaching the gospel. When the great
persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, all except the apostles were scattered
throughout Judea and Samaria, and they preached the gospel wherever they went. It says, “they
went everywhere preaching the gospel,” (Acts 8:1,4). Within 300 years therefore every believer
preached the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. Concerning lay participation, Wagner says

While the church is subjected to many principles of human organizational management, it

is much more than a mere human organization. It is the body of Christ. It is an organism
with Jesus Christ as the head and every member functioning with one or more spiritual
gifts. God does not bring people into the body of Christ as spectators. He expects them to
participate in the life and work of the church just as the various members of our own
physical bodies contribution to the well being of the whole.59
There are several ways laymen can participate in the church. Their involvement in church
ministry keeps the church organization running. Some participate as Sunday school teachers,
some as leader among different groups like young people, women, and others participate on
different church committees. But what is even more important is their participation in activities

58
Donald A. Mcgavran, How Churches Grow: The New Frontiers of Missions (New york: Friendship
Press, 1959), p. 140
59
C. Peter Wagner, Leading Your Church to Growth (Ventura, California: Regal books, 1984), p. 132

37
outside the church. Lay people are the dispersion of the church; they rub shoulders with different
classes of people in their places of work. They have more contact with unchurched people. They
are therefore more accessible to people outside the church than pastors. They can therefore be
more effective and useful in the evangelizing non-Christians.

In some places, church is still very small in population as compared to non-Christian in

general and the Burmese Buddhists in particular. The work of evangelization can be more
effective and fast if the churches mobilize and train lay people for this purpose. Some traditional
religions have also been sustained by the participation of the lay people. When lay Christian
people participate in Christian ministry, it also helps the traditional religious to understand that
even in Christianity a layperson also has a part in the work of God.

To involve lay people in Christian ministry needs training. The message of the modern
discipleship movement is that every layman, every pastor, every man and woman, boy and girl,
is to be motivated with the vision of evangelism and be fully equipped to participate in the
harvest.101 Jesus reached thousands of multitudes by teaching, preaching, and ministering to
them. He sought to reach the messes by contact on an individual basis. The basis strategy of
evangelism, which is Jesus way of reaching the world, is winning disciples who will win others
and train them in discipleship. He called twelve men who would be his disciples, trained them
and sent them to reach multitudes. In this way, Jesus prepared laborers for the harvest. They, in
turn, reached others and trained them with the same vision and purpose.

Doles Miles mentions that

Four elements, which stand out in today’s lay-witness training are on job training, an
emphasis upon spiritual multiplication, the sharing of the gospel through the use of one’s
testimony and a booklet, and the use of transferable concepts. A missing element in so
much of the laywitness training prior to the seventy’s was learning how to witness
through actual on the job training. Nowadays the recognized ideal is to have a trained
witness models for the trainee, showing how to do it in a living encounter with
unbeliever.60
This shows that laymen as well as ministers must be trained to evangelize, because
training a person to evangelize effectively will be more fruitful than merely winning a soul. For

60
Delos Miles, Church Growth A Mighty River (Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1981), p. 19

38
these reasons, lay training is very important for evangelism and church growth. Instead of trying
to do the work of ten men, training ten other men is more effective to bring harvest.

This shows that laymen as well as ministers must be trained to evangelize, because
training a person to evangelize effectively will be more fruitful than merely winning a soul. For
these reasons, lay training is very important for evangelism and church growth. Instead of trying
to do the work of ten men, training ten other men is more effective to bring harvest.

Relatives and Family Approach

Families are basic units in the communities and regarded as divinely instituted by God
(Eph. 3:15). The Bible stresses the sanctity of marriage, the relation between husband and wife,
children and parents. In the book of Acts, the apostolic pattern for teaching was in and through
family units. Evangelizing whole families is the fruitful pattern of current missionary outreach in
many communities all over the world. In this pattern, the Christian families are used as outposts
of evangelism because they are recognizable socio-cultural entities. The heads of the families
share their faith with the heads of the non-believer families as well as the elders of the
communities. When the head of the families are converted, they in turn, persuade their families,
relatives, and kinsmen to Christianity.

Aquila and Priscilla used their home as a center for proclamation of the gospel in Rome
and in Ephesus (I Cor. 16:19; Rom. 16:5). Christian families can make their homes a witness
center by hosting Bible studies. Invite neighbors and friends as well as Christians. Invite
someone to conduct the study effectively. It is important to use their beliefs as contact points to
get their attention. Through the goodness of Christian neighbors, the unbelievers family will
understand the gospel message. Moreover, in times of need, people become more receptive to the
gospel. For this reason, the Christian neighbor should look for ways to help by providing
chauffeur service, babysitting, shopping for the lost family when someone is ill, using every
opportunity to lead them to eternal life and to help them relate to their own oikos (family).61

Besides evangelizing non-Christian families by a Christian family, it is also important to

encourage Christian family members to evangelize his or her family members. When a new

61
Ron Johnson Joseph W. Hinkle Charles M. Lowry, OIKOS A Practical Approach to Family Evangelism
(Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1982), p. 69

39
Christian is welcomed into the church he should be asked immediately about his family. The
query should include more than his immediate relatives. Does he have cousins, aunts, brothers,
or in-laws in the community? Is there anyone with whom he has a kinship? These people are
often most responsive to his witness.

This strategy is suitable for evangelizing Asians and Africans and among the societies
where clan and family ties are very strong. McGavran says, “members of other clans or families
can become Christian and they remain unmoved: but let “one of us” become Christian and they
are deeply stirred.”62

Relational Evangelism Approach

Relational or friendship evangelism functions along the lines of normal human

relationship. This approach calls a layperson to build friendship with an unbeliever and through
the basis of that friendship to share the gospel. The deepest relationship is the best witnessing
opportunity. When a friend whom you believe and trust tells you something you believe him.

Therefore friendship can apply an important role in evangelism. Philip was doubtlessly a
friend of Andrew and Peter. He was from their hometown. My guess is that Jesus sought and
found Philip because Andrew and Peter had told him what fine disciple Philip would make.When
Philip got saved, he found his friend Nathaniel and said, “we have found in whom Moses in the
law and also the prophet wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph (John 1:45). The ensuing
dialogue between Nathaniel and Philip reveals that they were friends.63

It is in normal relational times the believer can share the gospel. The church can provide
an important context in which the process of evangelization can take place. As the members
establish friendship with Buddhists, the church can invite those people to visit the church. The
education class program in the church is good place to bring the unbelievers for their first
exposure to the Christian community. As people come into the church and hear the Gospel, an
experience of warm Christian fellowship can be effective in helping people to see and understand
the gospel.

62
Donald A. McGavran, Understanding Church Growth (Grand Rapids, Michagan; William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1990), p. 243
63
Ibid., p. 24

40
 If the church is to be a context for friendship evangelism, there must be reality within the
church itself. If there is pettiness, division and lack of true commitment, the context for
evangelization is marred. But a mature and healthy group of believers who are relating to one
another in love and seeking to honor God in their lives can be attractive to the Buddhists. Also to
invite friends over to visit is good for evangelism, because food table is a natural setting for
relaxed fellowship.

G. Methods of Evangelization

Media

There are several kinds of media by which the gospel can be communicated to people,
namely: print media or literature, video and audiocassette, Radio, television, film show, drama,
and others.

Literature Ministry

Even though it has serious limitations, many people believe that literature is the most
effective far-reaching media. It has been used in evangelistic outreach. The role of Christian
literature is very important for evangelism and Christian education areas of the church.
Instruction books, home Bible study materials, evangelistic tract, Sunday school manuals, and
correspondence courses are essential for effective evangelism. Many people have accepted Christ
by reading tracts, portions of scripture magazines and other Christian books. Missionaries on the
Logos and Douglas ships with operation Mobilization said, “we found literature effective in one
of the most stubbornly difficult countries in the world, which to share the gospel of Christ and
see a response.”64

Tracts are an effective method to present the gospel because on the bus, train, ship, bus
terminal, and seaport, many tracts are distributed. Every Christian both young and old can
distribute tracts to their neighbors, relatives and non-Christian friend at any time and anywhere.
To publish literature is a hard task and it requires finances and personal. The church therefore
should raise committed writers. Tracts in the form of Bible stories, and Bible portions can be
edited and published. Distribution of literature can be done in a systematic way to make sure that

64
J.D Douglas, ed., The Work of An Evangelist (Minnesota: World-wide Publication, 1984), p. 814

41
they are at least respected and read. Places, time and types of people should be carefully selected
for distribution. Unless these factors are taken seriously, literature distribution will be a waste
and people will disrespect Christian literature.

In order to secure support for publication and distribution, the churches should seek
support from other Christian literature agencies from outside of Myanmar. These agencies will
help in printing and publishing whereas the work of writing, translating, editing should be done
by Myanmar Christians. This will help to prevent suspicion from the government and also to
provide literature, which will suit the Burmese Buddhists context.

Radio Ministry

Radio is one of the effective methods for evangelization. The most widely used mass
media in Christian work is radio. Its advantages are many, but it has limitations too. In the hands
of those with knowledge, means and courage, radio is a powerful effective tool. Radio can do
certain things no other media can. For example, as long as the people have a receiver radio can
reach them everywhere even while they are engaged in doing something else.65

Radio is an effective tool for evangelization of all ages for most people can be reached by
it. Evangelistic preaching, Bible teaching, and Christian instruction can be conducted effectively
through radio. The churches should encourage their members to listen to the programs and invite
their Buddhist neighbors to listen with them. The programs should not only be preaching, but
teaching and instructions for children, women and for the general public. Many non-Christians
respond to the radio ministry of mission broadcasts all over the world. William Mial mentions:

In other areas of the world, which are unreachable by any other means than radio due to
political restrictions such as in the Soviet Union, we find that gospel missionary radio
broadcasting is used by the head of the house to give basic Bible training to his family,
and in some cases radio is used as an evangelist to bring his family to a saving knowledge
of Jesus Christ.66
Personal Evangelism

65
Viggo B. Sphgaard, Everything You Need to Know for a Cassette Ministry (Minneapolis, Minnnesota:
Bethany Fellowship Inc.,
66
William Mial, “The Impact of Missionary Radio On Church Planting” in Perspective On The World
Christian Movement, D-196

42
 One of the peculiarities of the Protestants, says a Catholic priest, is that Protestant
brethren are not ashamed of talking about the gift of faith they have received. It is not uncommon
to find a copy of the gospel with them. They take the chance to speak about Christ with their own
relatives, friends or acquaintances. They may do this at home, in the field, in market places or
wherever they are. All this creates an unconscious persuading. It goes on by word of mouth from
person to person.67

Personal evangelism is confrontation evangelism because individuals are purposely

contacted and confronted with their need of salvation. The scripture presents the person-toperson
method both in Old Testament and in the New Testament, i.e., God’s dealing with Cain (Gen.
4:9-15), Jesus Christ’s conversation with the Samaritan woman (john 4:5-25), Philip’s meeting
with the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-38), and Peter in the home of Cornelius (Acts 10:2-48)
etc. To contact people individually and to confront them with their spiritual need is the effective
evangelism method of Jesus. Delos Miles points out that:

Note that Jesus takes the initiative with Zacchaeus. “Zacchaeus, make haste and come
down, for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). We shall learn how to take the
initiative with the lost. We should meet them more than halfway. We should be second
milers towards the unreconciled. We ought to at the very least be willing to meet them on
their turf. Jesus did. This is the seeking element in evangelism. That seems to be the
significance of the statement in Luke 19:10, “for the son of man came to seek and save
the lost.” Our God is a seeking savior. He is like the faithful shepherd who seeks after the
one lost sheep until he finds him.68
Every Christian can witness to non-Christian relatives, friends, and others everywhere
and bring them to the church. The church should train the active church members to send them to
witness on the street, national parks, railway stations, seaports, airports, bus stops, markets, and
shopping centers everywhere many people are gathered.

While discussing strategies and approaches, one already dealt with is the approach
through relatives, families and friends. Personal evangelism therefore involves penetrating the
gospel to the people wherever they are at work, or at home, in market, during travel and in
leisure. In Myanmar, it is difficult to bring Buddhists to church. A personal contact through

67
J. Puthernpurackal, “Missionary Methods of the Protestant” in Indian Missiological Review 1984), pp.
1,6,38
68
Delos Miles, How Jesus won Persons (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1982)

43
friendship and relationship is a possible way to reach out to the people. However, it demands
Christian courage and commitment to witness.

Bible Study

Bible study is apart of Christian education. Evangelism and education must come
together, for education is the whole process of leading life to its fulfillment including everything
that works upon life as it is toward what it may become. It is a life-long process, and in it God
and man are partners. Therefore, it is important to have the right sense of direction and acquire
skill in it. John R. Bisagno says that:

The Sunday school can also be a most effective tool in feeding evangelistic prospects into
the church services. In using the Sunday school for evangelism, stewardship,
discipleship, and leadership training, remember this! Enrollment is the most important
statistic you have in your church. Conversions, baptisms, and growth all stem from
enrollment.69
The careful evangelization of Burmese Buddhists required systematic teaching of the
message, so that the truth of the gospel may be understood. This is true for adults. With their
increased ability to think and reason clearly, the teaching of the gospel is an effective means of
reaching them. The gospel message is reasonable and logical in its development and lends itself
naturally to careful explanation of its major points. Therefore, Bible study is a highly appropriate
method to practice consciously the evangelization of adults.

When in designing lessons for a life response, the teacher’s task is to help bridge the gap
from Bible knowledge to life. The proper result of Bible teaching is not simply more information
about Scripture but a changed life. Bible teaching as evangelism is the most common
impressionable method used with adults, which is the lecture method. The lecture is an oral
discourse on any subject, presented in a systematic, orderly manner for the purpose of
instruction. After lecturing the teacher should allow the learners to ask questions and discussion
in order to discover for themselves the content and subsequent life implications.

The teacher also should ask the learners questions. The use of questions will cause
students to respond to a specifics issue, and his involvement in the learning process will become

69
John R. Bisgno, How to Build an Evangelistic Church (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadnan Press, 1971), PP.
141-142

44
much more active than it would be in simply listening to a lecture. Perhaps this is why Jesus used
questions in his teaching ministry. Bible teaching is not only an effective method for
evangelizing the unbelievers but fit for following-up new believers. The total process of
evangelism is never complete until the new convert becomes an evangelist. Follow-up programs
consist of a biannual membership survey, to check up the members to know them, welcoming
them individually, assigning a deacon for the new believer’s spiritual welfare, enrolling the new
believer in Sunday school and training union, and a new members’ class taught by the pastor or
other qualified person.70

Mass Evangelism

Personal evangelism is one presenting the gospel to another whereas mass evangelism is
one or two or more persons presenting the gospel to many people. There are some who give the
following criticisms to mass evangelism: that it is mass psychology, it lacks personal touch, it is
high power emotionalism, it is an unreal atmosphere, that many question of the people are not
answered, its success is judged by numbers of people attending and that this method is a western
method. But this method has been proved successful in many countries. It was also biblical. It
was practiced by Jesus Christ in Galilee and Judea, and by Peter on the Day of Pentecost and the
following days, Paul also was preaching in the market places (Acts 2:1-40; 17:17-31).

The usual way to develop a crusade is for a number of churches in a metropolitan area to
get together and invite a big-name evangelist. Under the general supervision of the evangelist’s
association, committees are organized, prayer chains are formed, a choir is recruited, counselors
are trained in personal witnessing, the media is enlisted at all levels, cooperating churches are
sought, funds are raised, and a public arena is leased for the occasion. The excitement builds in
the community and the professional evangelist preaches for a given number of nights. After each
sermon, an invitation is given for people to accept Jesus Christ as their savior. In some crusades,
the evangelist also gives a secondary invitation for Christians to re-dedicate their lives to God.
Those who respond are asked to come forward where they are met one-one by those who have
been trained as crusade counselors. After the interview, the counselor prays with the inquirer,

70
Ibid., P. 116

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either for salvation of re-dedication. Then the person making decision records it on a card with
their names and addresses. If they have a church preference, they are asked to indicate that also.

After the crusade, the decision cards are distributed among the cooperating churches and
the evangelist moves on leaving the follow-up to those who received the cards. As an aid to
follow-up, some evangelistic associations send Bible correspondence courses and Christian
magazines to new believers. The evangelistic association reports the result of the crusade or the
evangelist on how many persons attended the crusade and how many inquires responded.

As the result of crusade evangelism, the growth rates of the churches are changed. Mass
evangelism therefore needs a good and timely planning. There is no short cut to successful mass
evangelistic meeting. Preparations take long time. The first and foremost things that to bear in
mind while preparing for evangelistic meetings are what Yesudian says:

(a) We keep in mind our non-Christian friends when we design our program to create an
atmosphere where they will feel at home

(b) We modify wherever necessary even the methods of advertisement to make non- Christians
feel that the meetings are meant for them too.

(c) We conduct the meetings in public places rather than in mission compounds and schools.

(d) We invite speakers who can communicate the gospel in its simplicity and power to the non-
Christians in their contexts.

(e) We take pays to visit them personally and invite them for meetings.

(f) We arrange to train the local Christians for specialized counselling to deal with various
religious groups.71

Planting Churches

The churches should be ready to plant churches wherever there are converts. Whatever
the number of converts, church planting among them is crucial. If the church is the people of
God, the church must be relevant to all the people of God. In this connection, culture is an
71
Prakash Yesudian, “Crusade Evangelism” in Ezra Sargunam ed., Mission Mandate (Kilpauk, Madras:
Mission India 2000, 1992), p. 339

46
indispensable factor, which contributes to making the church relevant to its people. The church
does not have to lose its biblical principle in doing so. What it needs it to mean a church express
its identity, life and mission, worship and witness as the body of Christ within its own culture.
There will also be a failure when the church does evangelistic work among the heterogeneous
people if the church does not realize the fact that homogeneity should be maintained, especially
when some converts are willing to join the church. Some churches accommodate such converts
in the churches where the people do not belong to the converts’ culture. The converts do not feel
at home in such a congregation. They are totally different and worship has no significance to
them. Most of the converts slide back or grow as weak Christians. Separate churches for such
group of people should be planted. Burmese people are culturally and ethically different from
others. To plant churches for new converts are therefore necessary.

H. Challenges and Prospects of Christian Missions

Daniel Milgiore’s analysis of the problem of the seed of the solution is described here. A
root of the problem, in Milgiore’s view is the loss of a compelling theological vision.72 This is
hard to deny. The great theological force that drove the Protestant Reformation was the recovery
of the Gospel. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone became the
compelling theological vision that became the motive force behind the Reformation.

The pulpit is the vehicle through which any compelling theological vision is to enter the
church. If the theology of mission expressed in this thesis cannot be preached, then writing it has
been nothing more than an exercise of academic navel-gazing. The key word in Milgiore’s
formulation is compelling, a word which connotes persuasive proclamation. While certainly
there is a possibility of presenting such a vision in other venues such as Sunday School and the
ministry of small groups, ultimately it must come through the preached word.

The gospel must be the key component of any compelling theological vision to be
articulated, and there is no more powerful expression of the gospel than that affirmed by the
Reformed community of evangelicals. The preached Gospel must be a message of the grace of a
loving and merciful God extended to undeserving sinners. But part of the compelling vision that

72
Daniel L. Migliore, “The Missionary God and the Missionary Church,” Princeton Seminary Bulletin 19
no.1 (1998): 14-25.

47
must come from the pulpit will include teaching, leadership, and direction concerning the true
nature of the church in all its fullness. I think the borrowed schema of Alan Hirsch provides a
helpful framework for the articulation of the compelling vision Milgiore seeks.

Too often as I have been thinking about the mission of the church, trying to incorporate
missional thinking into my own teaching and preaching, I have encountered a preoccupation with
pragmatic methodologies that lack any theological grounding. A great risk run by anyone who
will try to lead in the current environment is that of being caught up in the latest methodological
fads and fashions, thinking that mission is a stylistic or cultural phenomenon. It is not. It is a
statement about the very heart and being of God.

The mission of God is not to be taken lightly - tread carefully here, for you walk on holy
ground! Reverence, prayer, and biblical reflection are called for, and there is no room for crass
pragmatism, gimmicks, and canned methodologies. But God is gracious, and gives us room to
explore, experiment, take risks and make mistakes.

All around I see signs of a resurgent theologically-informed, spiritually sound, and

missionally vital movement of church planting in the United States and other countries of the
West. The global south continues to see great growth and progress of the gospel, mostly through
the efforts of our Pentecostal and charismatic brothers and sisters. In the West we should be
willing to step down from our positions of influence and authority, acknowledging in humility
that we can learn from our brothers and sisters in the two-thirds world. Too long we in the West
have acted as if we were the experts and masters, ready to take charge and show others how
mission is done. The time for that sort of arrogance is over. Let us learn to sit at the feet of our
brothers and sisters and learn from them.

Some have said that the church in the West is all but doomed to continuing decline into
irrelevance and obscurity. Perhaps that is so. It has happened before in church history. But we
can heed the admonition of the preacher: “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’
For it is not wise to ask such questions.”3 Now is not a time to reminisce and long for the good
old days. Nor should we seek our own compelling vision, but we should seek to find God’s
vision for our particular churches in our particular contexts, and pursue, 3 Ecclesiastes 7:10.

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 TENTATIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Introduction

B. Exploring the Bible as a Foundation for Mission

C. The Meaning of Mission

The Need to Define Mission

Toward a Working Definition of the Mission of God

The Subject of the Mission of God

The Act of Mission

Instrument of Mission

The Motive and Goal of the Mission of God

The Mission of God

D. Historical Overview of Christian Missions

Missions in the Old Testament

Missions in the New Testament

Missions Today

E. The People of God and Mission in the Bible

Focus of the Scriptural Study NT Texts That Integrate the OT

The Missional Covenant in Genesis

New Testament Claims on the Old Testament Covenant

F. Strategies for Evangelizations

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 Approach through Holistic Preaching

Holistic Ministry Approach

Involvement of Lay People

Relatives and Family Approach

Relational Evangelism Approach

The evangelistic Mission

G. Methods of Evangelization

Media

Literature Ministry

Radio Ministry

Personal Evangelism

Bible Study

Mass Evangelism

Planting Churches

Communication of the Message

H. Challenges and Prospects of Christian Missions

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

A. Introduction

B. Sample Population and Sampling Technique

C. Method of Data Collection

50
D. Method of Data Analysis

E. Summary

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

A. Introduction

B. Presentation of Data

C. Data Analysis

D. Summary

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A. Summary

B. Conclusion

C. Recommendations

Appendix

Bibliography

51
 Books to be Reviewed

Anderson, A. Spreading Fires: The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2004

Badr, H. et al (eds), Christianity, A History in the Middle East. M.E.C.C., Beirut, 2001.

Beaver, R P. ‘The History of Mission Strategy,’ in Winter, R D. and S C.

Bevans, S. B and R. Schroeder. Constants in Context: a Theology of Mission for Today.

Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2001.

Bosch, D J. Witness to the World: The Christian Mission in Theological Perspective. London:
Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1980.

Bosch, David Jacobus. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission.

Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1991.

Bria, I. (ed.), Go Forth in Peace. Geneva, World Council of Churches, 1986.

Brown, R E. ‘The Gospel according to John xiii-xxi’, The Anchor Bible, New York: Doubleday,
1970.

Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press Academic, 2006.

Dunn, J.D.G. Jesus and the Spirit: A Study of the Religious and Charismatic Experience of Jesus
and the First Christians as Reflected in the New Testament. London: SCM Press, 1975

Emma Wild-Wood and Peniel Rajkumar, Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series, Volume 13:
Foundations for Mission. Great Britain: TJ International LTD, 1988.

Guder, Darrell. Incarnation and Christian Witness. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International,
2000.

Hardy, D. W. ‘The Future of Theology in a Complex World: An Opening to Discussion,’ in

Hilary D. Regan, Alan J. Torrance, Antony Wood, eds, Christ and Context: The
Confrontation between Gospel and Culture. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993, 21-42.

Hawthorne. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. 4th.edition, William Carey Library
Publishers, 2009.

Hunter, George. The Celtic Way of Evangelism. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000.

Jenkins, P. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2002.

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Ma, J C. When the Spirit Meets the Spirits: Pentecostal Mission to an Animistic Tribe of the
Northern Philippines. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2000.

Newbigin, J.E. Lesslie. Foolishness to the Greeks. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1986.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture (Since 1700). Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1989.

Schreiter, R. J (ed), Reconciliation: Mission and Ministry in a Changing Social Order.

Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1992.

Torrance, Thomas Forsyth. The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being Three Persons.
Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996.

Wright, Christopher H.J. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative.

53