What is missions?
What is history?
Genesis 1:28 - God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 3:15 - And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
and God's mission began...
Genesis 12:1-3 - 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.”
Jesus, the missionary
What principles of missions can you learn from Jesus?
The first glimpses of modern-day missions
The Commissioning of Missions
The Holy Spirit in Missions
Missions Under Attack
Acts 7 - the martyrdom of Stephen
Acts 7:54-58 - When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Acts 8 - the Church is persecuted and scattered
Acts 8:1-3 - On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
The Spread of the Gospel - Jerusalem to Rome (0-400 AD)
Paul the Missionary
Acts 9:15 - But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man [Paul] is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.
Key moments: Acts 16:6-10; 23:11
Paul's missionary experience
2 Corinthians 6:4-10
Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Connect a story or writing from Paul's life to one of the words in italics above.
What was the agreement? Acts 15:28-29 - It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:
You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
and the Gospel keeps pushing farther west...
Polycarp (69-155) burned at the stake
When persecution broke out in 156 every attempt was made to get him to recant his faith in the “cult” of Jesus. “Why, what harm is there in saying, ‘Caesar is Lord’ and offering incense and saving yourself,” the officials continued pleading, “Swear by the divinity of Caesar; repent and say, ‘Away with the atheists’…Take the oath and I will let you go.” Polycarp was unshakable, then uttered the words that will forever be associated with his name: “For eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has never done me wrong; how can I blaspheme my king who saved me?” (Tucker, p. 32). He was burnt at the stake for refusing to deny his Lord.
END OF 2ND CENTURY: SIX GENERATIONS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST. ACCORDING TO BARRETT AND JOHNSON THE WORLD IS 2.4% CHRISTIAN AND 9.3% EVANGELIZED, WITH SCRIPTURES TRANSLATED INTO 7 LANGUAGES AND A TOTAL NUMBER OF 177,000 MARTYRS, WHICH IS 1.5% OF ALL CHRISTIANS. THIS IS AT THE RATE OF 1,200 PER YEAR.
The spread of Christianity - 100 - 600 AD
Discuss the advantages / disadvantages of legalizing Christianity throughout the Roman world.
The Spread of the Gospel - Rome to Europe (400-1500 AD)
The legacy of Saint Patrick
1,000's of baptisms, 100's of churches planted, missionary and educational centers set up throughout Ireland
Thomas Cahill, author: "Patrick is responsible for ending Irish slavery, reducing intertribal wars and crime, establishing convents and monasteries, and reminding the Irish people that they all can live an honest, pious life without war and bloodshed."
- Briget of Kildare - missionary, church and school founder
- Columba of Iona - evangelized Scotland; copied and distributed God's Word in mass; died copying one of the Psalms
The Irish saved Western civilization. (Thomas Cahill) At a time when German barbarians were destroying Roman cities and culture, the Irish monks were preserving and passing on literature, education and most importantly, the Bible.
St. Augustine
In 595 AD, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to convert the Anglo-saxons to Christianity. Augustine received favor and protection from the king, while Christianity spread.
St Augustine’s Abbey became one of the most important Benedictine monasteries in the medieval world, and was a thriving centre of learning and culture for almost 1,000 years before its suppresstion in 1538. It is the burial place of several Anglo-Saxon kings and Archbishops of Canterbury, including St Augustine himself, and today forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. See source
622-750 AD Palestine, Spain, Egypt and North Africa is lost to the rise of Islam.
635 AD Syrian missionary (Nestorian) monk, Olopun, reaches China (Xian) and was given permission by the emperor (Tang dynasty) to build a church and spread Christianity.
675 AD Christianity reaches Belgium and the Netherlands.
Boniface (675-754 AD)
English Benedictine monk, missionary to Friesland (northern Netherlands) and Germany (722 AD)
He destroyed pagan shrines, established churches and baptized thousands.
He was equally zealous in his mission against paganism. At Geismar, he found a huge sacred oak tree, a shrine to Thor. He immediately took an axe to it. After only a few blows, the tree toppled to the ground, breaking into four pieces and revealing itself to be rotted away from within.
"A great throng of pagans who were there cursed him bitterly among themselves because he was the enemy of their gods," wrote Boniface's biographer, Willibald. "When the pagans who had cursed saw this, they [stopped] cursing and, believing, blessed God." Boniface used the oak to build a chapel, which became the center of his new monastery. Source
He was slaughtered by pagan raiders, defending himself with only the book in his hands.
740 AD - Irish monks reach Iceland.
828 AD - Missionaries sent to (modern-day) Slovakia and Czech Republic.
900-1000 AD - Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland accept Christianity.
1015 AD - Russia and much of Eastern Europe converted to Christianity.
What were the Christian mission implications of the Crusades?
St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226 AD)
Called to monastic living and service with three emphases:
- (1) bringing renewal to the church
- (2) caring for the poor
- (3) imitating Christ in simplicity and voluntary poverty.
In 1219, St. Francis went with the Crusaders to Egypt. He walked across enemy lines and met with the Egyptian sultan and shared the Gospel. He continued his missionary work among Muslims in Syria, Jerusalem, Antioch and Acre.
“He presented a Trinitarian God; an incarnate Christ who was crucified, buried and risen; and a Holy Spirit that made the virgin birth of Christ possible, and he called for his Muslim listeners to repent and believe this message.” Source
“Lessons on mission from Francis of Assisi begin with the fact that suffering should be expected and accepted as part of God’s plan.” Source
Ramon Lull (1232-1315 AD)
first western missionary to the Muslims
- wealthy Spaniard who left position and family to be a missionary
- He developed a three-point plan to reach Muslims. First, he needed to learn Arabic and other languages used by Muslims. Second, he studied Islamic literature in order to develop a Christian apologetic in response to Muslim arguments. Third, he desired to give his life as a martyr among the Muslims.
- Went to Tunis, Tunisa and Bugia, Algeria (eventually martyred in Bugia)
Lull wrote, “It is my belief, O Christ, that the conquest of the Holy Land should be attempted in no other way than as Thou and Thy apostles undertook to accomplish it – by love, by prayer, by tears, and the offering up of our own lives.”
1260 AD - Missed opportunity for Christian missions in China (Mongolian empire) - Marco Polo was asked by Kublai Khan to bring back 100 missionaries to spread the Gospel. It never happened.
The birth of religions
John Wycliffe (1324-1384)
Produced the first Bible in English (translated from the Vulgate - 4th century Latin)
He declared that the Bible was the highest authority for every Christian and the standard for faith and perfection. Source
In 1376 Wycliffe wrote On Civil Dominion, in which he said, “England belongs to no pope. The pope is but a man, subject to sin; but Christ is the Lord of lords, and this kingdom is held directly and solely of Christ alone.” Source
The Spread of the Gospel - Europe to the World (1500-1800)
1493 - Columbus takes priests to the new world.
1501 - Pope Alexander VI enlists Spain to take Christianity to the Americas.
Following Columbus' discovery, Pope Alexander VI issued a May 4, 1493, papal bull granting official ownership of the New World to Ferdinand and Isabella. To these monarchs, the Pope declared:
"We of our own motion, and not at your solicitation, do give, concede, and assign for ever to you and your successors, all the islands, and main lands, discovered; and which may hereafter, be discovered, towards the west and south; whether they be situated towards India, or towards any other part whatsoever, and give you absolute power in them." Source
Between 1493 and 1820, Spain sent some 15,585 missionaries to the Americas. Source
The Reformation
1517 - 1630
impact of the Reformation on Christian Missions
- The Bible was given to the common man.
- The Gospel was held up in highest authority... thus the need to make it known.
- Early Reformers spoke about the need for the preaching of the Gospel and missions.
- Explosion of theological education - Calvin himself remarked, “A good missionary is a good theologian. A good theologian is a good missionary.” Source
- Focus was more on purifying the local church than reaching the unreached
- Certain theological outlooks did not motivate toward missions.
Three ways the Reformation changed the world
- Free Inquiry
- Democracy
- Limited Government
- (Capitalism)
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
German professor of theology, monk and priest
Nailed 95 theses to the Wittenberg Castle church door in 1517.
Salvation is a free gift of God's grace that comes by faith. Famous "Reformation text" - Romans 1:17
He translated the Bible into the German vernacular.
He married a former nun.
Catholic missions (Jesuits, Franciscans) accelerated into the americas.
“I have but one passion—it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field, and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.” – Count Ludwig Von Zinzendorf
First Era of Modern Protestant Missions - 1792
Characteristics of the First Era
- Focus on coastlands of continents (Asia, Africa)
- Great personal sacrifice (so many died early from disease or murder)
- New mission strategies (pioneer, paternal, partnership, participation)
2nd Era of Protestant Christian Missions - 1865
Characteristics of the 2nd Era
- Rise of faith-based missions
- Focus on going inland
- Lots of recruiting (Student Volunteer Movement - 100,000 volunteers / 20,000 went overseas)
The Spread of the Gospel - the World to the World (1800 AD to present day)
3rd Era of Modern Protestant Missions - 1934 AD
Cameron Townsend and Donald McGavran
missionaries, researchers, writers, recruiters for the unreached
Where do you fit in the history of Christian missions?
Find your direction
Need, Sphere, Geography
The Christian Magna Charta, YWAM leaders 1981
Everyone on earth has the right to:
• Hear and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Have a Bible available in their own language.
• Have a Christian fellowship available nearby, to be able to meet for fellowship regularly each week, and to have Biblical teaching and worship with others in the Body of Christ.
• Have a Christian education available for their children.
• Have the basic necessities of life: food, water, clothing, shelter and health care.
• Lead a productive life of fulfillment spiritually, mentally, socially, emotionally, and physically.
Which need do you gravitate toward?
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