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Missions Seminar

Missions Seminar. What Does the Bible Say? What is Being Done? What Can I Do?. Presenter: Yee Tham Wan Cornerstone Community Church, Melbourne September 22, 2007. What are the Bible verses on Missions you can think of?. Old Testament New Testament.

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Missions Seminar

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  1. Missions Seminar • What Does the Bible Say? • What is Being Done? • What Can I Do? Presenter: Yee Tham Wan Cornerstone Community Church, Melbourne September 22, 2007

  2. What are the Bible verses on Missions you can think of? • Old Testament • New Testament

  3. The Great Commission of the Old Testament 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. 2 "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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

  4. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you – Genesis 12:1-3 The Abrahamaic Covenant See Rom. 4:13 where “Land” becomes “world”. Romans 4:13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

  5. The Abrahamaic Covenant • “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:3). • This promise, with its revealed purpose of election, was later repeated twice to Abraham (Gen 18:18; 22:17, 18), and reasserted to Isaac (Gen 26:2–4) and to Jacob (Gen 28:12–14).

  6. The Call of Abram A Classical Missionary Call to “leave” & “go”: • leave own country to go to unknown land • leave own people to go to unfamiliar strangers • leave own father’s household to go live in uncomfortable tents Many blessings but only one purpose: • The NATIONS! Important Missions Truth:God’s people have been blessed to bless.

  7. The Mosaic (Sinai) Covenant Exod 19:4-6 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

  8. You will be for me a kingdom of priests – Exodus 19:3-6 The Missionary Purpose of Israel’s Election.

  9. Matthew 28:16-20 • The Climax: “Mountain” • Galilee (familiar, fallback, reminder . . . ) • Which mountain? • The Crux: “Authority” • “Jesus came to them” • Heaven and earth • The Comprehensiveness: “ALL” • ALL authority; ALL nations; ALL of Trinitarian God; ALL obedience; ALL the time . . . • ALL of the Christian life on earth relates to this point

  10. Luke 24:45-53 • Missions Message • The Gospel of Jesus Christ • Missions Mandate • All the nations of the earth (beginning at Jerusalem) • Missions Method • The Witness of believers • Missions Means • The Holy Spirit

  11. There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language. Rev. 5:9 & 7:9 The Conclusion of Human History According to the Bible

  12. The Bible as “Salvation History” Jn. 3:16 Rev. 5:9 Gen. 3:15

  13. The Missionary Bible “The Bible is a missionary book throughout . . . The main line of argument that binds all of it together is the unfolding and gradual execution of a missionary purpose.” Bruce Ker, cited by Ralph Winter

  14. What has the Church been doing in Missions? • FIRST ERA • 1792-1910 • William Carey till Edinburgh I • Coastlands • European dominance • SECOND ERA • 1865-1980 • Hudson Taylor till Edinburgh II • Inland Areas • American dominance • THIRD ERA • 1934- • McGravran & Townsend • “Hidden Peoples” left out by first 2 eras • Third-world dominance

  15. THE “GREAT CENTURY” • William Carey • Adoniram Judson • Robert Morrison • J. Hudson Taylor • Cambridge Seven (C. T. Studd) • David Livingstone • Cameron Townsend • Donald McGavran • Loren Cunningham

  16. William Carey, 1761-1834. English Baptist missionary to India. Pastor before going to the mission field, he spent an active forty-one years serving the Lord in India, including translating the Scriptures. Often referred to as the “Father of Modern Missions.”

  17. J. Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) was an English missionary to China. Founded the China Inland Mission which at his death included 205 mission stations with over 800 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christians.

  18. Seven young Englishmen (C.T. Studd, M. Beauchamp, S.P. Smith, A.T. Polhill-Turner, D.E. Hoste, C.H. Polhill-Turner, W.W. Cassels ) who went to China in 1885 as missionaries.

  19. "Some wish to live within the soundof Church or Chapel bell;I want to run a Rescue Shopwithin a yard of hell."— C.T. Studd.

  20. American Baptist missionary, lexicographer, and Bible translator to Burma. Born in Massachusetts in 1788. Helped form the American Baptist Missionary Union. In 1834 completed a translation of the whole Bible into the Burmese language. During the Anglo-Burmese War, he spent twenty-one months in prison. From 1845-1847, after thirty-four years in Burma, he took his only furlough to his native land. Returning to Burma, he spent his remaining years working on his English-Burmese dictionary. He died in 1850 and was buried at sea. 1788-1850

  21. Robert Morrison (born January 5, 1782; died August 1, 1834 in Guangzhou) was a Scottish missionary, the first Christian Protestant missionary in China. After twenty-five years of intense work he translated the whole Bible into the Chinese language and baptized ten Chinese believers.

  22. David Livingstone, was born in Blantyre, Scotland, March 19, 1813. David Livingstone (1813-1873) was a Scottish missionary, doctor and explorer who helped open the heart of Africa to missions. His travels covered one-third of the continent, from the Cape to near the Equator, and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.

  23. Cameron Townsend, founder, motivator, and visionary leader of the SIL and WBT programs, was a quiet, calm man, in spite of the "impossible" challenges he often faced. William Cameron Townsend1896–1982

  24. Donald McGavran was, with his wife Mary a missionary to India for 30 years. He was also a scholar, author and teacher who pioneered in the development of church growth theory when he returned to the United States in 1956. He spent the last decades of his long life developing and winning acceptance for church growth as a theory and an academic discipline. But for him it was never an isolated field of scholarly study, but rather a means of equipping the Christian church to spread the Good News of the salvation available through Jesus Christ.

  25. Loren Duane Cunningham (born 1936 in California) is the co-founder of Youth With a Mission (YWAM) and the University of the Nations in Hawaii. Cunningham founded YWAM in the USA in 1960 with his wife Darlene at the age of 24.

  26. THE GOSPEL TORCH IS NOW IN OUR HANDS!! • Matthew 24:14 & 27 4 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west (or, “East to West”), so will be the coming of the Son of Man. • Westward movement of the expansion of Christianity • Most of missionary work done by the Western Church from North America and Europe. • The Chinese Church and the “Back to Jerusalem” missionary movement • The Gospel Torch has been passed to us

  27. MISSIONARY INVOLVEMENT:What Can/Should I Do? • Popular Missions Theme: “Go, Give, Pray” • Career Missionaries • Tentmaker Missionaries • A third option: Short Term Missionaries

  28. SHORT TERM MISSIONS • It is a recent development but growing very fast • Alternative to traditional long-term missionary work (e.g. career missionary & “tentmaker”) • Not intended to replace traditional long-term missions • Not intended to excuse people called into long-term missions • There are already specialized organizations (e.g. OM, YWAM, STEM, etc.) and books: • http://www.shorttermmissions.com/resources/ • http://www.mislinks.org/practical/shterm.htm

  29. Benefits of Short-terming • Provide an alternative model for missionary involvement • Hands-on, direct contact with cross-cultural missions. • Stimulate realistic vision for the global task. • Provide an opportunity to see God at work • Stimulate significant intercession • Convert a person into a lifelong missions mobilizer back home. • Create a desire to serve more significantly in their home churches • Strengthen the on-site, long-term ministry. • Provide the foundation for potential career missionary service. Adapted from Bill Taylor

  30. Some Dangers in Short-terming • Overstated Importance • Self-aggrandizement • Ignored ministries at home • Too short, too expensive • Exhausted full-timers • Limited results • False impressions

  31. Culture and Missions • The Bible Recognizes Different Cultures – Acts 1:8, Rom. 1:16 • Jesus crossed the greatest “cultural barrier” in coming to us • To fulfill the Great Commission, we need to cross cultural barriers • Cross-cultural communication is expected in missions

  32. What is Culture? • Complex, integrated coping mechanism Charles Kraft • What makes you a stranger when you’re away from home Philip Bock • What makes us “us” and them “them” Bob Sjogren

  33. Don’t navigate by merely what you can see!

  34. 4-Layer Model of Culture“Culture is the integrated system of learned patterns of behavior, values, beliefs and worldview.” • Behavior: What is Done • Values: What is Good • Beliefs: What is True • Worldview: What is Real

  35. Christian Understanding of the Nature of Culture • God Created Culture • God Created People as Cultural Beings • God Redeems Humans and Renews Culture • Our Response: • Respect other cultures • Do not think too highly of our own culture • Anticipate God’s work in and through them • Do not confuse God’s supracultural truth with a false “superculture” of our own

  36. Cross-Cultural Differences • Confusion of Form and Meaning • Happens on the behavioral level • Ethnocentrism • Judging features of another culture by one’s own culture • Culture Shock • Profound sense of disorientation in trying to adopt the behavioral patterns of that culture

  37. Cross-cultural Communication of the Gospel • Accommodation & Adaptation • Syncretism & Situationalism • Identification & Indigenization • Contextualization • Biblically-Oriented • “Living Water in Indian Cup” • “Redemptive Analogies” • “Bridges of Love” • “Bi-cultural Christianity” • Incarnation Model

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