Archive for April 2010
The Priority of Missions/Evangelism
Our pastor-teacher did a great job of preaching about the priority of missions yesterday. (Listen Here)
That message has caused me to ask and try to answer this question, “Why has Missions/Evangelism lost its Biblical priority in American Evangelicalism?”
First, let’s define missions & evangelism. God has called us to preach the gospel to every creature and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). We are to do this and support this as the body of Christ. Missions/evangelism is not, work projects and food drives. These are vehicles for the good news to go forth.
Now on to answering the question I posed above.
First, it seems silly to ask this, since within the title of Evangelicalism is the term, evangelical, which is rooted in the evangel, that is the Good News. So maybe we should call this entity that has lost the priority of missions, “Church Going Americans”.
Secondly, it is likely that the leadership of these so called churches have no value for evangelism/missions. The truth is, we talk about what we love and drive home what we are passionate about. We love our temples we have built for ourselves, we love our Christian celebrities, we love our pet theologies. The reality is that true Biblical theology will drive our love and passion for evangelism/missions. As you will hear (or heard if you listened to the message I posted above), Paul’s passion was clear. He was willing to spend a Christ-less eternity to see Israel saved ( Romans 9:1-5)
Thirdly, because of this possible lack of leadership, most church going Americans are focused on themselves. Look at the proliferation of “self help” books that line the shelves of “Christian” book stores. The average American church goer is so focused on the himself, that he has no thought for any other person or people group.
Fourthly, if there is a solid leadership focus on evangelism/missions, the problem could be that the church goers are so wrapped up in their world, they don’t see the real world that is dying around them. We are so busy with our activities and events (sports, scouts, political groups, etc.), we have little to no interaction with lost people or missionaries who are trying to reach the lost where we can’t. By the way, a missions conference is for the purpose of refocusing our attention on these matters and introducing (reintroducing) us to those who are doing this around the world!
This is just a quick post based on some thoughts from Sunday’s message. I’m sure there is more clogged up in wrinkles of the gray matter, but that’s all I have for now.
Here is a great sermon series by my good friend Smedly Yates on the theology of missions.
The long absence…
As many of you (all two who read my blog) know, I am currently pursuing a masters degree in Bible and theology, which means my time is taken with all of my regular family stuff, pastoral duties, plus school work. I am finishing up my second systematic theology class. The whole second, third and fourth degree thing is going to likely take another ten years to complete, so I’m nowhere near done. All that to say, there haven’t been many posts, at all.
But having finished some of my course work for this class (five, five to ten page papers), I will present some here for your perusal and discussion. Here is one on the Triunity. I expect it is not the best work you’ll ever read, so I would appreciate critiques if they are delivered in a kind manner.
If you are a non-trinitarian who wishes to interact with me on the subject, I would ask for charity as well as an answer to this question first: “If I give you one more evidence will you change your position?” Given the response I expect you will give, I will respond, “Neither will I.”
I am also currently reading a few books. I will try to post some discussion in regard to those as well. I would like for you to especially check out my friend Thad’s book on listening to the sermon.
