Theology of mission biblical bases (english)

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Theology of Mission: The Biblical Bases
Mina Fouad Tawfik
freeorthodoxmind@yahoo.com
http://www.4shared.com/dir/22242369/6a4d68fe/Theological_Researches.html
2008
‫ﻣﻤﻨﻮع‬‫إﻗﺘﺒﺎس‬‫أو‬‫ﻧﺸﺮ‬‫هﺬا‬‫اﻟﺒﺤﺚ‬‫دون‬‫اﻟﺮﺟﻮع‬‫ﻟﻠﻤﺆﻟﻒ‬

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Contents:
- Introduction ... 3
- The Old Testament: Here we start: A Nation of Priests … 3
- Continuing Message: The New Testament … 4
- The Biblical bases of Missions … 5
- Final words … 8
- References … 9

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Introduction:
Since the beginning, God intended to involve man in a partnership to establish his
kingdom, and that’s a mission.
The mission of God happens in real time, among real people, in real places1
. It is in the
center of the heart of the Holy Bible, the best proof for that is the billions of Christians
dwelling all over the world today, they can’t be but a result of a clear Bible teaching
about mission.
The mission isn’t what the missionaries do, but as David Bosch says: “Mission is what
God is doing to and through the Servant, not what the Servant does.”(Phillips and Coote,
Toward the 21st
Century in Christian Mission, Orbis 1993, p. 178)
2
.
The Old Testament
Here we start: A Nation of Priests
At the beginning of the covenant with Israel, God promised that his people would be a
kingdom of priests. Again at the close of the age, God has decreed that they shall be
called "priests of the Lord" and "ministers of our God." God never hesitated in his
purpose (2 Pet. 2:9-11; Rev. 1:6).
“God chose the tribe of Levi to be priests. They were to be models of what the whole
nation was to become. The Old Testament priests brought the nation of Israel before God
to worship and to learn about his holiness. Although priests had many duties, they had
two main functions. First, they represented God to man. Second, they represented man to
God. God intended Israel to perform these same two functions in relation to the nations.
If the entire nation was to function as priests, to whom would they be priests?. Certainly
not to themselves only, but also to the nations”3
. But they refused that role, or may be
didn’t quite understand it.
They were to become a holy priest nation to whom God would reveal himself that they,
in turn, might transmit the revelation to the other nations (for all the nations belonged to
1
William R. O’Brien, The Biblical Basis and Priority for Frontier Missions, International Journal of
Frontiers affairs, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 , P.50
2
Cited in William R. O’Brien, The Biblical Basis and Priority for Frontier Missions, p.50
3
Avery T. Willis, Jr., The Biblical basis of Mission, International Mission Board 1992, Ch 2

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God). They were to perform the sacrifices and render the service on behalf of all nations
which would make possible God’s mercy and propitiousness toward all4
.
Some mayn’t see this as a clear teaching, and raise a serious question as whether missions
are taught in clearly in the Old Testament. The best example in the Old Testament of
missionary activity is Jonah’s going to Nineveh. Yet Jonah, like Israel, refused to be
God’s chosen messenger to the nations5
. There are many Old Testament texts which
address the heathen peoples directly. The general tone of these texts is “Give unto the
LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto
the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts”
(Ps.96:7-8). This is particularly the case with the Old Testament prophets. Israel’s
particular role was not to hinder salvation for all peoples, for Abraham’s calling included
the mandate, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). In Abraham,
“all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 18:18)6
.
Continuing Message: The New Testament
For these reason, we find the NT message supports the evangelization among the Gentile
nations. We must recognize that the Soteriology of the Bible begins with the kerygma
(preaching) of the early church. Also, the New Testament itself, as a book, is named a
Gospel (euangelion): Good News; that means Preaching.
Luke records: Jesus said, “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.” (Luke 24:44-49), the “all nations” is not
speaking of nation-states, but all the ethnic peoples of the world7
.
Jesus linked the people of God in the Old Testament with his new people in the New
Testament. His choosing of twelve disciples symbolized the link with the twelve tribes of
Israel. The disciples also symbolized the remnant that inherited Israel’s promises. Jesus
4
Henry Cornell Goerner, "Thus It Is written": the Missionary Motif in the Scriptures ,Nashville Convention
Press, 1966, p. 14
5
Avery T. Willis, Jr., The Biblical basis of Mission, Ch 2
6
Thomas Schirrmacher, Biblical Foundations for Missions: Seven Clear Lessons, INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996, p.33
7
William R. O’Brien, The Biblical Basis and Priority for Frontier Missions, p.51

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taught that the new remnant was spiritual rather than national. The church consists of the
spiritual sons of Abraham8
.
In these last days since Pentecost, God has revealed the mystery of his church-to make of
Jew and Gentiles a new creation: "That the Gentiles should be fellows-heirs, and of the
same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph. 3: 6).
Now we have been made one with him and with each other by the blood of Christ. Jesus,
as High Priest, opened the way to God for us. By his death he split the veil to the holy of
holies, established a new covenant with us, and gave us direct access to God: we become
priests: royal priesthood.
All God’s children should function as priests to the world because God elected them. He
individually chose each Christian to be a part of his people to bless all the families of the
earth9
. Now with the New Testament we continue the mission of the OT priests: we bless
all nations by who we are and what we do.
The Biblical bases of Missions:
The Biblical bases of these missions can be as follows10
:
1. MISSION of GOD: God intends to restore man’s relationship to him and to involve
man as a partner in establishing the kingdom of God.
2. MISSION OF GOD’S PEOPLE: God elected a people to do his will and to become
obedient, servant-priests to the nations of the world.
3. MISSION OF CHRIST God: sent Jesus as his obedient Servant-Priest to redeem man
and to form a holy kingdom of priests who would demonstrate and proclaim the good
news of the kingdom.
4. MISSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: God sent the Holy Spirit to take Christ's place and
to empower, inspire, and guide his chosen people to proclaim the gospel to every person
on earth.
5. DISCIPLING: MANDATE TO MISSION: Christ accomplishes his mission through
multiplying disciples in all nations
8
Avery T. Willis, Jr., The Biblical basis of Mission, Ch 5
9
Ibid., Ch 5
10
Avery T. Willis, Jr., The Biblical basis of Mission, Ch 10

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6. EQUIPPED FOR MISSION: Christ appoints equippers to enable the people of God to
do the work of ministry.
7. THE PEOPLE OF GOD ON MISSION: Christ calls his disciples to ministry and gives
them spiritual gifts to enable them to serve the church and the world.
8. GOD’S GO-BETWEEN: God intervenes in the affairs of men and nations to establish
his kingdom in proportion to the intercessory prayers of his people.
From these bases we can grasp several lessons:
1. Making Disciples: “Jesus carefully discipled his followers for three years because he
knew that the implementation of God’s plan was to in their hands. Yet by the end of his
earthly ministry, all who remained were eleven original disciples, one hundred twenty
other followers who attended the prayer vigil in the upper room, and five hundred who
witnessed his ascension.
How few they must have seemed when Jesus commanded them to make disciples of all
nations! Plainly, they needed to multiply. But Jesus had prepared them well for the
coming rapid expansion recorded in the book of Acts.”11
We still are obligated to share the gospel with everyone on earth, but that doesn’t mean to
go with massive numbers to preach the nations, this will lead to failure of missions,
because missions need planning and training and above all wisdom.
Jesus did not call thousands when he gave the command to preach the gospel to every
creature. He had a plan; one part of that plan was to select a few men and pour his life
into them. He discipled them and taught them by example to disciple others. His plan was
followed by the first-century Christians until they had spread across the known world.
Stated simply, the plan is this: Each disciple is to disciple one or more persons until the
ones being discipled can disciple others who can win and disciple others, and so on12
.
That’s how the successful mission should work.
2. Equipped mission: Many missionaries go out to preach their own Bible, they don’t
concentrate on the true Bible message but on their own message that they see it Biblical.
11
Ibid., Ch 6
12
Ibid., Ch 6

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The New Testament reveals both the message and the methods to accomplish God’s plan
for getting the gospel to every person: It’s by the Bible itself, by the good news.
3. Mission is a battle, and our battle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities,
with powers, with rulers of darkness of this world, and with spiritual wickedness in high
places (Eph. 6:12). Prayer is the mighty means by which the church is empowered to
demonstrate the wisdom and power of God to Satan and his hierarchy of rulers and
demons: Mission starts with prayer, John Wesley said, "God will do nothing but in
answer to prayer”. God’s mission to the world begins when his people get on their knees.
Importunity gives God an opportunity to demonstrate his power. Intercessory prayer is
not to be done at our convenience but because of someone’s inconvenience. Jesus said,
"Ask . . . seek . . . knock" (Matt. 7:7)13
. We must make priority what God makes priority.
4. The basic question we can deal with today is this: How do we communicate the Gospel
in the modern world, with its different cultures?14
Human logic alone will not do it. No
mission was done in the Bible without the Divine power; the Holy Spirit takes the
message and communicates it with power to heart and mind. Billy Graham says there are
three secrets to that: Prayer, prayer, prayer15
.
That’s not all; Andreas J. Köstenberger drives more conclusions from the place of
mission in the Bible16
:
1. We must allow the scriptural record itself to spell out dynamics and developments
pertaining to mission over the course of salvation history rather than impose a particular
abstract or modern definition of mission on the Bible. Otherwise, genuine aspects of
Scripture will inevitably be excluded and the remaining material streamlined according to
the interpreter's respective definition of mission. On the other hand, while caution in
one’s understanding of mission is crucial, care must be taken not to define mission so
broadly as to include everything under the heading "mission"; this would lead to false
missions that work astray from the mission of God.
13
Ibid., Ch 9
14
The calling of an Evangelist, Billy Graham, Preaching the world, Reaching the world, World Wide
Publications, Minnesota 1987, p. 131
15
Ibid.
16
Andreas J. Köstenberger, The Place of Mission in New Testament Theology: An Attempt to Determine the
Significance of Mission within the Scope of the New Testament’s Message as a Whole, (Electronic Version),
p.10

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2. A salvation-historical approach to Scripture is vital for an accurate understanding of
the Bible’s own teaching on mission. The writers of the Old Testament looked forward to
God’s future acts on behalf of his people, including the sending of a Messiah and the
eschatological kingdom. The writers of the New Testament interpreted God’s recent or
present intervention in terms of Old Testament paradigms, such as the Abrahamic
blessing, the Exodus, the giving of the Law, the exile, or the restoration of a faithful
remnant.
A history-of-religions approach or an approach that focuses merely on the various
theologies of mission contributed by individual biblical writers without understanding the
underlying thematic unity along salvation-historical lines is therefore inadequate.
Final words:
God alone establishes his kingdom. He has done his part up to now and is ready to finish
the job. However, he is giving us every chance to become partners with him in
establishing the kingdom. He wants us to reign with him someday. The time of Christ’s
coming and complete victory has been hidden from us so we will be about our Father’s
business always. We have had the gospel revealed to us so that we can reveal it to the
world before judgment day17
.
17
Avery T. Willis, Jr., The Biblical basis of Mission, Ch 10

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References:
- Avery T. Willis, Jr., The Biblical basis of Mission, International Mission Board 1992
- Andreas J. Köstenberger, The Place of Mission in New Testament Theology: An Attempt
to Determine the Significance of Mission within the Scope of the New Testament’s
Message as a Whole, (Electronic Version)
- Antonius Markos, An introduction into Theology of Mission¸ Johannesburg 2001
-Gottfried Osei-Mensah, Wanted: Servant Leaders, African Christian Press 1990
- Henry Cornell Goerner, "Thus It Is written": the Missionary Motif in the Scriptures,
Nashville Convention Press, 1966
-Philip Mohabir, Pioneers or Settlers?, Scripture Union, London 1991
- Thomas Schirrmacher, Biblical Foundations for Missions: Seven Clear Lessons,
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR.
1996
- The calling of an Evangelist, Billy Graham, Preaching the world, Reaching the world,
World Wide Publications, Minnesota 1987
-William R. O’Brien, The Biblical Basis and Priority for Frontier Missions, International
Journal of Frontiers affairs, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996
-William R. O’Brien, The Biblical Basis and Priority for Frontier Missions