by Josh Paxton | Mar 9, 2017
This is the first in a series on Why Intercultural Studies.
In 1965 an epic 3 hour and 45 minute movie was released staring Max von Sydow in the main role of Jesus of Nazareth. The Greatest Story Ever Told is a classic cinematic retelling of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It was nominated for 5 Oscars but didn’t win any. Almost ten years prior to that, in 1956, Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner faced off as Moses and Ramses in the now classic, The Ten Commandments. Equally lengthy, it was nominated for 7 Oscars and won 4, including Best Picture. The Ten Commandments is still shown every year at Easter. My children are, of course, more familiar with the modern animated version, The Prince of Egypt. Many in my generation are also less familiar with The Greatest Story Ever Told and more so with Mel Gibson’s, The Passion of the Christ, which introduced us visually to the bloody reality of crucifixion and the incredible love of our Lord for a fallen and rebellious world.
These stories are largely familiar to us in the United States; they are part of our culture, part of our art forms and entertainment. Here in the U.S. we enjoy Christian coffee shops, book stores, businesses, and even large corporations like Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby. You simply cannot study American history without encountering Christianity and the search for religious freedom. Our founding documents contain principles rooted in a biblical worldview. While the latest Barna reports indicate some frightening statistics for Christianity in America other statistics demonstrate that the message is still going forth: 73% of Americans still identify as Christian, 55% of Americans are reported as attending church, and 75% of Americans report that they pray to God (https://www.barna.com/research/state-church-2016/). While there are certainly theological discrepancies, and the state of our culture begs the question of how many Americans really live according to biblical worldview, it can be clearly said that we in the West have heard the greatest story ever told and many of us have believed it. Please understand there is always room for improvement; Bible based churches must be planted, disciples must be made, and the gospel must continue to go forth in the West. However, I wish to paint a contrasting picture.
The World Population Clock (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/) reports the world population as almost 7.5 billion people, and global population is increasing exponentially. The Joshua Project (https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/statistics) reports that there are 3 billion unreached (defined as less 2% of people are Christians) people in the world, 40% of the world’s population. Only three short years ago, that number was 2.5 billion. The short conclusion is simple—world evangelization is simply not keeping up with world population growth. To be fair, many of these people live in places that are closed off to Western missionaries, or are at least hard to get to. However, even more statistics show a different reason why they have yet to hear the greatest story ever told.
According to the Center for Global Study of Christianity at Gordon Conwell, of 400,000 cross-cultural missionaries a mere 3.3% of them go to the unreached. Of 5.5 million full-time Christian workers in the world, only 0.37% of them work among the unreached. The ratio of those working with unreached people groups to the total population of unreached people is 1 worker for 216,300 people. Contrast that with the 78,000 Evangelical Christians for every 1 unreached people group.
These statistics quickly show us that, for 3 billion people, the message of the gospel is not the greatest story ever told—it is the greatest story NEVER told.
According to the Traveling Team, (http://www.thetravelingteam.org/stats/) “The Church has roughly 3000 times the financial resources and 9000 times the manpower to finish the Great Commission.” The Church has every resource it needs to mobilize itself to ensure that those 3 billion people do not go another day without hearing the hope for eternal life, the only gospel, the only news, the only story that will save them from an eternity of separation from God and torment. Yet, until recently, Americans spent more money on Halloween costumes for their pets than on reaching the lost.
Why Intercultural Studies? Why Missions? Because if we can read these things and not be moved to action then we are left with only two conclusions; either we are filled with hate for these people or we are not really followers of Christ ourselves. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” – 1 John 3:16-18
“”And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” – Luke 10:2
by Josh Paxton | Jan 4, 2017
In just a few short weeks Calvary University will welcome 30 Missions Mobilizers from 15 different agencies for our annual Missions Emphasis Week. Missions Emphasis Week is a long standing tradition at Calvary. Our students have the opportunity to hear from special speakers in Chapel, seminars, class sessions and informally throughout the week. Our keynote speaker for 2017 is Dale Losch, President of Crossworld. He will be sharing with our students four words that can change the world. Also joining us will be representatives from Avant, TEAM, BMW, Pioneers, New Tribes Mission and many more. Students will have opportunities throughout the week not only to hear about missions work around the world but to get involved themselves through prayer and special outreach projects.
Around the world 2.5 Billion people are still without access to the gospel. Calvary seeks to have a role in changing that number through training our students in cross-cultural ministry and providing opportunities for them to get involved both here at home and through partnerships with many missions agencies that allow students to experience cross-cultural ministry first hand. Missions is a key component in Calvary’s mission to prepare our students to serve in the Church and the World according to a Biblical Worldview.
Please feel free to join us during Chapel, Tuesday – Friday at 11:00. If you are available, missions representatives will be giving special seminars on Tuesday the 24th throughout the day, a schedule will be available at the reception desk.
For more information contact Joshua Paxton at [email protected]
by Josh Paxton | Aug 22, 2016
Students cleaning up downtown Belton after the 2015 Fall Festival.
As part of Calvary’s commitment to being a vital part of our own community and being engaged in sharing the love of Christ there is a group of students on campus known as the Student Missions Committee. Rather than tell you about them myself I thought I would let their President for the 2016-2017 school year Celeste Williams (far left with the broom) talk about her experience with this great group of students.
“I was only planning on going to Calvary for one year. I thought it was a good plan: I would get to deepen my relationship with Christ and figure out what I should do with my life then move on. God had something else planned for me, though—something exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ask or imagine. Yes, I was able to draw closer to Christ and receive direction on what to do with my life, but I’m now starting my third year at Calvary because I found my “together” there—and I’m not talking about a ring by spring. Let me try to explain.
Acts 3 tells the story of John and Peter going to the Temple “together” at the hour of prayer. They end up healing a man who had been lame from birth and preaching the gospel. I was challenged in a sermon based on this passage to find my “together”: people with whom I could go out and share Christ, individuals who would help me stay focused on what is truly important, brothers and sisters who would encourage me and strengthen me in my walk with Christ. I found my “together” in the Student Missions Committee at Calvary. We did really basic things together: organize and attend weekly meetings called “Haystack,” where we learned and prayed about missions; organize and participate in monthly outreaches; and brainstorm ways to better engage the student body at Calvary and the community around Calvary. As we did these things together, though, I grew to love this group of like minded people I had found. I loved getting to go out as a team with the same goal in mind: share Jesus. And when we gathered for Haystack, we also had the same thing on our minds: further the kingdom through prayer.
Perhaps the most exciting part was how I was changed by our time together. Being around people who were so passionate about sharing Christ made me more passionate about it. Regularly and intentionally going out to engage people with the gospel made me more aware that I should always be doing that. Praying about missions made the spread of the gospel the desire of my own heart. I am so thankful that I became a part of the Student Missions Committee my first year at Calvary, even if it did mess up my plans to leave after one year. I am really looking forward to how God uses the Calvary Student Missions Committee this year—to grow me, to grow others, to grow me closer to others, and to make us all more aware of what God is doing and wants to do in the world. We are going to be challenged beyond our abilities and stretched out of our comfort zones, but I can’t think of a better way to spend my year. I know it will make us depend more on God, and that’s the best thing we can be doing. – Celeste Williams
The Student Missions Committee is an eclectic group of students at Calvary who are studying a different variety of topics. Celeste herself is an Elementary Education major. There have also been Intercultural Studies, Pastoral Studies, Biblical Counseling and Music majors as part of this group. It doesn’t matter what your major is, you can be a part of missions at Calvary. Our first activity of the year will be coming up soon September 9 -10 as we volunteer at Belton’s Fall Festival. Be on the lookout for more updates about other outreach activities.
