by Josh Paxton | Apr 12, 2017
In 1910 Robert E. Spear made the statement, “It is in the very being and character of God that the deepest ground of the missionary enterprise is to be found.” What is the character of God? What attributes come to mind when you first think of Him? Perhaps more well-known than Robert Spear is A.W. Tozer, who most famously said, “What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” So, what comes to your mind when you think about the character of God?
In Introduction to Missions, we cover three aspects of God’s character that demonstrate His heart for all mankind. There may very well be many more, but this is a short blog, so we will focus on a select few: His attitude, attributes, and actions.
His Attitude
In thinking about God’s attitude regarding missions, I want to zero in on one aspect of His character—that He is a God of relationships. We see this demonstrated first of all in His very nature. He exists eternally in relationship with the members of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We find them at the very beginning of creation in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our image…” All three are involved in the creation of mankind, and later, all three are involved in the redemption of mankind. We find them at Christ’s baptism (Matthew 3:13-17), the transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), and in our daily experience (John 14:15-17). God is so involved in His relationships that He identifies Himself by them. In Exodus 3:6 Moses meets God for this first time, and he knows God to be God because of how He identifies Himself. “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” This is not some random tribal deity, Moses; this is your God! Though He does not need us, (Acts 17:25) He longs for us (John 3:16). God desires a relationship with each one of us (2 Peter 3:9), and this relational attitude demonstrates the importance of proclaiming the Gospel to all.
His Attributes
God’s attributes as revealed to us in Scripture demonstrate a heart that longs for His creation. For the sake of space, we will examine only three here. “God is love.” 1 John 4:8 is such a powerful verse. For, while the pages of Scripture demonstrate God’s love very clearly, here we have proclaimed that love is one of His defining characteristics. God’s love defines every action He makes, even His discipline. God demonstrates His love to Adam and Eve in the garden following their disobedience when He casts them out (Gen. 3:22-24). The text itself tells why this is an act of love; had Adam and Eve then eaten from the Tree of Life in their fallen state, they would have remained forever unredeemable. God demonstrates His love for us again at the cross. That well known verse, John 3:16, makes it plain that God gave Christ over to redeem fallen humanity. It was love that drove Christ to the cross, love that held Him there, and love that compels us to share the message. As Paul spoke so clearly in 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we have concluded this that one died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” I can find no more powerful verse that speaks right to the heart of Western Christian culture today and the need to give all for the sake of proclaiming the gospel. “God is Light.” 1 John 1:5 gives another one of God’s defining attributes, that He contains no darkness but is light in His very essence. We see this aspect of light several times in Scripture when various individuals encounter God on His throne. He is clothed in light. Among other things that are significant about this attribute is the reality of light’s revealing power. Darkness, hides, it is dangerous, you can’t see, you don’t know what is coming, and this inherently brings fear. Last night, I stubbed my foot because I was walking around in the dark. Darkness hides reality. Light reveals the truth and helps you to walk straight; you can see obstacles, and you can see reality. This revelatory power can be seen in God making Himself known to us. He doesn’t have to; God could leave us stumbling around in the dark for eternity and it wouldn’t hurt Him one bit. But that is not who He is. He reveals to us who He is, He tells us how we can seek Him, and He makes a way for us to find Him. He is, as Francis Thompson describes, “The Hound of Heaven.” John 4:23-24 gives us the final attribute to examine, “But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John Piper has famously said, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” While it is far from being the only reason why missions exists, as demonstrated by Jesus’ discussion with the woman at the well, it is certainly a large portion of it. God is the only one deserving of such worship, and while people of all tribes and tongues worship anything other than Him, missions will continue to be of importance.
His Actions
Far from being a high in the sky non-involved deity, God acts on behalf of His people. The pages of Scripture are filled with Him taking the initiative to pursue His creation. He called Abraham, He called Moses, He initiated salvation, and He did it all of His own initiative. Throughout Scripture nothing shows His initiative in saving mankind more than when He sends others on His behalf. At the very beginning, when mankind was lost in decadence and depravity, He sent Noah. For 120 years (Genesis 6:3) Noah was a testament to mankind while building the Ark. When the time came to call Israel out of Egypt, he sent Moses (Exodus 3:10). Throughout the book of Judges, God would send different individuals to call the people back to Himself. Throughout Kings God sent prophets time and time again to bring Israel back to Himself (Isaiah 6:8). In the fullness of time, God sent His Son, Jesus (John 5:36, 37). Following the resurrection, God sent the Holy Spirit to help us walk in obedience (John 14:26, 16:7). In Acts 13:1-4, we have the Holy Spirit clearly involved in the sending of Paul and Barnabus. The pages of Scripture are filled with the sending work of our Father. He sends us out to proclaim His truth, His name, and His gospel. He sends us out to be His ambassadors, He sends us out to raise up worshipers; He sends us out to turn a fallen people back to their God, their creator, the one who loves them even though they turn away.
Why Missions? Because the very character of God demands it. Why Intercultural Studies? Because we must be properly equipped to do the work He calls us to do, and that involves understanding the people He calls us to reach.
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.
