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This is where you post your comments on Week One of Introduction To Missions. Please remember these three things…read the content for understanding, make personal application, and interact with the material and fellow bloggers. When making your posts you should show that you understand the material and that you have made application, but in addition you should bring critical thinking to the process and challenge the status quo.
Questions to consider for discussion…
How does the encroachment of post modern thinking affect missions?
Can you make a case for missions from the OLD TESTAMENT? It is easy to see missions in the New Testament but can you make a compelling case in the Old Testament?
With Christianity becoming less popular in the U.S. You can only make the assumption that foreign missions is taking a hit as well.
But according to pg 14-15 of our material, with the decline in the average americans belief in absolute truth (only 33% in 2001) there seems to be an incline in the flourishing of other religions here in America, which actually brings the mission field to us here in the states. I think this actually might set a fire in the American Christian and might give them a passion for foreign ministry, as they are becoming more exposed to foreign religions and foreign cultures in their hometowns. Sometimes christians need to be shaken up a bit in order for them to wake up. Perhaps the introduction of mosques and temples in their communities will do that.
I believe we can make a case for missions in the Old Testament. In fact, God’s plan from the beginning was to bring salvation and redemption from the Jews to the world, which in my opinion is the “ultimate mission”.
From Abraham being called out from God and told that “all people’s on earth will be blessed through him”, to Isaiah receiving word from God about a King who’s come to redeem the Jews and gentiles. We can see that a world mission was the plan to begin with. Even the Jews felt this way about the rest of the world. Pg 34 gives us an example of psalm 67 where the Jews were longing for all people and all nations to know and see the goodness of God.
Can you make a case for missions from the OLD TESTAMENT? It is easy to see missions in the New Testament but can you make a compelling case in the Old Testament?
One of the biggest things that stuck out to me was during Act 1: Creation and the Fall… God Creates.. From the beginning it’s known that God is the creator of the universe and establishes his concern for the people he creates. “That concern is not limited by racial, political, gender, economic or religious boundaries.” The Old Testament lays a foundation of who God is. He cares about all of his people. I guess a big reason this sticks out to me is the current sermon series we’re going through. We’ve been discussing the value that God places on everybody. No matter where you put your feet, the people you see were created by the same God that created you.
How does the encroachment of post modern thinking affect missions?
According to the text, it’s chipping away at the truth. Truth is no longer thought to be absolute. As John mentioned above, There’s more and more nationalities being mixed. Due to studies or what it may be. There’s more beliefs being found in the States. More ideas of Salvation, some seem more compelling to others. Losing what we believed as absolute truth is affecting missions.
A CASE FOR MISSIONS IN THE OT AND POST MODERN ENCROACHMENT
From the moment of the fall of man God set in motion His mission. You might even say that it was in motion even before the fall. As we read each story in the Old and New Testament they link themselves to each other in such a way that God’s ultimate mission is revealed. His creation wasn’t finished when we were formed of the earth. We are a work in progress. The formation of our bodies was the beginning; afterward he began to form our minds and our souls. We are being created in His image, living temples for His Spirit.
When we read the stories in the Old Testament we are reading about the first missionaries. Moses leading the Israelites through the desert, Jonah sending God’s message to Nineveh, Esther’s display of love and obedience for such a time as this, the words of the prophets proclaiming the coming of Christ, all of them are connected not only to the New Testament but to the present time.
Each era presents challenges for God’s missionaries. Sometimes I think the one we live in now resembles the Roman era. The whole idea of “coexisting” sounds very familiar. New challenges will arise as we go forward. God, the mission, and His word remain the same. As we press forward we should use the journeys and experiences of those that have gone before us. They are there to guide us, to sharpen us and to draw us closer to our Creator; to make us more like Him.
Glory to God!
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