Module 2—Teaching Notes—Vocation of Messianic New-Covenant Community—Gentiles

'eternal purpose' academy of mission

mission mobilisation through leadership education—academy.eternalpurpose.org.uk 1

2008-2009

vocation of the messianic covenant community

!! gathering the covenant harvests



2008-2009

introduction

already examined:

!! God’s eternal purpose for creation…

bring many people to share in serving his eternal purpose and ultimately eternal and glorious future with him, in the new heaven and earth…

including role of

!! a covenant community

!! co-operating with him

!! revealing his essential nature—his glory

!! revealing his purposes for his creation

above all

!! partnering with Messiah in gathering “covenant harvests” of the earth

now examine these covenant harvests…



2008-2009

gathering covenant harvests

God’s eternal purpose rooted in blessing of Abraham:

!! a great nation, blessed to be a blessing to every family on earth

!! I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing…by you all the families of the earth will be blessed

—! Genesis!12.1-3 CJB

Messiah gave his life as seed going into the ground, dying, by God’s power great harvest of people could be gathered from the earth…

!! harvest of the GENTILE PEOPLES

!! …this Good News about the Kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the Gentiles

—! Matthew 24:14 JNT

!! harvest of JEWISH PEOPLE

!! if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world…how much greater riches will Israel in its fullness bring them…all Israel will be saved.

—! Roman 11.11-26 (JNT)

!! harvest of righteousness in MESSIANIC COMMUNITY

!! the Messiah loved the Messianic Community, indeed, gave himself up on its behalf… to set it apart to God… holy and without defect

—! Ephesians 5.25-27

covenant harvests reaped in context of…

!! global, “once more,” shaking of “all things”…

!! “he has made this promise: One more time I will shake not only the earth but heaven too!’ And this phrase ‘One more time’ makes clear that the things shaken are removed, since they are created things, so that the things not shaken may remain.

—! Hebrews 12.25-29

! finally resulting in new heaven and earth

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God’s agenda amongst the Gentiles

!! a harvest of “all nations”

!! “Look around among the nations and see!

!! And be astonished! Astounded!

For I am putting into effect a work in your days

!! that you would not believe if it were told you”

—! Habakkuk 1:5



2008-2009

every ethnos

great commission…

go and make people from all nations into disciples, baptising them into the

reality of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you

—! Matthew 28.19

!! nations = ethnos = ethnic people group

!! different by ethnic origin

!! different by language

!! different by culture, religion, caste

!! different by political nationality



2008-2009

nation, tribe, people, language

!! I looked and there before me was a huge crowd, too large for anyone to count, from every nation, tribe, people and language; they were standing in

front of the throne and in front of the Lamb…

—! Revelation 7.9

!! who?

!! ethné = race, ethnic people

!! phulé = tribe, clan

!! laos = nation, people

!! glossa = language

in other words, a representative from every kind of people group that exists!



2008-2009

great commission

!! after-thought of Jesus?

no: God’s eternal, unchanging purpose

!! “bible explains mission”

no: “mission explains the bible”

typically and historically missiology has been an (optional/specialist) theological sub-section

by contrast, following analysis presents a biblical analysis which places mission at the centre

!! option for a few committed believers?

no: calling to entire Christian community



2008-2009

world mission movements

… how has messianic community, church, coped with this challenge?

answer : patchily (not comprehensively)

for much of 2000 years of AD history, church community has been preoccupied with division, dogma, domination…

… a brief history of “world!mission movements”

!! early church : ~ 450 AD

!! Mediterranean to India

!! Celtic church : 500-800 AD

!! west, central Europe

!! Nestorian church : 480-1250 AD

!! Asia

!! Orthodox church : 800-1100 AD

!! eastern Europe, Russia

!! Roman Catholic mission orders : 1209- AD

!! mainly north, western Europe; North Africa, China

first to formally identify need for and to implement dual structures : local pastoral church communities, dedicated, visionary mission “orders,” an important division which we shall study later



2008-2009

marginalisation of mission

!! mission movements exception, not rule

!! 16th century Reformers denied importance

!! preoccupied battling Roman Catholicism, rather than evangelising heathen

!! interpreted Reformation as indicating imminent return of Christ

!! believed obligation of “all nations” fulfilled by apostles, in 1st century

!! dogma of “election” constructed in way that made made mission

unnecessary!

!! mission marginalised theologically, organisationally, for centuries

!! until first protestant missions, 18th century…

!! first successful protestant mission : Moravian Brethren



2008-2009

Moravian Brethren

characterised by four key elements

!! leadership

!! refuge with Count Zinzandorf

German-born nobleman

!! community

!! persecuted protestant refugees

fleeing RC persecution, formed faith community

!! prayer

!! 24/7 prayer vigil lasted over 100 years

founded upon Pietism — theological orthodoxy gave way to “devout union with Christ”

!! dedication to world mission

!! declared “every Christian a missionary”

!! 1 missionary to every 60 community members (ratio 1:60)

!! compared to ratio 1 : 5000 within Protestantism generally



2008-2009

Moravian missionaries

!! sent out worldwide

!! Virgin Islands, North America, South America

!! Greenland, Lapland, Labrador

!! South Africa, Tanganyika (Tanzania)

!! missionaries

!! unselfish dedication

embracing risk from: travel, disease, hostility

previously only seen within RC monastic movements

!! evangelists, not theologians

!! artisans, trades-people

!! self-supporting

!! economic influence led to spiritual influence



2008-2009

modern world mission movement

William Carey, 1792

!! “father of modern missions”

!! demonstrated vision, leadership, prayer, dedication

key ingredients of every significant move of God

others told him: if God wants to save the heathen, he can do it without you!

Carey didn’t accept this, took on Goliath of spiritual darkness across the earth,

becoming ‘father’ of modern mission movement…

!! first ever global statistical survey, state of world evangelism

!! national populations

!! evangelistic progress in terms of percentage Christian etc.

extraordinary achievement; practical; forerunner to today’s Operation World booklet…

!! formed Baptist Missionary Society

first pioneer of societies specifically devoted to foreign missions

organisation based neither upon scripture or theological tradition but upon contemporary commercial world (namely, overseas trading company)

!! Serampore, India, 40 years

!! schools

!! bible translation; printing

!! bible college for church planters, evangelists



2008-2009

William Carey

his leadership launched modern world mission movement

exhibiting extraordinary faithfulness to missionary calling, facing great adversity, without great education;

his only boast was that he could persevere!

refrain with which he encouraged himself and his co-workers:

!! expect great things from God,

!! attempt great things for God

perhaps typifying Enlightenment spirit of confidence,

presumption of individual liberty



2008-2009

five breaking waves

!! of modern world mission movement

examine five “great waves” of modern world mission movement

each wave represents…

•! a change of mission thinking

•! a change of mission strategy

•! a missionary advance

•! a change to the world itself…



2008-2009

five breaking waves

1.! mission to continental coastlands

principally continents of Asia, Africa; coastlands first points of access, via boats

2.! mission to continental interiors

moving inland, as coastal bases established

3.! mission to geo-political countries

countries defined by geography, politics (“nations”); approx. 250

4.! missions to ethno-linguistic peoples

people groups defined by ethnic origin, language; approx. 6000

5.! mission by non-Western movements

major change to missionary dynamic;

centre of gravity of mission personnel changing for first time in two centuries

missionary advance no longer led by technological, financial centres



2008-2009

first wave, 1792 – 1865

!! to coastlands of unreached continents

!! focus on discipling and church planting

!! islands, coastlands of Asia, Africa

!! extremely long journeys

!! slow, difficult communications

!! led by denominational organisations

!! some interdenominational co-operation

!! e.g., London Missionary Society (evangelical Anglicans and non-conformists)

!! extraordinary pioneers

!! William Carey



2008-2009

second wave, 1865 – 1910

mission to interiors of Africa, Asia

!! preaching to every person

!! geographical penetration of inland regions

!! Africa Inland Mission—AIM, Sudan Interior Mission—SIM, Heart of Africa Mission ["WEC]

!! major threat of death by tropical disease

!! led by interdenominational organisations

most famous and most influential

!! China Inland Mission, founded by Hudson Taylor ["OMF International]

characterised by (sometimes controversial) emphases upon

!! faith—no financial appeals or loans

!! field autonomy—direct rule from field leadership, leaders & workers together

!! “three self ” approach—encouraged Chinese churches to be self-governing, self-supporting, self-propogating

!! “go native” approach—wearing Chinese cloths, “pig-tails”, worshipping

in Chinese homes

—! photograph shows CIM missionaries in native Chinese clothing



2008-2009

second wave, 1865 – 1910

!! continental interiors of Africa, Asia

!! world evangelisation before 20th century

!! much excitement pre-1900

!! afterwards momentum slowed by discouragement of non-achievement

!! “Student Volunteer Movement”

!! 100’s missionaries

!! huge educational impact

!! non-theological personnel

!! virtually halted by savage first world war

—! between “Christian” nations, 1914-18



2008-2009

third wave, 1910 – 1966

geo-political countries , nations

countries defined by geographical or political boundaries

!! practically every one either entered or targeted

!! slow, steady missionary advance

!! supported by Evangelical movement

!! theological, social, economic, political hostility

—! following two world wars

!! moderate non-Western church growth

strategic focus upon

!! church planting

!! training indigenous leadership

however

!! western (colonial) domination stifled spontaneous development of indigenous Christianity

—! although many missionaries frequently opposed worst excesses, colonialism also became increasingly unacceptable, stirring up hostility towards western

nations, closely associated with Christianity



2008-2009

fourth wave, 1966-

ethnic people groups

!! ethnically-defined people groups

!! measured, analysed, targeted

!! divided into reached, unreached; progress measured

!! significant change in missiological strategy from geo-political nations

!! led to recognition of zones of “regional darkness”

!! “10/40 Window”

!! theoretical ‘window,’ between 10o and 40o north of equator

—! detailed analysis to follow

!! Silk Route

!! traditional router for silk traders

Islam travelled via this route;

Europeans largely failed to traverse…



2008-2009

strategy and terminology

!! “people group”

!! largest group within which Gospel can spread as a church-planting movement or people movement to Christ…

!! without

!! encountering significant barriers of understanding or acceptance



2008-2009


!! “unreached / least reached”

!! people groups without a viable indigenous church sufficiently developed to be capable of evangelizing its own people without cross-cultural assistance

!! at least 50% of population have little or no access to the Gospel, either indigenous or cross-cultural

!! statistically <!2% evangelicals and <!5%!nominal Christian adherents



2008-2009


!! “ethno-linguistic”

!! defined by language, dialect, ethnicity

!! “ethnic”

!! defined by language, dialect, ethnicity, religion, caste, culture

!! “unimax”

!! maximum sized group, sufficiently unified to allow a people movement

towards Christ (a flow of gospel through its culture and population)

!! defined by language, dialect, ethnicity, religion, caste, culture, education, politics, ideology, historical bonds, customs, behaviour



2008-2009

10 / 40 window

a theoretical ‘window’ between latitudes 10o and 40o N of global equator

includes most of North and sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, sub-Continent (India, Pakistan, Himalayan nations), south-east Asia, Japan

missiologists have identified 10/40 window as place of…

!! “gospel-resistant darkness”

!! least evangelised people groups, 78% are within window; constitutes estimated 86% of least-evangelised individuals

!! 2.5 billion Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists

!! 82% of poorest people

!! 2.4 billion living on less than $1.40 / day

!! overpopulation, disease

!! AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis

!! discrimination, abuse, illiteracy

!! ruled by dictators, widespread corruption

!! children, women, Christians, ethnic minorities typically sufferer most



2008-2009

10 / 40 window

since missiologists have identified as place of darkness and poverty, is it well served by Christian missionary workers?

!! Christian workers located there

!! 94.5% of Christian workers live, work amongst evangelised

!! 4.8% of Christian workers live, work amongst evangelised but ‘resistant’ peoples

—! i.e., there is an indigenous church but cultural, political, religious climate hostile to gospel

!! 0.7% of Christian workers live, work amongst unreached people groups

!! for every unreached ethné

[= for every ‘ethno-linguistic people group’ ]

!! 580+ evangelical churches

—! i.e. for each unreached-people-group, there exist 580 churches; e.g., if there are 3000 unreached people groups, there are 580 congregations

available to support mission to that people group …if they choose to

!! this represents 40,000+ believers per people group

—! figures from Joshua Project 2006

fourth wave, 1966-


!! massive prayer-based growth

!! still accelerating…

!! 170 million praying daily for “revival”

!! 20!million claim prayer, intercession as “primary ministry”

!! worldwide Christian radio coverage

!! centre of gravity no longer in West…

!! ‘60’s Africa

!! East African Revival: Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda

!! ‘70’s Latin America

!! Brazil, Argentina, Chile…

!! ‘80’s East Asia

!! Korea, China, Indonesia, Singapore

!! ‘90’s Eurasia

!! Russia, Orthodox countries emerging out of Communism

—! figures from ‘the Church is Bigger Than You Think’, Patrick Johnstone, 2000



2008-2009



2008-2009

fifth wave, 1980-

non-Western mission movements

!! vibrant, emerging force in world mission

!! vibrant, vast numbers

!! non-western Pentecostal movements engaging seriously with world mission

!! close to unreached peoples

!! geographically

!! cross-culturally

!! huge biblical education, training requirement

!! partnership opportunity: YSC’s / OSC’s

—! younger sending countries / older sending countries



2008-2009

what difference… have waves made?



2008-2009

ratio or number of non-Christians per believer

!! figures produced by Lausanne Task Force

!! 100 AD

!! 360

!! 1000AD

!! 220

!! 1500 AD

!! 69

!! 1900 AD

!! 27

!! 1950 AD

!! 21

!! 1980 AD

!! 11

!! 1990 AD

!! just 7 non-Christians per believer!



2008-2009

ratio missional congregations to un-reached people groups

figures produced by Lausanne Task Force

!! 100 AD

!! 12 people groups per congregation

!! 1000AD

!! 5 people groups per congregation

!! 1500 AD

!! 1 congregation per people group

!! 1900 AD

!! 10 congregations per people group

!! 1950 AD


!! 1980 AD


!! 1990 AD




2008-2009

what remains

!! to be done?



2008-2009

the great imbalance

!! this line marks boundary between reached, unreached

reached = living amongst ethno-linguistic people group with an indigenous,

reproducing Christian community

individuals

!! 3.9 billion reached—61%

!! 2.5 billion unreached—39%


!! 9169—58%

!! 6721—42%

remain to be reached, evangelised, planted with indigenous messianic community;

requiring language, scripture translation, evangelism, church planting etc.

mission personnel (n.b. not incl. RC)

!! 138,000—92%

!! 12,000—8%

a huge disparity…



2008-2009

why it can be done

!! 500 million Christians committed to act

!! annual growth rate 6.9%

!! faster than global population growth

!! 100 million are young believers

!! annual earnings $2.5 trillion (“disposable”)

!! $8 billion given to missions (33c per $100)

!! Christians own 60 million computers

!! 3 million full-time Christian workers

!! 285, 000 career missionaries

!! 30, 000 broadcasting cross-culturally

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God’s agenda amongst the Gentiles

!! a harvest of “all nations”

!! “Look around among the nations and see!

!! And be astonished! Astounded!

For I am putting into effect a work in your days

!! that you would not believe if it were told you”

—! Habakkuk 1:5



2008-2009

gathering covenant harvests

God’s eternal purpose rooted in blessing of Abraham:

!! a great nation, blessed to be a blessing to every family on earth

!! I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing…by you all the families of the earth will be blessed

—! Genesis!12.1-3 CJB

Messiah gave his life as seed going into the ground, dying, by God’s power great harvest of people could be gathered from the earth…

!! harvest of the GENTILE PEOPLES

!! …this Good News about the Kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the Gentiles

—! Matthew 24:14 JNT

!! harvest of JEWISH PEOPLE

!! if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world…how much greater riches will Israel in its fullness bring them…all Israel will be saved.

—! Roman 11.11-26 (JNT)

!! harvest of righteousness in MESSIANIC COMMUNITY

!! the Messiah loved the Messianic Community, indeed, gave himself up on its behalf… to set it apart to God… holy and without defect

—! Ephesians 5.25-27

covenant harvests reaped in context of…

!! global, “once more,” shaking of “all things”…

!! “he has made this promise: One more time I will shake not only the earth but heaven too!’ And this phrase ‘One more time’ makes clear that the things shaken are removed, since they are created things, so that the things not shaken may remain.

—! Hebrews 12.25-29

! finally resulting in new heaven and earth

the eternal purpose academy of mission

!! a series of presentations

published by eternalpurpose.org.uk downloadable under licence, free-of-charge

!! part one : the high call of God to the messianic community

!! part two : pressing toward the high call of God

7 modules

!! 1 : destiny of the messianic community

!! 2 : vocation of the messianic community

!! 3 : design of the messianic community

!! 4 : dynamic of the messianic community

!! 5 : running the race marked out for us

!! 6 : leading God’s people into their inheritance

!! 7 : overcoming in the arena of spiritual conflict



2008-2009


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2008-2009

Module 2—Teaching Notes—Vocation of Messianic New-Covenant Community—Gentiles

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