MISSIOLOGY
EXAM # 2
STUDY GUIDE
Lectures 9-18
Lecture 9
- The 10/40 window. - Ten degrees north latitude to forty degrees north. Stretches from western Africa to east Asia.
- Called the "final frontier" in world missions, it includes the Muslim block, the Hindu block, and the Buddhist block.
- 10/40 window is home to the least evangelized countries in the world.
- 97% of the unevangelized people of the world reside here. This now represents the ‘uttermost part of the earth”.
- Some of the most oppressive and repressive governments in the world are within this window.
Be familiar with (but not memorized) this passage which is the cry coming from our Lord to reach the 10/40 window!
Rom 10:14-15 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Do we need to reach the 10/40 Window in order for Jesus Christ to return?
Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
What does Isaiah have to say, that we should say?
Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Lecture 11
The disproportionate ratio of IFB (board sent) Missionaries to people is astounding across the world.
The Americas: 1 per half million
Africa and Europe : 1 per 1 to 2 million
Asia: 1 per 5 million
Middle East: 1 per 40 million
Total: 1 per 2 million
6 billion people and 2628 IFB board sent Missionaries
The top 4 most dangerous countries for Missionaries are: #1 N. Korea, #2 S. Arabia, #3 Iran, #4 Afghanistan
It is interesting that there are some very small countries (islands) with a fairly good ratio of Missionary to number of people. I wonder why that is in these countries? Cayman Islands 1 per 10,000; Marshall Islands 1 per 12,000; Antigua 1 per 20,000 IT might be because they are resort locations!
The following are potentially the most needy fields; they have the highest unreached people groups percentage:
N. Korea, Afghanistan, Algeria, Mongolia, Iran, Somalia, Yemen. (Don’t need to totally memorize these, just be able to recognize them from a list).
Lecture 12
The following statement is from our church’s Mission Statement.
“If we as a church are doing something that doesn’t directly support the accomplishing of the Lord’s mission for us, then that “thing” needs to be removed. If we stay focused on this Great Command of our Lord’s, then we will both glorify Him and give worship to Him. Anything short of this will give to us the same warning as He sent to many of the “churches of Asia” that “I have somewhat against thee”.”
The following are Mission Mistakes: Ecumenicalism, Entertainment, Emotionalism, Empathy, Economical, Existing
The main Mission Statements from the Bible are found in the following: Jn 20:21-23; Mk 16:15; Lk 24:47-49; Mt 28:19,20; Acts 1:8
Key principles of Missions that we learn from these 5 passages are:
They need to be properly sent
The extent of their going is to be into all the world
Repentence is to be preached
The other two thirds of the Great Commission involves Baptism and Teaching the converts all the Bible
The Holy Ghost specially empowers the Lord’s churches to do Missions
Lecture 13
What is a “Missionary”?
The word “Missionary” is not found anywhere in the Bible. We term them this, but they are really what we find in Scripture as ‘evangelists’, ‘pastors’, and what we call ‘church planters’. They have left the pursuit of a secular career and are surrendered to the full time pursuit of “Missions”…getting souls saved and churches birthed.
Their job description is basically this: evangelize an unevangelized area, plant a church there and baptize the converts, and then train them in the teachings of the New Testament. They are sent ones (apostles) on a ‘mission from God’.
What a Missionary is not?
They are not some entity that is different than a pastor; they are not inferior to a pastor. They are not just those that go to foreign lands to try and start churches. Their being a Missionary does not end once their church plant is self supported. A Missionary is not one who goes to help give medical aid, farming education, teaching English, building church buildings, starting Christian schools, etc.. A Missionary does not include the whole family of the man of God, and does not include a woman going to help a church. It does not include a man who is helping an existing work in a non-pastorate role. It does not include someone who has gone to a foreign country to enter language school and then later will try and start a church; nor is it one who is currently on Deputation.
1 Co 1:27-29 teaches us that Missionaries often don’t come from impressive backgrounds
Acts 13:1-5 is the best example in the Bible of a church commissioning Missionaires. We learn the following from it:
They need to first be in leadership positions in the church.
They need to also be very busy serving the Lord.
There needs to be much church prayer and fasting concerning this.
The Holy Ghost is the one who calls and actually sends.
How to become a missionary:
Step one is to be born again. Step two is to be baptized and enter in the membership of an Independent Baptist church. Step three is to be trained in the basic teachings of the Bible. Step four (done at the same time as step 3) is to be actively getting the gospel out in your mission field.
Lecture 14
1 Timothy 3:6 states that a bishop is not to be a novice.
Thus, the future Missionary needs to not be a novice in his physical age (probably at least 30 years old); his spiritual age (probably at least 4 years old); and his experiencial age (probably at least 4 years here also). Don’t lay hands suddenly on any man.
Here are some interesting contrasts of viewpoints of the benefits of standard Missionary training vs. local church training:
Four-year para-church Baptist Bible College Preparation
- most churches are not able to do a good enough job
- most pastors aren’t willing to or capable of it
- most students feel that this is the standard of acceptance
- thoese colleges will have the best professors available
- Studious atmosphere
- popular, famous, impressive
- other pastors will grade you based upon the impressiveness of your Bible college
LocalBaptistChurch, Pastor-trained Preparation
- the most (only) Scriptural method, hands down
- the most logical method: family not disrupted, service in church retained, job retained, Pastor knows you
well, doctrine is going to be right on, sending agent remains Scriptural
- your church and pastor know you well and know when it is time
- OJT opportunities are numerous
- work one on one with the pastor vice one on 25
- flexibility to work with your schedule, weaknesses, goals, and desires
Marrying the ‘right wife’ is the most important decision affecting your future as a Missionary that there is (apart from salvation, of course). Your wife isn’t specifically ‘called’ as a Missionary. Though she is called specifically as a wife, a help meet for whatever her husband is called to… i.e. a Missionary.
His children need to be very well behaved:
Titus 1:6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
1 Tim 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
Lecture 15
A Church is the ordaining and commissioning agent
The Lord’s church sent them! Not a BibleCollege! Not a Mission Board! Not a Fellowship! Not the individual either! And not just any church! This church in Antioch was begun out of the Jerusalem church. Its perpetuity was easy to track. Noone can be commissioned to start a church from anything but one of the Lord’s churches. God’s churches never ceased to exist on the face of the Earth for the past 2000 years. Thus it is very logical to state that it is indeed Scripturally necessary to have an unbroken chain of churches begetting churches. If the chain breaks, then so does the authority to commission.
Ordained to something specific
It is important for the called man to have a fairly detailed understanding of what it is that the Holy Spirit has exactly called him to do.
The church’s ordaining should be somewhat specific (field, people group, goals, who goes, time frame, etc).:
To bring forth fruit and that it should remain
To be a witness of the Lord
Sent forth to preach
To fill a sudden open pastorate
To a specific position and to a specific people group
Every city should have a good church and a good pastor ordained to it
Sent into every city and place of a certain area
Go to teach the Gospel, baptize the converts into the church membership, and teach them to observe the N.T.
To be sent forth as labourers into the Lord’s harvest
They at some point will fulfill (finish, complete) what they have been ordained unto
Lecture 16
The common, and expected, practice in church planting work by independent Baptist churches today in America is to ordain a man to plant a church in such and such a city; but that this ‘plant’ will initially be what is termed a ‘mission work’, vice a church. The ‘mission work’ would later (1-5 years) be officially ‘organized’ into a bonafide independent Baptist ‘church’. Thus, the ‘mission work’ is officially ‘not’ a bonafide church….it is a mission work.
To my understanding, the main reason for following this practice is to allow for the ‘mother church’ to ‘protect’ the beginning ‘work’ (called a church even though it technically is not one) from new members rebelling against the Missionary leader-pastor and potentially seizing the finances, etc.. The mother church remains, at least in theory, the authority and can protect that baby ‘church’ (really a mission work). Secondarily, it allows the mother church to make sure that the Missionary they sent out is going to follow the guidelines for doctrine and practice as agreed upon prior to the commissioning. All in all, a mission work status for a ‘church plant’ allows the mother (sending) church to have authority in this missionary endeavor.
These ‘mission works’ that are established on American soil are almost always generically referred to as ‘churches’, not ‘missions’ or ‘mission works’. And, the man of God (Missionary) that is working with that ‘work’ is almost always referred to as being that ‘church’s pastor’; but, he is actually not pastoring anything, for a pastor can only pastor a church; thus, he is really ministering to a group of devoted folks that hold meetings much like a church does. He should be called their teacher or leader, but not their pastor.
Is it a Bible study? Is it a Catholic Mission? Is it some time of ministry? Is it a mess?! Good question.
It is pretty clear to me, and to most Baptists, that Jesus Christ ordained that men should be sent out of churches to start churches…not mission works, or any other non-scriptural entity (i.e. parachurch organizations and the like).
This ‘mission work’ practice is a Baptist tradition (actually, it is a Catholic and then Protestant tradition!). Breaking traditions is dangerous, but often necessary. Something as important as the beginning of a church of the Lord Jesus Christ’s is no matter to allow tradition to manipulate!
The qualifications for being a church are really quite simple: a true church sends 2 or 3 out to a different locale to obey the great commission there, ideally with one as the pastor. These 2 or 3 gathered in His name are a church, though the world looks at it as just a little tiny bible study of sorts.
Often, a work will wait to organize until it has “enough” members to support the pastor and the building. How long does this usually take?? Years my friend, years.
God’s full blessing is upon true New Testament Lord’s churches, and nothing less, in metamorphosis, in between, or almost there. A church is a church, and anything else is not. Thus, if it is a ‘Mission work’, then it is not a ‘church’, and thus will not receive the authority, blessing, and Holy Spirit empowerment that a true church will inherently have.
The ordination-commissioning should be to start a “Mission Work”, not a church, if that is in fact what they are starting. Why not have them actually do what they have been commissioned and sent to do?! …i.e. begin a church!
Lecture 17,18
If ever there has been a leadership gift that has been maligned and ignored by the churches of our day, it is the leadership gift of the evangelist.
Inherent in the term Evangelist is the root word Evangel; Good News; Gospel. An Evangelist’s main focus must be that of being a Gospeller!!!
There are only 3 passages that use the term ‘evangelist’, which are: Acts 21:8, Ephesians 4:11,12, and 2 Timothy 4:5.
“If the order of listing these divine gifts means anything, then evangelists are next in importance to apostles and prophets, and are more important than pastors and teachers.”
I believe an Evangelist plants the church and then hands it over at some point to a Pastor; thus, they do not work side by side within a church setting.
The evangelist is one who evangelizes mainly. Involved in this is their going to an unevangelized area, winning souls, baptizing them, establishing a church, and then either pastoring it themselves for a time, or turning it over to a man with the gift of pastor and teacher. Evangelists are like todays so called “church planters”. Today’s “missionaries” are to be filling the role of one of these two gifts (e.g. evangelist or pastor-teacher). They are not a gift in that of themselves.
Most theologians (Baptists included) believe that an Evangelist fulfills the three ministry tasks of Ephesians 4:12 by going from church to church encouraging, stirring, reviving the members over a 1 to 2 week period for each church. They hold conferences, revivals, seminars, special meetings and thus perfect, minister, edify to each church. I do not feel that this is what an Evangelist is to do.
Here in Acts 21:8, Philip is named an Evangelist. This is most likely the same Philip as he who was chosen as a Deacon in Acts 6 (one of the seven).
We see from Acts 8 about Philip that an Evangelist is to do the following 1) preach the gospel from city to city (not church to church) to lost people (not church folk); 2) Baptize the converts; 3) church planted; 4) Holy Spirit to move, sometimes in a quick fashion, to another locale to do the same. This seems to resemble what a Missionary-Church Planter does on the foreign field. Why not refer to them by their Scriptural title: i.e. the Evangelist?! This description here in Acts 8 should be the framework that today’s Evangelists model their ministry after; but is it? Hardly!
The evangelists main ministry will be one of preaching, whereas the main ministry of a pastor is one of teaching.