Text: Acts 1:1-8
OPEN:
“I look on all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.”
“The world is my parish.” This well-known quote of John Wesley, founder of Methodism, is familiar to most Methodists. Beyond that, we don’t often give a lot of thought to Wesley and missions since he did not write extensively on the topic of international missions. He himself did go as a missionary to the colony of Georgia. That did not go so well for him, although a statue of Wesley in Savannah attests to that part of his life that set him on the search that culminated in his heart-warming experience at Aldersgate.
Wesley’s teaching and practice of the Christian faith have significant implications for Christian mission. There are three that are most significant and much-needed approaches in global mission today.
I. Wesley Taught That God is at Work All Around Us.
Wesley called prevenient grace that which acts in a person prior to his or her acceptance of Christ. "It is the grace that allows us to breathe, that keeps the planets spinning, and, most significantly, enables us to respond to God’s invitation to salvation. While the usual application of prevenient grace is to the individual, if applied to cultures, it has a major impact on how we approach missions. If God’s grace is already active in a culture prior to the sharing of the gospel, then we should expect to see signs of that already embedded in the culture. So a key missionary task is uncovering where God’s grace has been working and allow that to be the starting point for expanding on what the full gospel means in that cultural context." (Jim Ramsey)
One mission statesman tells of a T-shirt he had seen of a mission team which stated, “Taking Jesus from Texas to Costa Rica.” He goes on to say that if we think we are taking the gospel or even God himself to another culture, we are apt not to look for where God has already been at work. We need to remember God’s prevenient grace has been active long before we got there, giving witness to himself.
- The job of the missionary and our opportunity is to identify and work within the currents his grace has already created. (Jim M. Ramsay is Vice President for Mission Ministries at The Mission Society. - See more at: http://goodnewsmag.org/2013/12/john-wesley-and-missions/#sthash.FBKwdHgU.
- Henry Blackaby says that God is always at work all around us and our task is to recognize what God is doing and join Him in it.
II. Wesley Preached an Holistic Gospel.
Missions of the 20th century was often characterized by an unfortunate dichotomy in the thinking of Western Christians between social concerns and evangelism. Mission groups tended to focus on one or the other exclusively and even disparaged those who focused on the other. Throughout his life, Wesley demonstrated no such dichotomy. His movement was characterized by evangelism – unapologetically calling people to repentance and to faith in Christ. But it also included a commitment to the poor and marginalized.
Wesley wrote, “The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness, but social holiness.”
Missions with a Wesleyan understanding suggests that we cannot restrict our concern only to the salvation of souls, but must also be seeking for full transformation of the culture, addressing social issues such as poverty and justice. Social transformation should be a natural outflow of personal repentance and commitment to Christ. At the same time, an emphasis only on justice issues without recognition of the need for repentance and the power of the Holy Spirit is also incomplete and will not bring about the true transformation that only the gospel can provide.
Wesley taught that people must be Christians in both word and deed, which were to express the love of God. He believed that Christians must grow in God's grace, which first prepares us for belief, then accepts us when we respond to God in faith, and sustains us as we do good works and participate in God's mission. John Wesley not only preached about works of mercy, he "practiced" what he preached. He:
- lived modestly and gave all he could to help people who were poor
- visited people in prison and provided spiritual guidance, food, and clothing to them
- spoke out against slavery and forbade it in Methodism
- founded schools at the Foundery in London, Bristol, and Newcastle
- published books, pamphlets, and magazines for the education and spiritual edification of people
- taught and wrote about good health practices and even dispensed medicine from his chapels
John Wesley was prolific in his correspondence. Wesley's last letter was to William Wilberforce, who had been converted under Wesley's ministry and was a member of Parliament. Wesley expressed his opposition to slavery and encouraged Wilberforce to take action. Parliament finally outlawed England's participation in the slave trade in 1807.
February 24, 1791
Dear Sir:
Unless the divine power has raised you up to be as Athanasius contra mundum, I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.
Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a "law" in our colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this?
That he who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear sir,
Your affectionate servant, John Wesley
*Missions is a necessity, not an option.
John Wesley:
“I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrines, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”
Emil Bruner: "The church exists by mission as a fire exists by burning."
III. Wesley was Passionate that All Can Know Christ.
Wesley agreed with the understanding that, while God is fully sovereign, he chose to give humankind free will. Christ died to make salvation accessible to all people, and his prevenient grace gives all the possibility of responding positively to this offer.
This understanding impacts the motivation for mission:
- Are we serving in missions simply due to a duty we have to fulfilling God’s predetermined purposes? - Or has God invited us into his mission and heart that “all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4)?
He calls us to be the conveyers of this good news.
His ultimate purposes will be accomplished, yet our obedience to his call does make a difference in the lives of people.
When one considers that nearly one third of the world’s population – roughly about two billion people – have yet to even hear the name of Jesus, one can’t help but wonder what the cost of disobedience to that call has been over the past 2,000 years.
It is critical that we understand the Concentric circles of mission in Acts 1:8; Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, World.
- This means sharing the Gospel with those who are just like me, with those who are similar to me but different (language, etc.), and with those who are nothing like me.
- This does not detail a linear progression. These are concentric circles. We are called to be engaged in all three at the same time
CLOSE:
Those in the Wesleyan tradition have a great legacy and great opportunity in Christian mission. Motivated by God’s desire that all should have the opportunity to respond to him, we look upon the entire world as our parish and responsibility. We see where God has already been active in the culture and seek to connect that to a full understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ. As people encounter Christ, we too embrace them, helping disciple them to experience the transformation that God desires for individuals and communities.
(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)
No comments:
Post a Comment