WHAT LESSONS CAN WE LEARN FROM THE HISTORY OF MISSIONS?
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
John 17:15
Christianity would now add its moral force to the social and economic forces making for a nobler organization of society, it could render such help to the cause of justice and the people as would make this a proud page in the history of the Church for our sons to read.
Walter Rauschenbusch
INTRODUCTION
The history of the Church is intertwined with the understanding and the application of missions for that particular time in history. Every Era demonstrated the desires of the Church community to fulfill the commission of the Church, given and demonstrated by Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Luke 2:49, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” This statement, “that I must be in my Father’s house,” acknowledges that God, the Father sent Him on a mission. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to God; according to Matthew 26:39, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Here again, Jesus demonstrated that His purpose was to fulfill the will of God the Father. On the cross, He declared that it is finished, indicating that his mission was accomplished. Jesus spoke with his disciples after His resurrection and declared in John 20:21, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And in Matthew we have the famous commissioning; Matthew 28:18 -20 said, “…Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…’”
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