Share
the
Heritage
Share the heritage
Jeff Fountain
The flow of history
depends on the obedience
or disobedience
of god’s people
I.
Introduction: the "faithful minority" view of history
I.
THE BIBLE: a map for past, present and future
A. God's cosmic plan for mankind:
Creation / fall / redemption / transformation - destined to rule
B. God's rescue plan for all peoples:
Genesis to Revelation - a missionary book from cover to cover
II.
THE FIRST MILLENNIUM: transformed barbarians!
33AD-400 The early church:
Promising start...missed opportunities!
400-1000 New beginnings in unlikely places!
Monasticism / Celtic missionaries / Viking raiders
III.
THE SECOND MILLENNIUM: regression, reform and revival
1000-1500 Agitating for reform:
Franciscans / Dominicans
Waldenses / Wycliffe / Hus / Unitas Fratrum
1500-1600 Reform at last! but is it radical enough?
Reformation/ Counter-reformation / Radical Reformation
1600-1900 On with the Reformation - and Revival!
Pietists & Puritans / Moravians & Methodists / Salvation Army
1800-2000 Worldwide missions!
page 2
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Three waves of modern missions/ global awakening to the task
III.
THE THIRD MILLENNIUM: seeking the Kingdom
2000 - Your turn now!
Preparing today to disciple the nations tomorrow
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page 4
i. Introduction: the "faithful minority" view of history
Why look at history? "History puts wise heads on young shoulders"
"Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat its mistakes"
Two popular theories explaining the way history is shaped:
1) Impersonal force theory - e.g. economics, dialectical materialism...
2) Great person theory - e.g. Alexander the Great, Caesar, Charlemagne, Marx,
Hitler, Churchill, Kennedy, Walesa, Thatcher, Reagan, Gorbachev, Yeltsin...
The Bible has a lot to say on this subject.
On the one hand, the Bible is very clear that God is the Lord of history. Indeed, He
uses great men/women to accomplish his purposes, but usually as unconscious instruments.
E.g.:Proverbs 21:1
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
Isaiah 44:28 - 45:1,5,6
(The Lord) says of Cyrus, `He is my shepherd, and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt", and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid."
"This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armour to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:...
I am the Lord; and there is no other, apart from me there is no god.
I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me,
so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting
men may know there is none besides me.*
I am the lord and there is no other.
(*Note the ultimate purpose God gives for the way he directs history)
Other scriptures also show that God has plans in history and will accomplish them!!
Psalm 33:10,11,16
(Note first vs.8: Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.)
The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations...
No king is saved by the size of his army...
Isaiah 14:24,26,27
The Lord Almighty has sworn,
"Surely as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand...
This is the plan determined for the whole world;
this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?
Isaiah 23:8,9
Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth?
The Lord Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory
and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
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Isaiah 46:9-11
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
Yes, there is a personal Force behind history - Creator, Author and Finisher, Father.
He has a plan, a purpose, and he will accomplish this plan.
And, yes, he does use 'Great People'.
But these are not his primary agents for fulfilling his plan.
Although he is Almighty God, it is obvious that not everything that happens is his
will. Why then if he is in control of history, does history seem to be so out of control,
and meaningless?
How is God working out his plan? What is this plan? Is there place in his plan for me?
Indeed there is! Let's look at a third explanation of the way history is being shaped:
the Faithful Minority theory!
Yes, God has a plan: and he wants us to align our lives with that plan, and indeed to
be part of the fulfilment of the plan. This is the great privilege of every child of God.
Because it will be primarily through his people, that God will fulfil his plan!
Conclusion:
Most history is written from nationalistic perspectives
- where kings and emperors are the central figures.
We will trace here the progress of God's purposes in human history
- where the faithful minority are the central people.
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I.
THE BIBLE: a map for past, present and future
A. God's cosmic plan for mankind:
Who am I? where have I come from? where am I going? how should I live?
Reveals identity, origins, destiny and values.
Creation > fall > redemption > transformation > rulership
His ultimate goal: sons and daughters - ruling and reigning -1Cor 6:2;
sharing his glory - Roms 8:17; partaking in his divine nature - 2 Pet 1:4;
all peoples participating - Rev 5:9
B. God's rescue plan for all peoples:
i.God is a missionary God - from the opening chapter of the Bible!
Gen1:28 - Adam: bring his rule (kingdom) into all the earth
9:1 - Noah: into all the earth
11:8 - Babel: over all the earth
God takes the initiative in sending the human race outwards!
ii.The world prepared for the gospel - general revelation
a) creation [outer witness] Ps 19:1-4; Ac 14:16,17; Ro 1:19,20
b) conscience [inner witness] Ecc 3:11; Ro 2:14,15
The gospel prepared for the world - special revelation
a) Jesus [living Word]
b) Bible [written Word]
iii.The Abrahamic Covenant - backbone of the Bible:
Gen 12:1-3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14,18
iv.Israel's missionary calling - demonstration & proclamation
Exod 2:24; 6:2-8; 9:13-18; 19:6 - kingdom of priests
Deut 27-30; blessings or curses!
Josh 4:24; 6:25 (cf. Matt 1:5); Ruth 1:16; 4:22
1 Sam 17:46; 2 Sam 22:50; 1 Ki 8:43;60
Ps 47:1,2; 66:1,8; 67:2-4,7; 96:1,3,7,10; 98:2-4; 117:1
Is 11:10; 25:6-9; 40:5; 42:6; 49:1,6,22; 52:15; 56:7;
66:18,19b; - God's intentions for the peoples
Jer 3:17; Ezek 36:23; Dan 2:35
Joel 2:28,32; Jonah; Micah 4:1,2; Hab 2:14;
Zech 9:10; 14:9,16,17; Mal 1:11
Note: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther - God at work behind the scenes
400 silent years - had God forgotten his promise?
v.Jesus - the turning point of history:
Israel's last chance! note his examples of faith, Mt 13:38; Jn 12:32
Passion week teaching: Matt 21:12-24:14 (n.b. Mt 21: 43!)
Great Commission: Matt 28:19,20 - all peoples (ta ethne)
vi.The Abrahamic Covenant in the New Testament:
from Acts - missionary travels
through letters to mission churches and converts
to Revelation - success of the missionary effort of the church
The Bible - a missionary book from cover to cover!!
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II.
page 7
THE FIRST MILLENNIUM: transformed barbarians!
A.33AD-400.The early church: promising start/missed opportunities!
1. The Lord Jesus' last command: Acts 1:8
{ Jerusalem and Judea E-1 evangelism - own culture
{ Samaria E-2 evangelism - neighbouring culture
{ the ends of the earth E-3 evangelism - cross-cultural
2. But had the penny really dropped? Acts 1:8 - 11; inertia in Jerusalem
Wanted: dynamic, aggressive, singleminded leadership, ready to go
anywhere, anytime.
Apply: Ananias, Straight Street, Damascus - Acts 9:15
3. The Pauline Missionary Society: a "new" structure for missions?
a) Antioch - Acts 13: who really sent the first missionaries?
b) torso and limbs of the Body of Christ (warp/woof ,come/go)
c) OT examples: company of prophets - 1 Sa 10:10; 19:20; 2 Ki 2:3;
d) intertestamental: proselytising bands - Mt 23:15
e) NT examples: John the Baptist & disciples, Jesus & disciples - Luke 8:1-3
f) Paul's missionary band - Acts 20:4:
A travelling community with a universal message to all men!
multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-professional, all ages, married and single
4. Rapid expansion resulted:
So long as a mission vision was passed on to the new converts,
the early church continued to grow at a phenomenal pace.
(Note: self-propagation clause built-in to Matt 28:19,20)
Paul's example: wrote about his plans for Spain (Ro 15)
a) Christians in course of daily life and witness - traders, soldiers,...
b) missionary bands, targeting new regions, following Paul's model
c) spread to the west, east, south and north
d) persecution & martyrdom
e) poised to reach the ends of the earth!
5.
a)
b)
c)
Something happened!
Rome's choice - eradicate or embrace
test of popularity
new definitions of "Christian" and "church"
6. Missed opportunities:
a) North Africa - Berbers and Punic traders
b) North America - Phoenecians, Egyptians, Libyans, Celts, Romans,
Greeks...?
...World history could have been so different!!
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II.
THE FIRST MILLENNIUM: transformed barbarians!
B.400-1000New beginnings in unlikely places! monks, Celts & Vikings
1.Monasticism: a dynamic movement is born in
• the Egyptian desert: Anthony (c250-356), Pachomius (c290-346)
• Syria: Simeon Stylites (c390-459)
• Cappadocia (Turkey): Basil the Great ( 330-379)
• Gaul: Martin of Tours (c335?-397)
• Lerins (French Riviera): an escaped slave named Patrick
2.The Galatian connection: key to the British Celtic church?
Patrick (389-461): apostle to the Irish
a) 432-> confronts druidic spirituality
b) by 447, mostly evangelised: island of saints
plants 200 churches, baptises 100,000 converts
c) Christianity adapted to tribal kingdom system: "tuath"
- unlike Roman world, no urban centres
- monastic communities mushroomed;
- centres of culture and learning
- popular among the young
d) missions vision: now the tide flows eastwards
3.Columba (521-597): apostle to the Scots and Picts/ Iona
Columbanus (543-615): apostle to the Franks, Suevi and Alemanni
a) eastern Gaul (Burgundy) - 1000's entered communities
b) St Gallen - Switzerland
c) Bobbio - Italy
4.Augustine's mission to Canterbury: 596 (Rome's counterthrust)
Pope Gregory attempts standardisation of western monasticism around
Benedictine order; establishes RC mission policy for centuries - Christmas,
easter, St Valentines,...
5Aidan: (d.651) 635 > Lindisfarne (2nd Iona); King Oswald
Council of Whitby: (663) Rome absorbs the Celtic church
6.Wilfrid, Willibrord (c658-739)(apostle to the Frisians),
Boniface (c675-754) (apostle to the Germans)
- "greatest of all missionaries of the middle ages"
- "had deeper influence on the history of Europe than any
Englishman who has ever lived"
- Geismar sacred oak
- mobilised women in missions
- last foreign missionary to go out from England for 1000 years?
7.The dragon ships at Lindisfarne! the Vikings go souvenir hunting
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III.
page 9
THE SECOND MILLENNIUM: regression, reform and revival!
A.1000-1500 Agitating for reform: from Francis to Thomas a Kempis
1.Francis of Assisi 1182-1226
a) a playboy converted
b) Matt 10:7-10 - guideline for a lifestyle
c) Fratres Minores (Lesser Brothers) - a preaching order (1209)
Poor Clares (1212) - a women's order
Tertiaries (1228) - a lay order
d) contrasted with establishment priests
e) against the stream - an audience with the Sultan
f) { church reform & training
{ evangelism of unreached/cross-cultural missions
{ mercy ministries - poor, sick and needy
2.Dominicans
A teaching order: responded to request from Kublai Khan for 100 missionaries for China - another missed opportunity?
3.Peter Waldo & the Waldenses
a) another dramatic conversion
b) Matt 19:21 - "sell what you have, give to the poor"
c) "poor men of Lyons"
d) recognised by pope 1179, retracted 1181, excommunicated 1184
e) set up own churches with bishops, priests and deacons
f) persecuted, fled to alpine valleys - Vallenses;
made contact with descendents of refugee believers from Rome
g) spread throughout Europe, ideas scattered as seed for reform
influencing Wycliffe, Hus and others.
4.John Wycliffe 1330-1384
a) Morningstar of the Reformation in England
b) Oxford doctor, came to conviction that Scripture took
precedent over Pope.
c) 1379 began translating Bible into common English.
d) Sent "poor preachers" to read Bible in market places
e) "acknowledged father of English prose" - Prof Burrows
f) died natural death - body dug up 31 years later!
g) greatly influenced John Hus in Bohemia through students
5.John Hus (1369-1415) & Unitas Fratrum
a) influenced by both Waldenses and Wycliff
b) part of national church established by Cyril & Methodius
c) centuries of strife with Roman church
d) agitated for reform
e) Council of Constance 1415 - betrayed, burnt at stake
f) Hussites establish Unitas Fratrum, 1457 - persecution
g) set up first protestant church 1467
6.Brothers of the Common Life - Groote (1340-1384), a Kempis
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III.
page 10
THE SECOND MILLENNIUM: regression, reform and revival!
B.1500-1600 Reform at last! but is it radical enough?
1.Reformation in Germany (Luther), Switzerland (Zwingli, Calvin)
a) 1517- 95 theses hammered on the Wittenberg door
b) Sola scriptura! Sola fide! Sola gratia!
c) Called the church back to apostolic faith, yet was this a full recovery of apostolic
practice? Catholics pointed to this lack of mission endeavour to prove that Protestantism was heresy:
"The Lutherans compare themselves to the apostles and the
evangelists; yet though they have among them a very large number
of Jews, and in Poland and Hungary have the Turks as their
neighbours, they have hardly converted even a handful!"
d) In Geneva, Calvin developed social model based on separated powers.
2.The Reformers were strangely silent about missions: why?
a) Geographical limitations - Spain and Portugal controlled seas
b) Psychological limitations "Cuius regio, eius religio" (as the prince, so the religion)
Idea of national churches - no room for pluralism
c) Theological limitations Luther - Great Commission only for apostles
Calvin - concept of election dampened mission zeal
d) Structural limitations no mission structures - arms and legs lost! Threw out baby with bath water:
Three centuries pass before mainline Protestant churches seriously embark on missions!! When they finally do, the impulse comes through streams affected by the Radical Reformation
(Note: As our interest is missions, we are introducing the reformers in their worst light. To
gain an appreciation of their tremendous contribution to church history, European history and
indeed human history, biographies of the reformers should be studied.)
3.The Counter Reformation: Loyola (b.1491) organised the Company of
Jesus in Paris 1534, with six others, including Francis Xavier.
Took vows of poverty, chastity and of missionary activity.
1540, papal recognition. Called Jesuits by Calvin & others.
Stormy history; force to check the Reformation.
Xavier given 24 hours notice to sail to India on first
missionary trip; later to Formosa and Japan.
Wrote back to Paris: "tell the students to give up their small
ambitions, come east and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ".
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III.
THE SECOND MILLENNIUM: regression, reform and revival!
B.1500-1600 Reform at last! but is it radical enough? (continued)
4.The Radical Reformation and missions
Radical - "radix" (lat. = 'root')
i.Brief history of early period 1525-35
Zurich: Zwingli, Grebel, Manz, Blaurock
Key issue was definition of "Christian" and of "Church"
Baptism only the outside sign of the voluntary decision.
"Ana-baptists" - re-baptizers
Missionary zeal - divided European map
ii.Beliefs and practices: 1527 - Martyr's synod in Augsburg:
agreed on principles:
1. Christian lifestyle one of discipleship
2.
3.
4.
5.
"only he who obeys truly believes
only he who believes truly obeys"
The principle of love was to govern one's lifestyle
What Jesus said and did was to be supreme model
The Church is a fellowship, a brotherhood of the reborn
through the Holy Spirit
"Koinonia" key concept in church's lifestyle
Church and state must be separated
Cannot legislate people to become Christians. Christians are
a free, uncompelled people, a pilgrim people citizens of
another kingdom.
The New Testament completes the Old Testament
The norm for ethics and government is to be taken from the
NT, not the OT.
iii.Characteristics of Anabaptist community life:
1. Brotherhood
2. Submission
3. Community of goods - stewardship
4. Discipline (the ban)
iv.Opposition:
The "third baptism"
Munster
Menno Simons
v.Suffering, grace and glory
I Peter 4:12-5:10
vi.The Anabaptist heritage:
surviving groups - Mennonites, Swiss Brethren, Hutterite
influence on others - e.g. Pietists
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III.
page 12
THE SECOND MILLENNIUM: regression, reform and revival!
C.1600-1900 On with the Reformation - and Revival!
a. Pietists & Moravians
1.Pietism: second phase of the Reformation
a) Europe convulsed with conflict after Reformation; Vital insights of reformers became rigid formulas
b) New life breathed into Lutheran Church by Pietism;
1670 - Philip Jacob Spener, Frankfurt
"little churches within the church" - (ecclesiolae in ecclesia)
personal application of Reformation principles
c) Bible-centred, practical, lay involvement, lifestyle matching
one's faith, love ethic (koinonia)
d) Spener's successor: August Francke, university of Halle;
Pietist centre - faith institutions: poor schools, orphanages,
printing house, dispensary, hospital, booksellers...
e) Scorned by church leaders/theologians: "priests of Baal",
"heretics", "false brethren", "dangerous people"
f) Danish-Halle Mission: two students from Halle sent to India
with support of King of Denmark (pietist chaplain) - 1705:
Ziegenbalg and Plutschau
g) Influenced young student at Halle, 1710, 10-yr-old Nicholas
Ludwig von Zinzendorf; as15 year-old formed "the Order of the Grain of Mustard
Seed" pledged to love the whole human family & spread the gospel
h) 19-yr-old Zinzendorf, Dusseldorf art gallery: Ecco Homo
"All this I did for you; what will you do for me?"
2.Refugees on estate, 1722: who were they?
Unitas Fratrum:: 30 Years War, Protestants lost Battle of White Mountain in 1620,
forced to flee, Bohemia now Catholic; many fled to Prussia, Poland, or went underground.
Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670) "father of modern education", published world's first
picture book for children; lost mss in 30 Years War; wife & children died in epidemic;
left for Poland in 1628, led other refugees in prayer as crossing border for "hidden
seed" to be preserved there and hat the Unitas Fratrum would be restored. Invited to
Sweden, Hungary, England to reform education, and offered first presidency of Harvard - declined all except Cromwell's invitation to England; shortlived, returned to
Poland; wars with Sweden cost him his library and more mss; left for Amsterdam
where he died in 1670 (buried in Naarden). Wrote many books, including Order of Discipline of Unitas Fratrum.
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III.
page 13
THE SECOND MILLENNIUM: regression, reform and revival!
3.Refugees establish community - Herrnhut; joined by others from
other backgrounds; doctrinal tensions; Zinzendorf patron, but not community leader usually in Dresden on civil duty; still unaware of roots of Moravian refugees.
1726: Kruger turns community against Zindendorf [the beast, Rothe
- false prophet], only three remain loyal; Kruger loses mind;
Zinzendorf decides to move to Herrnhut, rebuilds unity;
visits each family, establishes Brotherly Agreement (May '27)
- Herrnhut to be a Christian community
- ruled by the spirit of love
- Christian: one who lived in obedience to his Lord
- flexibility towards forms of worship:
In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity
Night watches (nights of prayer) begin; fellowship bands start.
Zinzendorf on trip in Silesia, discovers Comenius' "Order of
Discipline", (Historia Fratrum Bohemia); now realised who these
refugees were, saw their principles were almost identical to those of
Brotherly Agreement; saw his role in reviving the Ancient Moravian
Church. Great anticipation and increased prayer.
4.August 13, 1727: revival! At a mid-week communion service inthe nearby Lutheran
church, led by Rothe, the entire congregation experienced an outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. "From that time on, Herrnhut became a living congregation of Jesus Christ" the spiritual rebirth of the Moravian Church. Led to community lifestyle of:
- love feasts
- servanthood: footwashing
- worship: adoration of the Lamb
- fellowship: "bands"
5.Prayer chain: Started with 24 brothers, 24 sisters, praying for churches
and nations; for over 100 years, the Moravians maintained their covenant of hourly intercession.
6.First missionaries; first fruits:
Aug 21, 1732, Dober and Nitschmann set off for St Thomas
in West Indies: "Your lives must make others ask: What sort of God
makes people like you?" - Zinzendorf.
Began remarkable decade of mission activity - 1732-42; 1732 - St Thomas/'33- Greenland/'34- Lapland, St Croix/'34-38 - Georgia/'35- Surinam/'36- Gold Coast/'37- Sth
Africa/'38-Amsterdam (Jews)/'39-Algeria (black slaves)/'40 east & mid-west America; Ceylon; Constantinople...
7.Inspired others: By 1760, after 226 missionaries sent out,
the Moravians had done more for the unreached than all other
Protestant
churches combined. Inspired William Carey; led to
conversion of young English clergyman following Atlantic storm...
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II.
page 14
MISSIONS: WHAT HISTORY IS ALL ABOUT!
C.1600-1900 On with the Reformation - and Revival!
b. The Wesleyan Revival
1. The "good old days" of Wesley's England
John Wesley (1703-1791) could only find one word to describe English society 'godless'. Social conditions abysmal. England experiencing negative effects of the Industrial Revolution. Working class totally outside reach of a church indifferent to the unchurched. Deism and fatalistic Calvinism dominant; little impulse to disturb established (dis)order of things.
2. Wesley's background & preconversion experience
Father Anglican priest. Mother Susannah had 17 children, and held neighbourhood
bible studies in kitchen - up to 200 attended! Read stories of Danish-Halle missionaries
to her children. John and Charles studied for the ministry at Oxford, and with George
Whitefield, started Bible club, disparagingly called 'Methodists'. Emphasis on methodical lifestyle, liturgy, discipline, and good works. Yet no knowledge of personal salvation.
3. Moravian influence
After John ordained into Anglican Church, sailed for Georgia, in America, in search of
"true religion among the natives". Meets Moravian missionaries on board, and during
violent mid-Atlantic storm. Later meets Spangenberg. American venture failure and
on return to London, Feb 1738, meets another Moravian, Peter Bohler, who convinces
John of salvation by faith. Attends Moravian house meetings, Fetter Lane Society.
4. "Heart strangely warmed" - Wesley's conversion
r. May 24, 1738, Wesley at Moravian bible study in Aldersgate St; as Luther's preface
to Romans being read, experienced his 'heart being strangely warmed' . Travels to
Halle and Herrnhut to observe firsthand Pietism and the Moravians. Returns for the
New Year's Eve prayer meeting, Dec 31, 1738, at Fetter Lane Society, where Spirit was
outpoured on the small gathering in the early hours of the new year.
5. Doors close - forced into open air
John, Charles and George Whitefield now begin preaching message of salvation by
faith, but are rejected in church after church. Whitefield begins preaching to miners in
Bristol in open air, and invites a reluctant John to join. Start of mass open air evangelism; first Methodist chapel started in Bristol. Movement begins reaching working
class. The Foundry set up in London as ministry centre.
6. Bands, societies and circuits
Moravian models adapted, and converts discipled. Socieities and chapels spring up,
preaching circuits develop throughout England. Love feasts, lay and women in leadership. Methodist preachers out among the workers at 5am. Wesley fights to keep this
dynamic evangelism and church planting movement within Anglican Church.
7. "Apostle of England"
Familiar figure on horseback, travelled 250,000 miles in lifetime, preached 40,000 sermons, to crowds sometimes of over 20,000; raised up 10,000 society and band leaders.
By 1798, over 100,000 members. Over his dead body, the Methodist movement became
the Methodist Church.
"What may we reasonably believe to be God's design in raising up the Preachers
called Methodists? Not to form any new sect; but to reform the nation, particularly
the Church; and to spread scriptural holiness over the land."
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THE SECOND MILLENNIUM: regression, reform and revival!
8.Social reforms resulting from the great revivals:
• The abolition of slavery
- Wesley 1774 'Thoughts on Slavery'
- Wilberforce & Clapham 'Sect'
- Finney & Weld, USA "neither slave
- Livingstone nor freeman..."
1807 - slave trade outlawed in England
1833 - slaves released; Sierra Leone, Liberia
• The abolition of industrial slavery
- Lord Shaftesbury
- factory and mine reform
- child & female labour
- labour unions: Keir Hardie, Tolpuddle martyrs
- 10 hour working day
- Plimsoll mark: Samuel Plimsoll
• The emancipation of women
- Wesley (leading liberationist of 18th century
- Finney in USA
- Catherine Booth "neither male
- Susan B. Anthony - Quaker nor female..."
• The protection of women
- Salvation Army: age of consent - 16 years
- Josephine Butler
• Education
- the monasteries
- Jan Amos Comenius
- Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Union
- poor schools, Sunday schools, libraries
• Orphanages
- George Muller
- Thomas Barnado Homes (world's largest homes)
- Salvation Army
• Mental Asylums
- Lord Shaftesbury - Luncay Act
• Hospitals, Nursing & Prison Reform
- Elizabeth Fry, Florence Nightingale
• Red Cross
- Henri Dunant (secretary of YMCA in Geneva)
• Voluntary societies
- SPCA, ....
page 15
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page 16
THE SECOND MILLENNIUM: regression, reform and revival!
D.1800-1990 Worldwide missions! Three waves of modern mission
1.World Christianity: compare situation in1795 & in 1995: what changed?
2.William Carey: "Sit down, young man"
An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for
the Conversion of the Heathen - Magna Carta of Protestant missions
If command to teach all nations only for apostles: a) so too is command to baptise! b)
those who had gone - Moravians, Elliot, Brainard - had
gone without authority c) promise "Lo, I am with you always" also only for apostles.
Survey of continents, populations, size of countries without gospel: "All these things
are loud calls to Christians...to exert themselves to the utmost."
3."Means" - missionary society: 1792 Baptist Missionary Society
Arms and legs for the Body of Christ!
Carey: "Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God"
1793 Carey & family sailed for India, set up operations in Danish settlement of
Serampore (British antagonistic)
Modelled community on Moravian lines; others joined - Thomas (later died); John
Fountain (died within 2 years);
Ward & Marshman plus Carey - Serampore Trio:
6 whole translations of Bible
24 partial translations (Sanskrit ...)
grammars, dictionaries, eastern books...!
Started Agricultural Society of India (1820)
campaigned against sati - widow-burning - abolished in 1829.
Never returned to England.
4.Others follow suit: within 25 years, a dozen other societies
on both sides of the Atlantic - became a major factor in turning
Christianity into the first world religion; movement which has resulted in momentum
producing 2500 new churches/week, and 150,000 new Christians per day!
Dr Ralph Winter: "the most sustained, consistent effort of its size in the whole of history; and nothing has ever had the degree of impact on the nations and peoples of the world in proportion to the effort
invested!"
5.What did the first missionaries often encounter?
"Why have you taken so long?!" "Did your grandfather know abou
this God??" Meetings houses already built in anticipation
Folk-lore created expectation. Overwhelming majority of primitive
tribes had a name for a Creator, supreme God e.g. Santal - Takaraju; Karen - Y'wah;
Lahu - Gwisha; Wah - Se'ya;
Redemptive analogies: Olsen & Motilones; Richardson: Peace child; Taylor: Chinese
character for 'righteousness'... "eye openers"
Share the heritage
page 17
1800-1990 Worldwide missions! Three waves of modern mission (cont.)
6.Three waves of modern missions
Dr Ralph Winter identifies three distinct waves of modern missions, following the initiative of Carey:
1. The first wave, with William Carey and the American Adoniram Judson among the
pioneers; a wave which primarily reached the coastlands of Africa, China, and India,
and the islands of the Pacific, which became primarily denominational in structure;
and which was largely dominated by Europeans.
11. The second wave was begun by Hudson Taylor and C.T.Studd, who urged that the
task was by no means finished, and that the new frontiers were the inland regions.
This spawned many new missions whose names reflected the new frontiers: China Inland Mission, Africa Inland Mission, Regions Beyond Mission, Sudan Interior Mission...,; these missions were primarily interdenominational faith missions, and were
largely American dominated.
111. The third wave had its beginnings around the 1920's when Cameron Townsend
(Wycliffe) in Central America, and Donald McGavran in India, independently began
to see the unfinished task in terms of unreached people groups. At the Lausanne Congress in 1974, Winter stressed the reaching of unreached people groups as the highest
priority in missions. This wave is characterised by specialist missions, youth missions,
and most significantly, third world missions, and promises to become dominated by
the third world.
1800 |
*William Carey
Adoniram Judson
*Islands, coastlands
*Denominational
*European dominated
1900
|
2000
*Hudson Taylor
*Cameron Townsend
C.T. Studd
Donald McGavran
*Inland regions
*Unreached peoples
*Interdenominational
*Specialised missions
faith missions
(Wycliffe, MAF)
Youth missions-OM,YWAM
Third world missions
*American dominated
*Third world dominated?
Share the heritage
page 18
THE THIRD MILLENNIUM: seeking the Kingdom!
all life spheres
2000> It's your turn now!
1. The length, the breadth and the depth of the Great Commission
Matt 24:14; 28:19,20
- Go into all the world (geographical)
- make disciples of all peoples (socio-ethnic)
- teach them to obey me in all things (life-spheres
e
ll p
e
opl
a
all the e
arth
2. Missions as reconciliation: Col. 1; 2 Cor.5:18
- Jesus is the integration point of all things
- the challenges of the 3rd millennium
- God's people: agents of reconciliation
- unity in the church
- recovered Gospel of the kingdom
3.Preparing today for discipling the nations tomorrow
- everybody a world Christian
- developing a Christian worldview
- seeking first His Kingdom!
s
Share the heritage
RECOMMENDED READING:
GENERAL:A History of Christianity, ed. Tim Dowley (Lion UK, Eerdmans...)
A History of Christianity, Paul Johnson, (Pelican)
A History of Christianity, (2 vols), K. S. Latourette
A History of Christian Missions, Stephen Neill, (Pelican)
A History of the Expansion of Christianity, (7 vols), K. S. Latourette
Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, (5 vols), K. S. Latourette
Christianity Through the Ages, K. S. Latourette
Committed Communities, Charles Mellis (Wm Carey Library)
Destined for the Throne, Paul Billheimer (CLC)
Europe: was it ever really Christian? Anton Wessels (SCM)
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, Ruth Tucker (Zondervan)
Heritage of Freedom, (Lion UK)
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, eds Winter
Hawthorne (Wm Carey Library) - includes many essays
by Carey, Taylor, Studd, Winter, Richardson,...
incl: The Two Structures of God's Redemptive Mission
The Gifts of the Jews, Thomas Cahill, (Doubleday)
The Pilgrim Church, E.H.Broadbent (Pickering & Inglis,1932
The Puritan Hope, Iain H. Murray
The Weight of Glory, C.S.Lewis
CELTS: The Celtic Church, John McNeill
How the Irish saved civilization, Thomas Cahill (Doubleday)
The New Celts, Roger Ellis, Chris Seaton (Kingsway)
Recovering the Past, John Finney, (DLT)
Exploring Celtic Spirituality, Ray Simpson, (H&S)
RADICAL REFORMATION:
The Waldensians, Giorio Tourn, (Claudiana)
The Anabaptist Story, Wm Estep (Eerdmans)
Profiles of Radical Reformers, Hans-Juergen Goertz, ed. (Herald)
MORAVIANS: Through 500 Years, Allen w. Schattschneider
Power from on High, J. Greenfield
Zinzendorf, ecumenical pioneer, A.J. Lewis
Count Zinzendorf, John Weinlick
A history of the Moravian Church, Hamilton & Hamilton
You are my Witnesses, James Weingarth
WESLEY: The Burning Heart, A. Skevington Wood (Bethany)
The Methodist Revolution, Bernarnd Semmel (Heinemann)
The Radical Wesley, Howard Snyder (IVP)
MODERN MISSIONS:
Carey, Christ and Cultural Transformation, V & R Mangalwadi (Good Books)
Discipling Nations, Darrow Miller, (YWAM)
Eternity in their hearts, Don Richardson (Regal)
Peace Child, Don Richardson (Regal)
Telling the Story, Andrew Walker (SPCK)
The Church is Bigger than You Think, Patrick Johnstone (William Carey Library)
page 19