Boyce on Missionary Theological Education

From his inaugural at Furman University, 31 July 1856:

"The results of past missionary efforts, appear to indicate that we, like the apostles, must adopt the system of home laborers, if we would evangelize the world. We must get natives to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation. The men whom we send forth to missionary stations must then be qualified to instruct the native preachers in all the elements of theological education. They will not only have to put the Bible into their hands as a textbook, but they will have to prepare, in the native language, or translate into it such books of theology, as shall give them adequate instruction."

-- James Petigru Boyce, first President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Out of Context

From Shaw & Van Engen, Communicating God's Word in a Complex World,

"Gospel presentation seeks to facilitate a process whereby people everywhere, belonging to every family, tribe, language and nation, may hear God speak in appropriate and relevant ways that impact the deep-level meaning of their worldview" (1).

Exercise Reading

I picked up my January 2008 issue of Christianity Today to take with me to work out (yes, I'm one day into my renewed commitment to physical fitness). This edition is a fascinating mix of articles, covering the gamut from an editorial on the Senate investigation into charismatic evangelists to persecution to social ministry. The highlights thus far are the article on "The Lima Bean Gospel" by Mark Labberton and a brief commentary entitled, "A Hole in our Holism," by Stan Guthrie.

Now, to begin, I must say that Labberton has never had lima beans out of my garden or fixed by my wife, or his analogy of bland American Christianity would fail miserably. Pity aside, the author presents a strong case for our the necessity of a renewed focus on justice and ministry in our churches. He writes,

Rather than seek the God who spoke from the burning bush, we have decided that the real drama is found in debating whether to podcast our services. Rather than encounter the God who sees idolatry as a pervasive, life-threatening temptation, we decorate Pottery Barn lives with out tasteful collections of favored godlings. Rather than follow the God who burns for justice for the needy, we are more likely to ask the Lord to give us our own fair share. A bland God for a bland church, with a mission that is at best innocuous and quaint -- in a tumultuous world.

and

It would be a new day for our testimony to the immensity and scope of the gospel if we lived out persevering, sacrificial love for people near and far, especially for those without power, without money, without education, without food, without sanitation, without safety, without faith. If this counterintuitive, servant love moved us out of our middle-class enclaves, drew the poor to be included in our family values, brought us to worry more about the need for consumption of those who have nothing than the consumptive fantasies of those who have too much, the gospel would be more nearly the life-enlarging gift it is.

Ouch. I think he's right. Guthrie adds a vital balance, though, by reminding us that the gospel is still the gospel -- it's about the reconciliation of man and God. He asks the vital question why we aren't evangelizing as we once did. "Does our heightened social consciousness," he queries, "-- from the Left and the Right -- actually drain our evangelistic zeal?"

Guthrie is absolutely right when he responds, "It shouldn't because we are called to do both."

One of the problems in our church world today is an "either/or" syndrome as opposed to a "both/and" attitude. I realize that this cannot apply everywhere. We cannot be both exclusivist and universalist with regard to the future of the lost. But, we can, as Guthrie points out so well, give both a cup of cold water in Jesus' name AND call sinful people to repent and follow Jesus.

A missionary thinks about missional

I thought that I was still “in the loop,” even after four years overseas. After all, with the internet, blogs, webcams, and amazon.com, there should be no shortage of information no matter where you are. Right? Wrong!

I’ve missed out on “missional.”

In the spring of 2001, I was working through an independent study on church planting with then Southern Seminary professor Ed Stetzer. I can remember sitting at my desk, looking out at the small town where I was pastor of a Southern Baptist church, and thinking, “how is Smyrna Baptist Church going to reach all of these people who are moving here?” At that same time, we were preparing to go overseas, so I was reading everything I could get my hands on about people groups, cross-cultural ministry, strategy coordinators, international church planting, and anything else the IMB would send me. The thought struck me, why don’t we look at our town like I would look at Paris or Rio or Jakarta? Why not consider the truth that autoworkers from Michigan, dairy farmers from Tennessee, and young families fleeing the city are as much people group segments as Chinese students and Parisians? As I thought about planting a church in our small town, I wondered, what will church look like for these families? What will evangelism look like? I was teaching on living out our lives in worship because I was also asking, how can we share the gospel across our own lives in our own neighborhoods?

These next couple of weeks, I really want to think about this thing, “missional.” I know I’m behind. I know that Stetzer is now, as Darrin Patrick said on this excellent presentation, “freaky smart” and the “yoda missiologist” of the movement. He’s writing on his blog about what “missional” means, and I want to interact with that, with Patrick’s presentation, and with anything else I come across.

I’ll look forward to both of you who read this blog joining me…