The Church, the Neighborhood and the Nations (Stetzer)

And the final plenary session I want to make comments about was by Ed Stetzer. With all of the talk these days about the mission of God, the mission of the church, being missional etc I was eager to listen to his discussion on "The Church, the Neighborhood and the Nations"

He had 3 major points which build on one another.

1) We are sent (John 20:21)

Avery Willis says:
Mission = the total redemptive purpose of God to establish His kingdom
Missions = the activity of God's people, the Church, to proclaim and to demonstrate the kingdom of God in the world
Missionaries = are people set aside by God and the church to cross natural and cultural barriers with the gospel

The problem is these are all extra Biblical terms not found defined in the Bible.

I don't think these definitions are perfect. In fact, I'd like to see the scope of Missions narrowed to be cross-cultural proclamation of the gospel and another definition of Outreach to our own culture but I won't make a big deal about it. I would however disagree with Charles Spurgeon when he said that

"Every Christian is a missionary or an imposter" - Charles Spurgeon

See my previous post about Shooting Sacred Cows. The more people we call missionary the less we recognize that some people are called by God to cross cultures as ambassadors of Christ.

Stetzer continues:

God is a sending God:
a) Father sent the Son
b) Father sends the Spirit in Jesus' name
c) Jesus comes and establishes His kingdom
d) the Church is birthed to lived sent
e) the Son builds the Church by placing people in His kingdom
f) the Spirit empowers the Church to live sent

We're all sent. If you're a missionary in Africa, you're sent! If you live in Hamilton, you're sent! We're all sent, the only question is where and among whom.

We need to give more and go more!!! But we also need to live as those who are sent here and now... A lot of churches are missions-minded but not necessarily missional.

This is a good point. I would say that PMC started as a missional church in the early 1900s, then became a great missions-minded church and now is working to blend both. God help us!

2) We are sent TO ALL PEOPLE.

"panta ta ethne" is the Greek in Matthew 28
Some say Jesus was meaning ethnolinguistic groups. Well maybe....
In the most plain reading he meant the Gentiles. In the most plain reading he meant the non-Jews. But the disciples also saw much more. It's about making disciples everywhere.

There is a thread throughout Scripture about the topic "every, tongue, tribe and nation". From Genesis 11 to Revelation 7 and at many points in between

a) God scatters making nations (Gen 11)
b) God sends Israel to bring the nations up to Jerusalem (Ps 57:9, Isa 2:2). But the plan was not accomplished.
c) God had a sign and a plan for the nations (Acts 2:1). The Spirit gave them ability to speak languages. This is a sign that reverses the direction of God's mission from "up to Jerusalem" to "going out from Jerusalem"
d) God will be praised by men and women from every nation (Rev 7:9)

Then Stetzer closed this point with a great one liner

Don't let your church be a cul de sac on the Great Commission highway.

Stetzer's final point was

3) We are sent to all people WITH A MESSAGE

Luke 24:46

How am I going to do all these things?
- reach out missionally where I am?
- reach out to the nations?
- preach the gospel?

Only by the power of God (see Acts 1:8 "you will receive power")

He closes by saying something I pray the church I'm a part will be:

A missional, missions-minded, gospel-centered, Spirit empowered church!

God let me be a missional, missions-minded, gospel-centered, Spirit empowered man!

Courage, Christ, and Finishing the Mission (Ramsden)

One of the other plenary sessions from the Desiring God 2011 Missions Conference I listened to was by Michael Ramsden titled "Courage, Christ, and Finishing the Mission"

At the 47 minute mark he states:

"Is it possible that we have ordered our church life and our Christian life so that its convenient for us. To look after our children, to do things that we wouldn't like to do, to pay the occasional missionary 1% of our total income, so they can go do things that we'd rather not do, so we can have an easy life here. I wonder..."

I wonder too. God help me not to order my life to be convenient but to serve and honor you my Master and King.

The Glory of God, The Lostness of Man, the Gospel of Christ (Platt)

In October I listened to a few of the plenary sessions from the Desiring God 2011 Missions Conference. I wish I could've gone but Minneapolis is pretty far away...

One of the talks was by David Platt titled "The Glory of God, The Lostness of Man, the Gospel of Christ"

Here are some quotes:

The glory of God among the nations is not just the reason for which we have this conference. The glory of God among the nations is the reason for which we have breath!

We have an indescribably urgent mission.

At the 43 minute mark Platt develops 3 reasons answering to the question why must we go to them?

1) Because there knowledge of God is only enough to damn them to hell

"Every man in the African jungle or in an Amazon rainforest, every woman in an Asian village... all of them have the knowledge of God... It's clear in Romans 1. The knowledge they have shows them that God is glorious and they are guilty and that's all they've got.
You say well what happens to the innocent guy in Africa who never hears the gospel?
My answer to that is easy, based on the authority of God's Word, the innocent guy in Africa will absolutely go to heaven. Even though he's never heard the gospel... The only problem is, the innocent guy in Africa does not exist!
If he were innocent, which is the way the question is normally asked, why would he need the gospel? If he has no sin, of course he'll go to heaven. The problem is there are no innocent people in Africa waiting to heard the gospel. There are guilty people all over the nations, ready to hear the gospel that's why we must go to them!"

Platt's other points were that we must go to them...

2) Because the gospel of God is powerful enough to save them for heaven

3) Because the glory of God is good enough to satisfy them forever.

It's a good message.