Loading...

Essentials of World Missions - Lesson 1

God's Missionary Heart

Dr. Tennent begins this summary course on World Missions with a definition of the terms “mission” and “missions,” and gives us an understanding of the mission of God, that missions begins with God and his missionary heart.

Timothy Tennent
Essentials of World Missions
Lesson 1
Watching Now
God's Missionary Heart

I. Welcome

II. Mission and Missions

III. Three Aspects of the Mission Of God

A. Divine Initiative

B. Historical Transmission

C. Indigenous Assimilation

IV. God's Missionary Heart

A. Old Testament

B. New Testament


Lessons
About
Resources
Transcript
Quiz
  • Dr. Tennent begins this summary course on World Missions with a definition of the terms “mission” and “missions,” and gives us an understanding of the mission of God, that missions begins with God and his missionary heart.

  • We now walk through the Great Commission in each of the Four Gospels, highlighting their unifying themes and the distinct message that each Gospel writer highlights.

  • Dr. Tennent address several objections that people have to the uniqueness of Christ and the exclusive nature of the Gospel message. He also defines for us what actually qualifies as "missions."

  • In this second part of the course, Dr. Tennent explores the history of the church’s expansion into the world. He focuses primarily on the modern period and looks at what makes the modern missionary period unfold in the way that it does.

  • We begin the practical section of the course with a look at the full circle of missions strategy, which is based in several passages of Scripture. Dr. Tennent uses Acts 11 as an example of this four-step process.

  • At this point in the lessons Dr. Tennent turns to examining some modern missiological techniques, the kinds of things that churches are using and understanding to be better equipped to serve missionaries. He also lists five different categories of missionaries.

  • In this lesson, Dr. Tennent recommends six tasks that every local church should consider in order to be more effective in their overseas missions work.

  • Dr. Tennent explores several trends, both positive and negative, in modern-day missions, along with a quick look at the importance of understanding world religions.

  • Dr. Tennent dispels the top ten myths about missions, so that we can be better equipped to think appropriately about the great missionary cause.

  • Finally, we conclude the practical section and the course with a discussion of the top ten things the church should know about missions.

Beginning with a Biblical foundation, the course examines key Scriptural passages in both the Old and New Testaments that relate to the mission of the church. The second part of the course addresses key theological and cultural challenges that the church faces in proclaiming the gospel and establishing culturally relevant and viable churches. The third portion of the course exposes the student to key concepts in 21st century mission thinking, including mission strategy, the role of forging global partnerships, and the need to focus on church planting. Throughout the course, the emphasis is on practical ways the church can be more effective in ministering cross-culturally and fulfilling the Great Commission.

There is a 15 hour version of this course in which Dr. Tennent covers these topics in more detail. The title of the course is World Mission of the Church and you can find it at https://www.biblicaltraining.org/world-mission-church/timothy-tennent

Recommended Books

Essentials of World Missions - Student Guide

Essentials of World Missions - Student Guide

The purpose of this course is to provide a broad introduction to the worldwide mission of the church of Jesus Christ. Beginning with a Biblical foundation, the course...

Essentials of World Missions - Student Guide

Dr. Timothy Tennent
Essentials of World Missions
wm201-01
God's Missionary Heart
Lesson Transcript

 


Welcome

Welcome to the summary lectures of the World Mission of the Church course. This course was originally taught at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. This summary course is a three-hour summary of that course and is being taped specifically for biblicaltraining.org. 

The course, actually, is laid out into three broad sections: the first section, a biblical-theological section, where we explore the biblical and theological basis for missions. Secondly, there is an historical section, where we examine and reflect on certain key features historically of the development of missions and the fulfillment of the Great Commission, particularly in the modern period. And then the third and final section is a section which reflects on anthropology and missiological principles which can help us be more effective in fulfilling the Great Commission in the particular context that we face today. 

Mission and Missions

So, we will begin with an examination on the biblical-theological category of missions, but first, I want to talk a little more broadly about just the very word “mission” and “missions” and what is meant by these terms, because we make a distinction between the word “mission” in the singular and the word “missions” in the plural, and sometimes this is not sufficiently made clear in churches, and, therefore, it is important at the outset to be clear about the words we use. 

The word “mission” actually refers to the mission of God to redeem and save the world. The word “mission” is often referred to as the missio Dei, that is, God’s mission, God’s plan through all ages, to redeem and save the world through His own initiative. 

Sometimes we confuse this with the word “missions,” plural, which represents the various tasks which the church is called to in order to fulfill the Great Commission and be obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ. If we only have missions without mission, then, of course, the church itself becomes the place where the mission of the church is rooted. 

But instead, we know, in fact, that missions is rooted in God’s activity, God’s initiative, God’s impulse to save the world. It’s His heart, and we are the reflection of that heart. Also, missions represents a wide variety of initiatives that the church may take, all of which somehow fit into the larger mission of God. 

Three Aspects of the Mission Of God

So normally we think about the mission of God as encompassing three aspects. 

Divine Initiative

The first aspect would be the divine initiative in preparing the soil, in preparing the hearts of people before we ever arrive with the gospel message. That’s the divine initiative; that’s the preparation of the gospel that the Holy Spirit works in the lives of peoples. 

Historical Transmission of the Gospel

The second part is what we would normally call missions, that is the historical transmission of the gospel in a particular context. So this is where the missionary arrives on the field, preaches the gospel, plants churches, or churches are involved in any number of cross-cultural activities – that’s the historical transmission of the gospel in particular places, in particular times, in particular contexts.

Indigenous Assimilation

But then, thirdly, there’s the work of God in the indigenous assimilation of that message. Even though the Gospel is preached in a foreign country or among foreign peoples and the church is planted by missionaries, at some point this message must be assimilated into the lives and experience of the people to whom we are going. So this is all part of God’s work and the work of the church in bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth is merely a part of the larger mission of God.

God’s Missionary Heart

So, we’re looking at the unfolding of God’s missionary heart. We’re demonstrating, biblically speaking, in this first section how missions is rooted in the very heart and nature of God. The way the course is set up, if you listen to the extended tapes is a rather extensive exposition of various passages of Scripture. We will not do all those in the summary lectures, but we do want to point out that missions is not something that begins with the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. Missions begins with the very heart of God. God has a missionary heart.

Old Testament

The mission of God lies behind the whole of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament and the particular task which we call missions today. So one of the earlier texts we will look at in the course is the text in Genesis 12, because in that text we find the tremendous revelation of Yahweh to Abraham where he reveals to Abraham a covenantal promise, which is marked by God’s initiative. In that covenant, which is Genesis 12:1-3, God makes three promises to Abraham which are repeated on several occasions to Abraham and again through Isaac and through Jacob. 

He promises Abraham that He will bless him personally. That is to say, there is a numerical blessing. Abraham is one person. His wife Sarah is childless, yet God is going to multiply his descendants and make them as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. These are some of the metaphors that are used to describe this personal, numerical blessing made to Abraham. 

But secondly, it is not only a personal blessing made to Abraham, it also comes as a national blessing with specific geographic implications. He promises Abraham that he will take possession of the gates of their enemies, that he will become a mighty nation, his descendants will take possession of the land, which we now call the Promised Land, the land promised to Abraham. 

So there’s a numerical blessing to Abraham, there’s a national blessing to the people of Israel, and then, thirdly, there is this marvelous spiritual blessing to “all nations on the earth.” That text, Genesis 12, which says, “and in your seed all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

So this is a passage which is extremely important and is repeated to Abraham at several important junctures. For example, in Genesis 22:17–18 he says these words: “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” That is the numerical blessing. Secondly he tells him, continuing in verse 17, “Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies.” That’s the second part of the blessing, a national blessing. And then thirdly, verse 18, “and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.” So these three parts of the covenant, the numerical, the national, and the spiritual (“to all nations”) are repeated in almost the exact same words to Isaac in Genesis 26:3-5, to Jacob in Genesis 28:13-14, and numerous times and in various ways throughout the Pentateuch. 

It’s actually quite interesting that when Moses stands before the people in the opening chapter of Deuteronomy, that great passage, which occurs some 400 years after the original promise to Abraham, you nevertheless have this wonderful experience where Moses says to the people in verses 10-11, when he looks out over the nation of Israel that’s gathered there, poised to enter the Promised, he says in verse 10: “The Lord has increased your numbers today, so that you are as many as the stars in the sky.” 

So Moses acknowledges even before they enter the Promised Land that the first part of the Abrahamic promise has been fulfilled within Egypt itself. But God’s plan was never that the Israelites would simply be numerous and multiply exceedingly as slaves in Egypt. The 430 years of Egyptian slavery was soon to be passed by the next stage, which actually calls them to take possession of the land. And so there is a long process, throughout the book of Joshua especially, where we find the Israelites taking possession of the land and fulfilling almost completely, but certainly significantly, the geographic portion of this, that they will take possession of the land that God promised to Abraham.

The problem, of course, is this third part of the blessing, the spiritual blessing to all nations. That becomes very, very difficult for them to sometimes gain possession of, because they are so busy worrying about maintaining their possession of the land. They eventually get exiled, and, therefore, it becomes extremely difficult for them to even think about the larger, global implications of their calling as the people of God. 

I do want to point out also that in the larger lectures we not only demonstrate how this promise is found in the Law, the Pentateuch, but also how it’s found in the Prophets and the Writings. We have tremendous promises found in Scripture. For example, in Psalm 2, where we have the nations of the world to whom has been given this great promise that God wants to bless them, and instead we meet in Psalm 2 the nations raging and plotting against the LORD – that is Yahweh – and against His anointed one – that is the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. And in that wonderful passage in Psalm 2, you have the Father promising the Son, not just that He would save Israel, but instead, a much broader agenda which is part of the mission of God. “I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” – so this great promise that God will, in fact, bless the nations. This is done throughout the Old Testament in a number of ways. 

This also appears not only in the strand of the Law and the Writings, but also in the Prophets themselves where you have a number of examples where you have the leadership of Israel recognized this tremendous hope that God was bringing them to and would carry them to through His abundant promises. For example, take the passage in Isaiah 49:6ff. This passage, which is quoted in the New Testament, is a tremendous insight into the great vision of God for the people of God. This, like Psalm 2, is a conversation between the LORD and the Suffering Servant, the Messiah, who we of course now know is our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what the LORD says to Jesus Christ. He says to Him, prophetically, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” 

Now, this is an extremely important passage because here are the Israelites facing exile, facing the loss of even the second part of the Abrahamic covenant, and yet, the vision of Isaiah is not just that they would be restored to their land - that would be the greatest prayer of any Israelite. “Oh, come back from exile. Be restored to the land.” But instead, the vision is always much, much greater. He says, “It is too small a thing if your prayer is only that I save the tribes of Israel and bring you back from exile.” He says, “The real vision is that I will make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” What a great vision! 

New Testament

And this, of course, is picked up on very readily by the New Testament. The Apostle Paul, for example, when he talks about the missionary journey to the Gentiles, he quotes this passage and he says specifically, “This is what the Lord said commanding us” – that is commanding the church – “to take the message to all peoples on earth.” So the Apostle Paul understands that this Messianic promise, which is fulfilled in Christ’s coming, is brought in application to the world through a very strong message and emphasis on the role of the church of Jesus Christ in the world. In the larger lectures we explain more carefully how this process happens. 

If you read Acts 13 we find that this is exactly the point that Paul makes. Paul says in reference to his turning to the Gentiles, in Acts 13:46, “We had to speak the Word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us.” Now, he says “us” there; he doesn’t say “what He commanded Christ” but “what He commanded us” – that is, the church – “I will make you” – which we normally think of as a reference to Christ, the Messiah, but it’s actually here in the Greek, it is singular in the text, which would make it refer to Christ, “I will make you” that is Christ, “a light to the Gentiles.” But Paul has said this is commanded to the Church. 

So, “I will make you a light to the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” So this is a promise made about Christ, but it is brought to the world through the instrumentality of the obedient church who obeys the Great Commission and brings this great message out into all the earth.

So, in summary, the Old Testament has strong emphasis on God’s heart for the nations, not just Israel, but all nations, found in the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. This, of course, is explored in greater detail in the expanded lectures that are available through biblicaltraining.org.

 

Log in to take this quiz.