Motifs in Mission Theology

1. Motifs in Mission Theology Church Holy Spirit Shalom Jesus Reflecting God’s Glory through Worship Kingdom of God Return of Christ Biblical Revelation

2. The Church of God: Variations on the NT Use • A circle of assembled (Rom. 16:4; 1 Cor. 16:1, Gal. 1:2; 1 Thess. 2:14) believers in some definite location (Acts 5;11, 11:26; 1 Cor. 11:18; 14:19, 28, 35). • A 'house' church (Rom. 16:23; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15). • The singular used in reference to a group of churches (Acts 9:31--not a denomination!) • A general sense of the whole body of believers in the world (1 Cor. 10:32; 11:22; 12:28; Eph. 4:11-16). • The whole body of the faithful (in heaven and on earth; Eph. 1:22; 3;10, 21; 5:23-25, 27, 32; Col. 1:18, 24).

3. The Church of God: Figures of the Church in the New Testament • The bride of Christ (Eph. 5:25-27; 2 Cor. 11:2-3; Rev. 19:6- 8; 21:2, 9-10) • The body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23 and 1 Cor. 12:12-27; see also Col. 1:18) • The temple (or building) of God (1 Cor. 3:10-11, 16; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-8) • The sheep of Christ the Shepherd (John 10) • Branches of the true Vine (John 15) • Believer-priests of the High Priest (Heb. 3:1; 1 Pet. 2:9) • Joint-heirs with the First Born (Heb. 1:2; Rom. 8:17) • Harvest after God's First Fruit (1 Cor. 15:23) • The New Jerusalem of the King of Kings (Rev. 21:2, 9-10)

4. The Church of God: Organism and Organized Organism: the church is a communion of believers-- community is the key. It is called the body of Christ and living stones of the temple of God. Organized: The 'mother' of believers; it announces the means of salvation, nurtures, there is a need of leaders and a system of formal organization for its earthly operation. The church as organized is the means to the church as organism.

5. The “Glocalized” Church of God • The local church: "an assembly of professing believers who have been baptized and who are organized to do God's will“ • No building is needed • They are professing believers • The mode of baptism is not defined • It is an 'organized organism', though the time and type of meeting is not specified • The universal church: the body of all true believers in the heavenly realms as well as on earth.

6. The Church Submits to Christ in Three Relationships • In relation to God: • The Church is to send forth praise and glory to God for his merciful dealings with people (Eph. 3:20-21) • It is to make his wisdom known even in the heavenly realms (Eph. 3:10-11) • In relation to itself. • Edification: God gifts and appoints people in the Church (1 Cor. 12:28). They lead the Church in its responsibilities to build up the saints (1 Cor. 14:12, 26; Heb. 10:24), equip them for service (Eph. 4:11-16), and care for its own who are in need (Acts 12:5; Jas. 1:27; 1 Tim. 5:1-16). • Purification: The Church is to allow Christ to cleanse it so as to be a spotless bride (Eph. 5:25b-27), morally (1 Cor. 5; Matt. 18:15-18) and doctrinally (Acts 15:22-29; 2 Tim. 2:16-18) • In relation to the world • Mission: It is the agency God has chosen for carrying out the Great Commission • Restraining force: it acts as a restraining and enlightening force in the world (Matt. 5:13-16).

7. The Unity of the Church Contemporary Experiments in Church Unity through Ecumenism

8. World Mission Conferences: The Lead up to Edinburgh New York 1854 Liverpool 1860 London 1888 New York 1900 Edinburgh 1910

9. 20th Century Ecumenical Associations • World Council of Churches • International Council of Christian Churches • World Evangelical Alliance • Lausanne Movement

10. World Council of Churches: The Path from Edinburgh to New Delhi Edinburgh 1910 International Missionary Council Faith and Order Life and Work Lake Mohonk 1921 Stockholm 1925 Lausanne 1927 Jerusalem 1928 Oxford 1937 Edinburgh 1937 Madras 1938 Utrecht 1938 Whitby 1947 WCC Founded Amsterdam 1948 Willingen 1952 2nd Assembly Evanston 1954 Ghana 1958 3rd Assembly New Delhi 1961

11. World Council of Churches:Assemblies from New Delhi to Harare Edinburgh 1910 International Missionary Council Division on World Missions and Evangelism New Delhi 1961 Mexico City 1963 Upsala 1968 Bangkok 1973 Nairobi 1975 Commission on World Mission and Evangelism Melbourne 1980 Vancouver 1983 San Antonio 1990 Canberra 1991 Salvador 1996 Harare 1998

12. WCC “Statement of Faith” • The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the Scriptures and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

13. What the WCC is not • A superchurch • Designed to organize/negiotiate unions between churches • Based on any one particular conception of the church • Designed to require members to consider their own conception of the church as merely relative • Designed to force acceptance of any specific doctrine of the nature of the church

14. International Council of Christian Churches • Founded in 1948 in direct opposition to the founding of the WCC • Main leader: Carl McIntire • Theological perspective: conservative (fundamentalist) • 17 Congresses since 1948; usually meeting at the same location in the same year as the WCC General Assembly as a form of protest

15. ICCC Doctrinal Statement • Among other equally Biblical truths, we believe and maintain the following: • The plenary Divine inspiration of the Scriptures in the original languages, their consequent inerrancy and infallibility, and, as the Word of God, the supreme and final authority in faith and life; • The Triune God, Fathers, Son, and Holy Spirit; • The essential, absolute, eternal Deity, and the real and proper, but sinless, humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ; • His birth of the Virgin Mary. • His substitutionary, expiatory death in that He gave His life "a ransom for many"; • His resurrection from among the dead in the same body in which He was crucified and the second coming of this same Jesus in power and great glory; • The total depravity of man through the Fall; • Salvation, the effect of regeneration by the Spirit and the Word, not by works but by grace through faith; • The everlasting bliss of the saved, and the everlasting suffering of the lost; • The real spiritual unity in Christ of all redeemed by His precious blood; • The necessity of maintaining, according to the Word of God, the purity of the Church in doctrine and life; • And, still believing the Apostles' Creed to he a statement of Scriptural truth, we therefore incorporate it in these articles of faith

16. World Evangelical Alliance • Christians from ten countries met in London in 1846 for the purpose of launching, in their own words, "a new thing in church history, a definite organization for the expression of unity amongst Christian individuals belonging to different churches." • This was the beginning of a vision that was fulfilled in 1951 when believers from 21 countries officially formed the World Evangelical Fellowship. • Today, 150 years after the London gathering, WEA is a dynamic global structure for unity and action that embraces 335 million evangelicals in 121 countries. • It is a unity based on the historic Christian faith expressed in the evangelical tradition. And it looks to the future with vision to accomplish God's purposes in discipling the nations for Jesus Christ—seeking holiness, justice and renewal at every level of society—individual, family, community and culture, God is glorified and the nations of the earth are forever transformed.

17. WEA Statement of Faith • We believe • ...in the Holy Scriptures as originally given by God, divinely inspired, infallible, entirely trustworthy; and the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct... • One God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit... • Our Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, His virgin birth, His sinless human life, His divine miracles, His vicarious and atoning death, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, His mediatorial work, and His Personal return in power and glory... • The Salvation of lost and sinful man through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith apart from works, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit... • The Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the believer is enabled to live a holy life, to witness and work for the Lord Jesus Christ... • The Unity of the Spirit of all true believers, the Church, the Body of Christ... • The Resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life, they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

18. Lausanne Movement • Framed in response to the WCC, Lausanne sought to bring together evangelicals who focused on evangelizing the world. Initially the impetus of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Lausanne is now an independent organization comprised largely of volunteers • The Lausanne Covenant is a declaration agreed upon by more than 2,300 evangelicals during the 1974 International Congress to be more intentional about world evangelization. • The participants in Lausanne II, the Second International Congress on World Evangelization, in Manila in the Philippines in July 1989 deliberated on the prospects for the fulfillment of the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. The subject was looked at from every conceivable angle with an attempt to be true to the Holy Scriptures in the analysis. The results were summarized in The Manila Manifesto.

19. Lausanne Movement:Major Congresses from Edinburgh to Thailand Edinburgh 1910 World Congress on Evangelism (Berlin 1966) International Congress for World Evangelization (Lausanne 1974) Conference on World Evangelization (Pattaya 1980) International Congress for World Evangelization II(Manila 1989) Forum for World Evangelization (Thailand 2004)