Our God is a Missionary God!

1. Wellington Diocese Overseas Missions Festival Our God is a Missionary God! Revelation 7:9-12

2. Our God is a Missionary God! • Things are happening • 8000 new Anglican believers each day • 400 new Anglican churches each week • Nigeria – more Anglicans in Church than in UK, USA and Australasia together. • Lagos – 40 Anglican churches with between 1000 and 2500 worshippers. • East Africa – 4 – 5000 confirmed at one time.

3. Our God is a Missionary God! • Things are happening • In the Nelson Diocese there was a 47% growth in attendance at worship through the 90’s.

4. Our God is a Missionary God! • Things are happening • 90,000 new Christians each day in world • 20,000 new Christians each day in Africa • 28,000 new Christians each day in China

5. Our God is a Missionary God! • Things are happening • Indonesia – 500% Church growth in 20 years • Korea – is more than 30% Christian • Albania – over 700 Churches • Iraq – The Kurds have a Church for the first time in history. • Ethiopia – 6000 new Churches since 1990

6. INTRODUCTION Mission ….. Out of favour? Mission is indispensable to Christian faith Christian Mission is rooted and grounded in the nature of God Himself.

7. Our God is a Missionary God!

8. The God of the Old Testament The Christ of the Gospels The Holy Spirit of Acts The Church of the Letters The Climax of the book of Revelation

9. THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT .. is a Missionary God He is the God of Israel BUT ………

10. THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT But …. The Old Testament begins NOT with Abraham …… but with Adam NOT with the Covenant …. but with creation NOT with the Chosen Race … but with the human race

11. THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Abraham, (Gen 12:1-4) God’s purpose and promise To bless the nations

12. THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

13. The God of the Old Testament is a Missionary God!

14. THE CHRIST OF THE GOSPELS Is a Missionary Christ

15. David Livingston “I am a missionary heart and soul God had an only Son and he was a Missionary and a physician. I am a poor, poor imitation of him but in his service I hope to live and in it I wish to die.”

16. THE CHRIST OF THE GOSPELS Matthew’s Gospel A “worldwide” perspective The Jewish Gospel is jammed full of a Gentile horizon

17. The Christ of the Gospels is a Missionary Christ!

18. THE HOLY SPIRIT OF THE ACTS A Missionary Spirit John 7:37-39

19. William Temple (Archbishop of Canterbury) “Nobody can be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and keep that Spirit to himself. Where the Spirit is He flows forth and if there is no flowing forth He is not there”

20. THE HOLY SPIRIT OF THE ACTS A Missionary Spirit John 7:37-39 Pentecost was a missionary event! Jerusalem Rome

21. Roland Allen “The Book of Acts is a strictly Missionary Book. The conclusion is irresistible that the Spirit given was in fact a MISSIONARY SPIRIT. This is the great, fundamental unmistakable teaching of the book. It is in the revelation of the Holy Spirit as a MISSIONARY SPIRIT that the Acts stands alone in the New Testament.”

22. The Holy Spirit of the Acts is a Missionary Spirit!

23. THE CHURCH OF THE LETTERS ……is a Missionary Church “The Church is the only society on earth that exists primarily for the benefit of its non members” William Temple (Archbishop of Canterbury)

24. THE CHURCH OF THE LETTERS It exists for the glory of God and For witness to the world Heretical structures Structures can deny the Gospel we proclaim

25. We’ve got to turn the Church inside out to serve the world out there. A world that needs Christ.

26. THE CHURCH OF THE LETTERS

27. THE CHURCH OF THE LETTERS Service and Evangelism Our responsibility “…the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” 1 Timothy 3:15

28. THE CHURCH OF THE LETTERS Our responsibility “Church members are to shine like stars in the universe ….and to hold out to other people the word of life” Philippians 2:15

29. THE CHURCH OF THE LETTERS Our responsibility The Gospel came to them and that they received and it sounded forth from them 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.

30. The Church of the Letters is a Missionary Church!

31. THE CLIMAX OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION ..is a Missionary climax Revelation 7:9-17 The cost

32. THE CLIMAX OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION John’s vision of heaven

33. To proclaim Christ and his cross in a world of pluralism and relativism is to invite opposition As global communication networks are improving – at the same time there is a shrinking of our horizons

34. The climax of Revelation is a Missionary climax!

35. The God of the Old Testament is a Missionary God! The Christ of the Gospels is a Missionary Christ! The Holy Spirit of Acts is a Missionary Spirit! The Church of the Letters is a Missionary Church! The Climax of Revelation is a Missionary Climax!

36. CONCLUSION The Faith of the Bible is a Missionary Faith Mission lies at the very heart of God Mission is the global outreach of a global people of our global God.

37. CONCLUSION The need to repent

38. Do we claim to believe in God? He is a missionary God! Are we committed to Christ? He is a missionary Christ! Do we claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit? He is a missionary Spirit! Do we claim to belong to the Church? It is a missionary Church! Do we hope to go to heaven? It is a missionary heaven!

39. CONCLUSION The need to repent The need to take action The Christianity of Scripture is an explosive and centrifugal force ….. It pulls us out from our own self-absorption, our self-centredness and it flings us into God’s world in order to share His love and to serve.

40. Our God is a Missionary God!

41. Equal to anything that God calls us to be or to do are His resources!

42. Our God is a Missionary God!