Reforming World Missions

From the caption from the Synod of Dort on the cover of this book to the historical essays on Carey, Pearce, and Judson (which, as an historian of this era, I naturally loved!), this volume on the missionary enterprise (which is at the heart of the gospel) is a veritable cornucopia of wisdom about the theology and praxis of missions. The wisdom it contains and the vision that informs it is much needed, for I fear that the passion for missions that marked what is rightly called “the greatest generation” of our evangelical Calvinist forebears—the world of Carey and his friends—is being displaced by a passion for politics. Oh that God would use this fabulous book to stir afresh in our hearts a zeal to take the gospel to the lost at home and abroad. Highly recommended!

I can hardly write a strong enough endorsement of this book. For generations, the Western evangelical missions movement has been adrift in a sea of sentimentality and pragmatism—and we’ve suffered for it. Now is the time for reform in the mission world. Those who hold fast to the sound doctrine of Scripture and the church’s great creedal and confessional Protestant heritage must once again embrace Christ’s call to sacrificially send and go into all the world, making disciples for his glory—biblically. Authors Jerry Slate Jr., David Vinson, Steve Martin, and John Miller have produced a true magnum opus. Many passages in this volume pricked my conscience and stirred deeper prayer and zeal for the cause of Christ within me. (Perhaps my greatest regret is that I didn’t write it myself!) This important volume is worthy of your attention and the attention of the church for years to come.

With each chapter combining the heart of a pastor, the mind of a theologian, and the vision of a missionary, the contributors to this volume have successfully raised the bar for writing theologically about missions. This book should be a standard resource for any church and mission agency serious about biblical missions and the mission of the church. I am grateful for such a gift to the church.

It has been joked that only a fool would venture to the North Pole wearing anything less than a nuclear submarine. Missionary candidates, Reforming World Missions is your theological submarine for venturing to take the gospel where it has never gone before. Don’t go wearing anything less! This book tips the scales at almost 600 pages and demands serious reading commitment from sending churches and men eager to preach Christ in a foreign land. However, the fruit of that labor will be substantial. First, every reader who absorbs this content will grasp at a basic level all of the foundational theological, biblical and practical components necessary for a successful missions endeavor. Second, working through subjects such as covenant theology, the missionary’s self-watch and the complexities associated with modern missions will deepen one’s sobermindedness and prayerful attitude as they approach this majestic task. Third, reading the brief missionary biographies included in the later chapters will encourage and inspire all those who have a holy jealousy to see Christ glorified among the nations. Finally, if one has already been serving the Lord as a missionary or if one’s church has previously sent men to the mission field, this book provides an opportunity for self-evaluation and the chance to address any areas that might not be as tightly biblical as perhaps they could be. May the Lord bless the efforts and prayers of each author so that the first three petitions of our Lord’s model prayer might be fulfilled in our day.

The Great Commission remains in force for the church today, applying to all true believers—no nation or denomination is exempt! The risen and ascended Christ, who is both the message of the gospel and the motivation for it, empowers His people by His Spirit to proclaim His Word to the ends of the earth. Grounding missiology in the local church, the authors provide a biblically faithful, eminently practical, and refreshingly historical survey of missions in the Reformed tradition. Above all, they ground missions in the being and perfections of God, the purchased and accomplished salvation of Christ for the elect, and the nature of Christ’s bride, the church. While one need not agree with everything in this helpful manual, this multifaceted treatment of Reformed missiology is a clarion call for the church to pursue the Great Commission with zeal until Christ returns.

A quaint but rather convicting movement has emerged in the United Kingdom that focuses Christians on the significance of Easter Day 2033. It makes a claim that that particular date is a very symbolic date as it will be exactly 2000 years to the day since the Son of God was resurrected from the dead. And this group’s application to the church today is this, that we have almost 8 years in which to achieve the goal of reaching every person in the world with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that takes a lot of careful consideration. The actual anniversary itself is ultimately a matter of guesswork, and the originators of this movement are aware of the symbolic nature of the date more than its chronological accuracy. However, in the next five years that double millennium 2000 anniversary of the resurrection of the Son of God will have come and gone. It soon will be more than that period since the Lord Christ stood on this earth. It is estimated that approximately 40% of the world’s people group totaling over 7,400 groups, are unreached with the gospel. They represent over 42% of the world’s population. Billions of people, all of whom are sinners to be judged according to their knowledge and behavior, every single one of whom being considered to have fallen short of their own standards let alone the demands of the Almighty. An awareness of the obligation of every single Christian needs a great awakening. How that has impacted the church at earlier times. The Celtic church was renowned for its evangelism and church planting. William Carey is called the ‘father of modern missions’ and our heroes are the men and women who spent their lives reaching out to the lost. May this beautiful convicting book galvanize many—a new generation of Christians—to say to God, “Here am I, send me!” There is no other way that many more people who have never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ will have done so by Easter Day 2033.

Christians have long recognized their responsibility to bring the gospel to every tribe and tongue in the world. The history of the church is full of accounts of noble believers leaving their homes and traveling to foreign places simply to proclaim the message of Christ's gospel to unbelievers and call them to a commitment to the Lord Jesus. We are thankful for their sacrifice and dedication to the commands of Scripture. In the last few decades, however, a pervasive change has come to the task of gospel missions. Loud advocates for a form of message that does not call for explicit repentance and faith, rejection of false religions, and open allegiance to Jesus Christ have overtaken much missiological writing and practice. Such ideas must be exposed and refuted. I am very thankful for this book. It is a clear exposition of obedience to the methods based in Scripture and traditionally employed by protestants. It reveals the faults of modern approaches and clearly calls for a retrieval of the historic methods found in and defined by holy scripture. May the Lord bless it abundantly so that men, women and children around the world hear the message about the Lord Jesus and gladly bow down before Him.

The book that you have in your hands reads succinctly as a comprehensive manual to the work of missions. I can’t imagine how many missionaries who are already in the field will regret not having had this book in their hands before they were sent out to their fields of labor. If you are one of them, then rejoice in the providence of God that it is never too late with Him and he does his work perfectly in his time. Reading Reforming World Missions presents you with a scenario similar to a farmer with a bountiful harvest of oranges that cannot all be collected in one basket. The treasures in this book truly overflow with wisdom and blessings for a man waiting to go to the mission field or who is already one. For myself, coming from the beautiful continent that pulls many missionaries from all over the world to it–Africa, I have seen a great help in this manual that can solve many frustrations that both local and foreign missionaries share in this part of the globe. Here we have our ‘1689 LCF’ on mission as is summarized from the Holy Book. Missions must be done with biblical guidance, biblical teachings, true theology, and respect to the bride of Christ. This book will guide you to that end. It is a must read for churches thinking of sending out missionaries and equally for a missionary waiting to go out in the field.

A pastor once asked me, “What do you wish every congregation understood about serving as a missionary in a foreign country, language, and culture?” I didn’t know where to start. I now have an answer to that question: Reforming World Missions: Recovering A Biblical and Confessional Missiology. Start here. Here you will find the exposition and application of missiological first principles, biblical and confessional truths, and practices that missionaries and sending and supporting churches need to know, believe, and do to face the serious and difficult challenges of seeking to reach God’s people in a nation, language, and culture not their own. Here, you will also find a thorough description of what preparing, sending, and “holding the ropes” for a missionary entails. Throughout, it demonstrates how doing all of that well is vital for the missionary’s own soul, the souls under his care, and the longevity of the mission. Reaching both the head and the heart, in one volume, these authors have given us a missiology textbook, handbook, and devotional. It is as deep and rich as it is plain and clear. Every missionary and aspiring missionary, every church officer, and anyone interested in the theology and practice of the expansion of Christ’s Church on earth should read this book.

The authors of this volume have bequeathed to local churches a manual for missions that will equip us for the "task unfinished". They present a biblically faithful, confessionally robust and eminently practical book to guide us through what has become a minefield of misinformation, confusion and discouragement for local churches that want to play their part in fulfilling the Great Commission. Moving through the theology, practice and history of missions, they conclude with some remarkably helpful appendices, writing as those who have "practiced what they preach" in their own churches. As well as being comprehensive in scope, there are countless insights that provoke thought, while providing clear direction for action. For example, how "conversion as treason" requires that we preach a culturally confrontational gospel message; how Reformed missionaries are the most "seeker-sensitive" of all church-planters, God himself being the seeker of true worshippers; how it is surely the case that there are more confessionally Reformed Baptist ministers called to labour cross-culturally than are currently in the mission field, and what we ought to do about it! It is my hope and prayer that this book takes its place as the manual for missions that all our churches need.

This present work might seem like just one more book on World Missions that we can add to the enormous pile that has accumulated over many years. What could this book add to such a subject like World Missions that hasn’t already been said? Well, to any potential sceptic that is leaning towards such tempting thoughts let me urge you to pause and consider. The title to this book should be a real clue as to the uniqueness of this work: Reforming World Missions – with the operative word “reforming” grabbing our attention. Yes, World Missions is in desperate need of reforming. But what authors Slate, Martin, Miller, and Vinson have achieved is more than just declaring we have a problem that needs fixing for World Missions. These men have a produced a literary masterpiece of missiology scholarship, pastoral wisdom, faithful scriptural exposition, with biographical missionary sketches from the past to sober, search, challenge, convict, awaken, and edify pastors and churches to return World Missions to God’s Word in its proper context with its proper application reaching its proper goal. I am so grateful for this work! And I am convinced that it will be the gold standard on World Missions for many years to come. May the Triune God bless it for the spread of His fame to the nations at large!

The life that energizes our missionary labor is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and the foundation of our mission is his sovereignty over all things (Matt. 28:18-20). This book, Reforming World Missions, seeks to build our worldwide evangelistic mission directly on the unshakable rock of that sovereignty—both the sovereign authority of Christ's Word and the sovereign power of his saving grace. Its authors write out of a deep commitment to Reformed Baptist doctrine as stated in the 1689 Confession, and those who hold the same confessional stance will rejoice in what they say. However, anyone who loves the sovereign Christ and who shares in his love for lost sinners will find much help in this book, and I commend it to your reading.