A Reformed  Character - Vision for Missions

Daniel Webber  European Missionary Fellowship, Welwyn

 It would be foolish to suggest that the only evangelicals to have shown interest in the work of missions have been those of the Reformed variety. Indeed, to our shame, we have sometimes struggled to match the zeal shown by those whose theological convictions we believe to be less exact than our own. Nevertheless, we too can look back to an age when our heroes blazed a trail of pioneering missionary enthusiasm across a spiritually darkened world. We think of the labours of William Carey, (sometimes referred to as 'the father of modern missions'), and of those who followed in his stead, and we are reminded of what can be accomplished when a theology like ours truly grips both mind and heart.

Nor is it just the missionaries of this tradition that we honour. For every person labouring on the mission field there has always been a host of faithful people who have earnestly supported their 'co-labourers' with their prayers, letters, and financial support. The same convictions that fired a former generation to a life of self-sacrifice on the mission-fields of the world also inspired countless numbers of unsung heroes to do what they could at home to advance the same glorious cause. What were those convictions? They included belief in a sovereign God who had revealed himself as One who is determined to save an immense multitude of unworthy men and women for eternal blessing. They included belief in a Saviour who willingly and sacrificially laid down his life so that those sinners might be brought into the kingdom of his love. They included belief in an omnipotent Holy Spirit who, through the preaching of the gospel by sinners to sinners, would irresistibly gather this elect multitude into God's everlasting kingdom. They included the belief that all those who had been saved by God's grace were under an obligation to do whatever they could to assist in bringing the rest of Christ's scattered flock into his eternal fold.

But thus far we have largely concentrated our attention on the past. This is what they believed. These are the convictions that they held. This is what they did. But what about us? We claim to believe in the same sovereign Lord. We claim to believe in the merits of the same Jesus Christ. We claim to believe in the same omnipotent Spirit. We actually claim to believe in the same things in the same way. We are reformed. But this being the case, why is it that there appears to be so little interest in missionary work among our churches? Why are there so few 'long-term' missionaries emerging from our congregations? Why are there so few prayer meetings for the work of missions among our churches? Why are there so few people praying for the world-wide spread of the gospel in our regular prayer meetings? Why is it that in our era mission agencies seem to find it so difficult to raise and sustain interest in this noble work?

These are not easy questions to answer. Nevertheless, it ought to be possible to identify some of the causes contributing to the current malaise among those who profess to have embraced reformed convictions.

Firstly, it is possible to embrace these convictions in a somewhat arid theoretical manner. One of the strengths of the position we espouse is that it all hangs together in such a wonderfully coherent system of thought. We can find tremendous stimulation in reading, and thinking, and arguing about both its content and fine detail - and, of course, there is nothing wrong in doing so. Problems begin to arise, however, when this is all that we do. The discovery of truth is never meant to be an end in itself. It should lead us to the God of truth. This is what happened to the most worthy of our forefathers. The truth they discovered succeeded in enlarging their hearts both towards God and his creatures. This was not just theoretical with them. In the famous words of Carey, it enabled them to 'expect great things from God and attempt great things for him'.

Secondly, it is possible for us to hold even great truths in a somewhat lop-sided way. By this we mean that it is possible to be so consumed with the doctrine of God's sovereignty that we become incapable of recognising almost anything else. The Bible's teaching on the sovereignty of God was never meant to be an obstacle to evangelistic endeavour; it was meant to be the assurance of its success. Likewise, this same doctrine was not revealed in order to diminish prayerful dependence on God, but to fill the heart with a holy confidence in a God who can do all things. It is widely reported that once, on seeking to gain the support of a group of Calvinistic ministers for missionary activity overseas, a young William Carey was rebuked by an older man with the words: 'Young man, sit down: when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid or mine'. Although some doubt has been expressed about whether these words were actually used, it does not take much in the way of imagination to realise how easily we are capable of slipping into the same semi-fatalistic outlook. The fact is that we shall remain obliged to do all that we can for those living and dying, near and far, until 'the end of the age'. 

Our final observation is that it is possible for those who hold to the reformed faith to be just as dominated by the concerns of the world as anybody else. Surely one of the main reasons for the neglect of missions within our constituency is that we too easily become preoccupied with 'this present evil age'. Of course, this is not always entirely our fault. The pace of modern life, the demands made upon us at work and play, constantly threaten to crowd out every ambition but those which contribute to our own, and society's, temporal well-being. But, if we truly value the welfare of our soul, and the eternal well-being of others, sooner or later we must declare 'Enough!' This world is not all that there is. It is not even the most important world that there is. We are all just passing through here. Therefore, we must make time for the lost. We must make time for prayer. We must be willing to lend our support in every way possible to the advance of the kingdom of God. And we, the reformed, of all people must do so.

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