200 Years of Missions in China

September 5th was the 200th anniversary of Protestant Christian Missions in China. It took almost 7 years for the first convert to be baptized, and the first missionaries could never have dreamed that today the tally of converts would number into the millions. Praise God for how marvelously he has worked to call out a people for His name from among the Chinese!

I encourage you to read this brief article by my pastor John Piper regarding the Chinese church and this wonderful anniversary. He also points out some free video files you can download which will encourage you about how God is moving in the Chinese church today.

~~posted by Bob

Online Missions Networking

Today I want to highlight a great new missions resource tool I’ve found. IAM (International Association for Missions) has recently created an interactive site for members. The site is designed to facilitate online networking and cooperation toward reaching the world for Christ.

The site provides forums, personal websites and a blog. Members can contribute articles and comment on other articles. There are news items and lots of resources, including widgets for websites and blogs.

I haven’t had a chance to check it all out yet, but it looks like a great site for missions. We here at Kingdom Surge will likely join and try to post some of the content we publish here, over there as well. That will help spread the kingdom and serve our goal.

If you have some time, check out IAM’s site, plug in and join the online missions movement. As IAM says, “What we can do individually may be small, but together we can help reach the world.”

~~posted by Bob

Let the Nations Be Glad!

Let the Nations be Glad! is the book which we here at Kingdom Surge believe encompasses a truly Biblical view of missions. John Piper shows how our desire for God to be glorified and treasured is what should fuel all efforts to take the gospel to the lost.

If you have not heard of this book, please consider the following endorsements:

The most important book on missions for this generation. John Piper places missions where it belongs: at the heart of God’s desire to be glorified among the nations. — R. Albert Mohler Jr. (president, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)

If I had to choose only one book on missions, Let the Nations be Glad! would be it. — Duane Litfin (president, Wheaton College)

This book has glorified God and helped to bring missions from the periphery to the center of the worldview of many Christians, and it is faithful to the Scriptures. — Patrick Johnstone (author of Operation World)

An invaluable resource. Missionaries, pastors, teachers, and laypeople with a thirst for God’s passion for himself and the peoples of the world will be challenged and encouraged. I offer it my highest recommendation. — A. Scott Moreau (editor, Evangelical Missions Quarterly)

The best biblical study there is on the nature of missions — Ajith Fernando (national director, Youth for Christ/Sri Lanka)

Densely packed, richly theological, faithfully biblical, thrillingly courageous, impressively thorough—Let the Nations be Glad! is the best book on missions I have ever read. — Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. (First Presbyterian Church, Augusta, GA)

I give the above recommendations to spur you toward getting and reading this book. And I want you to please go read an excellent review of the book just published by Alex Chediak. His review covers the entire book and walks through each part of it. It is an excellent summary which should whet your appetite for more. Oh, and you can read the table of contents and first chapter online for free.

~~posted by Bob

Book Review: Salvation to the Ends of the Earth, by Kostenberger and O’Brien

Synopsis: In light of the overwhelming abundance of materials on the practical aspects and New Testament examples of Christian mission, the relative scarcity of works intending to set forth the foundational principles of mission from the entire gamut of scriptural witness is conspicuous. This self-styled “biblical theology of mission” admirably fulfills a much-needed role in the pursuit of a rigorously biblical and redemptive-historically comprehensive framework for modern mission.

If the history of the world, and special revelation in particular, is indeed the unified account of God’s working out his eternal plan for the accomplishment of the universal mission of his Son, namely, the gathering together of a redeemed people from every nation, who will worship him forever; then an adequate vision of the purpose and significance of Christian mission, which is carried out by authorization of the Son, and in extension of his foundational mission, must begin, not with the great commission, but rather with the beginning account of God’s creation. The recognition of this vital principle is what motivated Andreas J. Kostenberger and Peter T. O’Brien to undertake their weighty endeavor. And the results could scarcely have been attended with greater success.

From the original intent of creation, the significance of Abraham’s call, the purpose of Israel as a nation of priests, the monumental covenant made with David, the grand and sweeping eschatological visions of the writing prophets; to the predominantly Jewish ministry of Christ on earth, his forecast of universal expansion following his death, and the actual outworking of that forecast in Christian history, as his disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit, began to turn the world upside down for the sake of the Name – in short, from beginning to end of divine revelation, a thrilling picture of worldwide, salvific import begins to emerge, with a unity and complexity that is as staggering as it is beautiful. Salvation to the Ends of the Earth traces that gloriously unfolding design with a carefulness and intentionality that it makes it both a substantial contribution to modern scholarship and a rich feast for any believer. The final summary alone, entitled “Some concluding observations and implications” (pp. 262-268), is the best brief synopsis of Christian mission that one is ever likely to encounter, and worth the price of the book.

Kostenberger and O’Brien are up-to-date and thorough in their interactions with related contemporary writings. They are also well enough grounded in the universality and vastness of the theme to avoid mere novelty and speculation in their treatments. Informed throughout by a broad vision of redemptive history, and rigorously subjected to the scruples of a careful exegesis, this biblical theology of mission will undoubtedly prove to be fully adequate for a thorough grounding in the purpose and movement of Christian mission – from creation to new creation.

~~posted by Zioneer

How To Keep Missions Before Your Church

Today, I just want to point us all to a great post on the topic of how to keep missions before your church. Chris Anderson, a pastor, asks that question of his readers. The discussion that follows is well worth your time.

I’m thinking this could generate some discussion here. Any other ideas for how we can promote missions practically on the church level? I know at my church (Pastor John Piper’s church in Minneapolis) which is quite large, the church actually sponsors people to go on short term missions trips each year. We also have a missions pastor.

I’ll quit now, and just ask you to read the discussion over there.

(Fellow Kingdom Surge members, that post provides some fodder for future posts, I would think!)

~~posted by Bob

Book Review: The Art of Manfishing, by Thomas Boston

Thomas Boston, a Scottish Puritan of the eighteenth century, produced at the beginning of his ministry what was to become a classic expression of the Puritan, and indeed the Reformed, attitude towards evangelism. Today we know this passionate and soul-searching meditation as The Art of Manfishing. Anyone who has ever been brought to despair by the lack of success attending his ministry, or the dullness of heart which he often finds seeping into his soul, would find much balm in these weighty words, written by one who truly feels that of which he speaks; and who knows, moreover, where the healing and hope is to be found.

The caricature of Puritanism as a condemnatory and passionless religion of self-satisfied curmudgeons could scarcely be further from the reality, as Boston’s little treatise convincingly demonstrates. Within its pages are to be found deep humility, a passion for souls, and a desperate desire that God be glorified. This is Puritanism at its best; and even at its worst, Puritanism has much to offer the modern church, as she pursues her task of evangelizing the lost. It is primarily in two particulars that we, as modern evangelists, stand to learn from the scripturally-saturated reflections of Thomas Boston.

The first of these is humility. True humility, which ever despairs of oneself and looks to Christ alone for succor, is always in short supply. Thomas Boston habitually and systematically taught himself to remember his own weakness and apply to Jesus for aid. He did not consider his own conversion as certain, unless the Savior should lay hold of him; and so he was ever mindful not to base the likelihood of the conversion of those to whom he preached on their own merits. Precisely in proportion as he despaired of all human effort in evangelism, he leaned upon Christ; which is an attitude as likely to be put to much use as it is unlikely to be found.

The second particular is genuine fervor for lost souls. Rare is the man who can cry out with true and empathetic passion for the lost sheep of his homeland. This the apostle Paul did, as you may remember from Romans 9:1-5. More to the point, this is what Christ did, when he wept for Jerusalem, and was stricken with compassion for the scattered multitudes. If we would follow Christ, we must be affected as he was affected. This eminently Christ-like love is a sovereign gift that serves always as the foundation for a Christ-honoring evangelism. If we would be true “manfishers,” let us cry out to Christ for a measure of this same spirit!

Perhaps this humility and passion, which are so evident in Boston, sprang from his conception of the ministry of evangelism. He saw conversion not as a glib, one-time decision, but an often long and always weighty process of being broken down by the law, so that one might be bound up by the free grace of the Savior. And he saw this process, moreover, as a supernatural affair, impossible to be counterfeited by human measures, and occurring ever as a testimony to God’s surprising power and grace. This may well be why Boston, who loved Jesus much, so desperately desired the conversion of souls. It may be why he was so ardently devoted to pursuing Christ in his evangelistic office. It is certainly why he was so humbly inclined to despair of himself as he looked instead to the one who alone is able, for all his strength both to persevere, and to preserve the gospel free from corrupting influences and motivations. In all of these particulars, we would all do well to drink deeply from the same spring.

~~posted by Zioneer

The Global Prayer Digest: Praying Together for Gospel Advance

I want to introduce you to a helpful little resource for keeping the nations on your mind and in your prayers every day. It is the Global Prayer Digest, available through the U.S. Center for World Mission (www.global-prayer-digest.org). It is a monthly periodical which focuses on a new unreached people group every day of the month. Each day’s entry includes a memorable anecdote or statistic about the people group, a prayer focus and a devotional word. My family has been using this resource for a couple of years now, and find it to be a great way of breaking out of our little spheres of familiarity and being prompted to pray big prayers for things only the Lord of the Harvest can do. In the pages of this digest, you’ll be introduced to people groups you didn’t learn about in your freshman World History class, such as the Buriats of Mongolia, today’s people focus.

The Buriats are a traditionally nomadic subgroup, related to the larger Khalka Mongols, supposed descendants of Ghangis Khan. Economic troubles have forced many to move to the capital city of Mongolia, Ulaan Baatar. They speak an unwritten language and practice Shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism.

Lord, may many Buriat people worship at your feet! Send gospel messengers to live and work among them. Let the transitions they face drive them not deeper into idolatry, but toward the cross! May the few believers among them not rest until the gospel roars like a wildfire throughout this people group, consuming unbelief, fear and hopelessness. You have purchased Buriats from out of the nations… realize your reward!

I encourage you to consider this affordable resource ($12/year) which can be easily incorporated into personal or family devotions, small groups, dinner time prayers or whatever. Let’s not presume that God will accomplish the great ingathering apart from the means of blood-earnest, daily prayer!

~~posted by Ambassador