Midwestern Magazine - Issue 42

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ISSUE 42

ISSUE 42

GREAT COMMISSION PROCLAMATION | CALLING OUT THE CALLED | GETTING STARTED WITH GOSPEL CONVERSATIONS | FUSION INTERVIEW

Residential Education Meets Ministry Experience The Timothy Track: For The Church, With The Church The Timothy Track offers select residential M.Div. students at Midwestern Seminary inthe-field ministry training in a local church context. In addition to their regular studies, students in The Timothy Track spend their first two semesters participating in an internship with one of Midwestern’s partner churches. Plus, along with gaining valuable ministry experience, all Timothy Track students receive a 50% tuition scholarship.

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C O N T EN T S

Midwestern Magazine Issue 42

AT A G L A N C E

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ALUMNI HIGHLIGHT Corey O’Grady

44

IN FOCUS Grace Church

46

STUDENT HIGHLIGHT Samuel Womble

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FACULTY HIGHLIGHT Joe Allen

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AROUND CAMPUS A review of news and events

at Midwestern Seminary

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BOOKS IN BRIEF Recent and upcoming

books published by Midwestern faculty and staff

Jason K. Allen

FROM THE PRESIDENT

4 Great Commission Proclamation

Paul Chitwood

Jason G. Duesing

Andreas J. Köstenberger

ARTICLE

ARTICLE

ARTICLE

8 A Symphonious

12 Calling Out the Called

16 Mission in the New

Approach to the History of Missions

20 A Loving

Touch, A Transformed Heart Christy Allen

26 Getting

Joining the work of International Missions

Started with Gospel Conversations Joe Allen

30 How

Theology Drives Missions Zane Pratt

View past issues of MIDWESTERN MAGAZINE at mbts.edu/magazine.

Testament The Supremacy of Love

36 Can

Anything Good Come From This?

38 FUSION Interview

Sam Bierig & Erik Odegard

Allyson Todd

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FROM THE

President JASONKALLEN.COM

few years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to the Middle East for a brief ministry trip. As a seminary president, I periodically travel overseas to conduct gospel work, support our students, and advance the work of Midwestern Seminary. But this trip was particularly memorable. My wife, Karen, and Dr. Robin Hadaway accompanied me as I went.

We divided our time between Israel and Egypt and enjoyed partnering with several IMB and Midwestern Seminary missionaries on the field. It proved to be an exhilarating, fruitful ministry trip.

However, as is often the case in the days leading up to my departure, I questioned the prudence of going. I had a host other institutional responsibilities and ministry commitments, and the trip could not have come at a worse time. At least it seemed that way on the front end. But as I embarked on the week, I realized the timing of the trip could not have been better.

In fact, the trip reminded me anew of why I surrendered to gospel ministry and why our work at Midwestern Seminary is so urgent. It reminded me that God is doing a global work and to be a faithful Christian is to be a globally-minded one.

Most of all, it reminded me of the urgency of the gospel, the lostness of the nations, and the exclusivity of Jesus Christ.

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! JASONKEITHALLEN

" JASONKALLEN

That is why I am thrilled with this edition of the Midwestern Magazine, titled “So Others May Hear and Live.” In this issue, which is devoted to international missions, you will hear from Midwestern Seminary’s new assistant professor of missions, Joe Allen, the president of the International Mission Board, Paul Chitwood, the vice president for Global Training at the International Mission Board, Zane Pratt, and many more.

My prayer is that this issue will remind you anew, or perhaps show you for the first time, that God is doing amazing things around the world as people from every tongue, tribe, and nation are coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Our call to take the gospel to the nations is great, but we have an even greater promise, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20).

Sincerely,

JASON K. ALLEN, PH.D. President Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Spurgeon College

E D I T O R ’S N O T E ISSUE 42

ADMINISTRATION Jason K. Allen PRESIDENT

Jason G. Duesing PROVOST

In a song of thanksgiving recorded in 1 Chronicles, chapter sixteen, David writes: “Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”

James J. Kragenbring SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADMINISTRATION

Charles W. Smith, Jr. SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS

EDITORIAL Dave Wright VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND BRAND STRATEGY

Ronni Kurtz CHIEF EDITOR

Mike Brooks ASSOCIATE EDITOR

ART Jon Woods Hyacin Debusk LAYOUT & DESIGN

Kaden Classen PHOTOGRAPHER

Christians are a people who are eager to send their own across the globe because God is worth it. His glory is a worthy message for the nations, and we want all the peoples to hear of the marvelous work of his son, Jesus Christ.

The wonderful call of Christian missions is the topic under consideration for this 42nd issue of the Midwestern Magazine. We are thankful for the chorus of writers who have come together to contribute articles all pertaining to the task of Christian missions. We have articles from a number of our own faculty and staff in this issue, including Dr. Jason Allen, Dr. Jason Duesing, Dr. Joe Allen, Christy Allen, Dean Sam Bierig, Eric Odegard, and Allyson Todd. We have included two great contributions from friends outside our institution as well—Dr. Paul Chitwood and Dr. Zane Pratt.

We hope this issue provides a glimpse at what the Lord is doing in the area of missions at Midwestern Seminary, Spurgeon College, and beyond. We pray these articles, highlights, and updates from campus would stir up your own faithfulness to be on mission for the glory of God wherever he has you.

For the glory of God and the good of his people,

© 2021 Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.

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Ronni Kurtz, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Christian Studies Chief Editor, Midwestern Magazine Managing Editor, For The Church Assistant Director, Marketing

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Great Commission Proclamation SIX TIPS FOR PREACHING IN A MISSIONAL CONTEXT

by J A S O N K . A L L E N

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On the ministry trip mentioned in my welcome letter, one of the highlights for me was preaching in the First Baptist Church of Cairo—yes, there is a congregation so named.

Egypt is an ancient civilization with standing ruins dating to thousands of years before Christ. Of course, the land is rich with biblical history, too. Currently, the vast majority of Egyptians (90%) are Muslim. According to the Joshua Project, 3.4 % are evangelical.1 However, there are just under 2,300 people in the Egyptian Baptist Convention, making Baptists a microscopic minority.2 To be candid, preaching to believers in a context like Egypt is a bit intimidating. In many ways, they have paid a greater price for their faith than I have for mine. They know what it means to leave father and brother to follow the Messiah in ways we do not. We American Christians curse the darkness; they live in it.

Yet, as I preached, I felt the pleasure of God and sensed anew the power of the Word, the universality of the Great Commission, and how all believers— regardless of locale—exude a kindred spirit.

1

joshuaproject.net/countries/EG.

2

ebf.org/egypt.

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“The power of the gospel is why you are there and why you preach. Do not travel around the world to preach, only to show up with a self-help sermon.”

Throughout my time in the pulpit, I was mindful of my context and of the unique circumstance in which I ministered.

I worked to honor the Lord by being mindful of these six tips: M I DW E S T E R N M A G A Z I N E

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1. Preach the Word.

The Word is powerful to transform lives, regardless of one’s cultural or ethnic affiliation. Is this not the story of Acts and the broader story of church history? The Word supplies the power, not our eloquence, force of personality, or personal connection.

If you get nothing else right, get this right—preach the Word.

2. Familiarize yourself with your audience.

This is important in any preaching context but especially overseas.

Are you preaching to believers? Are they facing persecution, scarcity of resources, or some other hardship?

Are they unbelievers? To what religious system are they most likely adherents? It is impossible

to hit your target if you do not know where it is or who they are.

Much of this fact-finding can be accomplished by searching the internet or by simply speaking ahead of time to someone familiar with the context of the location where you will be preaching.

3. Focus on the gospel.

The power of the gospel is why you are there and why you preach.

Do not travel around the world to preach, only to show up with a self-help sermon. The gospel is the message every person needs to hear; it is the message every faithful minister is to preach. Remind the believers of all they have gained through Christ. Lift high the Son of God to unbelieving audiences.

4. Keep it simple.

Preaching overseas involves multiple vulnerabilities or opportunities for error. Speaking through a translator presents its own challenges, and then through the translator to the gathered crowd even more. Western quips, cumbersome words, angular concepts, and American slang can all trip up the translator. Even if he can follow you, those listening to him—who are likely less educated than he—probably cannot. Do not gunk up the message with complexities. Keep it simple, direct, and punchy.

5. Remember the universality of biblical truth.

Preaching overseas reminds you of the limits of illustrations, cultural referents, and anodyne preacher stories. That is

all fine anyway because that is not why you are there. The great, grand truths of Scripture are also the great, grand needs and longings of the human heart. Sin, repentance, forgiveness, atonement, eternal judgment, the Lordship of Christ, and other grand truths are the mountain peaks of Scripture. Make sure they flavor your sermon.

6. Be mindful of cultural norms.

Is there a particular Bible translation they use? Are there cultural dress expectations? Is the congregation inclined or disinclined to receive an American? Asking your host a few questions beforehand is well worth your while. It may well save you some embarrassment and, more importantly, position your sermon to be better received.

In Conclusion In the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, preaching is “the highest, most glorious call one can ever know.”

I resonate even more with LloydJones’ assessment when I preach in an overseas context. As I do, I feel the majesty of the gospel and the weight of the Great Commission. All of this is too important to flub the sermon.

Too much is at stake. That is why we should strive to preach our best sermons in overseas contexts. I trust these six tips will further that end.

DR. JASON K. ALLEN | President of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Spurgeon College

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A Symphonious

Approach to the History of Missions

by J A S O N G . D U E S I N G

W HO ’S O N F I RST?

When historians classify historical figures in terms of who was first to do something, even when the figures did not think of themselves by such classifications, sometimes the historical accounts can read like the famous Abbott and Costello skit, “Who’s on First?” This is very much the case with the ongoing conversation surrounding who was the first modern missionary or who should be termed the “Father of Modern Missions.”

Sometimes, these conversations sound, to me, like this:

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Who was on the mission field first?

That’s what I am asking: who?

Exactly.

Exactly what?

What’s on second?

I thought Judson was second.

No, what’s on second. I don’t know is on third.

Who’s on first?

Exactly.

Who is on first, Liele or Carey?

Who’s on first. I don’t know Liele or Carey.

So you don’t know Liele, Carey, or who’s on third?

Who’s on first!

Ah! Yet, what is taking place in this confused conversation about missions and history is important for it reveals that the entire story has not been told of who all helped propel Protestants to contribute to the growing task of global evangelism in the late 18th century. “Who’s first?” and “Why does it matter?”, are great questions to ask when assessing the history of missions, but I think

we need further conversation about how we answer those questions.

T HE MO DERN MIS S IO NS MO VEMENT

Taking a shortcut to the end, I answer the “Who’s first?” question this way: George Liele (c. 1750-1820) was the first modern missionary, and it is right to consider William Carey (1761-1834) the father of modern missions, and Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) as the pioneer American missionary. However, to answer why it matters, I prefer to say more than just “Who’s on First.” Yes, who did what on which day is vital for understanding the historical task, but George Liele’s contribution is far greater than just that he was first, and I am afraid in historians’ helpful efforts to reclaim him, we’ve also limited him. And then there is the matter of how he, Carey, or, later, Judson considered themselves. What would they make of all these titles?

From 1937 to 1945, church historian Kenneth Scott Latourette published his seven volume, A History of the Expansion of Christianity. What is remarkable about this massive undertaking is that three of the volumes are dedicated just to the 1800s. Following Latourette’s emphasis and organization, Ralph Winter classified the history of Christian missions into epochs, the last of which covering 1800-2000, he titled “Modern Missions.”

To help think about this further, I have found it helpful to review a brief background of the history of the beginnings of the modern missions movement in order to, then, suggest a new methodology for us to consider.

What then is pre-modern missions, or, what happened to missions after the Reformation?

Following the Reformation, Protestants were slow to assemble any kind of organized missionary approach that would rival the Roman Catholic orders. To be sure, the Reformers themselves, did engage in some global evangelism, but the movement could not yet sustain the transportation of churches or missionaries. In the seventeenth century, the German Pietist movement influenced Dutch Protestantism and shaped those sent as chaplains throughout their trading colonies. By

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the early eighteenth century, the Pietists shaped Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf who gave refuge to persecuted Moravian Christians. This colony would awaken to the missionary task taking the gospel to the West Indies, Greenland, the Americas, South Africa, Egypt, and Tibet.

The Moravian effort coincided with the Great Awakening in England and America through John Wesley, who had some connection to the Pietists. In New England among the Puritans, there had been some cross-cultural work done among Native Americans by John Eliot and David Brainerd. Both the accounts of this expansion of the gospel as well as further development of the need for participation in global evangelism were fueled by the writing and ministry of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and the Awakening. As Protestants entered the nineteenth century, they organized their efforts in several mission societies and agencies to enable their churches to fund and send their missionaries. Thus, as George Liele and William Carey were taking the gospel to other cultures in their respective parts of the world, they were doing so on the eve of what we know now as the modern missions movement.

The term “Father of Modern Missions” originated following William Carey’s death in an admiring biography by George Smith, The Life of William Carey (1885). Yet, had Carey been alive, he likely would have discouraged this assessment. When writing his Enquiry manifesto in 1792, he chronicled the spread of the gospel from the Apostle

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Paul to the Reformation. He then depicted the modern era by recognizing the work among Native Americans by Eliot, Brainerd, and Carey’s contemporaries, Mr. Kirkland and Mr. Sergeant. Carey included mention of mission work of the Dutch, and then lauded the work of the Moravian Brethren. Carey, it appears, knew he was taking up a baton of a movement already underway even as he organized and led a movement that would multiply itself and outlive him.

Yet, this is not to say that no one was aware of Liele’s contribution as the first Baptist missionary to cross-cultures with the gospel in Jamaica nine years prior to Carey. Many in England were aware due to the publication of Liele’s letters in John Rippon’s The Baptist Annual Register. While there is no evidence that Carey read The Register, there is a high likelihood that he did because of the notices about his own works that appeared at the same time. For The Register chronicled the first notice of the publication of Carey’s Enquiry in 1792, a notice concerning Carey’s ordination, and the minutes of the Northamptonshire Association that documented the formation of what would become the Baptist Mission Society. These reports are interspersed in and around the ongoing correspondence of George Liele to John Rippon, local pastor and editor.

Adoniram Judson, then, serves as the pioneer American Baptist missionary given his role in helping to organize the Baptist Foreign Mission Board following his departure for Burma in 1812. However, sorting out the chronology, while

helpful, limits a full appreciation for the full contribution to modern missions of Liele, Carey, and Judson. A symphonious approach is needed.

A S Y MP H O N IOU S A P P ROA CH Among Baptist historians, there has been an ongoing methodological discussion about how one is to best interpret the Baptist tradition. Some have argued for a single source or “monogenesis” of great authority that anchors the Baptist tradition, which I argue in Baptists and the Christian Tradition, is largely an unhelpful contribution, especially as it finds expression in ultra-successionist forms. Most have, instead, acknowledged that there is a multi-source or “polygenesis” influence that comprises the Baptist tradition.

Baptists are a product of the Reformation, yes, but their organization formation comes in England later, for example.

In addition, another historian, William Brackney, has argued that a better way is to think of the various epochs of the Baptist movement is a genetic approach that sees continuity across streams of Baptist thought. This idea of searching for shared DNA, if you will, has merit, but I am afraid it sometimes loses theological precision.

What does this have to do with an assessment of the beginnings of the modern missions movement? Instead of monogenesis, polygenesis, or a genetic approach, I present what I call a symphonious approach for assessing the modern missions movement. This era in history is, after all, a movement, and much like the musical use of that term, we see more similar themes: there are many diverse and complementary components that make up a symphony. For the symphony to achieve its desired sound, all must play their part. Symphonies usually are comprised of four movements that each tell part of the story at different speeds and intensity.

For example, when considering the Protestant Reformation, historians and theologians do not speak often in terms of who was the first Reformer or who is the Father of the Reformation. Rather, those events and people in church history comprised a symphonic movement. Like its musical counterpart, it had a prelude in Wyclif and Hus, struck its opening notes with Luther, and saw its development and full deployment in Zwingli, Calvin, and Cranmer. Complementing these major sections were a host of other Reformers, social and cultural events, and advancements in technology and translation, that, in their contexts and specific convictions, added to the color and depth of the symphony

that was the Reformation.

Likewise, I argue, it is with the modern missions movement. The Reformers themselves played some parts of the initial piece, but the Moravians and others open the overture in its beginning. George Liele, then, represents the first section with a unique and influential contribution that many have overlooked, yet he mobilized and impacted many. Carey, shaped by all who went before gives a full, well-organized presentation, the DNA of such serves a refrain for later movements that include Americans Adoniram and Ann Judson and many other missions societies, organizations, and work.

Thus, as far as titles and assessing the right chronology of the movement, I am arguing that it is more helpful to think of the modern missions movement like other movements in church history and to minimize the emphasis on titles in favor of assessing all the component parts and their unique contributions that serve to make up the movement as a whole. When historians and theologians analyze the modern missions movement in the ways they quantify other movements in the history of Christianity, seeing these leaders and each playing unique parts in one grand symphony appears to allow their voices and legacies to have appropriate appreciation and ongoing influence.

To put it another way, a symphonious approach to assessing the missions movement allows current researchers to see the full value and beauty of what the movement’s leaders were able to do in their lifetimes, not to mention all the supporting figures and trends that helped to strengthen the movement that have yet to be studied and shared.

That said, I realize many historians might respond to my clarifications and say, “Enough already, I don’t care who is on first or how is the best way to put it all together, just as long as the missions movement and its overlooked figures are studied and shared.” I would agree with that bottom-line sentiment, but then, also would point out that, “I don’t care”—well, he is the shortstop.

JASON G. DUESING | Academic Provost and Professor of Historical Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

*This article is adapted from Jason G. Duesing’s chapter in the new book, Make Disciples of All Nations: A History of Southern Baptist International Missions (Kregel Academic, 2021).

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Calling Out the Called: Joining the Work of International Missions

by P A U L C H I T W O O D

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13-year-old daughter and I took an adventure last summer. We canoed for seven days in the Boundary Waters, a wilderness area of over 1 million acres that extends for 150 miles along the border between the United States and Canada. The area is protected and only open for hiking, paddling, and tent camping; no boat motors or vehicles are allowed. You can go for days without seeing another human being.

It was my daughter’s first trip that deep in the wilderness, and it was fascinating to watch her. She’s a typical teenager, connected to her phone and her friends. With no cell service or friends—dads do not qualify as friends—I could tell she was getting a little bored around camp by the second day.

Everything changed when she found a box of 500 matchsticks in one of our gear bags. For the next five days, nothing in camp was safe. When she wasn’t burning something, she was content to simply sit and strike matches against the side of the box, one after another, watching them spark into a flame and burn themselves out, 500 hundred times.

You have probably done it. You strike a match, see the spark explode into flame, feel the heat, and watch it burn. It really is fascinating. What begins as a spark can light a stove and produce a hot meal, light a campfire to keep you warm, light a fuse, or, as my wife reminded me when I told her about our daughter and the 500 matches, burn down a house.

All of this is in the power of one spark.

A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS For those of us who know Christ, thinking about the vast lostness around the world is astounding. When

I was in the wilderness with my daughter, we were completely alone. Yet, I knew all along that, indeed, I was in the presence of the Creator of that wilderness.

I have faith in His provision and trust in him for my eternal outcome, should anything ever go awry on an adventurous expedition.

Yet, those who are lost do not have such faith or trust in the One True God. The physical loneliness of the wilderness exemplifies what they must feel each day as they try to navigate this world without hope. Today, 155,473 people will die lost among the nations—precious souls who have given no indication that they have believed the gospel and trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Many simply have never heard the gospel—the good news of salvation in Jesus—spoken in their heart language in a way they can understand it.

While we may think of unreached people hidden in remote areas, much like where we were camping, the reality is that lostness is all around us. In London, where 300 different languages are spoken, it is estimated that 97% of individuals in their twenties are not believers and have never even met a follower of Jesus. Unreached people live in global cities as well as in the hardest-to-reach corners of the world.

Southern Baptists love the lost among the nations, and we want them to hear the gospel and be saved.

Each Southern Baptist who answers God’s call to take the gospel to the lost is like the spark of a match in a dark wilderness, a bearer of hope in a spiritual wilderness, a light in the darkness.

And, we have every reason to praise God: his Spirit is moving in unprecedented ways around the world!

The number of people groups not yet engaged with the gospel continues to decline. Nations that have benefited from Southern Baptists’ mission efforts have been reached with the gospel, and many are now

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sending out their own international missionaries. Even under the rule of governments absolutely hostile to Christianity, churches are multiplying by the thousands.

THE BIG DIFFERENCE The International Mission Board exists to fulfill the Revelation 7:9 vision that every nation, every tribe, every people, and every language will worship before the throne of God. But it is not our vision; this is the vision the Lord has given for his Church. This vision is what drives the ministry and mission of the Church to this very day. It will continue to drive the ministry and mission of the Church until the Lord Jesus comes to claim His Church. The vision is why, at the IMB, more than 91% of IMB missionary teams were actively involved in engaging unreached people groups in 2020.

The vision is what we must look toward, what we give our lives to, and—if called upon—it is what we must give our lives for.

When we look closer at Revelation 7:9, we see that the multitude worshipping God will not be comprised of a crowd from some nations, many tribes, most peoples, and several languages. Rather, God promises in his Word that the multitude worshipping him will include representatives from every nation, all tribes, all peoples, and all languages.

That is a big difference, and that is where you and I come in.

For you see, the great, innumerable multitude could already be comprised of representatives from some nations, many tribes, most peoples, and several languages. If that is the vision, we can all stay home and wait for heaven. But the Lord’s vision is all-inclusive, comprised of people of every nation—all tribes, all peoples, and all languages.

His vision—the vision of heaven where all tears have been wiped away and there is no more death or sorrow or pain—is one where the Father is praised in every language he has placed on the tongues of men, and his beloved Son is worshipped by those who owe him everything. Praise the Lord we will be there in heaven, alongside those who, in far reaches of the world, have heard his Good News.

But not everyone has heard—yet.

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How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? How are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rm 10:14-15)

FEED THE FLAME Imagine if my daughter had lit one match, and then used that match to light up the entire box at once. The power of that one match would have been exponentially greater in the darkness of the wilderness. That is how we, as Southern Baptists, approach our Great Commission task. We are committed to a collaborative approach to missions which pools our resources for greater impact in the Kingdom.

For such a collective effort to be successful, many must work together as one. We—all believers—must commit to seeing the stark statistics of lostness decline. More missionaries must be sent to the edges of lostness so that more people can hear the Good News. More people must be challenged to answer God’s call for them to go. More generous gifts must be given to support those who are going. Undergirding it all, more believers must commit to lay a foundation of faithful, fervent prayer for the nations, and for those who go.

We all have a part of the mission. You can be a light in the darkness.

The omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent God of the universe, who is merciful, loving, and kind, is deserving of praise in every language he has placed on the tongues of men and women. He is worthy to be worshipped by all peoples, tribes, and nations.

Are you willing to ask the Lord how he might use your life in fulfilling the Revelation 7:9 vision? You and I know that the vision will be fulfilled; the great privilege we have is to be part of it.

PAUL CHITWOOD | President of the International Mission Board

For more information on how you can partner with the INTERNATIONAL MISSION BOARD, visit www.imb.org

“Imagine if my daughter had lit one match, and then used that match to light up the entire box at once. The power of that one match would have been exponentially greater in the darkness of the wilderness.”

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MISSION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT: THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE

by A N D R E A S J . K Ö S T E N B E R G E R

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hat is mission? People may talk about their “mission in life.” Or, someone may go on an important mission, whether a diplomat to rescue a hostage, an astronaut to travel to outer space, or an evangelist to preach the gospel to an unreached people group. Mission involves a sense of purpose and often danger as well.

As a norm, people are sent on a mission by someone else, though, at times, they go on their own initiative. “Mission” is not a word used in the Bible, but the concept of mission is doubtless present. Most importantly, we learn about God’s mission, the missio Dei. This mission is perhaps best articulated in John’s well-known declaration, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16, ESV). Here, we see several truths about God’s mission.

THE MISSIO DEI

First, the missio Dei is grounded in God’s love. In his first letter, John affirms that God is love in his very essence and being (1 Jn 4:8). So, even though the fallen world and sinful humanity are unlikely objects of his love, God sets his love on unbelieving, rebellious, obstreperous sinners because it is in his very essence to love even those who are unworthy of his love and not loveable or attractive in and of themselves.

Second, God’s love prompted him to action. In fact, it led him to exceedingly sacrificial action: He freely gave his only Son! I have two sons, but if I were called upon to give up either one of them, it would surely break my heart. In Old Testament times, Abraham was called to give up Isaac, his “only son,” though God spared him at the last minute and provided a substitute offering (Gn. 22:1–14; cf. Heb. 11:17–19). By giving

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his only Son, God gave the most precious thing he had.

Third, God’s redemptive rescue mission through his Son was successful and effective. At the cross, Jesus cried out, Tetelestai! “It is finished!” (Jn 19:30). By giving his life as a sinless substitute—as an expression of God’s perfect love for sinful, rebellious, and morally dark humanity—Jesus completed his saving mission. This mission was dangerous and costly, but ultimately rewarding and exceedingly God-glorifying.

THE MISSION OF LOVE

For those of us who have believed in God’s Son, our life is in him. As John elaborates in his first letter, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 Jn 4:9). If we place our trust in the Son, we live through him!

However, we can take no credit for entering into this new life: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (v. 10).

Before we could love God, he first had to love us. But then, John takes things a decisive step further: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (v. 11). He finishes his thought by adding, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” (v. 12; cf. Jn 1:18).

Here, then, is John’s big thought: By loving one another, we can make the invisible God visible to those around us! No one has ever seen God, but people can see him by our love!

You’ve heard it said, “Love God, love others.” But I say to you, in John’s words, “We love because he first

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loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). As Jesus told his followers, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). And now that Jesus has given his very life for us out of love for the world, he gives all his followers a “new commandment”— “that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (Jn 13:34).

THE MARK OF A DISCIPLE

In fact, love for others, especially other believers, is the mark of the true disciple of Christ: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35).

In his work Mark of the Christian, the great apologist Francis Schaeffer affirmed, “All men bear the image of God. They have value, not because they are redeemed, but because they are God’s creation in God’s image” (p.

184). He added, “Modern man, who has rejected this, has no clue as to who he is, and because of this he can find no real value for himself or for other men. Hence, he downgrades the value of other men and produces the horrible thing we face today—a sick culture in which men treat men as inhuman, as machines. As Christians, however, we know the value of men.” He continues, “All men are our neighbors…because they are made in the image of God. Therefore, they are to be loved even at great cost.”

Conversely, however, Schaeffer warns, if believers don’t love one another and all people made in the image of God, then the world will likely conclude that God did not send his Son. The “final apologetic,” therefore, calls for us to live in such a way that we proclaim the gospel by our love and by taking loving action toward a world that is

languishing in spiritual and moral darkness apart from Christ. Schaeffer’s conclusion is worth quoting in full: What then shall we conclude but that as the Samaritan loved the wounded man, we as Christians are called upon to love all men as neighbors, loving them as ourselves.

Second, that we are to love all true Christian brothers in a way that the world may observe. This means showing love to our brothers in the midst of our differences—great or small—loving our brothers when it costs us something, loving them even under times of tremendous emotional tension, loving them in a way the world can see. In short, we are to practice and exhibit the holiness of God and the love of God, for without this we grieve the Holy Spirit (p. 204).

In our own context, we will do well to listen to Schaeffer’s timeless words which, in turn, echo those of the Lord Jesus Christ himself: “Love—and the unity it attests to—is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father.”

Rather than wearing spiritual masks, let us therefore exhibit the marks of the true Christian—none of which is greater than Christlike, redeeming, and forbearing love.

ANDREAS J. KÖSTENBERGER Research Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology and Director of the Center for Biblical Studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

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A Loving Touch, A Transformed Heart

by C H R I S T Y A L L E N

ne of the questions that caused the most fear as I moved overseas was, “Will I ever be able to connect with women at a heart level?” After I arrived in South Asia, language was the most basic barrier, but the differences in worldview generated a whole host of communication challenges.

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With all my heart, I wanted to communicate the beauty of Christ, but I felt inadequate for such a big task. So, I cried out to the Lord for wisdom, love, and creativity in order to first understand my audience and then to share the gospel with them in a way that would lead to genuine, spiritual transformation. From the time they are born, many South Asian women receive the message—in both verbal and non-verbal ways—that they are not valuable, that they are a burden and unwanted. Parents often prefer boys to girls, in part, because girls represent a financial burden and a costly dowry. As a result, family members frequently treat girls as inferior, speak to them harshly, and physically and mentally abuse them.

How do you help women understand that they are valuable when they have grown up hearing the contrary?

How do you communicate the gospel message in a way that will make it through all the layers of lies and pain to the deepest places of women’s hearts and affect real change? How do you help them not only understand God’s truth and love, but feel it?

PHYSICAL TOUCH HOLDS A SPECIAL POWER. COVID has reminded us that you can’t digitize a hug. A Zoom meeting doesn’t have the same impact as being face-to-face with a person. Although technology has helped us stay connected with people during a global pandemic, it simply does not replace the vital need for human interaction and healthy touch.

Not long ago, I heard a preacher say, “You have a body, but you are a soul.” That’s a clever turn of phrase, but wrong. God made us spiritual and physical beings, both material and immaterial; the two are intimately interconnected. Intangible beliefs manifest themselves physically (Ps 32:3-4), and experiences in the body profoundly shape a person’s spiritual outlook (2 Sam 13:10-14,19-20). One way to impact a person spiritually, for good or for harm, is by physical means. Therefore, we dare not underestimate the power of physical touch.

Jesus was very intentional about touching people.

Often, he would make physical contact with the people

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he healed (Mark 6:5; Luke 4:40). When Jesus made contact with people considered impure, he bucked the prevailing idea that the unclean would defile the clean through physical contact. The purity of Jesus was so potent that he cleansed those he touched (Matt 8:2-3; Mark 9:25-27).

During his ministry, Jesus used restorative touch to minister deeply to people’s souls (Matt 17:1-8). He touched those who were sinners, outcasts, unloved, broken, hurting, and sick (Matt 9:28-30, 20:30-34; Mark 7:33-35, 8:22-25; Luke 22:47-53; John 9:1-7). He touched women and children (Matt 8:14-15, 9:23-25; Mark 10:16; Luke 13:10-17). His touch removed shame, conferred dignity, and underscored forgiveness (Mark 5:25-29). Jesus used touch to help people feel the truth he was communicating.

HUGS CAN HEAL. For years, I hypothesized that South Asian women were starved for positive human touch. My observations led me to believe that most women had only negative experiences with touch. I wanted to change that. I clipped a newspaper article that documented 88% of women in Bangladesh have suffered physical or sexual abuse—and that only counted the women willing to report. One of the most disturbing aspects of South Asian society is that it categorizes some people as untouchable.

In this context, the only touch most women receive causes pain or shame. In their experience, touch takes something from them. Sanctified Christian touch stands in stark contrast.

Godly touch is safe and selfless. It intends to give rather than take. It gives unconditional love, value, and comfort.

It is transformative and healing. That is why, as part of my discipleship trainings, I intentionally hugged each lady who came. At the first meeting, it was awkward. My hugs seemed so foreign. The women would squirm, sometimes stiffen, but by the second meeting, they were eager for a hug. By our third time together, the women stood in line waiting for their hug.

I thought I might pop because the women squeezed me so hard. When I hugged them, some would smile, some would weep. I taught my leadership team a groundbreaking strategy; I called it the “ministry of hugs.”

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One of my dear South Asian national partners told me the story of a touch that changed her life. Before she was a Christian, she had lived a devout Muslim lifestyle.

When her abusive husband threatened to kill her and their three children, she fled for her life. A Christian friend invited her to church. She was skeptical, but went out of desperation. When she first stepped into the doors of the church, the pastor’s wife approached her and gave her a hug. She said she had never experienced anything like it in her life. She was so impacted by that hug that it compelled her to return to church the next week in hopes of getting another one. Again, the pastor’s wife greeted her with a hug. The love she experienced in that church eventually led to her conversion, and the conversion of her husband, too.

By God’s grace, I have seen transformation happen in the lives of many women, and healthy touch played a role. I found out that one group of ladies I discipled was so impacted by my ministry of hugs that they started a time of hugging one another during their house church meetings. This gave me insight into why the Apostles encouraged believers to greet one another with a “holy kiss” (Rm 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Thess 5:26; 1 Pet 5:14). They wanted to promote a culture of healthy physical connection among believers in the early church. The holy kiss expressed love in a tangible way that brought life to the believers.

Greetings may take different forms in each culture, but regardless of where we are from, we are made for physical connection.

TOUCHING THE FEET CAN TOUCH THE HEART. One form of touch that is especially powerful in South Asia is touching someone’s feet. In South Asia, it is the highest form of honor to touch someone’s feet. It’s also the highest form of dishonor to raise your foot or shoe at someone. In 2008, an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at President George W. Bush. While Americans scratched their heads in puzzlement, almost everyone in the “10-40 Window” understood the gesture as an intentionally degrading insult. In South Asian culture, only a person of lower social status touches the feet

“Because washing someone’s feet is the highest form of honor in this culture, the foot washing ceremony breaks through their defenses and helps them accept an expression of God’s love. Many women struggle to feel worth, but in this sacred act, they experience love and honor.” of someone higher. A teacher would never touch a student’s feet. When grandchildren go to visit their grandparents, the first thing they will do is touch— and sometimes kiss— their grandmother or grandfather’s feet. The act shows great honor. I would witness this interaction take place regularly at the airport when families would reunite. In other cases, if someone has deeply offended another, the offender might touch the other’s feet to show contrition and seek forgiveness.

The gesture can also express deep gratitude. At the end of our women’s discipleship trainings, we held a special foot-washing ceremony. The leaders got down on their hands and knees and washed each woman’s feet. Immediately, the women were pierced to the heart.

Many of them started sobbing. Throughout the training, we told the women that they are valuable, but this ceremony enables them to feel it.

As we washed the women’s feet, they often scrunched their toes and said, “Please don’t touch my feet. We are not the same. I am beneath you. Let me wash your feet.”

It’s difficult for them to accept a foot-washing from their teachers. I hugged them as they wept. I prayed for them.

I told them, “We are all equal before God. You are not insignificant. You are a daughter of the King. God loves

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you and I do, too. You can go and do this for others.” We also told them that their feet are beautiful because they have been commissioned to share the good news (Rm 10:15).

Because washing someone’s feet is the highest form of honor in this culture, the foot-washing ceremony breaks through their defenses and helps them accept an expression of God’s love. Many women struggle to feel worth, but in this sacred act, they experience love and honor.

GOD CAN USE OTHER CULTURES TO OPEN OUR EYES TO TRUTHS IN THE BIBLE. Whenever I read the account of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet before going overseas, I always focused on Christ’s humility. I had missed the full significance of this story, because I had not considered the disciples point of view. In the West, we have a cultural barrier to understanding the magnitude of this story because we don’t place much significance on feet. I learned that, compared with individualistic, technological American culture, communal, agrarian South Asian culture shares much more in common with the culture of the New Testament. Living in South Asia helped me realized how deeply Jesus’ act of foot-washing must have impacted his disciples. The disciples were no doubt astounded. When Jesus knelt down and washed their feet, they experienced what Jesus had been telling them—that they were beloved, clean, and honored in God’s eyes. We read that Peter struggled to comprehend and accept the role reversal when Jesus girded himself with a towel and washed his

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“Living in South Asia helped me realized how deeply In the act of washing his disciple’s feet, Jesus’ Jesus’ act of foottouch communicated powerful truth. Jesus voluntarily lowered himself, taking the form washing must of a servant. In doing so, he elevated his have impacted disciples and empowered them to humble themselves, so that they could lift others up his disciples. The to experience God’s love and honor. We have disciples were no the privilege of doing the same. doubt astounded.

MOVE FROM TRANSFERRING When Jesus knelt DATA TO TRANSFORMING LIVES. down and washed their feet, they As Christian teachers, entrusted with God’s eternal truth, we are eager for people to learn experienced what everything quickly and efficiently. Sometimes Jesus had been we wish we could transfer knowledge with a Matrix-style data download, but telling them—that teaching styles that rely on “information they were beloved, dumps” rarely succeed in changing lives.

Radical transformation involves more than clean, and honored understanding at a theoretical or intellectual in God’s eyes.” level. Radical transformation involves feet (Jn 13:1–17). This touch of grace left such a profound mark on their lives that a few decades later, John recorded it in his Gospel.

connecting with the truth at a heart level. As Christian educators, we must strive to create experiences where people engage with truth mentally, emotionally, and practically. We shouldn’t merely tell them truth; we should also try to help them feel it.

The Word of God brings transformation, and we are right to emphasize that the gospel is the power of God (Rm 1:16). But the Word became flesh. In the great act of kenosis, the eternal Word of God took on flesh and dwelt among us (Jn 1:14; Phil 2:6–11). Now we have the privilege of proclaiming the Word and manifesting the truth of the gospel in tangible ways. The Apostle John opened his first epistle by saying, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” (1 Jn 1:1)

The message of the gospel doesn’t change, but we can work to be intentional and creative about reinforcing the gospel message in contextually appropriate ways. In whatever culture you find yourself, seek for ways to help people feel spiritual truths, not just understand them. Remember: a loving touch can transform the heart.

CHRISTY ALLEN | Former missionary with the International Mission Board in South Asia for 14 years.

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Getting Started with Gospel Conversations

by J O E A L L E N I I I

Y

ou want to engage your family, friends, and neighbors in gospel conversations, but you don’t know what to say or you feel awkward moving the conversation toward spiritual matters. Let me share two of my favorite questions that effortlessly lead any conversation toward the gospel. Don’t think of these questions as silver bullets; rather, they are tools for your toolbelt.

The second barrier is feeling weird, awkward, or uncomfortable. The world, the flesh, and the devil want to discourage you from speaking up by making you believe you will be a pariah. The great thing about these questions is that they are natural, casual, and disarming.

You can ask them in all kinds of settings with people from all kinds of backgrounds. They are not offensive or jarring. In fact, most people are happy that you have taken an interest in them.

Before revealing the questions, let me explain why I love them. I love these questions because they remove two of the most common barriers to starting gospel conversations.

THE FIRST QUESTION IS: “Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?” Along the same lines, you can ask, “Do you have any spiritual beliefs?”

The first barrier is not knowing how to start. Many people appreciate learning these simple questions because they spell out what to say without being impersonal or mechanical. There is nothing wrong with having a stock question in your pocket that you can pull out any time you need it. Learning a stock question allows you to focus on the other person without worrying about what you will say right off the bat.

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Asking about a person’s spirituality moves the conversation a little beyond, “How’s the weather?” but it does not go so deep so fast that people put their guards up. In fact, most people are starved for meaningful conversation and they like talking about themselves.

This is a “softball” question that gets them talking. Their answers provide a lot of insight into their beliefs and worldview. This insight comes in handy when tailoring your gospel conversation to them. Most people consider themselves spiritual in some sense, but even if they don’t have any spiritual beliefs, they will not mind the

question. Regardless of what answer they give, you can probably find a tangent that connects to the gospel.

THE SECOND QUESTION IS: “What do you think is the biggest problem in the world?”

Nearly everyone knows there is something wrong with the world. Even those few outliers who believe suffering is an illusion will complain about something sooner or later. Clearly the world is not the way it should be, so your conversation partner will have some opinion about the worst problem we face. Unlike the first question, this one is not an obvious turn toward spiritual things—but that is part of its beauty. You get a chance to learn a lot about the person’s values and priorities, which will help you craft a gospel message just for them.

I have asked this question all over the world, and the different responses always fascinate me. Some people say terrorism, others say corruption, and others say the economy. I have heard people say over-population, pollution, and climate change. You can agree that almost anything a person says is at least slightly problematic, so you do not have to directly contradict them. Sometimes, I will press them to see if they really believe they have

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“One of the first jobs of evangelism is to help people confront the horror of their own sinful hearts.” identified the biggest problem in the world. I try to get them to dig a little more. More often, I say something like, “Yes, I can see why you would say that is a big problem, but I do not think that is the biggest problem we face. Those problems are external, but our biggest problem is internal.

Most problems are the fruit, but the root is sin that separates us from God.” I heard a story—possibly fictitious—about a London newspaper that asked its readers, “What is the biggest problem in the world?” Supposedly, G. K. Chesterton replied simply, “I am.” Apocryphal or not, this story captures the essence of what we want our audience to realize: each person’s biggest problem is sin.

Most people tend to shield their eyes from their own faults, blame others, make excuses, and externalize sin. Asking “What is the biggest problem in the world?” gives you an opportunity to discuss the seriousness of sin, the holiness of God, and the impending wrath of God against sin.

Russian novelist and philosopher, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, wrote, “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”

One of the first jobs of evangelism is to help people confront the horror of their own sinful hearts. Helping

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individuals face the sinfulness of their hearts and their powerlessness to change it, we position them to appreciate the grandeur of the gospel. Each person has rebelled against God, disrespected his honor, and offended his holiness. Each person needs the salvation Jesus alone provides. Only Jesus fully obeyed the law of God, honored his heavenly Father, and lived in submission to the Holy Spirit. Jesus alone was qualified to represent humanity before God, and he bore the full weight of God’s wrath when he died on the cross. Jesus rose from the dead and conquered sin, death, hell, Satan, and he fully satisfied God’s justice. Through faith in Jesus, we are united to him.

United to the eternal Son of God, we receive the status and position of adopted children of God. The gospel message is good, and faithful Christians long for those around them to hear it and believe, but moving from surface-level topics to the gospel often seems like a daunting task. I pray the two questions described in this article will better equip you to seamlessly and fearlessly start gospel conversations. While talking about the gospel may cause offense, asking strategic questions may give you more confidence to try, and well-worded questions may give your audience a more receptive ear.

JOE M. ALLEN III | Assistant Professor of Missions at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

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How Theology Drives Missions W e live in a culture that pits practice against knowledge. In Christian circles, this often takes the form of separating theology from mission and stressing pragmatism (“what works”) over theological analysis. The cry is often heard: “Just tell me what to do!” Theology is regarded as dry, speculative, and divisive. Mission is about action, and action is good.

The Bible operates very differently from this way of thinking. There is a lot of theology in Scripture, and that theology flows directly into practice. The letters of the New Testament, for example, often contain deep theological teaching followed by the word “therefore” and an explanation of how believers should live in light of that theological truth. It would be safe to say that all practice in the Bible is theologically grounded. We are to live the way we live and do the things we do because of what is true.

by Z A N E P R A T T

Some definitions are in order. What is “theology” and what is “mission”? In historic evangelical Christianity, theology is simply the whole teaching of Scripture on the subjects that are central in the Bible. Those subjects include, supremely, God Himself (theology = theos + logos, or the study of God), but they also include his Word, his Son, his Spirit, humanity, the problem of sin, how people are saved, his Church with its practices and mission, and the progress and destiny of history. Scripture is the final authority and controlling source of theology in evangelical Christianity.

However, we do not look at Scripture in a vacuum. We interpret it in a certain way, according to established rules for understanding various types of texts in their contexts. So, hermeneutics1 is an essential component of our theological method. We also look at Scripture in light of the study, contemplation, and controversies of Hermeneutics is the technical term for the philosophy and methodology of interpreting texts.

1

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the people of God across both geography and history. There is nothing new under the sun, and issues that appear new to a modern Christian have probably been studied and argued in other places and other times. Our ancestors in the faith have wrestled with the text of Scripture for centuries. In the process, they have discovered both blind alleys to be avoided and agreements that have stood the test of time. Scripture has the final word; Church tradition does not. However, we would be fools to ignore the experience and insights of our brothers and sisters in Christ who have wrestled hard with these same issues but who happened to live in another place and time.

Theology is shaped by missiology in profound ways. Throughout history, theological controversies have grown out of missionary experience.

That was certainly the case in the early church.

The great confessions of the fourth and fifth centuries (such as the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian Formula) were the fruit of missionary experience and missionary efforts at contextualization.2 The early church had to express the gospel in the cultural context of a Hellenistic world that conceived of reality in terms that were very different from the world-view of the Bible. That Hellenistic worldview pressed in on the church’s teaching in ways that threatened to compromise the integrity of the gospel. Church leaders wrestled with the text of Scripture in light of the challenges presented by their cultural context. The result was an understanding of the Person of Christ and the Trinity that has stood the scrutiny of time down to the present. The missionary experience of advancing the gospel into a new cultural context forced the development of theological expression. The fact that the same unbiblical errors they faced then have continued to plague the church in the centuries since Contextualization is the attempt to make the Christian faith intelligible, and the Christian church at home, in a given cultural context, without compromising or distorting Biblical truth.

2

simply shows the value of considering church history as we do theology in our day.

The example of the controversies of the early church leads us to another important feature of theology. Theological thinking will address certain issues, such as the nature and character of God or the person and work of Christ, in every cultural setting, for the compelling reason that those issues are central to Scripture. However, in some places or times, other issues will emerge that must be addressed from Scripture as well.

In the modern world, the issue of abortion falls in this category. The 1963 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message said nothing about abortion or the sanctity of life in the womb for the simple reason that it was not an issue in the United States at that time. The consensus of American culture agreed with the teaching of Scripture that you should not kill babies in their mothers’ wombs. By the year 2000, that consensus had changed. The legalization of abortion in the United States in 1973 forced Southern Baptists, in company with other evangelical Christians, to think through their understanding of the Bible on this issue. As a result, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 contained a new statement marking conception as the beginning of human life.

The addition did not represent a change in Southern Baptist theology; the changing cultural context simply made it necessary to speak to an issue that had not needed commentary in a previous context.

In the same way, believers in non-Western cultures may need to address issues that Western Christians do not encounter.

What is missiology, and how does it relate to theology? Missiology is the study of the mission God has given His people to do. It answers two questions: “What is God’s mission?” and “How do God’s people accomplish it?” Behind both questions, however, there is a more foundational issue: how do we know how to answer these questions? Where do we go to find the answers? What authority (if any) governs how we answer them?

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Just as the proper study of systematic theology begins with an examination of epistemology (how do we know what we know?) and theological method (what are the rules of the game for answering our questions?), missiology must also examine its sources, presuppositions, and methodology before proceeding to the task itself. It must show how it will find and assess answers to its questions before it can honestly proceed to finding and assessing them.

What we do is shaped by what we believe is true. This is the point at which theology intersects with missiology. Whether mission strategists realize it or not, the answers they give to our two foundational questions (“What is our mission?” and “How do we do it?”) accurately reflect what they believe is true and what they value as important. Theology shapes mission, and missiology reveals theology. Whatever someone may say they believe, what they do shows what they truly believe.

There is a real sense in which all the major heads of doctrine in a good systematic theology define our missiology. That begins with our doctrine of Scripture itself. Because we believe the Bible is the Word of God (“breathed out by God,” in the words of 2 Tm 3:16), it carries the authority of God Himself. It defines both the nature of our mission and the means by which we

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accomplish it because it is the Word of the King of the universe. Because we believe the Bible is inerrant, we can trust it. Because it is sufficient, we do not need other sources to tell us what to do. The Bible is our source for answering our missiological questions. We can learn from other sources, such as cultural studies and communication theory, but we need to examine and evaluate all of them strictly in light of Scripture. Because it is clear concerning everything we need to know, we do not need any outside authority to explain it to us or apply it for us. The Bible rules our understanding and practice of missions.

When we say that the Bible controls our missiology, we are making some assumptions about the way the Bible is interpreted (hermeneutics, as we mentioned earlier).

It is possible to wrench verses out of context, or read things into verses that are not there, and prove anything. The text must be in control of our interpretation.

This includes considering the grammar, the historical context of the passage, and the place of each passage in its paragraph, chapter, book, testament, and the grand narrative of Scripture. Sober, responsible hermeneutics are necessary for sound theology and good missiology.

The other heads of doctrine are equally significant for evangelical missiology. The doctrine of God affects every aspect of our understanding of missions. Because God

is infinitely glorious, absolute in his Being, creator of everything, and transcendent over all he has made, the mission of his people is about him. The glory of God and the advance of his agenda in the world are the focus of the church’s mission. It is not about us, and it is not ultimately about the lost among the nations. Because God is who he is, he is the center of everything, and everything must be done under his direction and for his glory. God’s plan is to fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory as the waters cover the sea. Our mission, under his sovereign rule, must advance the knowledge and worship of God using the means he has prescribed so that both the end and the means glorify him.

Satan by rising again from the dead, never to die again.

He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, where he intercedes for his people. He will come again in glory at the end of the age. He is the only way that any sinner can be saved. Everyone who repents of their rebellion against God and puts their trust in him will be justified before God, made alive by the Holy Spirit, and guaranteed eternity with God in glory. There is salvation in no one else. Anyone who trusts in him will be saved, but no one is saved apart from receiving the gospel and believing in Jesus. He closed his ministry on earth by commanding his people repeatedly to take this Good News to the ends of the earth to make disciples of all peoples. The mission of the people of God is profoundly Christ-centered. What the Bible teaches about the person and work of Jesus is the very heart of Christian mission.

“What we do is shaped by what we believe is true. This is the point at which theology intersects with missiology.”

In the same way, the biblical doctrine of humanity exerts a profound influence on our missiology. God made humanity, male and female, in his image. However, the first man and woman rebelled against God by disbelieving his Word and disobeying his command. The result was disastrous, and it set the stage for the mission he has given his people.

From the time of Adam and Eve onward, every person in the world is guilty before God, corrupted in every part of their nature, spiritually dead, and unable to do anything to save themselves.

Everything else that is wrong in the world proceeds from this fundamental issue. At the very least, this says two things about our mission. First, the greatest need of every man, woman, and child is a salvation that includes forgiveness of sins, spiritual resurrection, and inner transformation. Second, because people are spiritually dead, only supernatural means will accomplish anything.

Persuasion is appropriate, but not enough. Coercion, deceit, or manipulation are out of the question. Only the power of God can save someone.

God’s solution to humanity’s dilemma is Jesus. Scriptural theology teaches us that God became a man in the Person of Jesus Christ, taking full humanity to himself while remaining fully God. He lived the life we should have lived, as our substitute and federal head, and then died the death we deserved to die, taking on himself the wrath due for our sin. He conquered sin, death, and

Everyone on earth is a sinful rebel.

Everyone who is judged by God based on their own record will be justly condemned. Jesus is the only savior for sinners. No one can be saved apart from the Good News of Jesus. Anyone who repents of their sin and trusts in Jesus will be saved. The Holy Spirit works through the proclamation of the Good News to take dead sinners and make them alive in a miracle that can only be described as new birth. These are theological statements, and they form the bedrock of a biblical missiology. Because these things are true, the mission of the church is irreducibly evangelistic.

Furthermore, this mission is not designed to produce mere converts but to produce disciples. Disciples are made in the context of healthy local churches. The biblical theology of the church is rich with instruction on the nature, structure, and functions of a healthy local assembly. These churches themselves need leaders grounded well in biblical doctrine so they can instruct God’s people and protect them from false teachers. The whole counsel of God on what He means by “church” is essential to a healthy missiology.

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“This mission is not designed to produce mere converts but to produce disciples.”

God has commanded his people to proclaim the biblical gospel and to make disciples who are increasingly conformed to the image of Christ. He has commanded his people to plant churches that exhibit all the characteristics described by a robustly biblical ecclesiology. He has commanded his people to train leaders who are exemplary disciples themselves and who are adept at theological analysis and teaching among every tribe, tongue, people, and nation on earth. The mission of the church is, therefore, a theological statement: under the authority of Scripture, because of who God is, who we are, who Christ is, what He has done, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, the nature and role of the church, and the destiny of history, we are to proclaim the Good News, disciple believers, form healthy churches, and train leaders among every people group on earth. Further, we are to do all of these in robustly theological ways.

In the face of contemporary pragmatism, it is critically important that our missiology is shaped by the full scope of our theology. Because the gospel is profoundly uncomfortable to fallen sinners, there is every temptation to water down the message or soften its rough edges. In the face of unbiblical religious systems that deny central doctrines of Christian theology, it is tempting to downplay things like the uniqueness and deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Church, done correctly, is hard, and it is especially hard in environments

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where Christians are persecuted. Some missionary agencies skip church altogether, and some missionaries redefine it in ways that compromise biblical standards to bypass the difficulties. Only a thoroughly theological approach to missionary practice will safeguard us from errors like these.

However, the relationship between theology and mission goes two ways. Just as good missiology must be rooted in theology, good theology must produce missions. Anyone who claims to have mastered evangelical theology but is not thereby driven into missionary practice does not understand their theology at all. If you understand who God is, the spiritual condition and destiny of the peoples of the world, the glories of the gospel, the nature of Christian discipleship, and the trajectory of history under the sovereign hand of God, you will be compelled to take part in God’s global mission. If you are not, you either do not understand your theology, or you do not actually know God.

ZANE PRATT | Vice President, Assessment/Deployment and Training, International Mission Board, SBC

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Can Anything Good Come From This?

Taking the Gospel to the World’s Hard Places

by A L LY S O N T O D D

Sunsets in the West are a technicolored marvel.

Clouds hug the sun, offering a canvas where the light traces every curve. Each night, the sun seems to set differently than it did the day before. In India, the sun rises and sets the same way it does in the West, yet only a perfect circle and a peach-gray sky smudged with haze signal the end of the day. No clouds, no traces of light.

One color, one circle, nothing beautiful.

We were told in the months before we left for India that our home state was a wasteland. “Oh you are going to Jivan?* Why? It is dead there.

No wealth, no beauty, no life! Do not go!”

I gave the store manager a grimace I hoped would pass for a smile. “We are going to study, and we are going to tell them about Jesus.”

I remembered Indian sunsets from my last visit, but the store manager made me believe they would be more gray than peach this time.

Can anything good come from Jivan?

Our missionary leaders told us that when we got off the train, we should not expect to be able to

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breathe. People from India told us Jivan made our city’s soup kitchens look like the Ritz-Carlton. Textbooks and missiology articles used the term, “missionary graveyard” as if it was Jivan’s surname.

No, nothing good comes from Jivan.

Was it wise to take four girls out of mother’s nest to this place where sunsets go to die? “The Gospel to Hard Places” was our mantra, but what if the place was too hard? What if we went to the field with seed in linen bags hung on our shoulders, only to discover an endless slab of concrete without so much as a weed in sight?

I doubted our calling. I thought all my deepest fears of failure would flourish in Jivan.

David Platt went to India and told of his experience on a simulcast in November of 2012, two months before our scheduled flights. We sat on the floor in our Sunday School room and scribbled down notes while we listened to this him share of the need for missionaries in India.

“Jivan, known as a missionary graveyard,” he began. All five of us stopped writing. He continued, “…is experiencing a movement of the gospel. A local pastor told me one in every ten people choose to follow Jesus when they hear the gospel. Baptisms are taking place in the Ganges River, lives are being transformed.”

I wonder what Nathanael felt when Philip told him to “Come and see” for himself this man from Nazareth. As Nathanael walked with Philip toward Jesus, what was on his mind? Did he question Philip’s discernment? Was he nervous his original question would be met with a resounding “no” and all his doubts would come true?

Is it even possible that something good, something holy could come from a place no one wants to go?

We went to Jivan to see for ourselves. When the train stopped and the doors opened, we were shocked that we were able to breathe. When we sat through our first training with Indian believers, we were blown away by their hunger for truth. When we shared the story of Jesus with a young girl in our city, the shattered bits of her heart began to beam with light.

“Every obedient believer knows what it is to ask, ‘Can anything good come from this?’ The path to the throne room of Jesus is stained with blood, smells like sweat, and tastes like tears.”

Good can come from Jivan. The sunsets were grayer, and the air was thicker than in other parts of India, but the gospel of Jesus broke through six feet of concrete to give life to those trapped underneath.

Every obedient believer knows what it is to ask, “Can anything good come from this?” The path to the throne room of Jesus is stained with blood, smells like sweat, and tastes like tears. Suffering and discouragement are close friends of the missionary. Sometimes a word from Pastor Platt or a story of a martyr fuels the heart enough to stand back up and sow a little more seed.

My knees are raw from stumbling on the way to Jesus, but God created and called the church to offer me a hand and a Band-Aid. The words of a brother or sister have the strength to help us back up. We must be honest about the dusty sunsets, thick air, and hard hearts of the world, yet we must also be honest about the Spirit’s ability and the gospel’s power.

Jesus told Nathanael that he would see greater things. The promise of an eternal kingdom with a resurrected King became Nathanael’s hope.

So, fix your eyes on the coming Lord. Tell everyone who will listen of Jesus Christ, the good that came from Nazareth.

ALLYSON TODD | Assistant Director of Events at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

*The name of this state has been changed for the protection of those still working in this area. Jivan is the Hindi word for “life.”

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Q&A

SAM BIERIG

ERIK ODEGARD

DEAN, SPURGEON COLLEGE, ASSISTANT

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF INTERCULTURAL

PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN STUDIES

STUDIES AND DIRECTOR OF FUSION INSTRUCTIONAL FACULTY

The FUSION program at Spurgeon College trains college students to be both globally and missionally-minded. Given the theme of this issue of Midwestern Magazine, we decided to interview Erik Odegard, director of FUSION, and Sam Bierig, dean of Spurgeon College.

MBTS The FUSION program is a central feature of the work at Spurgeon College. What, exactly, is FUSION? SAM BIERIG FUSION is the ideal avenue for college students answering the call of the Lord Jesus Christ to follow him in pursuing the Great Commission (Matt 28:16-20.) Answering that call through the FUSION program entails training sessions, church involvement, and several rounds of testing, but at its core, FUSION is designed to provide a way for college students to take the gospel overseas. FUSION, then, is focused on reaching the least, the last, and the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Historically speaking, FUSION began in 2005 and has grown in strength and number almost every year. FUSION is a program seeking to take its place as a coupling in the pipeline funneling Christians and church planters to the nations.

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ERIK ODEGARD FUSION is a one-year program that equips college students to be, know, and do what it takes to make disciples for a lifetime, especially in hard places. FUSION trains for two semesters on the campus of Spurgeon College and then deploys for 90 days with the International Mission Board. The training instills the required character, knowledge, and skills for an effective deployment alongside long-term missionary teams. FUSION’s goal is to produce graduates who make the commitment to make disciples for the rest of their lives, regardless of vocation or location. Successful completion of FUSION provides 33 credit hours toward a Bachelor of Arts in Intercultural Studies degree at Spurgeon College.

MBTS What is the meaning of FUSION’s slogan “SOMHAL”?

SB

SOMHAL is the rallying cry for FUSION; it stands

for “So Others May Hear And Live.” In essence, this is the purpose of FUSION boiled down into six words. Students complete their training sessions, attend classes, and tend to every part of the rigorous FUSION process in order that others may hear and truly live, in Christ. It is a glorious motto and comes fully loaded with the motivating power to share the gospel and plant churches around the world.

EO SOMHAL encapsulates the transcendent cause that Fusion candidates commit their lives to. Plus, it serves as a helpful umbrella statement to explain every part of the Fusion process. We discipline ourselves that we might win the lost to Christ!

MBTS Why should students consider participating in the FUSION program?

SB If I could go back, I would sign up and do FUSION without hesitation. Students should consider FUSION because it is a combination of the best training and the quickest avenue for getting overseas to answer the Great Commission call.

EO

FUSION is a unique program; its vision continues to draw students from churches all over the country. First, FUSION is for young believers who are obsessed with becoming more like Christ.

Through life-on-life discipleship, our candidates learn how to orient their entire lives around the gospel. Second, FUSION is for those who find it intolerable that myriads of people will be born, live, and die without ever hearing the Good News of what God has done to purchase a people for himself. Finally, FUSION is for those who humbly acknowledge that they need to be properly equipped to take the gospel to hard places.

MBTS

Where does FUSION send students?

SB We send students all over the world but concentrate on sending students to difficult and hard-to-reach places that have no access to the gospel. We send students to locations in South and Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and throughout the Middle East. We partner with the International Mission Board in other locales as well.

EO FUSION intentionally targets “hard places.”

We define hard places as locations where perseverance is required to complete the mission in the face of extreme temperatures, difficult terrain, natural hazards, difficult living conditions, risk of illness, political instability, crime, ideological oppression, or social ostracism.

But why do we choose to serve in hard places?

First, we choose hard places because we recognize that unreached people groups are unreached for a reason—people are not signing up to go to hard places. We want to leverage our teams to reach the neediest places on the planet, and those are hard places to serve.

Second, we want to avoid sending our teams to entry-level locations where untrained volunteers are serving because it is a better stewardship of the training they have received. Why go through the trouble of training the teams when untrained volunteers may serve just as successfully?

Finally, we choose hard places because we want our teams to be faced with the internal struggle of asking themselves, “Is it worth it?” Our prayer and eager expectation is that they will answer, “Yes!” and do whatever it takes to make much of Christ.

MBTS Is the FUSION program only for students who feel called to overseas missions?

SB No. FUSION is for any Christian student who is in good standing with their local church.

However, we gear our training efforts toward those desirous of going to the nations carrying the precious gospel of Jesus Christ. We are happy and thankful for students who choose to spend the entirety of their lives among “unreached” peoples, in pursuit of the fulfilling the Great Commission. However, FUSION is for all Christians at its beachhead.

EO There are two ambitions that drive candidates to FUSION. The first is true of all and the second is true of many. All our students come to FUSION in order to grow in their walk with Christ. Through

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life-on-life discipleship, deep involvement in a local church, rigorous biblical classes, and significant challenges, our students make great leaps forward in maturity in just one year. Secondly, many of our students want to be equipped for a lifetime of missionary service. Our training process is one of the most comprehensive missionary training programs in the world and it is evident in the lives of our graduates.

For those convinced of or considering a missionary call, FUSION is an exceptional next step to train and get experience.

MBTS In your time around FUSION students, what have you come to most appreciate about them?

SB First, I admire their humility. FUSION students are a humble and servant-hearted group, and they are exceptionally talented. When aimed at the kingdom of darkness, that is a lethal combination. Second, they are an impassioned group of people who desperately care for the lost. Third, they are a hilarious group of young adults. I am constantly laughing when I am in conversation or overseas with FUSION students. They are marked by a jovial spirit. Fourth, they are very tight knit! Many of our students have met their spouses through the FUSION program.

EO What is often lost in all the talk about being resilient and doing hard things is that FUSION graduates become very honest, sincere young men and women.

From day one of FUSION, candidates are presented with the gospel as the only lasting motivation for missions. To put it plainly, the Great Commission is not going to be accomplished by a bunch of well-trained, self-reliant hard-chargers. Instead, the Lord will use those who recognize the depth of their own sin, the

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heights of God’s holiness, and the sufficiency of Christ as Savior. Many FUSION alumni are very honest when confessing their sins to one another and pursuing holiness in community, which is a blessing to their churches, workplaces, and families.

MBTS How can those not in the program support FUSION students and the program in general?

SB First, through prayer. Please pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out workers. Second, if you know any young Christian men or women between the ages of 16 and 20, tell them about FUSION and challenge them as to whether this is the absolute best way to answer the call to fulfill Matthew 28:16-20.

EO First, send students. FUSION has first-step opportunities that range from one hour to one year for high school and college students. We are called to come alongside the church in her mission to raise up the next generation of missionaries and disciple makers.

Second, send resources. Our students raise funds to complete FUSION’s training and deployment process.

We have a general scholarship fund that is distributed annually to students with the greatest need to cover their personal training and going costs. Third, pray. FUSION is aimed at supernatural goals that are beyond human ability to accomplish. Forging the character of young men and women requires the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit through his Word and his people. Rescuing unreached peoples from certain condemnation requires the convicting and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

Doing all this with the forces of darkness taking aim at us requires the Lord’s protection. We are a people much in need of prayers.

SUBSCRIBE & LISTEN mbts.edu/logospod

FACULTY HIGHLIGHT HIGHLIGHT ALUMNI

Meet

COREY O’GRADY MASTER OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES | 2012

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ALUMNI HIGHLIGHT

The strength of an educational institution can be judged by many criteria. One such criteria is the strength of its alumni. Pastor Corey O’Grady represents the strength of Midwestern’s expanding alumni network. After graduating from Midwestern Seminary, Corey and his family felt a call to pursue ministry in Europe, where he has been for eight years. Corey is now the lead pastor of Grace Church in Amsterdam and we are honored to feature him as this issue’s alumni highlight.

MBTS Corey, you have been in Amsterdam for roughly eight years now and you have pastored Grace Church for four of those years. Tell us a bit about that endeavor.

COREY O’GRADY Upon arriving in Amsterdam, we ran a café with two other couples. My desire was always to pastor and plant churches, but we wanted to learn before we began to lead. Our years spent running the café taught us invaluable cultural lessons. In 2016, we began meeting in our home with a small group of people who desired to be part of a new church. Grace Church was officially launched in February 2017 with 17 members. Since that time, God has been so gracious and kind to our ministry. Currently, over 100 people from 30 countries gather with us for worship on Sundays, and we have plans to plant another church in the western part of our city.

MBTS You graduated from Midwestern Seminary in 2012. What degree did you earn and how has your degree aided you in ministry?

CO I graduated from Midwestern with a Master of Theological Studies degree. That program has aided me in two ways. First, it provided a general theological foundation. You cannot teach what you do not know. The MTS program helped me grow in theological knowledge and equipped me to teach others. Second, it taught me how to be a learner. Being an ongoing student of God’s Word, in formal or informal settings, is essential. My time at Midwestern taught me habits of learning which aid my ministry every day.

MBTS This issue of Midwestern Magazine is focused on the important topic of missions. Why would you encourage those training for pastoral ministry to consider pursuing pastoral ministry in another country?

CO While Christ is the great Shepherd, God has designed pastors to act as under-shepherds of his people. In Europe, specifically, there is a remnant of Christians who have been without a local church or pastoral care for decades. They are sheep without a local shepherd. Pastoring in that type of context aids not only the discipleship of existing Christians but strengthens the ability of those believers to live as light in areas filled with spiritual darkness.

MBTS Having completed a graduate degree, what advice would you give to students currently at Midwestern or who are starting soon?

CO My advice to current or potential students has more to do with heart assessment than homework assignments. While there are many good reasons to complete a theology degree, I believe two heart motives should be primary. Pursue a degree because it will help you know God more, and because it will prepare you to help others do the same. Simply put, getting a degree should be motivated by a heart that desires to obey the Great Commandment. Learn because you want to love God more and learn so you can love your neighbor by pointing them to the truth and beauty of God. All other purposes for pursuing a degree should hang on these two reasons.

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IN FOCUS: GRACE CHURCH

GRACE CHURCH AM S TE R D A M , NETHERL ANDS

Midwestern Seminary exists for the Church. Because of our calling, we enjoy highlighting the many healthy churches around the globe that are pastored by our graduates. Grace Church, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is one such church. Planted and pastored by Midwestern alumnus Corey O’Grady, Grace Church is now crossing the four-year mark as a congregation.

QUICK FACTS

MBTS Corey, can you tell us a bit about the origins of Grace Church?

MBTS What is your vision and aspiration for Grace Church?

COREY O’GRADY Grace Church began in the fall of 2016 with a handful of people meeting in our living room for Bible study. The church officially launched in February 2017. That group of 17 initial members desired to be a gospel-shaped community that led people to follow Jesus in all of life. Since then, we have seen God abundantly bless us with both numeric and spiritual growth.

Currently, Grace Church is made up of more than 100 people from over 30 different countries. The church is led by a team of three elders, two of whom were trained and installed from within our church membership.

CO My greatest aspiration is that God will find Grace Church faithful. We believe that being faithful in Amsterdam means pursuing both local and global opportunities. Locally, we plan to start a second church in the western part of Amsterdam. This area contains the fastest growing neighborhoods in the city, and we have several members already living in that district. Long-term, we would like to see a network of churches planted throughout the Amsterdam metro area. The city also provides us with global ministry opportunities. Amsterdam is diverse and so is our church.

This has led us to offer ministry

CHURCH NAME

Grace Church LEAD PASTOR

Corey O’Grady LOCATION

Amsterdam, Netherlands

CITY POPULATION

821,752

WEBSITE

gracechurch.amsterdam

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IN FOCUS: GRACE CHRUCH internships for future church leaders and pastors from countries all over the world. Continuing and expanding our internship program is part of our vision for having a global gospel impact.

MBTS Often the depiction of Europe’s spiritual landscape can be pessimistic. In contrast, what is something that encourages you about being part of a church in the Netherlands, in particular, or in Europe in general?

CO In the Netherlands there has been a shift in the religious landscape. For several decades, atheism or agnosticism was the fastest growing worldview. That is no longer the case. The fastest growing worldview is now a view called “ietsism,” which is Dutch for “something-ism.” Many people are rejecting the atheistic beliefs they

often witnessed in their parents.

Instead, there is an increasing number who believe something is out there, but they seek to discover that “something” on their own terms. This turn in the religious landscape is actually encouraging.

It is leading to more spiritual conversations than in previous years. We are praying for continued opportunities to point people away from the void of atheism, away from the uncertainty of ietsism, and toward the fulfillment and assurance of knowing our Triune God through Jesus Christ.

MBTS There are a number of Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College students interested in ministry in Europe.

What advice would you give to them as they plan and pursue such a venture?

CO Ministry in Europe is harder than you think, but more needed than you can imagine. I often tell people that working in Europe is “sneaky hard.” It is not difficult because of a lack of clean drinking water or poor infrastructure. It is hard because the culture is not simply unaware of Christianity.

Most people here have strong and negative presuppositions about Christianity. Ministering in a spiritually dark place like Europe is hard, but it is needed. By the grace of God, we have seen how a biblical church can be a city on a hill. The difficulty is worth it when you hear someone say, “I have never heard anyone talk about Jesus like that before.”

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STUDENT HIGHLIGHT

Meet

SAMUEL WOMBLE Many Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College students have a burden for the nations.

This is certainly true of master’s student, Samuel Womble. As a missionary kid himself, Samuel got a first-hand look at the ups and downs of life on the mission field, including experiencing a terrorist attack that necessitated emergency surgery to address infection and to remove shrapnel from his brain. Samuel has a powerful story that only makes sense in light of a powerful gospel.

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MBTS In this issue of the Midwestern Magazine, we are focusing on the important topic of missions. Samuel, you have a unique perspective from growing up in a missionary context.

Where is “home” for you and how many years did you spend overseas?

SAMUEL WOMBLE Thailand is home for me. My family moved to Pakistan when I was three and we lived there for three years. We moved to Thailand when I was seven and I lived there until I graduated from high school at the age of 19. Most of my memories are from Thailand and I love the culture and the Thai people.

MBTS You have both a tragic and fascinating story from your childhood on the mission field. Would you mind sharing some of that story?

SW My family left Pakistan because we were the target of a terrorist attack at our church back in 2002.

I was six years old at the time and a terrorist entered our church with grenades. To make a long story short, the individual killed himself and four others. My mom, dad, and I were a few feet away from a grenade that did not explode. If it had, we would not be here today.

I suffered injuries in the attack and had two brain surgeries to help with infection and to address swelling in my brain. Being only six at the time, I still knew that God had saved my life and that I wanted him to use me for his purposes and not my own.

What Satan intended for evil, God intended for good. He has used this situation to glorify himself in our lives and others’ lives as well.

MBTS How did growing up on the mission field help you cherish the gospel more?

SW My parents modeled for me what it truly meant to take up your cross and follow Christ. Even after the terrorist attack, the love my parents had for Muslims did not change. If anything, they developed a deeper desire to share the gospel with more Muslim people. Living on the mission field helped me understand that the gospel is truly worth more than anything, even life itself.

MBTS What advice would you give to parents who are considering or currently are raising their children overseas?

SW I would encourage them to keep showing their kids that the gospel is worth it. Living in uncomfortable or even dangerous situations can show your kids that the gospel and living for Christ is worth more than anything the world can offer. My parents are first generation missionaries and their commitment to sharing the gospel to the ends of the earth has greatly influenced me and my three siblings.

I’m forever thankful to my parents for allowing me to see them live out the Great Commission overseas.

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FACULTY HIGHLIGHT

Joe Allen ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MISSIONS

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FACULTY HIGHLIGHT

In each issue of Midwestern Magazine, we highlight one of our faculty members. Given that this particular issue focuses on the area of missions, Dr. Joe Allen was the obvious choice. Dr. Allen is new to the Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College community, yet students can already sense his passion for missions. Dr. Allen and his wife, Christy, served in South Asia for nearly 14 years before Dr. Joe Allen joined our faculty as assistant professor of missions.

MBTS Dr. Allen, thank you for joining us. In terms of your overall approach to missions and evangelism, what are the key elements of your approach?

JOE ALLEN I love missions and evangelism because I love being a part of what God is doing in the world. I love seeing people place their faith in Jesus, because, whenever I see that happen, I know I have just witnessed the Holy Spirit doing a special work in a person’s heart. I approach missions and evangelism as a stewardship and a privilege to participate in God’s cosmic plan to display his glory through the gospel among every tribe, language, people, and nation.

MBTS How does the missions mindset intersect with (a) other areas of learning and (b) other parts of our lives?

JA Faithful stewardship of the missionary task requires total engagement of head, heart, and hands.

Every branch of academic study, from linguistics and archeology to hermeneutics and biblical exegesis, to historical and systematic theology serves to inform our missiology. As we develop a rigorous, biblical missiology, we must apply it to on-the-field strategies.

Field workers then provide a valuable feedback loop for refining missiological theories.

MBTS What excites you about serving at an institution like MBTS?

church on mission. I love Midwestern’s synthesis of high academic excellence and real-world application.

I am also excited about serving at MBTS because I love working with college and seminary students.

People come to seminary at a crucial season of life and make many life-altering decisions. Most students come to class hungry to learn and eager to make a mark on the world. I consider it a great privilege to invest in their lives and influence them to give their lives for the sake of the nations.

MBTS What are your hopes for the students you will serve and the campus community overall related to missions?

JA The missio Dei is paradigmatic for unifying the whole story of the Bible and understanding God’s plan for all of creation, so I hope my students come to see their missions involvement as something that brings them into alignment with the heart of God. I hope my students grow in love, knowledge, holiness, and in ministry competence, so they can experience the contagious joy of being “useful to the Master” (2 Tm. 2:21).

Christ is worthy. Heaven and hell are real. Demonic opposition is intense. The gospel is our only hope.

Therefore, I hope to catalyze a movement of students who approach the task of missions and evangelism with profound urgency, enthusiasm, and commitment.

JA I am excited about joining MBTS because it is laser-focused on serving the church. I can get on board with that vision because a healthy church is a

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What Jesus purchased is precious.

We’ve made it our purpose.

COME STUDY

for the Church

mbts.edu

AROUND CAMPUS

Midwestern Seminary launches ‘CALLED’ online resource for individuals called to ministry

by M I C H A E L S . B R O O K S

After months of planning, Midwestern Seminary announced last week the launch of ‘CALLED’—a new website offering resources to aid and equip individuals who sense a call to vocational ministry.

“In our day, formal calls to ministry can seem ambiguous or even non-existent,” said Midwestern Seminary President Jason Allen. “In light of this, we are delighted for the opportunity to resource men and women seeking to take their next steps toward vocational gospel ministry through ‘CALLED,’ a new online home for resources specifically curated to help clarify one’s calling and

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strengthen his or her commitment to ministry service.”

The ‘CALLED’ website features a library of video and blog post resources contributed by a variety of prominent evangelical leaders aimed at helping individuals process their own calls to ministry. The site’s primary feature is a collection of ‘CALLED’ stories, featuring leaders within and outside the Southern Baptist Convention sharing their own stories of the call to Christian ministry. The videos currently available to view on the site include stories from Matt Chandler, H.B. Charles Jr., Jared Wilson, Mark Dever, Trevin Wax,

Malcolm Yarnell, Afshin Ziafat, Danny Akin, Matt Smethurst, Angela Swain, Jamie Dew, Dean Inserra, Noe Garcia, Ben Mandrell, Jason Duesing, and others.

Allen indicated the website has been well-received upon its initial launch and plans are already in the works for the addition of more resources.

“Our team has worked diligently over the past several months to design a sleek, easy-to-use resource site that we pray will serve thousands of men and women who sense the call to gospel ministry,” Allen said. “We’ve already received stories from pastors and ministry leaders who have passed on links to

To access the free CALLED video and blog post resources, visit FTC.co/called

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‘CALLED’ stories to those under their care who are asking questions about what it means to engage in ministry service in a more formal capacity.

“Hearing the ups and downs many leaders experience when processing their own calls to ministry can help dispel some of the confusion normally associated with the process. Further, we expect many will gain confidence in God’s call on their lives as they discover relatable aspects and features through hearing others’ stories.”

Charles Smith, senior vicepresident for Institutional Relations at Midwestern Seminary,

“The resource site provides a new avenue for the seminary to press forward in its commitment to serve and strengthen local churches.”

— CHARLES SMITH

added that the resource site provides a new avenue for the seminary to press forward in its commitment to serve and strengthen local churches.

“Over the years, our For the Church website has proven to be a valuable resource for ministry leaders and laypeople alike,” Smith said. “We’ve received tremendous

feedback from those seeking to gain additional perspective and equipping for the work at hand within our local churches.

The addition of ‘CALLED’ into the fold allows us to zero in our efforts on a specific group of men and women within our churches who sense the call to vocational ministry as a lifelong desire and pursuit. Our hope is that many will be encouraged and inspired by the stories and guidance provided through this new initiative.” •

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Rudy González joins Midwestern Seminary faculty to assist with new Spanish Ph.D. program

by M I C H A E L S . B R O O K S

Midwestern Seminary President Jason Allen announced today the addition of Rudy González, who will join the seminary’s instructional faculty in a part-time capacity as professor of Biblical Studies and as assistant director of Midwestern’s new Spanish Ph.D. program.

González comes to Midwestern Seminary after two decades of service in various leadership and teaching capacities, serving most recently as professor of New Testament and dean of the William R. Marshall Center for Theological Studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas until his retirement in 2019.

Allen expressed delight in welcoming González to the instructional faculty and into his role in the forthcoming Spanish Ph.D. program, particularly noting González’s strong ties to the Hispanic community.

“Our Spanish studies programs have flourished in recent years under the leadership of Dr. Bobby Sena and his capable staff. The addition of Dr. González in an assistant director capacity will bolster our continued efforts to serve our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters in theological academic settings and in Southern Baptist churches around the world.”

Sena, who serves as director of Midwestern’s Spanish Studies programs, expressed similar excitement over González’s addition: “Having served faithfully in notable posts prior to joining

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Midwestern, Dr. González brings the necessary administrative skills to ensure that our Ph.D. program moves forward with efficiency.

“What is more, Dr. González was raised in Mexico, is thoroughly conversant in Spanish, and is comfortable with the diversity of the Latino culture. Few Hispanics have both the academic credentials and life experiences he brings to the table; those who know him can testify to his theological acumen and his heart for the church.”

González is a graduate of Criswell College in Dallas with a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies.

He earned a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological

Seminary, a Master of Theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, N.J., and a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

In addition to his prior academic posts at Southwestern, González served as director of interfaith evangelism at the North American Mission Board in Alpharetta, Ga., associate professor of New Testament at Golden Gate (Gateway) Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., and assistant professor of New Testament at Criswell College.

González said his primary motivation for joining the team at MBTS derives from the lack of available Spanish theological

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resources and an increasing number of underequipped ministry leaders within the academy and in local churches.

“As I begin to work with the staff at Midwestern Seminary, I am reminded that, for years, a constant lament and complaint has centered on the paucity of Spanish language resources, particularly in the academic theological field,” González said.

“One of my hopes is to produce Ph.D. graduates who will engage scholarship with Christ-centered zeal and contribute to the growth of scholarly and ecclesial knowledge in the Spanish language.

Of course, this will go a long way to developing Christian leaders, not just in North America but wherever Spanish is spoken.”

Midwestern Seminary Provost Jason Duesing commented on the seminary’s continued commitment to Spanish-speaking students, saying, “It is a joy to see more and more of Midwestern’s degree programs offered in Spanish. Now, with the Ph.D. especially, we are able to train more leaders from the Spanish-speaking community for the church. To have Dr. Rudy González, a long-time friend and colleague, assist us is a blessing and significant aid to our efforts.”

Thor Madsen, dean of Doctoral Studies and Academic Initiatives at Midwestern Seminary, added, “Dr. González brings to MBTS the experience and knowledge of a veteran scholar, educator, and administrator. We anticipate that his contributions to the Spanish language programs will advance our efforts to serve the church through high-quality postgraduate education, putting special emphasis on contextualized leadership and scholarly development.”

Ph.D. degree expands MBTS Spanish program offerings The addition of González comes at a critical juncture for Midwestern Seminary’s Spanish Studies department, which launched in 2010 with a small cohort of Doctor of Ministry students. Today, more than 100 students are enrolled in the seminary’s Spanish Doctor of Ministry program, with over 100 additional students taking courses in certificate and master’s degree programs.

“It is a joy to see more and more of Midwestern’s degree programs offered in Spanish. Now, with the Ph.D. especially, we are able to train more leaders from the Spanishspeaking community for the church. To have Dr. Rudy González, a long-time friend and colleague, assist us is a blessing and significant aid to our efforts.”

— JASON DUESING

González desires to build upon the momentum the seminary has already generated, saying, “I am excited to be at Midwestern Seminary because of the seminary’s desire to continue pressing in at every level to strengthen the church in every context.

“The seminary is already equipping students in Spanish at various levels; this new initiative will build upon the institution’s existing momentum.

Offering a Ph.D. in Spanish will ensure Midwestern is poised to meet the

challenges the church faces today in North America and beyond.”

According to Sena, adding a Ph.D. pathway to the seminary’s Spanish program offerings is the fulfillment of a long-term goal. “At Midwestern, we already offer a master’s degree and Doctor of Ministry degree in Spanish. The next logical step is to begin offering a fully accredited Ph.D. The Ph.D. will be a traditional research doctoral degree in every sense, albeit delivered primarily in Spanish. The expectation is that a student is conversant in Spanish but also has access to English as a research language.”

Sena added that, via the Ph.D. program offering, Midwestern’s Spanish Studies department aims to shore up glaring deficiencies in the total number of formally trained Hispanic ministry leaders within evangelicalism, particularly within academic settings.

“Statistics demonstrate that the number of Hispanics is growing exponentially within Baptist and evangelical circles, yet they are grossly underrepresented with respect to the theological academy,” Sena said.

“It is Midwestern’s desire to begin to remedy the deficiency by graduating competent Ph.D. students in the field of ministry. We believe this will benefit the evangelical community more broadly as equipped men and women make their mark in the academic world, as well as in the local church.”

Details regarding Midwestern’s new Spanish Ph.D. program are forthcoming. To learn more about the seminary’s Spanish Studies department and current program offerings, visit mbts.edu/Spanish. •

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MBTS among seminaries recognized for consistent enrollment growth

by M I C H A E L S . B R O O K S

Midwestern Seminary was recently recognized as one of seven accredited seminaries that have demonstrated consecutive enrollment growth over the past five years.

The report, entitled “What Makes Seminaries Grow?”, was published by the In Trust Center for Theological Schools in its Summer 2021 magazine and utilizes annual data distributed by the seminary’s accreditor, the Association of Theological Schools.

Midwestern is listed alongside Northern Seminary in Lisle, Ill.; Shepherds Theological Seminary in Cary, N.C.; Sioux Falls Seminary in S.D.; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky; and Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.

The report indicates the seven institutions saw a cumulative total student headcount increase of 43 percent over the past five years and also notes Midwestern Seminary’s most recent fall enrollment is nearly double that of five years ago. The seminary’s total student headcount increased from 1,196 students in the fall of 2015 to 2,397 in the fall of 2020. ATS data accounts for graduate enrollment figures only, thus undergraduate enrollment figures are not included.

“We could not be more pleased to be recognized as one of seven ATS institutions with consistent enrollment growth over the past five years,” said Midwestern Seminary M I DW E S T E R N M A G A Z I N E

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President Jason Allen. “That only seven institutions out of over 300 have demonstrated consistent increases over that time period says something of the climate of theological education in North America, yet we are thrilled to be among them. We are grateful for all that God has done and is doing at Midwestern Seminary.”

The In Trust report aims to identify contributing factors that have aided each institution’s sustained enrollment growth.

The report lists several common characteristics found among the schools, including a strong, engaged president; an active, scholarly faculty; innovative programs; an emphasis on spiritual growth and discipleship; professional admissions strategies; doctrinal foundations; and affordability.

Midwestern Seminary is specifically noted for its commitment to equipping faculty members for oncampus and external ministry opportunities and its innovative approaches to reaching prospective students and serving current students via opportunities for oncampus discipleship.

The report highlights the seminary’s “Ask the Experts” livestream events, which Midwestern hosted online throughout the 2020-2021 academic year. The sessions featured brief teaching sessions from faculty members and offered prospective students

opportunities to dialogue with professors about a wide range of topics. The report also mentions the seminary’s “Timothy Track” residential mentoring program, which offers select students a 50 percent tuition scholarship, “in-the-field” ministry training, and one-to-one mentoring with local pastors.

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“We are continually thinking through creative ways to connect with a broader base of individuals who may be considering theological training,” said Camden Pulliam, vice president of enrollment management at Midwestern Seminary.

“The recent ATS report is great news for Midwestern Seminary, and it helps give context to what we are trying to accomplish as an institution. Access to a world-class faculty, an intense focus on spiritual growth, and a steadfast commitment to the truth and the local church are just a few of the features that set Midwestern Seminary apart.”

In addition to the factors cited

by In Trust, Allen pointed to the seminary’s vision and theological convictions as two primary reasons for the continual increase in enrollment. “Our ambition is to be the most faithful seminary on the planet when it comes to serving the local church,” said Allen. “Serving local churches is a stewardship we are committed to and one we enjoy. “Additionally, our doctrinal commitments ensure we will not waver from the truth of God’s Word, come what may culturally from season to season. We proudly hold to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the Danvers Statement on

To view the 2020 ATS ANNUAL REPORT visit the ATS website.

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the Nashville Statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality, and the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, all with complete confidence and conviction.

“As we reflect on the past five years, we have the opportunity to thank God for what he has done thus far and to learn from what we have done right and what we can do better. In doing so, we are committed to redoubling our efforts to serve the local church for the next five years and beyond.” • To view the 2020 ATS Annual Report, visit the ATS website.

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Allen emphasizes commitment to local churches in Midwestern Seminary’s SBC ’21 President’s Report

by M I C H A E L S . B R O O K S

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Jason Allen’s report to the messengers at the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting reflected the institution’s ongoing determination M I DW E S T E R N M A G A Z I N E

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to serve the local church.

Citing God’s faithfulness to the seminary over the past year, Allen noted that Midwestern Seminary is standing strong, remaining faithful, and enjoying continued growth.

“I am delighted to report that our Convention’s youngest seminary is standing strong, serving faithfully, and, once again, enjoying another year of record enrollment,” Allen said.

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“If you know much of the history of the past 60 years, you know it took a while for this institution to hit its stride. But, by God’s grace and with your support, we are pursuing and growing in greater faithfulness to the great truths we hold.”

— JASON ALLEN

“Our ambition is to be undeniably faithful when it comes to serving the local church. In sharper focus, our desire is to serve Southern Baptist churches faithfully.

“We are not here to lecture to you; we are here to hear from you.

We are not here for you to serve us; we are here so we can serve you.

That is a precious stewardship that we enjoy. We are for the church and will continue to persist in that vision on your behalf.”

Alongside the seminary’s sustained efforts to serve Southern

Baptist churches, Allen pointed to the institution’s theological convictions as an additional reason for the seminary’s progress.

“We are proudly, wholeheartedly, and unreservedly a Southern Baptist institution,” Allen said. “We hold to the Baptist Faith and Message, the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the Nashville Statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality, and the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, all with full confidence and conviction.”

Allen further suggested it is necessary for Midwestern Seminary to do more than merely affirm the collection of doctrinal statements, saying, “It is also our role to defend and advocate for these statements.”

“What is more, we refuse to be forced into false binaries,” he continued. “We can be and are cheerfully, convictionally, and confidently complementarian while, all the while, honoring and protecting our sisters as jointheirs in Christ. We can clearly and confidently reject secular ideologies and critical theories,

such as Critical Race Theory, that have a negative impact while, all the while, being intentional to bear the burdens of our African American brothers and sisters.

We can bring them into our midst, serve and grow with them, and honor them as brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Along the enrollment front, Allen acknowledged God’s kindness and the resolve of the seminary community as contributing factors in the seminary’s continued growth. He announced the past year’s total student headcount was 4,374, over four times the number of students enrolled at Midwestern Seminary ten years ago. In addition, the total number of full-time enrolled students for the past year was 1,615, an increase from just over 400 students ten years ago.

Allen closed his address by thanking messengers for their continued prayers and support, saying, “This is your seminary: Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, founded in 1957.

If you know much of the history of the past 60 years, you know it took a while for this institution to hit its stride. But, by God’s grace and with your support, we are pursuing and growing in greater faithfulness to the great truths we hold. We are doing so, I believe, in ways that make Southern Baptists proud.” •

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FTC Nashville focuses on SBC’s future ministry and mission

by M I C H A E L S . B R O O K S

Focusing on the topic of the future of ministry and mission within the Southern Baptist Convention, Midwestern Seminary President Jason Allen moderated a panel discussion during the 6th annual For the Church Regional Micro-Conference held June 15 in the JW Marriott Ballroom.

Nearly 1,000 attendees filled the room to hear an engaging discussion between Allen, Matt Carter, Ben Mandrell, Kevin Smith, Paul Chitwood, Ronnie Floyd, H.B. Charles, Jr., and Jared C. Wilson. Matt Merker led musical worship for the gathering.

In his opening remarks, Allen noted the 2021 Annual Meeting is a “historic” occasion with a compendium of issues bringing the future of Southern Baptists to the fore of online and offline conversations.

Allen framed his queries to the panelists under three primary headings: why Southern Baptists need a healthy future, what the future of Southern Baptists should entail, and how the current generation of Southern Baptists can help build and project a healthy future for the next generation.

“In many ways, the Southern Baptist Convention is the ultimate Rorschach test,” Allen said. “We have nearly 50,000 congregations with over 14 million members, and we come together in a free, nonhierarchical convention. You can find almost anything you want to

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find under the Southern Baptist Convention rubric.

“In recent days, I’ve encouraged many to think about their own personal experience within the Southern Baptist Convention. To me, the Convention is countless churches I know of that are doing faithful work. The Convention is dozens of missionaries around the world and church planters around the country who are doing faithful work. The Convention is churches I preach in, and the one I am a member of, doing good and faithful ministry, and it is thousands of students training at Midwestern Seminary who are full of conviction and gospel passion.”

Drawing on the theme of Southern Baptist perspectives, Allen posed a question to Paul Chitwood related to the “This is the SBC” hashtag, which trended in recent weeks on social media. Chitwood reflected on his upbringing in Southern Baptist churches and Southern Baptist’s generosity and impact at various stages throughout his life. He noted the hashtag was a simple way of celebrating what is good about the SBC. “The Convention is far more diverse in terms of opinion, and even in terms of ethnicity, than many people realize,” Chitwood said. “But what brings us together is not so much a shared opinion on every issue, but an insistence on fulfilling the Great Commission

and the recognition that we have a better opportunity to advance the Kingdom together than we do on our own.”

Smith and Charles Jr. added their own perspectives as African American pastors within the SBC. “I’ve spent 30 years answering why I’m Southern Baptist,” Smith said. “It’s a common question, and the answer is always the same: missions, methodology, capacity, and breadth. The most budgetfriendly congregation still can’t do individually what it can do as it partners with the Southern Baptist Convention. The congregation raising up missionaries and church planters cannot do individually what it can do when it partners with other churches.

Our theological convictions, the Baptist Faith and Message, and our missions methodology allow us to cooperate for the spread of the gospel around the world.”

Charles Jr. added that he is often unable to speak about contentious issues theoretically because members of his church are busy living through many of the problems in their day-today lives.

“It takes only a few voices to disrupt unity in our churches,” Charles Jr. said. “I pray that those who have voices (in our Convention) use them to provide ‘air cover’ for those of us on the ground. This is spiritual warfare, and there are young

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African American pastors who need the ‘air cover’ that the SBC can provide on doctrinal matters, mission education, and church planting.”

Allen then prompted Carter, Wilson, and Mandrell for comments related to the next generation of Southern Baptists and the zeal many young people in the Convention demonstrate for gospel ministry.

Carter noted previous generations of pastors and ministry leaders have done an excellent job of setting systems in place that future generations can build upon to advance the mission of the Church.

Wilson, citing his experience training young men for ministry in his local church’s pastoral residency program, added that the next generation of ministry leaders demonstrates strong fidelity to Scripture.

“They are anchored in the Word of God,” Wilson said. “They are anchored in its inerrancy, but also its sufficiency and its authority.

That makes me hopeful. I can’t wait to be pastored by these men, to be a faithful older saint in a church that is energized by this younger generation.”

Mandrell added he commonly

The full panel discussion is accessible at mbts.edu

“I believe the future will look much like the present as far as theological faithfulness. My prayer is that, as we look to the future, we fully prioritize the Great Commission.”

— JASON ALLEN

encourages young people to draw conclusions based on their personal experience with Southern Baptists, saying, “As I’ve traveled and preached, I’ve found that Southern Baptists are sweet, loving, united, Bible-loving, missions-giving, hospitable, and kind people. It’s just a different experience when you’re with Southern Baptists than when you only read about them.”

Floyd noted that a strong sense of vision has strengthened Baptists’ combined efforts in every generation, saying, “We’ve been commissioned to take the gospel to the world. We will continue talking about missionary sending.

We’re going to talk about planting gospel churches. We’re going to talk about the importance of issuing a massive invitation to people to follow the Lord and to go into ministry. The key to pulling together is a unified Great

Commission vision; it has always been that way.”

Allen summarized the group discussion reflecting on Southern Baptists’ responsibility to steward the Convention well for the next generation.

“God has done incredible work in the past and in the present,” Allen said. “If you consider the scale of that work, you recognize the possibilities, the opportunities, and the resources produced. We have convictions set in place; we rally around the Great Commission.

“I believe the future will look much like the present as far as theological faithfulness. My prayer is that, as we look to the future, we fully prioritize the Great Commission. As we do that, it will distance us from the distractions.

Further, it helps to scale situations and conflict rightly. I pray, too, that our future looks more diverse than our present. If you are reaching your neighbors, our denomination will look different in 10 years.

I am praying that we leave the denomination God has given us to steward in our generation doctrinally sound for the next generation. I pray we demonstrate an ability to reach our nation and are increasingly motivated by a passion for the nations.” •

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CAMPUS LIFE

MEET ON THE LAWN OPEN MIC NIGHT

BACKYARD BONFIRE

FTC WORKSHOP: TOM & PATRICK SCHREINER M I DW E S T E R N M A G A Z I N E

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MOVE IN DAY For MORE CAMPUS EVENTS AND PHOTOS visit our events page at mbts.edu/events.

VOLLEYBALL TAILGATE

SURPRISE CHAPEL EVENT

NEW STUDENT EXPO

FUSION SUMMER 2021

RENOVATED LIBRARY

FIRST HOME VOLLEYBALL GAME

APPS WITH THE ALLENS

READY 2021 MBT S .EDU

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Books in Brief New and upcoming releases from the Midwestern Seminary community

THE MUSLIM MAJORITY: FOLK ISLAM AND THE SEVENTY PERCENT

LOVE ME ANYWAY: HOW GOD’S PERFECT LOVE FILLS OUR DEEPEST LONGING

by Robin Hadaway (B&H Academic) SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

by Jared C. Wilson (Baker Books) SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

More than 70 percent of Muslims

There may be no more powerful desire

worldwide practice folk Islam, a

in the human heart than to be loved.

In 1857, Charles Spurgeon—the most

syncretistic mix of theologically orthodox

And not just loved, but loved anyway.

popular preacher in the Victorian

Islam and traditional religious beliefs and

In spite of what we’ve done or left

world—promised his readers that he

practices. The Muslim Majority is unlike

undone, in spite of the ways we have

would publish his earliest sermons.

many published works on evangelism

failed or floundered. We long for an

For almost 160 years, these sermons

to Muslims, which argue for either

unconditional, lavish love that we

have been lost to history. In 2017, B&H

apologetic or contextualized “bridge”

know intrinsically we don’t deserve. If

Academic began releasing a multi-

approaches. These approaches are

you are tired, sad, yet always longing,

volume set that includes full-color

often ineffective in reaching adherents

bestselling author Jared C. Wilson has

facsimiles, transcriptions, contextual and

of popular Islam. Instead, author and

incredible news for you: that kind of

biographical introductions, and editorial

missiologist Robin Hadaway outlines a

love actually exists, and it is actually

annotations.

contextual approach that addresses the

something you can experience--whether

unique perspective of popular Islam.

or not you’re in a romantic relationship.

THE LOST SERMONS OF C.H. SPURGEON VOLUME IV: HIS EARLIEST OUTLINES AND SERMONS BETWEEN 1851 AND 1854

by Geoff Chang (B&H Academic) NOVEMBER 1, 2021

THE CHURCH AS A CULTURE OF CARE: FINDING HOPE IN BIBLICAL COMMUNITY

by T. Dale Johnson Jr. (New Growth Press) OCTOBER 4, 2021 In The Church as a Culture of Care, biblical counselor Dale Johnson explains that the church is still the primary place where those who struggle can receive lasting hope and healing.

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WILLIAM WILBERFORCE: HIS UNPUBLISHED SPIRITUAL JOURNALS

by Michael D. McMullen (Christian Focus) SEPTEMBER 10,2021 These spiritual journals will give readers insight into the heart and mind of one of Britain’s leading abolitionists.

MDiv M I D W E S T E R N S E M I N A RY

81

HOURS

BEGIN YOUR TRAINING TODAY.

residential or online

mbts.edu/mdiv

5001 N. Oak Trafficway Kansas City, MO 64118 800.944.MBTS (6287) MBTS.EDU