To the Ends of the Earth

westminster magazine

Volume 3 | Issue 2 Spring 2023

t o t h e e n d s o f t h e e a rt h

to the ends of the earth IN THIS ISSUE: Westminster's International Gospel Mission TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER

BIBLICAL STEWARDSHIP

[

Stafford Carson spring 2023

Blake Franze

Jerry Timis & John Suh

PLUS

FRANCIS SCHAEFFER William Edgar

HARVIE CONN’S “ WHO NEEDS MISSIONARIES?” COUNSELING AND ZONES OF CONFLICT THE PROMISE OF GLOBAL THEOLOGY

FROM THE PRESIDENT

O

ur risen Lord’s last command in Matthew emanates from His full authority, comprehensive teaching, and global mission. He declared in His Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20).

For nearly a century, Westminster has been committed to reflecting our resurrected King’s mission. To that end, we’ve declared that “Westminster Seminary exists to train specialists in the Bible to proclaim the whole counsel of God for Christ and His global church.” Christ’s global concern is our concern.

So, in this issue you’ll hear from the breadth and depth of Westminster’s faculty, staff, and students, all reporting on the wonderful work that God is doing through them, our friends, and forebearers to spread the good news about Jesus.

As you explore this issue of Westminster Magazine, I hope you’ll find encouragement and inspiration for your labors on the Lord’s behalf. Stafford Carson, Director of Global Ministries writes, “To the Ends of the Earth”. You’ll also hear from Jerry Timmis, our Vice President of Stewardship. Jerry and John Suh offer some inspiring reflections from Westminster’s recent missions trip to Indonesia. Also in this issue, Nate Shannon engages our online multiple language programs in “The Promise of Global Education”, and our Online Dean, Jerry McFarland, reveals that Westminster is shaping godly leaders on a global basis through our online degrees. Also in this issue, you’ll find William Edgar’s spotlight on the vast influence of missionary apologist, Francis Schaeffer, and late faculty member, Harvie Conn, continues to challenge us in his classic, “Who Needs Missionaries?”

So welcome to this sixth issue of Westminster Magazine.

We hope it inspires you to serve alongside us in the global Church of the Lord Jesus Christ!

WESTMINSTER MAGAZINE

Volume 3 | Issue 2 | Spring 2023

Editor–in–Chief

Peter A. Lillback

Executive Editor Jerry Timmis

Editor

Josh Currie

Managing Editor

Nathan Nocchi

Associate Editor

Pierce Taylor Hibbs

Contributing Editors Davey Fernandez B. Maclean Smith

Design

Jared Eckert

Interior

Angela Messinger

Read, watch, and listen at wm.wts.edu Westminster Magazine accepts pitches and submissions of previously unpublished work. For more information, email wtsmag@wts.edu.

Westminster Magazine is published twice annually by Westminster Theological Seminary, 2960 Church Road, Glenside, Pennsylvania 19038. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations.

Printed and bound in the United States of America

Peter A. Lillback, President

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Cover art: Portolan Chart, Kunstmann II (ca. 1502–1506)

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Photograph by Abram Hammer

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SPRING 2023

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TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH Stafford Carson

11 A GLIMPSE INSIDE GLOBAL MINISTRIES an Interview with the Global Ministries Team

18 SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER Jerry Timmis and John Suh

24 A BIBLICAL CASE FOR GLOBAL STEWARDSHIP Blake Franze

Francis Schaeffer and His Global Influence| Bill Edgar. . . . . . . . . . . 28 Alumni Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Westminster News and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Walking | Thomas Traherne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Faculty News and Updates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 From the Archives: Who Needs Missionaries? | Harvie Conn . . . . . . 40 In Profile: Rachel Hart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Biblical Counseling in Zones of Conflict | Bagudekia Alobeyo. . . . . . 48 Online Learning and Spiritual Care | Jerry McFarland. . . . . . . . . . . 56 The Promise of Global Theology | Nathan Shannon. . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Truth Lies Deep: An Update from the Craig Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Westminster Theological Journal: 85th Anniversary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 In Profile: Elden Pan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 The Name | Pierce Taylor Hibbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

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TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH Staf ford Carson

August Wilhelm Leu, Gebirgslandschaft

T

he mission of Westminster Theological Seminary states that it “exists to train specialists in the Bible to proclaim the whole counsel of God for Christ and his global church.” Our focus is not local or parochial, but extensive, inclusive, and global. God is calling people to himself out of every nation, and at the heart of all that we do as a seminary is a commitment to support and equip the church of Jesus Christ as it undertakes its mission in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Across the world, there are millions of pastors who are teaching their people and leading the church with little to no theological training. Without solid training in the Scriptures, the church falters. False teaching leads the people astray, so that new Christians never move beyond spiritual milk to solid food, and the church then remains immature, weak, and unfruitful. By providing

Bible-based, Christ-centered theological education, Westminster Seminary seeks to address this great need.

Re-Thinking Missions

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n fact, Westminster Theological Seminary has been committed to global missions from its inception. In 1932, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America received a report entitled “Re-Thinking Missions,” which argued that recent years had given birth to a more enlightened view of humanity and that the church should recognize that there is some validity to non-Christian religions. It was claimed that missions should not be so much about bringing the gospel, but about improving the conditions and social status of people around the world.

When J. Gresham Machen read this report, he

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reacted strongly. In a piece entitled “The Responsibility of the Church in Our New Age” he wrote, When I say that a true Christian church is radically intolerant, I mean simply that the church must maintain the high exclusiveness and universality of its message. It presents the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Not merely as one way of salvation, but as the only way. It cannot make common cause with other faiths. It cannot agree not to proselytize. Its appeal is universal and it admits of no exceptions. All are lost in sin. None may be saved except by the way set forth in the gospel.

For Machen, that was the meaning of global missions. He went on to establish the Independent Board of Presbyterian Foreign Missions in 1933, which sent its first missionaries to China in 1934.

Westminster was closely aligned with that missionary effort from its beginning. Among those who served under the Independent Board of Presbyterian Foreign Missions was Bruce Hunt (1903–1992), a second-generation missionary to Korea. Hunt spent his first sabbatical at Westminster between 1935 and 1936, and from 1936 to 1942 he served as a missionary in Manchuria. He returned to Korea in 1946, and eventually completed 48 years of missionary service. Today’s vibrant and lively churches in Korea are the result of the faithful endeavors of missionaries like Bruce Hunt.

Richard B. Gaffin, Sr. (1907–1996), the father of our esteemed professor, Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., also served under the Independent Board established by Machen. He was, with his wife, a missionary to the Chinese people from 1935 to 1976, at first on the Chinese mainland, and then on the island of Taiwan. Before he left Taiwan in 1976, a first-ever indigenous Reformed denomination had been established there.

Taking our cue from those early leaders and missionaries, Westminster’s Global Ministries department continues to equip the churches in these countries. Two well-subscribed degree programs are offered in the Korean language, and a very successful Bible reading project, “Reading Jesus,” is expanding at an amazingly fast pace in Korea.

Westminster’s Project M offers pastoral training in Mandarin to leaders in the Chinese churches and seeks to nurture well-qualified leaders and competent

preachers for the growing church. The resilience and commitment of our co-workers in these regions is exemplary and worthy of our fulsome support as the church moves forward and expands.

In addition to its established global ministries, Westminster is currently developing programs in Arabic and Spanish so that the church is strengthened and supported in those regions of the world.

So, it only makes sense to ask: Why should Westminster continue to make efforts to equip the global church?

Given the enormously complex task of crossing cultures and delivering theological education in different languages, why should we engage in a ministry that requires so much work and sacrifice?

Why Global?

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estminster Theological Seminary engages in global ministries because God’s heart beats for the nations. The New Testament records five occasions when Jesus taught his disciples about the importance of reaching out to people with the good news and how he commissioned them to such missionary service (Matthew 28:18–20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:44–49; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). The Luke 24 passage suggests that these commands stand on a biblical foundation that goes back beyond New Testament times. God’s missionary heart and his love for the nations is unmistakably declared throughout the Old Testament.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is the story of God’s people on mission, and this mission seeks the blessing of others, indeed, the blessing of all nations. That multinational perspective is rooted in the covenant with Abraham to whom God promised that “all the nations of the earth be blessed” through him (Genesis 22:18).

The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19­–20 echoes the promise made to Abraham and affirms the continued and enhanced presence of the risen Lord as his people undertake this great task which has been entrusted to them.

The ministry of Christ confirmed the loving heart of God for sinners. “When Jesus went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus portrays God as having a heart full of love and compassion for his wayward and rebellious son (Luke 15:20). And John 3:16 makes it explicit that it was out of a heart of love for our sinful and

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corrupt world that God provided a way to rescue and save perishing people.

By opening the Christ-centered, multiethnic focus of the whole Bible in its courses of study, Westminster Seminary seeks to enthuse and empower its students for global mission and ministry. Grasping this vision of a message that promises blessings for all the families of the earth, and that will culminate in an innumerable, international company of people worshiping and praising God, students are enabled to commit themselves wholeheartedly to taking the gospel into all the world. They go out with hope and expectation knowing that the work of missions is God’s work and that “the Son of God gathers himself a church out of the whole human race” (Heidelberg Catechism, A. 54).

Salvation

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estminster Theological Seminary engages in global ministries because salvation is only found in Jesus. If people could be saved by any other means than through Jesus, then, according to Paul, not only did Jesus die in vain (Gal. 2:21), but we who are preachers preach in vain. But Acts 4:12 is clear that salvation is found in Jesus alone. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

One thing is perfectly clear—no missionary work that consists merely in presenting to the people in foreign lands a thing that has proved to be mildly valuable in the experience of the missionary himself, which he thinks may perhaps prove helpful in foreign lands in building up a better life upon this earth, can possibly be regarded as real Christian missions.

At the very heart of the real Christian missionary message is the conviction that every individual hearer to whom the missionary goes is in deadly peril, and that unless the message is heeded he is without hope in this world and in the dreadful world that is to come.

—J. Gresham Machen

The great New Testament truth is that, since the coming of the Son of God, all saving faith must be focused on Him. This was not always the case, and those

former times were called the “times of ignorance” (Acts 17:30). Before the coming of Christ, the great “mystery” of God’s redemptive plan was kept secret. But those times of ignorance have now ended, and the plan of the mystery is now revealed through preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:4–10). The truth is that people from all the nations of the world are now drawn into the inheritance of Abraham through hearing and believing the gospel of Christ.

How does God save? God comes to save in the person of Christ, Immanuel. We understand the progressive nature of the history of redemption and how the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent lies behind all biblical history. This history of redemption finds its focus and fulfilment in Jesus Christ.

In the lead article of Jerusalem and Athens, a book prepared to celebrate Cornelius Van Til’s seventy-fifth birthday, Van Til says that he writes for his friends and Christian critics so that “we may be of help to one another as together we present the name of Jesus as the only name given under heaven by which men must be saved.” It is this commitment that controlled Van Til’s life, teaching, and work in apologetics, and which underpins the whole curriculum at Westminster.

By developing this great biblical theme, and by teaching the necessity of a Christ-centered focus in preaching and pastoral care, Westminster seeks to equip its students to proclaim the gospel so that people everywhere may see the beauty of Christ and taste the sweetness of the gospel.

Following a recent course offered in the Middle East, one of our Arabic-speaking students said that prior to taking the course he had been reluctant to read the Old Testament. To him, it sounded too much like the religion he had left behind when he believed in Christ. But the experience of studying Genesis with a Westminster faculty member had brought him joy and delight for he was now able to see Christ in the Old Testament, and he could begin to read it through Christian eyes.

Biblical Commitment

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estminster Theological Seminary understands that a commitment to global ministries has significant implications for the church. The Bible is quite clear that, although the work of missions is God’s work, God has entrusted the ministry

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of reconciliation and gospel proclamation to his church.

This ministry is critical in God’s plan for the world. The gospel is both the declaration of a royal decree and an earnest invitation. Sharing that message extends beyond qualified and recognized teachers to every member of the church and requires the support of every Christian believer.

The gospel is both the declaration of a royal decree and an earnest invitation.

There are many benefits that accrue to a mission-minded church and her members. Churches committed to mission are enriched and energized by their missionary involvement. But a commitment to mission makes demands on the church.

Firstly, the effectiveness of mission depends on Christians living godly and holy lives. By exhibiting the genuine life of Christ, and by engaging in Spirit-filled, Christ-exalting worship, the church is attractive to the unbelieving world. Paul repeatedly urges his readers to consider the impact of their lives on “outsiders” (1 Thess. 4:12; Col. 4:5; 1 Tim. 3:7). The church that bears witness to Christ must show the mind and love of Christ in all her relationships.

Secondly, effective mission requires the church to be active in the ministry of prayer. The church has the important responsibility of offering continuous intercession for the raising up of gospel workers (Matt. 9:37). Paul repeatedly appeals to the church not to forget him and his fellow-workers in their prayers (1 Thess. 5:25; 2 Thess.

3:1). We petition the Lord because we know that it is only as God works powerfully in the hearts and minds of unbelievers that they are changed and transformed. We pray in faith, believing that God will build his church.

If Christ can draw one soul to himself, why can he not draw twenty; and if he can draw twenty, why not twenty thousand and thousands of millions? Why should we not live to see many millions of souls converted to God? Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to present the irresistible attractions of

Christ to the hundreds of millions in the whole human race.

—C.H. Spurgeon

Preparing Preachers

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estminster Theological Seminary is committed to global ministries as it prepares preachers to declare the whole counsel of God to the whole world. The majority of churches in the world are led by pastors without training or resources to shepherd God’s people. Some estimates are that 85% of Christian pastors have no training for ministry and that 5 million pastors in the 10/40 window have no access to any kind of formal biblical training. Unscrupulous pastors are fleecing already impoverished flocks as the prosperity gospel runs rampant. Without solid discipleship and biblical teaching, new Christians are easily deceived by false teaching.

More than anything else, the effective execution of the church’s mission requires preachers, as Paul makes plain. “How are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Rom. 10:14, 15). The mission of God in the world is undertaken in obedience to the command of God, and God himself has designated the method. As God’s servants preach the word of Christ, the people hear Christ himself speaking to them and they can respond in faith (Rom. 10:17).

Confronting the unbelief and complexities of life in our contemporary world requires leaders who have a firm grasp of theology and a clear understanding of the challenges of Christian ministry. Effective global ministry calls for a robust program of theological education so that Christ can be winsomely proclaimed in all his glory and perfections.

Westminster Seminary’s ongoing commitment to training pastor-theologians and preachers who are specialists in the Bible is crucial for the future of the global church.

Stafford Carson is Senior Director of Global Ministries at Westminster. He previously served as principal and professor of ministry at Union Theological College in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Before that he served as executive vice president at Westminster and as minister of First Presbyterian Church in Portadown, Northern Ireland.

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Far Greater things ahead on campus...

Thanks to the sacrificial giving of our generous donors, Westminster Theological Seminary has reached its Far Greater campaign fundraising goal of $50 million to help provide critical student scholarships, campus revitalization, and educational infrastructure to prepare the next generation of biblical specialists for Christ and his global church.

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Will you help us complete the next phase?

We saw an incredible overachievement in the area of scholarships and have successfully expanded our Global Online Network. Moreover, we have managed to secure over 90% of the funding required for a new academic building and chapel. As we are actively working with the contractor and architect, our hope is to commence construction on the academic building by this December, provided we are able to raise an additional $2.5 million.

Will you prayerfully consider helping us reach this goal with a charitable gift?

Did you know that there are planned gifts that can actually provide significant tax benefits and even income to the donor? To learn more about the opportunity, please contact us at stewardship@wts.edu.

wts.edu/donate

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A GLIMPSE INSIDE GLOBAL MINISTRIES AT WESTMINSTER A n i n t e r v i e w w i t h t h e We s t m i n s t e r G l o b a l M i n i s t r i e s Te a m

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

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This Spring, Westminster Magazine had the opportunity to sit down with several members of the seminary’s Global Ministries team to get a glimpse inside Westminster’s mission to the church abroad, including its Black Shield initiative. Due to the sensitive nature of the team’s work, some names and information have been redacted. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and concision.

Westminster Magazine (WM): Can you tell us a little about global ministries? What is the purpose and mission of the global team at Westminster?

David B. Garner (DBG): If you go back to the history of Westminster from Old Princeton at its core, Princeton saw itself as preparing ordained men for gospel ministry, as well as being a nursery for missionaries with a view towards carrying out the great commission of being those in the church, well-trained theologically and biblically, not just for the edification of the church in North America, but for the advance of the gospel to the nations.

And so that’s actually in the DNA of Old Princeton that comes with it to Westminster when we were founded almost a hundred years ago. . .[so] our little parcel here in northwest Philadelphia has had an impact, frankly, that is well beyond what it might look like just from that postage stamp little piece of property here in the suburbs of Philadelphia. And it’s remarkable. And now in the 21st century with the way technology has grown, communications have expanded, and really the best part of globalization has occurred, Westminster has an opportunity to reach the world in ways that it had never had.

Stafford Carson (SC): Global Ministries is really the outworking of the seminary mission statement to train specialists or experts in the Bible. To proclaim the whole counsel of God for Christ and his global church. So we’re taking that mission seriously and understanding that the whole movement and thrust of Christianity across the world today is one of expansion. And we’re seeking to follow that expansion of the church from the north and west into the south and east of the globe.

on Christ and his glory, goes out unhindered, because we believe that is the hope of the world and the message the world needs to hear.

Hukmin Kwon (HK): There is a distinctive feature that Westminster has [theologically] to do global work, because the Reformed tradition is very distinctive from other theological perspectives. So I think its strength is that we can contribute heavily to the globe in these kinds of areas.

Aris Sanchez (AS): Our mission, in Spanish initiatives specifically, is to serve the Spanish-speaking church around the world, not only internationally but also communities within the US, by training leaders to proclaim and defend. So there’s a big component of apologetics embedded into what we’re doing—the whole counsel of God to shepherd the church in truth and love, and to bear faithful witness to Christ.

Black Shield (BS): I think what I would add is that one of the drivers of the global initiatives is that what we develop and implement in training leaders around the world is both fully Westminster, but also fully contextualized to the culture that we’re seeking to train those pastors to serve in. So what we offer isn’t anything less than what comes with being in a Westminster training program, but it is also a culturally sensitive leveraging of the best of whatever culture we’re going to. We’re also speaking to distinct areas of challenge or where the gospel needs to reach in order to bring redemption.

HK: In the Korean context, there has been a historical connection between Westminster and Korean churches since 1930s. . . and our target is not just the Korean peninsula, but also diaspora Koreans around the globe.

SC: Hukmin makes a very good point there. Global ministries and global mission is not a new thing for Westminster. Some of the first graduates were Korean and there was a big interest in China as well in terms of establishing theological education there.

WM: And what is the hope behind that expansion?

WM: Who’s who in the global ministries family?

SC: Our hope is simply that the understanding of Christianity within the whole field of Reformed Orthodoxy with a significant Christological focus, namely a focus

DBG: Well, one of my given titles by our president and affirmed by the board is Vice President of Global

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Ministries, which really means I’m kind of the vision caster, as it were, as well as the encourager and motivator for those who are doing the critical work on the ground. . . We have some amazing people that God has put into our orbit. Listening to them and hearing what they’re doing and being just a fly on the wall, as it were.

Watching the vision and the commitment and the real zeal for execution with excellence for the people around the world, to know God’s word and to know it well, and to know it in a way that they trust in it and rely upon it and are equipped by it through the ministry of the word, and by his spirit. It’s just stunning, seeing what God is doing in and through these people.

SC: I’m the Senior Director in Global Ministries, and my task is simply to oversee and encourage the four initiatives that we have within the global space: Korean, Spanish, and Project A and Project M, which is Black Shield, Westminster’s global initiative of ministry to the persecuted church.

HK: I’m a Senior Director of Global Ministries Korean Initiatives. I’m overseeing all of the Korean initiatives, including the senior team’s relationship with the Korean partners and managing the Korean DMin program and Korean MATS program. Recently we launched a publication wing in South Korea, and we are doing events as well.

AS: I’m Director of Spanish Initiatives here, starting the new program for the Latin community. We’re hoping to launch a certificate program in the fall, then later the MATS. WM: Can you share a little bit of your story? What drew you to the area of missions or global ministry and what continues to inspire you to do that work?

DBG: A few things that I’ll mention. So my parents came to faith in Christ when I was six years old, and I remember the changes in my home. I remember the changes in the rhythm of our lives as it related to church and its priority. After that our home was regularly filled with missionaries and those involved in international ministry. Those are vivid memories for me. . . So when I was pursuing theological education myself and sensing a call to ministry, it always has had a global component to it.

When my family was brought back to the United States [after serving as missionaries in Bulgaria], I actually came back kicking and screaming. I didn’t want to come back. And the Lord had other purposes, and it was clear we needed to come back. But what happened in all of that is that, as I was called to Westminster, the narrative of my youth and of my own experience on the mission field converged in this moment in the life and history of Westminster, which was possible because of globalization and the recent advent of online education.

Global Ministries is really the outworking of the seminary mission statement to train specialists or experts in the Bible.

SC: I’ve been intrigued and interested in the growth and development of Christianity globally for a number of years. And the opportunity to work within the Global Ministries Department of Westminster is really the fulfillment of a long-held aspiration of mine to contribute to the advancement of the kingdom across the world.

HK: I was born in South Korea and I came to study in the MDiv program here in 2005. And when I thought about global missions and a Reformed perspective for the Korean church worldwide, that inspired me. I had a passion for Christ and for the global church. The Korean church sent out a lot of missionaries around the globe.

When an anonymous donor mentioned to me that Westminster could work together with the Korean church in global ministry. . . that motivated me.

AS: I am not bilingual by coincidence or by mistake.

I think my entire life, from working in the corporate world to becoming a pastor, has set me up for understanding the great need in our community for sound biblical theological education. Because of that,

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in March 2011 I received my calling for the pastorate as well as the calling to start a Bible institute for the Spanish speaking world. And with the help of Dr. Garner and a lot and other people from different networks, we launched a theological seminary back in the Dominican Republic in 2018. Since 2016, upon graduating here with my MDiv, I have been embedded in this kind of theological mission for Latin America.

In terms of verses, we are definitely inspired by 2 Timothy 2:2, which says, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” There’s an aspect of teaching for generations to come.

on for a number of years now, where we’ve sought to serve the particular church, but in each location, fundamentally trying to do the same thing, which is what Aris has just talked about in 2 Timothy 2:2—trying to pass on the faith so that others may in turn pass it on to the next generation.

WM: How does the mission of Global Ministries translate to action in your respective fields in the Korean initiative, in the Spanish, and in Black Shield’s work?

How do you balance the need to contextualize to so many different cultures?

faithful men, who will be

DBG: Maybe I’ll illustrate it this way—some of the best children’s sermons (and I’ve heard a couple!) that I’ve ever heard have come from Dr. Vern Poythress. And I use that analogously or illustratively just to express the fact that one of the callings for us as faculty is to be able to deliver the complex and beautiful truths of scripture in a way that is simple and understandable. What that means then is yes, depending on the group with whom we’re engaged, we are going to need to strike at different levels. And we need to be discerning about where this group of students that we have, what is their understanding, what is their baseline, but then be able to communicate these rich truths in a way that is understandable. And we’ve already borne witness to that in this, an initiative in which these leaders of the fledgling church in a country in the Middle East, where they have had zero opportunity and zero training, and yet they know that the Bible is God’s word and they want to understand it.

WM: Westminster also has an online learning department that serves students around the world. What’s the relationship between Global Ministries and online learning?

SC: There’s a fundamental core to what we are doing, which is found in our commitment to a Westminster education and Reformed theology. So it’s a question of working that out in a number of different locations and at different stages of development. The oldest and most long term work has been in Korea, and the Spanish effort is comparatively recent. We’re just getting going on that.

But in terms of our Black Shield work that has been going

“And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to able to teach others also.”

SC: Well, I think in terms of the execution of its mission Westminster has really three key components. The residential program, the English online program, and then the Global Ministries program. And you could say that they’re all part of the same operation, sharing the same common commitments except they just have different iterations or different forms of delivery. What makes Global Ministries different is that we’re using a range of different language media in order to communicate the message and understanding the different cultures that we’re trying to reach. But fundamentally there is no difference. If you take, for example, the MATS program in English, that has provided the content for the Korean KMATS program. And now as we’re expanding into Spanish and into Black Shield we’re using that same basic structure. So there is a lot of shared and common material that we’re using across the various initiatives.

AS: So what we want to establish not only within global, but also within Online Learning (OL), is in the spirit of cooperation, collaboration, and mutual edification.

Those three terms summarize what we want to establish,

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I think. And a shout out to Justin Rainey, Nicolette Choi, and John Kim in OL, who have been extremely helpful and very kind in providing materials. Zack Kim, who is helping us with video editing, is doing some stuff as well for us. So there’s been this cooperation. We’re using some of their materials and templates and different things. Where it is different, at least for the Spanish initiatives, is that they are doing this completely online, whereas our program is going to be introduced initially as a hybrid.

HK: But Korean Initiative offers a hundred percent online KMATS. There is no hybrid kind of format. So we pull all the content from the English MATS, but we upgrade the visuals and subtitles and other parts of the design.

SC: So there’s a core curriculum. . . But we we’re not fundamentally a degree factory. . . We’re seeking to train specialists in the Bible to proclaim Christ. . .

In as much as we are helping to train those leaders in a fledgling church in the Middle East, I am eager for their voice to return to us in terms of calling us to fidelity, calling us to courage.

WM: Can you talk about the ministry and educational needs of the persecuted church as opposed to the West?

DBG: There is a global ministry’s thrust in our residential program in that we are recruiting students literally from around the world, from Africa, from Europe, from Asia, from South and Central America. That is ongoing.

And we want that to remain an ongoing component of our mission and the stewardship of it. That residential

program and programs are a sine qua non of Westminster’s faithfulness in its stewardship. There will not be a day in which that residential component is not critical to what we do. And so even in our global initiatives there will be some of those students that will be in our online programs and in our global ministries programs that end up coming to Glenside. That’s just part of the inner workings of our strategy and the execution of that strategy.

BS: So [for context] in one of our areas, we have 130 students who represent 80 churches with an estimated impact of more than 10,000 congregation members.

DBG: It also depends on the state of the church when the persecution comes. So in a place like the Middle East, where it has been dominated by Islam and the church is fledgling, it is different than the persecution in a place in which Christianity has had a significant role in the society and now is increasingly marginalized.

And, frankly, we need each other. So one of my great desires in all of this is that in as much as we are helping to train those leaders in a fledgling church in the Middle East, I am eager for their voice to speak back into us in terms of calling us to fidelity, calling us to courage.

And I’ve seen this already take place within Project M. We will be seeing the same thing within Project A. And so what this really begs for is fellowship, for communication, and for gathering around the word and stimulating one another to love and good deeds, as Hebrews puts it.

SC: That one particular area that you’re talking about is particularly complex because we’ve moved into an area where there has been very little progress made in terms of theological education. So it’s particularly difficult and particularly challenging, which means that we have to start very slow and we need to build it. But it’s at an early stage. We hope that we can eventually become more mature and more developed within that region.

Our commitment is to the persecuted church and there are millions of Christians today across the world who are living in very constrained, very difficult, very hostile circumstances with regard to the faith. And Westminster has not backed off from that. But we believe that we have a very distinctive ministry to support and help the church in that region.

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Thomas Cole, A View of the Two Lakes and Catskill Mountains in Morning

BS: Westminster is about relationships with the church where we are seeking to serve. And that might look different whether we’re on the ground or not, but our commitment is to longstanding relationships and not trying to do anything but fulfill that mission of making disciples.

SC: We’re committed to supporting Christians and the church who are embedded in their local area.

BS: Black Shield’s ministry is to train leaders who are serving in the persecuted church. And there is, from the institution’s side, a desire to not shrink back from difficult circumstances, but we also believe it is a mandate to go even to the hard places because Christ doesn’t pull back from the hard places. He goes and meets people where they are. And so it is a humble calling. We don’t presume upon ourselves that we have something to offer,

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but we only have something to offer to these believers because of what we have been given. To circle back to that 2 Timothy 2:2 passage.

We don’t presume upon ourselves that we have something to offer, but we only have something to offer to these believers because of what we have been given.

SC: What we’ve discovered is that amongst Christians who are living in very oppressed and hostile environments, there’s a huge hunger and a craving for authentic real robust theology. They don’t want anything that is lighthearted or anything that’s superficial. They’re asking hard and difficult questions. And it’s the Reformed theology of places like Westminster seminary that can begin to answer those difficult and hard questions in terms of our understanding of the scriptures, in terms of apologetics, and in terms of how we understand why the Christian faith holds together in a coherent way.

WM: What people or books or ideas have influenced and continue to influence your work in global ministries?

SC: Well, Westminster has this long tradition of punching above its weight in terms of global influence. You know, my own personal story is of somebody coming from Ireland to here in the 1970s, because we believed that Westminster offered the best theological education that was available on this planet.

If you’re tracing the Westminster trajectory then in our generation, we’re looking back to people like Harvie Conn, Manny Ortiz, and now Tim Keller, who have all been part of the Westminster family. Harvie had, you know, a great sense of the global nature of Christianity.

He and Manny were particularly concerned about the growth of the church and the advance of the gospel in

the city, particularly. And Keller has picked up on that and taken that to another level. So urban mission was always a feature in terms of our history and as part of our program here at Westminster.

BS: And of course we need to mention Dave Garner. You know, he’s really championed global mission in the present day. . . So there is this long organic thread through the whole.

WM: What sets Westminster’s approach to global missions apart?

SC: Westminster has always addressed the difficult contemporary issues that have arisen around Christianity.

So that going back to, say, Christianity & Liberalism with Machen, and following on all the big controversies about the doctrine of Scripture, about the Doctrine of God, all of these big issues and even the apologetic issues have been addressed here at Westminster, which means that it has been a magnet in many ways in terms of attracting students who have wanted to reflect on those issues. And that has been part of the missional impact of Westminster over the years, that we, in the words of Robert Dick Wilson, haven’t shirked the difficult questions. People have been attracted to that and have come here and have gone back to their homelands and sought to spread the same theology. Westminster hasn’t always had 20/20 vision. We’ve had a blind spots in the past. That’s certainly true. But I think there’s always been an eye to what’s going on out there in the real world. And we have sought to relate the Reformed faith to that real difficult and challenging situation. And that makes a Westminster education so attractive to so many people.

BS: We have something to say to culture, but also evangelistically for us, we have, namely we have hope to offer to the world.

WM: What projects, events, or goals are you looking forward to most in the coming year and beyond?

DBG: In the one-year timeframe, I am looking for us to have a fully developed Project M ThM. I would also like to be pivoting from a certificate in Spanish to an MATS in Spanish. At least to be in the full swing of the development of that. In addition, to speak to maybe a

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little longer term vision, by year 100 in Westminster’s life, which we are nearing, I would like for our library to be a global library in which we actually are supporting all of the degrees and certificates that we’re offering in multiple languages, so that every single resource that we are using in those courses is available all around the world through our library and our digital library right here in Glenside.

WM: To wrap up, can you share with readers how we can pray for you as a team and the brothers and sisters abroad Westminster is ministering to?

DBG: Well, internally, I would ask prayer for efficiency and good decision making, teamwork, all those sorts of things. Pray also for good use of the funds that God’s people have given us, for wise and good stewardship. But I would also say that we are and will daily be faced with needs that we cannot meet. And so pray that we’ll be laser-focused on what it is that we are to be about and not be pulled from one opportunity to another, because the opportunities are endless.

How do we pray for the global church? Again, it really is context specific, but all of us need prayer just to know and love the Lord God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, wherever we are and whatever we’re doing.

There is a present-day reformation. We are joining what the Lord is already doing in those places, whereas here in the U.S. churches are going into decline.

HK: We can attract a lot of students from all around the globe, but the tuition level is higher than their local economy will support. So we provide scholarships to cover the difference. It is difficult to meet our financial expenses and their need. So we always pray for scholarship donations.

SC: Pray for us because precisely because we’re trained to take this high-quality theological education into areas which are not as rich or as well off as North America.

We just need all kinds of financial support in order to do that. Many of the people that we’re trying to help through Black Shield are people with very limited financial and material resources. And so it costs us a considerable amount as we try to make that theological education accessible to them.

HK: And we are not just offering degrees. We also like to provide theological literature. So a lot of translation work needs to be done. We need a lot of manpower. So [pray for] bilingual translators or interpreters.

AS: There are 500 million native Spanish speakers in the world. . . [but] we haven’t had the opportunity to have seminaries. We have a fertile ground of people that are very communal. They are very passionate. . . There is a present-day reformation. We are already joining what the Lord is already doing in those places, whereas here in the U.S. churches are going in decline. We don’t have enough pastors to found more churches. People are extremely hungry. They want sound theology.

So this is the moment, this is the time. Can you help us so that we will be able to serve?

We don’t want perfect pharisees. We want transformed people that might serve humbly, every one of us, that we might represent him and glorify him even in the act of translation, in translating articles. So pray that we will be able to have qualified people that will join our mission, not for the sake of gaining a salary, but for the sake of a calling.

BS: If you ask somebody in the persecuted church how you can pray for them, will they ask for, say, deliverance from persecution? Sure. But they’d say more than that.

They would ask too that people would pray that they would stay faithful, that they’d stay faithful to God’s word, faithful to Christ, and faithful to his church no matter what their circumstances might be. I know that’s what they would ask prayer for.

Please prayerfully consider supporting the global church through Westminster’s Global Ministries. If you are interested in learning more, please contact our stewardship department at stewardship@wts.edu.

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Westminster faculty, staff, and students on mission in Indonesia

SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER: Reflections from Indonesia

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Jer r y Timmis and John Suh

esus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13–14)

On the Ground in Indonesia

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t was a humid morning as our small team traversed a narrow, slippery path with tenuous steps down the steep, tropical mountainside. We were journeying to a small enclave where the village school was anticipating our arrival. There are no cars in this village, and only an occasional motorcycle would laboriously sputter as it

made its way past us uphill to the top of the mountain, where it joined a road that wound its way down the other side, into the heart of civilization. We encountered a steady trickle of villagers on the path, all of whom would politely greet us with a smile, nod of the head, and a simple and kind “selamat pagi” (good morning).

Our team consisted of our Westminster contingent and three Indonesian professionals from Jakarta who had committed a week of their time to join a church organized gospel rally on the island of Ambon. Over the course of the week, people from the church, along with Westminster seminarians and President Lillback would share Christ from his Word to children in grades 1–12.

Drenched in sweat from the rigorous hike and warm

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humidity, we saw the little school materialize through the trees as we made our way down the path. The school was constructed in a U-shape with a large courtyard (typical for schools in Ambon). As we entered the courtyard, surrounded on three sides with open doors and windows, a small boy jumped into the first opening that we passed, announcing our entry into the courtyard with a yell.

Water from the Well

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e were greeted by the principal and a young teacher, and then ushered into the principal’s office for tea. They were expecting us. She recited the history of the school and village.

Both professing Christians in a predominantly Muslim country, they shared the needs that they hoped we would address in our teaching to what would be the majority of the school’s students. The young teacher had grown up in the village, gone to the school, left to be trained as a teacher, and returned to educate the village’s students as her mission and witness. They were delighted to hear that we would be preaching to the school from John 4 about Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.

We were led from the principal’s office, through the courtyard and into a large classroom where multiple grades filed in and were seated. The students looked quizzically and enthusiastically at their guests, clearly of different ethnic backgrounds from the Ambonese (Ambone is a three-hour flight from Jakarta. Indonesia is an archipelago with over 17,000 islands and 1,300 distinct

ethnic groups). We introduced ourselves with the help of a Jakartan interpreter, and knew immediately that we would have a lively and engaging conversation. When asked if they wanted to hear about a well from which springs of living water flowed, the students excitedly replied in unison with “YA!”

We invited the students and teachers to trust Christ, the Messiah who had come to them to convict and free them from sin and death, and to also become as the Samaritan evangelist, proclaiming to their friends and family, “Come, see!”

Ambon is replete with flowing wells due to its mountainous geography and long rainy season. Almost every school we visited had their own well, and this village was no exception—its well fed a steady stream of cool water that flowed along the path.

President Lillback teaching in Ambon

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We began with a biblical text where the theme of water is so prominent, something that these people are very familiar with. “What is it like to drink water from a well?” we asked.

“Cold! Fresh!”

“What if you could drink a type of water that would take away your thirst forever? Would you want that?”

“YA!” We would go on to share how Jesus went out of his way to enter Samaria where, like Ambon’s tension between Muslims and Christians, the Samaritan’s beliefs conflicted with those of the Jewish people. Jesus, an Israelite, went for the purpose of reaching a Samaritan woman, who would arrive at the hottest time of the day in order to avoid people because of her shame of repeated sinful, broken relationships. In his engagement with the woman, he reveals that he knows of her sin but offers life, “springs of living waters welling up from within,” by which she would never thirst again. She leaves her empty jar at the well, running with courage and abandon to the very people she was avoiding in order to declare that the Messiah had come. She became the first Gentile evangelist, proclaiming, “Come, see” the Messiah. They came and believed.

We invited the students and teachers to trust Christ, the Messiah who had come to them to convict and free them from sin and death, and to also become as the Samaritan evangelist, proclaiming to their friends and family, “Come, see!”

…biblically Reformed people should be an evangelistic and missional people. Sharing Christ is what Christ’s people do.

This was a repeated experience, each day for a week this last October as teams like ours spread throughout the island in an incredible, orchestrated effort to saturate Ambon’s students with the Word of God. This was carried out by a group of 60 Jakartans from the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia (RECI), accompanied by a group of students and leaders from Westminster. We were led by Pastor Benyamin Intan, also the President of the Reformed Evangelical Theological Seminary in Jakarta and a native of Ambon.

Gospel Rallies and a Commitment to Evangelism

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Sophie Hauser and Kimberlyn Bridges with students in Ambon

ospel rallies are a regular part of the rhythm and annual calendar of the Reformed Evangelical Movement in Indonesia, started by Dr. Stephen Tong in 1984. From the inception of this denomination, the expectation is that a biblically Reformed people should be an evangelistic and missional people. Sharing Christ is what Christ’s people do. Many of those we were traveling with were influenced or became Christians as a result of past rallies. They could point to a time when someone from the church came to speak to them while they were students. And as a result, their lives were changed. It was the reason they were here now. Those who were once sought out were now seeking others out as fishers of men.

The commitment to evangelism in the Reformed church in Indonesia is starkly more palpable than our

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Jerry Timmis with students in Ambon

experience in the West. Perhaps even more impactful than the evangelism itself was the experience of being joined in gospel labor with these ardent believers, as our Westminster students can attest to: Kimberlyn—“I can still remember a group of us driving to lunch on our last day in Indonesia with some of the new friends and ministry partners we had made along the way. As we drove, they told us story after story, recounting the ways the Lord was working through their evangelistic opportunities and in their own lives. These testimonies of God’s grace moved me in a way that they would not have at the beginning of the trip. That entire week, I had watched these servants of God step away from their successful careers, engaging in intensive, fast-paced evangelism with us on a neighboring island, all while showing us radical hospitality and giving God all the glory for the fruit. What they believed and proclaimed was consistent with the way they lived. Praise God for the power of the gospel!”

Sophie—“On our first Sunday morning in Indonesia, we stood amidst a lively congregation of fellow Christians and recited the Apostle’s Creed together in different languages but in one voice. This was the first time I had ever been able to see and experience the universal church so visibly. The ability to worship beside our fellow brothers and sisters and experience their love and

hospitality has left an indelible mark on my life. Following our week in Jakarta, when we went to Ambon, this impression only grew. Seeing men and women put everything in their lives on hold for the thing that is truly the most important to them, the gospel, has reoriented how I live my life on the other side of the world. I don’t think I will ever be able to truly and succinctly express how grateful I am for this experience and the friendships I gained. Through it all, Christ’s love, mercy, and provision was leading the way, and it was seen by me with clear sight that is far too often clouded.”

All told, God’s word was proclaimed to over 53,000 students, 10% of the population of Ambon Island, in one week’s time.

Shelby—“What a joy it was to worship and serve the cause of Christ with so many brothers and sisters on the other side of the globe! I thank God for the chance to

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The beauty of God's creation in Indonesia

catch a glimpse of the kind of unity the people of God are privileged to experience when we turn our gaze towards the things of Christ, that is, towards the very one who has drawn us together in the first place.”

John—“It was about halfway through the gospel rally week, and we had met with numerous beautiful, wide-eyed, and excited students from all over the island of Ambon. And one night, after hearing report after report, I stood to share a heartfelt conviction and amazement: On the island of Ambon, we were not the ones going out to meet these students. It was Jesus who was expressing his going out of the way to meet with them, and we were a simple part of his passion for his glory and plan to raise worshipers for his name. He is the one desirous of the people he calls and saves, and we were all merely participants. He was the one going out of his way to meet with people. We became, and wherever and whenever there is missions, we become participants in God’s ultimate going out of the way to raise up a people to declare that he is the God who sees way beyond anyone’s capacity, and quenches a thirst that no well can satisfy.”

All told, God’s word was proclaimed to over 53,000

students, 10% of the population of Ambon Island, in one week’s time. But for those of us from Westminster, witnessing the impact of God’s Word, even when spoken through an interpreter, was profoundly moving for the 6 people that flew to the other side of the world to share the gospel, only to be profoundly evangelized by it and the lives of their Indonesian brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jerry Timmis Vice President of Stewardship at Westminster and enrolled in the MATS program. Jerry is an ordained ruling elder in the OPC. He served most recently at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Ada, MI. John Suh is the Executive Assistant to the President of Westminster Theological Seminary. He and his wife Angela are in their last semester of MDiv studies.

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N O W AVA I L A B L E

An exploration of religion, revelation, and the distinctness of the Christian faith in the context of global religions.

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A BIBLICAL CASE FOR GLOBAL STEWARDSHIP Blake Franze

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I

magine the journeys of the Apostle Paul. Your mind’s eye likely places him in the Areopagus or finds him explaining the gospel from the Hebrew Scriptures to a crowded synagogue. Perhaps you envision him hunched over a table crafting one of his letters by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. Or perhaps you imagine him somewhere in a desert, on a mountain, or crossing a sea—somewhere along the 10,000 dangerous miles his mission took him. When Paul finally reached one or another metropolis, the dangers of the open road were only exceeded by the vitriol and violence with which people rejected his message. In 2 Corinthians 11:25–27, Paul paints his own picture for us: “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, frequently on journeys, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own people, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, in danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship, often without sleep, in hunger and thirst, and often without food, in cold and insufficient clothing.”

But have you ever considered that Paul or one of his close traveling companions, in the face of all these circumstances and dangers, would always need to keep a watchful eye on the group’s money bag? I imagine that this minor detail would have frequently occupied the minds of Paul and his companions. The threat of robbery was present both in the city and out on the road (Acts 17:9). Perhaps they carried a coin pouch of thicker leather disguised inside a burlap food sack. They were likely to always have it tied to the waist or over the shoulder. They kept it close while they slept. Missionary travels involve such practical concerns.

However, Paul never gives the impression that these missionaries’ main concern was whether they could afford their next night’s lodgings. Neither greed nor their oft-empty bellies were the primary motivators for such loss-prevention measures. Further, Paul was adamant that his mission was not about trading the gospel for coin (1 Cor. 9:15–18; 2 Cor. 11:9; 1 Thess. 2:5, 9). Neither was money management an unfortunate necessity for sustaining the “real” work of gospel proclamation. Paul’s great concern for the money bag was not an anxiety that distracted him from the mission. Rather, that ordinary, jangling leather pouch was one of the most tangible

parts and constant reminders of God’s great mission to save the world by giving his Son.

Money and Ministry

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t is easy to forget that from the very beginning, Paul’s itinerant ministry was married to a concern for the poor (Gal. 2:10). Specifically, part of Paul’s ministry was to take up a collection from the various Gentile churches in order to support the believers living in Jerusalem. He explains this “collection for the saints” in 1 Corinthians 16:1–4, directing the church in Corinth to follow the pattern of the churches in Galatia to set something aside on the first day of each week. That way, Paul or a co-worker could collect the gift upon their arrival and bring it to Jerusalem (see also 2 Cor. 8–9; Rom. 15:25–29). This monetary gift from Gentiles to Jews, the logistics of which occupied much of Paul’s ministry, was a boots-on-the-ground fulfillment of the mystery that was hidden for ages, but now revealed in Christ. God, in Christ, was at work to create the one new man out of both Jew and Gentile (Eph. 2:11–22).

This collection was a profound enactment of the unity of Christ’s body. Once Christ destroyed the dividing wall of hostility, the “new man” took its first steps in the form of a world-wide “benevolent offering.” So, Paul’s careful stewardship of this offering (and of his own financial support received from churches) was simply one expression of his “stewardship of God’s grace” (Eph. 3:2).

Getting that money to Jerusalem was part of the gospel mission itself (Rom. 15:15, 28). Perhaps this was part of Paul’s adamance that he personally return to Jerusalem despite the warning about his certain imprisonment (Acts 21:12–14).

On Gold and Grace

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aul repeatedly identifies the collection for the Jerusalem believers as divine grace (or charis, see 2 Cor. 8:1, 6, 8). Also, the Macedonians understood that participating in this collection was itself a charis (the same Greek word is behind the ESV translation “favor” in 2 Cor. 8:4). Paul explains that this monetary gift between believers was grounded in the fact that Christ’s self-gift had made the Corinthian believers rich (8:9)—not rich in money, but in the grace (charis)

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it takes to give out an “abundance of joy,” even in the face of your own affliction (8:2). In sum, by God’s grace the Macedonians had taken part in the grace of sharing God’s grace with others. In this case, the tangible expression of God’s grace that was passed from Gentile believers to Jewish believers happens to be financial. However, the riches of God’s grace can be shared among believers in countless other ways, such as when a believer employs their spiritual gift by comforting a grieving sister or when a church member takes a meal to a family in need.

Take another example from Paul’s life. The Philippians had provided Paul monetary support (4:10–14), they had prayed for him (1:19), and when Paul was in jail they sent Epaphroditus to personally minister to him, even at the risk of his own life (2:25–30)! Paul described this as their “partnership in the gospel” (1:5) and called the Philippians “partakers with me in grace” (1:4). The word for “partakers” can also be translated co-sharers, or better, “co-fellowshipers in grace.” In Paul’s eyes, the Philippians had properly expressed Christian fellowship.

Fellowship means not only resting in our union with Christ and one another, but actively sharing and partaking of Christ with one another through any manner of giving of ourselves, just as Christ gave his very self, from prayer to personal encouragement to monetary gifts. Yes, even putting money in the offering plate is an example of sharing in the grace of Christ. Offerings are not the unfortunate necessity we use to keep our churches running. Part of God’s gift to us in Christ is that, through our union with him, we can use everything we have—our prayers, our words, our time, our money—to share God’s grace with one another.

Fellowship with God the Giver

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od’s gospel invites us into fellowship with the giving God. What theologians call the intra-trinitarian fellowship—how the persons of the Godhead relate to one another—can be described as the divine persons eternally giving themselves to one another in love. “Self-giving” is a characteristic of the God we image. This giving God has a plan to create a people for himself through giving: God has given the Son to save the world (John 3:16). Christ Jesus has given himself for this task (Gal 1:4), giving up his life for unworthy recipients (Rom 5:8). Jesus gave the Holy

Spirit to the church to protect her, guide her, and unite himself to her (Luke 24:49; Acts 2:2–3). Paul tells us that Christ also gave us the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. Why? So that, through them, Christ might “equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:12). The Holy Spirit has also given every believer spiritual gifts. Why? Paul says it is for the “common good” of the church (1 Cor. 12:7), for “building up the church” (1 Cor. 14:12). The Father gives the Son and the Spirit, the Son gives himself and the Spirit, the Spirit gives gifts to believers, and so also believers united to Christ give themselves to one another as part of God’s mission to establish a people for himself.

“Self-giving” is a characteristic of the God we image.

From beginning to end, giving is God’s plan for church building, including our own material and financial giving. Like Paul, we have been graced in Christ with an integral role in God’s redemptive plan to spread his name over the whole world. When we obey the call to be cheerful givers (2 Cor. 9:7), we faithfully image our self-giving God. The reason we can give cheerfully—even in the face of afflictions—is that Christ first gave himself for us (9:15). For Paul, generosity among God’s people is not a display of our wealth or of what we have done to be able to give such great gifts. Rather, Christian giving is a demonstration of what Christ has done to make us rich in the grace we share with one another. Whatever we have to give, and however much of it we give, we all participate in the same grace and all join God’s grandest mission to save the world through giving.

Blake Franze is a current PhD student in New Testament at Westminster.

He and his family live in Glenside and worship at Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Conschohocken, PA.

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The Miracle of Man Westminster Conference on Science and Faith September 29-30, 2023 Live streaming available Sponsored by wtsscienceandfaith.com

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Thomas Fearnley, Landskap med Vandringsmann

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y wife was partly brought up in Luzern, Switzerland, by a nanny nicknamed “Häf.” When Barbara became a believer through the ministry of L’Abri, Fraulein Häfliger consulted her network of connections in this small country and discovered that she had been influenced by “an American pastor living in Huémoz.” Huémoz is a tiny village in the Protestant canton of Vaud. Francis Schaeffer (1912–1984) was indeed an American, and he was an ordained Presbyterian. Additionally, it is also true that in the last part of his life, he allied himself with the American evangelical right. But the implication given that he was some sort of national, using his mountain top as a platform to spread the influence of America, is misguided.

When I first came to L’Abri, the community where the family eventually settled and ministered to people, I was an agnostic. I was immediately struck by the

international character of all the guests and students present. I had grown up in France and felt most welcomed there. The speaker in the church on Sunday morning was from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). Students came from all over Europe. And there were a few Africans and a handful of Asians. The “lingua franca” was English. This all spoke powerfully to me about the Christian faith.

Early Evidence

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o begin with, as is the case for most non-native Americans, Schaeffer’s origins were “international.” He was from German working-class people on his father’s side and the English middle class on his mother’s. His wife, Edith, was born in Wenzhou, China to missionary parents.

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FRANCIS SCHAEFFER AND HIS GLOBAL INFLUENCE William Edgar

Schaeffer was converted in part because of a random (humanly speaking) read through a book of philosophy. The book, covering the Greeks and all varieties of Europeans, raised questions that could only be answered by the Scriptures. During seminary, he got caught up in what he called “The Movement,” a fundamentalist group led by the likes of Carl McIntire, Allan MacRae, and James O. Buswell. It was Presbyterian, but in addition to the Westminster confessional standards, its adherents held to a premillenarian eschatology and generally forbade “liberties” such as dancing, theater, gambling, drinking alcohol, and smoking.

Crucially, this group was strongly separatist. Believing in “the purity of the visible church,” they formed a new denomination, the Bible Presbyterian Church, and adhered to alternative missions organizations such as the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions

and the International Council of Christian Churches.

Both were fiercely opposed to the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the National Council of Churches (NCC), which were considered liberal or “modernist” (some even suspected the WCC of having ties with Soviet communism).

Schaeffer was a pastor in St. Louis, and a leader in these two groups. He was also the co-founder of Children for Christ, whose strategy was to lead children to Jesus Christ through Bible studies, regional camps, and the like. It was intensely separatist, though it became international.

A defining episode in Schaeffer’s ministry was a prolonged trip to Europe in the summer of 1947. Following the war, the Independent Board expressed concern over the state of the church in various European countries.

Liberal theology, as well as its variant neo-orthodoxy, had come from Europe. The Schaeffer’s were not sure that Christians on that continent were fully aware of that, nor of the dangers, as they saw it, tied to their departures from historic Christianity. Fran and Edith hung a poster on their bedroom wall that said, “Go ye into all the world.” In the spring of 1947, the Independent Board discussed Schaeffer’s calling intensely and decided to send him on an exploratory mission to Europe.

By any standard, this was an exhausting expedition.

Transportation was by air, sea, train, and bus. Schaeffer visited numerous countries, sleeping in 53 different places, conferring with hundreds of church leaders, mostly evangelicals who resisted participation in the WCC. As both he and Edith would comment later, this trip, though exhausting, paved the way for their move abroad.

Why was Schaeffer drawn to Europe? The reasons stated above were crucial. It was felt that many Christians were not properly armed against the heterodoxies of liberalism and neo-orthodoxy. Americans could help.

Yet there is more. My own family is not particularly evangelical, but we moved to France just after the war.

There were significant business opportunities for my father, who was in the telegraph industry. Significantly, Europeans in general, and French people in particular, grateful for the sacrifices of the American military, welcomed us “expats.” During the Cold War, Joseph Nye described the United States as the greatest (though flawed) power on earth in an article provocatively titled, “The New Rome Meets the New Barbarians,” published

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in The Economist in 2002. He predicted that, like all great superpowers, America would eventually recede. Francis Schaeffer seemed to know both the power and the risk of decline in the West, which explains both the opportunity and the urgency with which he carried out his mission.

Besides his tireless pleading among churches to resist liberalism in all its guises, Schaeffer visited as many museums as possible. Schaeffer was captivated by the visual arts. He used to take his family to museums in St. Louis and other places they lived before moving to Europe. His friendship with art historian Hans Rookmaaker is poignant. When I was at L’Abri, where the family eventually settled and ministered to people, Fran led trips to Florence to discover the beauties of the Uffizi, the Academy, and the great churches there, such as the Duomo. The community held periodic arts festivals in Huémoz. He not only enjoyed paintings for themselves but believed art to be a key to the worldview of an era. He thought evangelicals had deprived themselves of exploiting this unique illustration of trends. He believed art and culture were way ahead of theology in the drift toward irrationalism. This was expressed in his well-known “line of despair,” which traced the shift from a belief in absolutes to relativism.

Theology was in last place, after philosophy and the arts.

It is my view that his love for the arts is what “saved” him from becoming a right-wing malcontent. In the famous “hayloft experience,” which I will describe shortly, Francis Schaeffer went through a spiritual crisis where he had come to wonder whether he had so stressed doctrinal orthodoxy that he failed to exercise the requisite application of Christian faith to every area of life. Especially, he had thought that he lacked love and compassion for those with whom he had disagreed.

Settling into Missions Work

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ater, Schaeffer became the recording secretary for an international conference sponsored by the American Council of Christian Churches.

As Colin Duriez notes in his book Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life (p. 76), the Council issued “an invitation to the evangelical and reformed Churches of the world to meet in Amsterdam, Holland, August 12 to 19, 1948, there to form, if it please God, an International Council of Christian Churches, for The Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The stress on “the world” is

hard to miss. Amsterdam was chosen in part because the city would host the first meeting of the WCC just a week later. It was also a resolutely international center. This is where Schaeffer first met Hans Rookmaaker.

He believed art and culture were way ahead of theology in the drift toward irrationalism.

The Schaeffer’s went on from there to take up residence in Switzerland. They ended up in Chalet Bijou, in the skiing village of Champéry, located in the Roman Catholic canton of Valais. Travel to various parts of Europe was relatively easy from Champéry. The Schaeffer’s also exercised more and more hospitality to people from, literally, all over. It was there they began fully to realize their future vocation, as they received Finishing School young women from different parts of the world, answering their questions and presenting the gospel to them.

Spiritual Crisis

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s is well-known to Schaeffer admirers, the man went through a serious spiritual crisis in the early 1950s. Several factors gave birth to this dark period. There is a moving account of the crisis in Colin Duriez’s excellent biography (pp. 103–117). To put it in language Schaeffer would himself adopt, those in “the movement,” including himself, had come to a place of “cold orthodoxy.” At bottom, this was a contradiction in terms. Schaeffer felt that he had been right in doctrine, including his separatism, but lacking in love. He could not live with the tension, and so he put everything, including his original commitment to the gospel, into question.

After months of self-examination, pacing up and down the hayloft in their chalet, he came to the conclusion that his step of faith had been right. But he also confessed to a serious lack of “reality” (a favorite term in the L’Abri vocabulary). He had forgotten about walking with the Lord “moment by moment,” and the application of the Christian faith to all of life. This included not only

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the arts but every kind of human interaction. Eventually the Schaeffers broke with the movement and became independent faith missionaries. This experience was foundational for the work of L’Abri, as he would state in his book True Spirituality (1972, p. 3).

Facing Pressure and Serving Well

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n a series of dramatic events, the Schaeffers were told to leave Switzerland because of “having a religious influence in Champéry,” no doubt under pressure from the local Roman Catholic bishop, who had grown suspicious of their evangelistic successes with prominent villagers. In an extraordinary twist of providence, they ended up in the tiny village of Huémoz/sur/Ollon in the Protestant canton of Vaud. The full story is found in Edith Schaeffer’s L’Abri (1992) as well as her larger book, The Tapestry (1981).

To that place scores, then hundreds of visitors arrived with questions about the faith. L’Abri was to become truly a “shelter” for anyone who would come and receive a welcome. Their outreach was nothing if not international.

The Schaeffers loved people. I experienced this firsthand.

They loved people from every corner of the earth.

Here’s one homely illustration. My wife Barbara and he were walking up the road toward Villars. They paused briefly over a little graveyard. With tears in his eyes, Dr. Schaeffer reflected on the hope of the resurrection. One day these graves would open and the people would gaze upon Jesus.

Francis still traveled a good deal, but their ministry at home was clearly the hub. And things grew. Eventually, Schaeffer began to record his lectures, which were distributed worldwide. He also wrote books which documented his lecture material. He authored 23 of them, and they sold millions all over the world, in English and in translation. Finally, he made two films which had widespread popularity: How Should We Then Live? And, with C. Everett Koop, Whatever Happened to the Human Race?

Francis Schaeffer Today

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oday, some forty years after his death, there are ten residential L’Abri communities all over the world. The reasons for the global character of Francis Schaeffer’s vision are various.

First, as someone who was widely read in philosophy and art history, he realized how Europe had been the hub for the generation of the most important cultural trends in two millennia. The subtitle of his monumental book and film How Should We Then Live? is The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, which expresses this well.

The sources and character of his historiography merit extensive discussion. But there is no question about its scope.

Second, Francis Schaeffer had an inborn inquisitiveness about people, places, and things. This is hard to put into words. But when one was with him, one sensed a nearly voracious interest in global phenomena. He ministered during the Cold War. In an interview with Colin Duriez, he warns against Russian hegemony (Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life, pp. 214–216). He might have been surprised by the “miracle year” of 1989, followed by the near collapse of world-wide communism. But then he would have been confirmed in the recent war on Ukraine.

His support in the latter part of his life for the American right, the moral majority, and the anti-abortion campaign was puzzling to some of us. It probably should not have been. He always had conservative “republican” values. And the likes of Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy were drawn to his suggestions, in one of his last books, The Christian Manifesto (revised and republished by Crossway in 2005), that in some circumstances believers may have to exercise civil disobedience.

Finally, Schaeffer knew that the Christian faith was the most “translatable” of world religions. C. S. Lewis, in his “Rejoinder to Dr. Pittenger (God in the Dock, pp.

177, 183), reminds us that our work is to translate every important theological concept into the vernacular. This was essentially what Francis Schaeffer did so well, in all of his ministry.

William Edgar (DTheol, Universite de Geneve) is professor emeritus of apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary. He retired in 2022. His most recent book is A Supreme Love (IVP, 2022).

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ALUMNI UPDATES Ryan Ahlenius (2019) started a new biblical counseling ministry out of Trinity Church Denver in Denver, CO. The ministry is called Lumen Counseling. ______ Kenneth Berding (2000) recently published Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh: New Clues for an Old Problem with Lexham Academic. ______ Kelle Craft was ordained as pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Volga, SD. ______ John Davis has served as lead pastor at Grace Church of Philly in the Feltonville neighborhood for more than 13 years. They are a multi-lingual church ministering in English, Spanish, and French. ______ Robert DeMoss, Sr. (1954) went to be with his Savior on March 11, 2023. He was surrounded by loved ones, and had just celebrated 95 years of God’s goodness in his life, and 70 years of marriage. Unsurprisingly, he spent his final days in worship and eager expectation of being with Jesus, whom he loved so dearly.

Rev. Dr. Jim Klukow (1987) recently accepted the denominational staff position as Program Coordinator for the home mission agency of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (Outreach North America). Jim has been working with church plants and church renewals for over 20 years with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Denomination. ______ Justin Marple (2005) began a new call at First Presbyterian Church of Chittenango, New York, in December. The presbytery installed him as the pastor on April 23. ______ Daniel Schrock (2011) was installed as the Pastor of Bethel OPC in Wheaton, IL on May 12. ______ Frank Smith (1993) recently published Race, Church and Society through Presbyterian Scholars Press. ______

Arthur Fox (1994) received a call to New Hope OPC in Hanford, California in 2018, where he has been serving since.

Peter Stzo was a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in the Social Sciences last year at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He taught an upper-level undergraduate social work course on mental health and conducted a visual study of Singapore’s “hidden youth.” Peter reports that his “Fulbright experience was grace-filled as God taught me how Christians are faithful in that part of His Kingdom.”

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Colin Gingrich (2022) was ordained and installed as the associate pastor of Proclamation Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Mount Joy, PA in July 2022.

Neil Tolsma (1965) released a new book called Love Matters: A Biblical Guide for Growing in Our Love for God and Others.

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David Gundrum (1990) will defend his PhD dissertation in Christian Counseling, “Specialization in Life Coaching” at the end of this year. He also wrote a devotional book, The New Day Devotional.

Omar Villacress (2020) was recently ordained as a teaching elder with EPC. He is now the lead pastor of Garwood Church in Garwood, NJ. ______

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Donald White (1981) will retire after 32 years of serving the Second Reformed Church of Marion, NY. ______ Michael Williams (1987) has a new book coming out May: Old Testament Passages with Deeper Meaning: The Surprising Significance of Seemingly Ordinary Verses with Zondervan. ______ Tim Yates (2021) recently completed a PhD in Theology/Apologetics (Dec. 2021) from NorthWest

University, South Africa—“Adapting the Westminster Standards’ Moral Law Motif to Integrate Systematic Theology, Apologetics and Pastoral Practice.” He used these research ideas to completely revise his 2017 book, now called Westminster Foundations: God’s Glory as an Integrating Perspective on Reformed Theology (2023) as well as publish a summary article in Unio cum Christo’s April 2023 journal called “Adapting the Structural Perspectives of the Westminster Larger Catechism for Biblical Counselor Training.”

WESTMINSTER NEWS & EVENTS z Westminster’s 2023 Graduation will be held on campus on Thursday, May 25th at 2:00 PM. All graduates are welcome to bring guests. The ceremony will be outdoors, weather permitting. There will be a banquet on the evening of Wednesday, May 24th, and each graduate will receive a complimentary ticket for themselves and one guest. Additional tickets will be available for purchase. z On September 6th, 2023 the Stephen Tong Chair Dedication will occur on Westminster’s Glenside campus. The day will commence with a convocation address by Dr. Stephen Tong and culminate in Stephen Coleman’s installation as the first occupant of the Tong Chair.

z The 2023 Conference on Preachers and Preaching will occur on October 17th and October 18th. This year, the conference will focus on “The Preacher as Theologian,” featuring lectures by Kevin DeYoung, Matthew Roberts, and Steve Nichols. z The Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards will host the Craig Seminar each month during the academic year. During the 2023–2024 academic year, seasoned scholars and PhD students will consider “The Westminster Assembly and Its World.” To receive regular updates, please follow the Craig Center on Facebook and subscribe to the Craig Center mailing list at its website, craigcenter.wts.edu.

z Westminster Theological Seminary and the Discovery Institute will coordinate to host “The Miracle of Man,” a joint conference that explores the scientific and theological contours of anthropological questions, such as human identity, uniqueness, and design. The 2023 Westminster Conference on Science and Faith will occur on September 29–30th, 2023, at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, and feature a variety of speakers, including Dr. Mark Garcia, Dr. Vern Poythress, Dr. Dave Garner, and Dr. Michael Denton.

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“WALKING” T h o m a s Tr a h e r n e ( 1 6 3 7 – 1 6 74 ) To walk abroad is, not with eyes, But thoughts, the fields to see and prize; Else may the silent feet, Like logs of wood, Move up and down, and see no good Nor joy nor glory meet.

Ev’n carts and wheels their place do change, But cannot see, though very strange The glory that is by; Dead puppets may Move in the bright and glorious day, Yet not behold the sky.

And are not men than they more blind, Who having eyes yet never find The bliss in which they move; Like statues dead They up and down are carried Yet never see nor love.

To walk is by a thought to go; To move in spirit to and fro; To mind the good we see; To taste the sweet; Observing all the things we meet How choice and rich they be.

To fly abroad like active bees, Among the hedges and the trees, To cull the dew that lies On ev’ry blade, From ev’ry blossom; till we lade Our minds, as they their thighs.

Observe those rich and glorious things, The rivers, meadows, woods, and springs, The fructifying sun; To note from far The rising of each twinkling star For us his race to run.

A little child these well perceives, Who, tumbling in green grass and leaves, May rich as kings be thought, But there’s a sight Which perfect manhood may delight, To which we shall be brought.

While in those pleasant paths we talk, ’Tis that tow’rds which at last we walk; For we may by degrees Wisely proceed Pleasures of love and praise to heed, From viewing herbs and trees.

To note the beauty of the day, And golden fields of corn survey; Admire each pretty flow’r With its sweet smell; To praise their Maker, and to tell The marks of his great pow’r.

Vilhelm Kyhn, Junidag ved Rørvig

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FACULTY NEWS & UPDATES David Briones will host a podcast companion to Westminster Seminary Press’s new edition of Christianity & Liberalism. The show seeks to apply principles from the book to crises in the church today.

Stephen Coleman is happy to join the Pastoral Fellows students on a special trip to Israel this summer. When he returns, he will give a lecture on the topic of Discovering Christ in Wisdom Literature at the Annual Conference on Reformed Theology in São Luis, Brazil.

Brandon Crowe has several upcoming essays. Brandon’s article entitled “Three Things You Should Know About Mark” is due out this spring at Ligonier.org.

Brandon also has two TableTalk essay’s due out this year. The first commemorates Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism, and the second explores “Jesus’ Trials, Temptations, and Testings.” Also of note is a full-length volume entitled The Lord Jesus Christ: The Biblical Doctrine of the Person and Work of Christ, which is to be published by Lexham later this year.

John Currie will lecture at The Spring Gap Bible Series Seminar, which will occur from June 9th to June 20th. Also in the month of June, John will present at the Church Gathered and Scattered Annual Family Retreat from June 16th to June 18th.

Iain Duguid recently sent off an article to TableTalk for their August edition entitled “Israel’s Testing in the Wilderness.” Iain also recently completed the manuscript of his Genesis Commentary for Crossway for their ESV Expository

Commentary series, which will be out later this year. Iain was also recently interviewed by Mary Jane Holt on her “Reach to Touch” program about “Ezra-Nehemiah: Rebuilding What’s Ruined.” Finally, Iain appeared on Roger Marsh’s broadcast to discuss his recent country music devotional, entitled Me and God: A 21 Day Country Music Devotional.

Rob Edwards has an article due out in the spring edition of Westminster Theological Journal entitled “Corporate Dimensions of a Covenantal Apologetic: The Life of the Church in Our Witness to the World.”

David B. Garner will give the Summer Lecture Series at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina on August 6th. His topic is “Glorification.” From September 21st to September 23rd, David will lecture at the Defending the Faith Conference, which is to be held in Santiago Theological Seminary in the Dominican Republic. On September 30th, David will join other Westminster faculty at the Westminster Conference on Science and Faith. His presentation is titled “By Divine Design: Human Dignity and Covenant Life.”

Finally, from October 6th to October 8th, David will lecture at the Biblical Anthropology Conference at Spruce Creek Presbyterian Church in Port Orange, Florida.

Jonathan Gibson has three upcoming speaking engagements. On May 28th, Jonny will preach at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi. From June 13th to June 15th, he will be at the International Presbyterian Church’s Catalyst conference. Also in June, he will lecture on Genesis 1–11 at London Seminary from June 20th to June 23rd. He has a number of publications due out this year. Look out for his 2 Peter: Living Now in Light of Then, which will be published by New Fortress

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Press in August, 2023. In September 2023, Jonny’s O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: A Liturgy for Daily Worship from Advent to Epiphany is due to be published. Finally, he has two essays, “The Christ of Sweet Grace” and “The Grace of Divine Dwelling,” both of which will be published in The God of Salvation, edited by Joel Beeke.

Mark Garcia is writing an essay on Neo-Calvinism in relation to patristic and medieval Christianity for the T&T Clark Companion to Neo-Calvinism. In this essay he focuses on Hugh of St Victor’s artes mechanicae in relation to “organic” Reformed anthropology and the metaphysics of personhood and of craftsmanship. Mark is also teaching a series of studies this summer on theological and pastoral themes in the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. He will speak on “ordinary faithfulness” at Faithful Shepherd Retreat for Ministry Leaders and Their Wives in NJ on May 15-17, then give five talks on theological and biblical aspects of the meaning of man/male and woman/ female for a multi-day Pentecost festival at Christ Reformed URC in Nampa, Idaho. He will teach courses for WTS (Online Doctrine of Man) and Greystone (Domestic Violence in Theology and Ministry; Moral Theology for Ministry) this summer as he continues to work on his Romans commentary and several other writing projects.

Peter A. Lillback has a variety of upcoming engagements. On March 31st, Peter will give the James Montgomery Boice lectures for the George Whitfield Society in Oklahoma City. In April, Peter hosted the Herrell Lecture with Sinclair Ferguson in Naples, Florida.

From May 2–4 Peter will be present at Gospel Reformation Network in Charlotte, North Carolina. Finally, he will give two lectures on the doctrine of God at a Latin America Reformed Theological Conference in Colombia, South America.

K. Scott Oliphint recently published an annotated edition of Cornelius Van Til’s A Christian Theory of Knowledge, which is available through Westminster Seminary Press.

Alfred Poirier recently recorded episodes for a new podcast series, Christian Answers to Hard Questions. He will teach on “Peacemaking” at Harvey Cedars for the Congregation of Grace Redeemer, New Jersey in June. He will also preach frequently at Cresheim Valley Church, PCA on the topic of “Abraham.”

Vern S. Poythress will give a lecture at the 2023 Westminster Conference on Science and Faith entitled “The Miracle of Man in the Image of God.” Additionally, Vern has one notable upcoming publication. Biblical Typology: How to Study Ways that the Old Testament Points to Fulfillment in Christ, His Church, and the Consummation will be published by Crossway later this year.

Todd M. Rester has a number of recent projects and forthcoming publications: Volume 4 of his translation of Petrus Van Mastricht’s Theoretical-Practical Theology is due out later this year, and he recently contributed to Modern Reformation and Westminster Theological Journal. Dr. Rester is putting the finishing touches on the first two volumes of a series he is editing for Westminster Seminary Press: On the Nature and Kingdom of God: The Theological Manuscripts of James Ussher (ed. Harrison Perkins) and Petrus Van Mastricht’s Syntagma on Saving Faith. Finally, in conjunction with a ThM/PhD course, Dr. Rester is leading a team of students on a multi-year paleographical and bibliographical project to produce a critical transcription of the Turretin family library (estimated at over 6,000 titles). Select students will have opportunity to join Dr. Rester working in European archives on many of the actual copies owned by the Turretin family.

The Turretin family library project is made possible through the Bartow Spurgeon bequest. The Turretin family library spans at least six generations of the renowned Turretin family of Geneva. This family had three theologians, Benedict Turretin, Francis Turretin, and Jean Alphonse Turretin.

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Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship

by Jonathan Gibson “Jonny Gibson’s new liturgical guide to personal or family worship is a gem!

Evangelicals need enrichment of the ‘daily quiet time,’ which has traditionally been little more than Bible study and intercessory prayer. While many have turned to a variety of traditions that are less than gospel- or word-centered, in Be Thou My Vision Jonny connects us to the Reformation’s historic forms of prayer and confession, catechesis, and the lectio continua reading of Scripture.

It’s a feast, and while providing only thirty-one days of different prayers, I believe the book can be profitably used all year, and year after year. Get it and use it!”

T IM K E L L E R , Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City

crossway.org

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"we speak, not to please man, but to please God..."

1 Thessalonians 2:4b

The Pastor as Theologian Westminster Preaching Conference - October 17-18, 2023

Kevin DeYoung, Matthew Roberts, Steve Nichols wts.edu/preaching-conference

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from the archive

WHO NEEDS MISSIONARIES? Har vie Conn In this work from 1973, Harvie Conn discusses the history of missionary activity in various locations around the world.

Careful to recognize the missteps of some of history’s missionary endeavors, he draws attention to the necessity of missions and calls the church to an intentionally strategic deployment of missionaries to the places that need them most. The calling of missionaries, according to Conn, ought to be to the places where the laborers are few, not to the places that are familiar or comfortable. This is a difficult calling, but one worthy of the Lord who calls.

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n nineteenth-century India, Alexander Duff sought “to lay a mine to the citadel of Hinduism” by introducing Christianity to a resistant people by means of education. An Indian critic in 1953 spoke of similar efforts as “cultural aggression.” Who needs missionaries?

The missionary beachhead of 100 years ago has solidified into what one missionary statesman calls “the client churches, technically autonomous, but under the influence of foreign missions or denominations, with extraterritorial controls” (Dennis Clark, The Third World and Mission, Word Books, 1971; p. 39). In these client churches are heard prayers like “O Lord, deliver us from the missionaries!” and “O God, break their pride and smash their palaces!” Who needs missionaries?

Bishop Chandu Ray, Director of the Coordinating Office for Asian Evangelism, tells of taking his newfound faith in Christ to Bishop’s College in Calcutta, “where much that I was taught destroyed my faith and first love for the Lord.” A Korean college girl, attending the largest Christian women’s university in the world, tells you in a study group of her professor who ridicules the historicity of the New Testament in his classroom with appeals to names like Rudolf Bultmann and Hans

Conzelmann. “This is not what I learned as a child,” she says. Who needs missionaries?

The presence of the church in all parts of the world today reminds us that the twentiethcentury people of Christ may be closer now to the first century than to the nineteenth!

The latest (1970) North American Protestant Ministries Overseas Directory says that the Christian constituency (understood in the most general of ways) is 97% of Argentina’s population, 99% in Brazil, 18% in Nigeria, 48% in South Africa. Why then does Argentina need 409 missionaries (and 77 of those new since 1966)? Why does Brazil need 2170 missionaries, and Nigeria 1456?

Why did South Africa receive 54 new missionaries from 1965–1970? Are these people making permanent the scaffolding or the building, the mission or the church? Who needs missionaries?

Part of the answer to the question lies in a Chinese proverb: “If you are planning for a year, plant rice. If you are planning for ten years, plant trees. If you are planning for a hundred years, plant men.” Part of it lies in the fact that those who have found something vital in Christ

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Asher Brown Durand, Kindred Spirits

“are compelled to be vocal for Christ. The community of the transformed must be the community of the transmitting” (Paul Rees, Don’t Sleep Through the Revolution, Word Books, 1969; p. 88).

The Church’s Unchanged Nature and Task

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esus constituted his remnant people as “witnesses” (Acts 1:8). And he still defines us the same way. The New Israel now assumes the old responsibilities of witness (Isaiah 43:10; 44:8) from Jesus-Israel, the Elect One, the Great Witness (Isaiah 49:6; Acts 13:47). It is more than commission; it is constitution.

South Korea has the largest church in Northeast Asia. An estimated 9% of its population are professing Christians. Why does it need 610 missionaries? Because of the remaining 91%. Because of its 50,000 prostitutes who hear no good news in Christ. Because of its hundreds of villages where Christians face severe persecution by clan leaders for proclaiming Christ. Because its greatest national holiday is still the day centered on ancestor worship. Because the church does not say in dismay, “Look

what the world has come to,” but rather in delight cries, “look what has come to the world!” (Rees, op. cit., p. 21).

In 1939, the first missionary arrived in a particular region of Sarawak, Malaysia. In 1949, the first group of thirty Christians was baptized. Now in 1972, the Methodist Church has alone over 16,000 members in this area. The bishop reports “the door for the gospel was wide open in Sarawak and Kalimantan and we could use a dozen Asian missionaries who would live simply and humbly among the people.”

Still a World-wide Family of Believers

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new fact helps us today in our confession of “one holy catholic church, the communion of saints.” It is the world-wide (ecumenical, if we dare say it) character of the sending church and, we may hope, the soon-coming world-wide character of the receiving church. The nineteenth-century missionary asked, “Where are the ends of the earth?” The twentieth-century missionary asks, “Where is Jerusalem?”

First-century Paul told us “there is one body and one

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Spirit . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all, and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4–6). Twentieth-century Pauls tell us this means Japanese missionaries to Indonesia, Korean missionaries to Los Angeles, Formosan missionaries to Africa. It means fifty evangelists will go from Japan to Okinawa in November 1972. It means the Japan-Singapore Fellowship inviting Dr. Philip Teng for “China-Japan Gospel Nights.”

Who needs missionaries? God says the church—the whole world-wide family of believers— still needs missionaries and will need missionaries until we are all made perfect in Christ.

To many, the word “missionary” has meant white colonialism, western patronization, the “haves” going to the “have nots,” the rulers going to the ruled. And to this missionary spirit, the world—and the church—is crying, “Go home!” Paul Rees reminds us that this was not so in the beginning of the Christian church. “Then it was a case of the ruled going to the rulers, the slaves going to the free, the uncultured going to the nobility, the representatives of the underprivileged classes going to the representatives of the power structures, Antioch going to Rome” (op cit., p. 37). The presence of the church in all parts of the world today reminds us that the twentieth-century people of Christ may be closer now to the first century than to the nineteenth!

God’s Gifts for Building the Whole Church

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he Lord continues to provide gifts “differing according to the grace that is given to us” (Romans 12:6). The Holy Spirit displays his sovereign presence “given to every man to profit withal” (1 Corinthians

12:7) and he presents his sovereign display in evangelists, pastors, teachers, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11, 12).

South Korea has at least 5,700 Presbyterian churches and, in 1970, over 3,500 national workers and ordained ministers. Why do they need 160 foreign missionaries?

Because 5,700 Presbyterian churches are part of the body of Christ which needs evangelists, pastors and teachers.

And God makes no stipulations as to color when he distributes his gifts!

The island of Timor, with a population slightly over one million, had 200,000 Christians in 1965. In 1972 only 200,000 are non-Christians. That is 800,000 reasons for the display of the gifts of the Spirit.

In Indonesia, the Christian population has reportedly doubled over the past five years. And among the six million Christians of Indonesia are 100,000 former Muslims in East Java who are now baptized Christians. It is estimated that there will be 351 million Christians in sub-Saharan Africa by 2000 A.D. In fact, by that same year, if Christ should tarry, statistical projections indicate that 60% of all the world’s Christians will be found outside of North America and Europe.

Can God not give his gifts to a white missionary to edify the 60% as a teacher? Can God not give his gifts to an African missionary to edify the 40% as an evangelist?

All of God’s gifts to the church, all the variety of gifts and receivers of gifts, all these blessings from God are given “till we all come in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

Who needs missionaries? God says the church—the whole world-wide family of believers—still needs missionaries and will need missionaries until we are all made perfect in Christ.

Harvie M. Conn (1933–1999) was professor of missions at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

He served as a missionary to Korea for many years and the editor of Urban Mission before teaching missions and apologetics at Westminster.

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THE WESTMINSTER SHOPPE

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IN PROFILE: RACHEL HART Nathan Nocchi, Managing Editor of Westminster Magazine, recently sat down with Rachel Hart, an alumnus of Westminster Theological Seminary, to discuss how Westminster has shaped her theologically, and equipped her to pursue missions work.

She is currently employed by Mission to the World (MTW) and will be returning to Ukraine within the year, depending on her support.

Nathan Nocchi (NN): Thank you very much indeed for joining us for this special interview. To begin, can you tell us who you are and share with us how you came to Westminster?

Rachel Hart (RH): I am blessed to have been raised in a Christian home, so I became a Christian around the age of six. And the Lord continued to work in my life in the years since, and He remains faithful even when I am not.

As for how I came to Westminster, my parents have been involved in missions, so my family is very missions-minded. This upbringing instilled in my heart a desire for missions beginning in middle school. Originally, when I was in college, I was thinking of pursuing medical missions, so I went on to study biology in college and was preparing for medical school. The Lord, however, closed the door to medicine yet affirmed my calling to missions.

And about that time, I realized that my understanding of some crucial theology was lacking (later, I had found that my understanding of much theology was lacking). It is at this point that the idea of seminary came to mind.

Westminster was initially not on my radar. I was Southern Baptist and, therefore, was looking to attend Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Yet, interestingly, during a prospective student day there, a professor told us to prayerfully consider other seminaries as well, to not just attend SBTS for its beautiful campus but to attend a school where the Lord leads us.

Well . . . I didn’t know what was considered a conservative school, so I looked up the alma maters of the SBTS faculty along with looking at those of the contributors to the ESV Study Bible, and Westminster was listed quite a few times. So, I looked into Westminster along with the other schools. I wanted to attend a school where I would get the academic rigor yet would not be encouraged to

merely intellectualize Scripture. Westminster stood out in both her rigorous focus on exegesis and reverence of Scripture and its small student community that may promote accountability in these studies.

NN: Given your interest in missions, can you tell us about how your experience at Westminster shaped and fostered your interest in missions?

RH: My experience at Westminster was incredible. Not in the sense that it was all “sunshine and lollipops.” My seminary years were actually very challenging and painful, but much good came from them. I was being humbled and sanctified many times over. Of course, I am certain there was spiritual warfare that came with seminary studies, and that is why I think we should pray earnestly for our current seminarians. But I would say “incredible” in that I have learned and gained so much from my studies, my experience, and my relationship with the Lord during my season at Westminster.

My passion for missions grew during my time at Westminster. I learned theology that framed my understanding of missiology: many courses, including Doctrine of the Church, Church Planting, Christianity and Culture, Missions & Evangelism, Old Testament courses, New Testament courses, all contributed to my understanding of the role of the missionary as an ambassador of Christ and his body, the Church.

I also participated in the weekly meetings of the student group, Global Missions Fellowship, which prompted me to consider the challenges of missionary life, the prevalent issues of balancing missions and theology, and what is considered true missions. This student group allowed for us students to network with missionaries and missions agencies, and we were informed of many service opportunities in which to participate.

NN: In certain respects, this emphasis on missions is intrinsic to Westminster’s identity. Many of us are familiar with J. Gresham Machen’s protestation in the early 1930s against the PCUSA’s novel approach to missions. Machen was emphatic that the biblical mandate in the Great Commission was a sufficient directive for missions. Did

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you find that your theological formation at Westminster continued in Machen’s legacy?

RH: Absolutely. Even before starting seminary, I was intrigued by Machen’s courageous yet faithful protestation and was encouraged to find his legacy still a part of our Christian community today. It is important that so precious a truth of the Gospel must not be watered down or dismissed altogether. And this same threat exists today.

My time at Westminster made me aware of this ongoing tension and that proclaiming the gospel is crucial.

NN: Is there a particular theological insight that you gleaned from a class at Westminster that had a profound impact on your thinking about missions?

RH: Yes. Well, many. But let me just share one. In my “Christianity and Culture” course, taught by Nate Shannon and Bill Edgar, I learned that the Cultural Mandate (Gen. 1:26–28), also known as the Creation Mandate, plays a major role in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19– 20). In fact, the Cultural Mandate is considered the first Great Commission, because its purpose is to bring glory to God’s name—like the purpose of the second Commission.1 As verses 26–27 precede the Cultural Mandate, our being made in his image is closely tied to this command that we reflect him in our fruitfulness, proliferation, and filling and subduing the earth, which brings out the culture-making and promotes peace and justice. But I think, in the church, we often don’t have this full view of the Cultural Mandate and, therefore, the Great Commission trumps the Cultural Mandate. But that should not be the case. Rather, we should understand that the Cultural Mandate fortifies the Great Commission—and to only state the word, fortify, is an understatement of the unique, intertwined relationship of these two commands.

Which raises the question: what does the relationship of the mandate to the commission mean? Well, it means that living a life that reflects his image concurs with our proclamation of the gospel, both of which glorify God. It seems obvious as I say it, but I point this out, because even though both are a part of evangelism to bring glory to God’s name, many in the church think that only proclaiming the gospel suffices for our witness. Yet our “Christian witness” is in our lifestyles and can clearly portray to the world the gospel we are proclaiming by showing it changed us. And we in the church know

that about our Christian witness, but often elements of the Cultural Mandate are being overlooked in our evangelism.

NN: Tell us about your current work. Where is the Lord calling you?

RH: I am joining a team that is based in Odessa, Ukraine, but is currently serving Ukrainian refugees in Brasov, Romania. The Lord placed Ukraine in my heart. First, I went to a village in western Ukraine back in May 2018—prior to my studies at Westminster—on a medical missions trip. This experience, which exposed me to Ukrainian culture and language, intrigued me because it resonated with my Slavic heritage.

Back when my family lived with my grandparents years ago, my grandparents went away for a year in 1995 to serve in both Russia and Ukraine. I think learning about their experiences there gave my siblings and me an idea of Eastern European life. And since my Russian grandma was also able to visit with her relatives in

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Belarus, she invited two of her young second cousins to stay with us (in the US) the following summer. It was an interesting cultural exchange, making me further aware of the Slavic culture. I would like to add: my grandma’s borscht recipe improved when she returned from Ukraine (she is second-generation Russian)! So, when I went on that medical missions trip in 2018, much of the Ukrainian culture made sense to me.

When I started seminary to prepare for the mission field, however, I didn’t think that Ukraine was where the Lord would be leading me. The Lord, however, cultivated my heart for Ukraine during these seminary years. One day, Dr. Vern Poythress asked me where I would like to serve in missions. I told him that I did not know. He then asked if I’ve studied any languages, to which I answered that I attempted studying some Russian before the demands of seminary put it to a halt. Since that conversation, his wife, Dr. Diane Poythress, gave me many resources about Ukraine—these things prompted me to learn more about Ukrainian history and culture. My heart grew for Ukraine.

And Mrs. Poythress also connected me with Jon Eide, who is the MTW Regional Director of Eastern Europe.

He encouraged me to do an MTW summer internship in Ukraine. So, I did in summer 2021. I went to L’viv, Ukraine. Through this internship, my heart continued to grow for Ukraine, but I knew I had to hold this desire with an open hand, knowing that the Lord may call me elsewhere to serve.

Yet, the Lord did continue to open doors down this path, and last summer, after graduating from Westminster in May, I was invited by the Odessa team to join as I was being approved to be a missionary by MTW. I was able to officially meet the Odessa team, in person, last fall while delivering humanitarian aid.

NN: To what role have you been called as you serve the people of Ukraine?

RH: Women’s Ministry Coordinator. I am looking forward to it, yet I am not entirely sure how this ministry will pan out and what the needs are. Part of the challenge is, as always for missions, you don’t know until you get there—there are too many variables on the mission field.

The war only complicates things. My team is currently dealing with the reality that they cannot return to Odessa due to the war, though they had anticipated that

they would be returning by this time. So, they are having to assess how to best serve Ukrainian refugees in Romania for, possibly, the long term.

With that said, I am greatly looking forward to teaching and ministering to women. I plan to do Bible studies. I hope to do activities or events to develop a sense of community among the refugee women (and women missionaries). I also hope that the team could have a periodic “mother’s day off” for the mothers by providing childcare. For many of these women, their husbands had to remain in Ukraine and, therefore, they’re single parenting. Through all this, I hope to bring the gospel truth and hope to the trauma and grief that these women may be experiencing.

NN: These are such commendable efforts. Indeed, this is truly important work. To those who might be interested in missions, what advice would you give them?

RH: This is a great question. To the current seminarians at Westminster, go to the Global Missions Fellowship!

I have been so encouraged by the talks during these lunches—and let me specify—free lunches. I learned so much from the guest speakers—missionaries, member care workers, professors—that I was able to develop a missionary mindset. And this was only helped by my classes at Westminster.

But also, get involved in your church, and let people know your intent to serve in missions. There may be connections to various missions ministries and other opportunities. And if it’s your calling, your church should help you prepare for this pursuit.

If you are on the fence about missions, pray about it and go on brief mission trips. Don’t over-spiritualize things either: if you have an interest in a particular country or region, God may be placing that in your heart for you to serve there. Sometimes we worry if it is a worldly desire. Well, it is good to desire good things, but, yes, we can idolize good things and coat them with the saintly missions desire. So just pray and tell the Lord about your desires, and talk to any mentors and your pastor about these desires. Maybe the desire is something the Lord is working on in your heart.

1 G.K. Beale. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-is -the-relationship-between-the-cultural-mandate-and-the-great -commission/.

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UNION WITH CHRIST

Vo l 9 . N o . 1

N O WPacker, A V Stott, A I Land A B L E In th i s i ssu e , c on t ribut ors ex plore t he c ontours o f biblica l co un s elin g.

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BIBLICAL COUNSELING IN ZONES OF CONFLICT Bag udekia A lobeyo Reader’s discretion advised: this article includes some disturbing descriptions of war conflict and violence.

War and Suffering in the Congo

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n 1964, when I was about 8 years old, the “Simba” rebellion erupted in the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Like many other people in some parts of the world, I experienced the turmoil of hearing the thunder of bombs and gunfire. Whenever the sounds of gunfire rang in the air, everybody ran to the river. We were told that any bomb would lose its killing power when it touched the surface of the river. For this reason, whenever people ran away from their villages into the jungle, shelters were always built alongside rivers. I witnessed the horrible death of people around me.

The rebels would round up people to witness the cruel and brutal killing of anybody accused of working with the expatriates in any sector of society. They would make people sing, wave palm tree branches, and chant some slogans before they gunned down the victim.

At the sound of gunshots in the proximity of our village, I ran away to the jungle with my elder brother without our parents. This happened when a few rebels unexpectedly launched an attack on the mission station.

This prompted everybody to run for their lives. Astonishingly, after a few days, my elder brother and I reunited with our parents in the jungle.

During that moment of trembling, I experienced what it is like to lose all of your belongings during a violent crisis. The attack was unexpected, and there was no time to grab anything. Since we faced death daily from many angles, I got confused about what was going on. I got scared to death when we had to hide under the trees all night, hearing the strange sounds of nocturnal birds and animals—including lions. The thick equatorial forest is full of all kinds of snakes and wild animals. Snakes doze on branches of the trees and under the dried multicolor leaves on the forest floor. With all this running

through our minds, it was depressing and impossible to close our eyes even for a moment’s rest.

It was an unforgettable experience to be in the jungle without shelter during rainfall. I recall a time when our whole family ran away from rebels on Christmas Day. In general, it is unusual to have precipitation in December, which is a dry season in the country. Surprisingly, on that Christmas Day, there was rain before we were able to make a quick shelter. Like birds or animals, we stood under a tree without umbrellas, waiting for the rain to stop. I was sad seeing the little ones or babies crying without help. I don’t even know how we managed to use the same clothing every day and sleep overnight without blankets. Mosquito bites became a part of life. Their noisy buzzing in our ears at night stopped short any opportunity to sleep. Leaves of any trees served as beds and clothing.

One day, on the approach of the rebels to where we were hiding, we started running without my elder brother. My father left the rest of the large family to look for my elder brother who was left behind by himself. We stayed under a baobab tree weeping and praying. My father accomplished his rescue mission and brought my elder brother without being caught in the gunfire. The endless marching throughout the jungle and hiding from the rebels worsened from day to day. We did not know where we were going. But the most important thing was to keep moving as far away as possible from the killers.

Despite the suffering, we learned to overcome many challenges. We made clothes and soap from specific woods. The soap allowed us to take baths in the river and wash clothing. Boys had to choose a part of the river to wash clothes because we had to stay naked for a few hours while waiting for the clothes to dry. Hunger became the routine survival pattern in the dense tropical forest of the northeastern part of the Congo. We fished, hunted animals, collected edible fruits, and dug some roots for food. We caught birds and made traps to catch small animals to ensure we had something to eat by the

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end of the day. We learned to make fire without matches.

This was critical because fire was used to make food using traditional clay pots. We drank clean water from specific tree branches and also from any river.

After one year of wandering through the jungle, we started seeing numerous war planes fly over areas where we were hiding. Being cut off from the rest of the world, we did not fully understand the reason for this. However, that pointed to hope for help from an external source.

It also indicated the possibility of having other forces deployed to end the rebellion. After a period, people on those planes started throwing down messages calling the civilians to return home.

This unrest in the rainforest lasted two years during the deadly conflicts of the “Simba” rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo, from 1964–1966. By God’s grace, nobody died from malaria or other deadly infections during that unforgettable, agonizing, and tragic

time. Nobody was attacked by a wild beast or bitten by vipers or other deadly poisonous serpents.

Throughout that time, we did not have access to counseling, not to mention biblical counseling. Providentially, our parents grabbed only two important books when we fled our village, the Bible and a hymnal. Those two books, already translated and printed in our native language, were the only books in our home library. These two books became sources of counseling and comfort.

Our parents used to lead the devotionals with a time of prayer and singing. We sang with tears in our eyes, and then prayed. The time of devotion became the best time for me in the jungle.

Reading the Bible and worshiping God brought comfort and built hope for life in this world, or at least after death. The Bible provided assurance about God’s protection and life after death. I would recite in my mind without ceasing some Bible verses memorized during

Egbert van der Poel, Church on Fire

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our devotional times. My favorites verses were, “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7 NIV), and “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them” (Ps. 34:7 NIV). These verses did not need to be interpreted; no, they were clear in themselves Encouraged by those Bible verses, I believed and trusted in the Lord for protection and deliverance.

All of this is part of my story, but there is more to say. However, I cannot tell my story without readers grasping what it means to live in a “zone of conflict.”

Once we explore this, it will be clear why biblical counseling is such a precious resource for people in these situations.

Defining Zones of Conflict

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eographic zones of conflict can be described in many ways. I think the regions where a battle between local or foreign groups is occurring is deemed a zone of conflict. Occasionally, a zone of conflict is just an area where a tribal confrontation with malicious groups is active. A country where the rule of law is weak, absent, or wrongly enforced can trigger conflicts between the law enforcement groups and the general population. This often paves the way to chaos and conflict. Frequently, fierce and deadly conflicts happen where poverty, political oppression, autocracy, social injustice, and economic gaps between people are evident.

In general, a zone of conflict is characterized by violence, animosity, rape, abduction, sex slavery, forced labor, child soldiers, human trafficking, internally displaced people (IDP), and the cracking down on the voiceless. These types of heinous crimes result in the mass movement of people fleeing as refugees to neighboring countries or beyond. Revolts arise against the reckless administration and the social anti-values or social norms in the country.

Frequently, peace is absent in the zone of conflict.

People lose hope for a better life. They get frustrated and confused about everything. They worry and wonder about the future of the little ones who sometimes do not have access to education and freedom, and who are robbed of the opportunity and right to just be a child.

People live in anger, and despair, finger-pointing at others with endless laments. They lose their appetite for life,

developing suicidal thinking as the solution to physical and other aspects of suffering.

In addition, the victims are puzzled about their identity and dignity as human beings. They question and rethink where they come from, why they continue to live, where they will be going, what will happen next, and why the conflicts never end. With deep frustration, people question even the presence of God and his love for them during the turmoil. Most of the time, many of their questions remain unanswered. Being unwilling or unable to overcome the conflict, victims cope by abusing alcohol or getting addicted to drugs; developing withdrawal behavior, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, anger disorders, or dementia; or becoming excessively violent.

We can look briefly at a recent example, and then spend the rest of our time on the need for biblical counseling.

Joseph Kony and the LRA

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he Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is a northern Ugandan rebel group that formed in 1986 against the government of Uganda led by President Yoweri Museveni. The LRA is led by Joseph Kony, a self-proclaimed “spokesperson” of God and a spirit medium.

Being from the Acholi tribe of Uganda, Kony and his group believed they were fighting to establish a theocratic state of Uganda based on the Ten Commandments and the Acholi tradition. Referring to some biblical references, Kony killed his own people who failed to support his cause; he claims to have done this to cleanse his people.

Kony’s strategy was to abduct children and force them to kill their parents and other people in the village.

The soldiers captured young girls and forced them to become sex and labor slaves. When the LRA entered a village, they would rape women in front of their husbands and children. Many of the children kidnapped were trained to become child soldiers. Murders took many forms: by gun, machete, slow torture by cutting off parts of the body one by one, burning alive, or gang/ mass rape.

In 2006, Kony and his group crossed the border into the DRC and established a base in Garamba, one of the large national parks in Dungu territory, my hometown. From there, Kony launched brutal attacks against civilians—abducting boys for his army and girls as labor

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and sex slaves. Acts of sexual violence committed against women in this region were so extreme that such forms of atrocities were never experienced in the world before.

In the territories of Dungu and Faradje, there were massacres of Christians that took place in about five churches in December 2008, affecting the communities for a long time. Many members were burned alive. The rebels crushed the skulls of many with heavy stones.

Women and girls were raped before they were killed.

During the same period, one of my cousins and other friends were cruelly killed; their heads were cut off from their bodies to be publicly exposed to everybody in the community. This vast region, as big as half of the State of California, was left to be home to hundreds of thousands of traumatized people, who exhibit mental, psychological, spiritual, moral, and physical problems.

What, in God’s name, could be done to even begin to address the violence and abusive horrors these people experienced? How could there possibly be hope? How could these people trust anyone after this terror? The answer came in the biblical counseling movement.

A Call for Biblical Counseling

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n December 2008, I received a call from my father, who ran into the jungle to escape a ruthless attack by the LRA. The attack was too brutal to describe. My father’s phone call from the jungle of Dungu prompted the need to fundraise for the rescue mission of my aging parents and other family members in the war zone. At the time, my direct supervisor at the American Bible Society was Mr. Robert L. Briggs. In addition to the PCA churches in Eastern PA, Mr. Briggs and his family mobilized some people from Cornerstone Church and other friends to contribute towards the urgent need for a rescue mission. In less than seven days, an amount of about $18,000 was collected to ensure the rescue mission of twenty-four family members from Dungu. With the help of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), which is based in Bunia, a town that is about 460 miles away from Dungu, the rescue mission was successful. My aging parents and twenty-two other relatives were rescued from the war zone and resettled in Ariwara, a town bordering Uganda in eastern DRC. That rescue mission opened the door for the American Bible Society (ABS) to develop awareness of the suffering, voiceless, oppressed, marginalized, lowly, and

dying people in eastern DRC. After fervent prayers and careful discernment, ABS undertook several ministry assessment trips to eastern DRC, including Dungu, my hometown, and the Great Lakes Region in 2010. These trips helped ABS to fully comprehend the situation and develop a ministry strategy to help address the root causes of suffering for the people in eastern DRC.

The Bible provided assurance about God’s protection and life after death.

During the ABS trips, pastors and community leaders in the Congo expressed the desire to be equipped with a Bible-based trauma healing ministry that would help reach thousands of traumatized rape survivors, abandoned children, orphans, widows, and displaced people—all with wounded hearts, souls, minds, attitudes, and spirits. In addition, the leaders asked ABS to replace the Bibles they had lost during the war. We heard a testimony about a single Bible being shared between two pastors living far apart from each other, so they could prepare their sermons for Sunday services. To solve the issue of distance, they ended up dividing the Bible into two to accommodate the times of worship and preaching for each congregation. After a certain period, the pastors would exchange portions of the Bible for preaching and teaching ministries.

To address the overwhelming needs, ABS established the “She’s My Sister” (SMS) initiative to reach out to traumatized people in conflict zones and areas devastated by natural disasters, providing them with a Bible-based trauma healing program. Not only did members from Cornerstone Church initiate bike tour riding events to support SMS trauma healing, but they also quickly joined ABS in funding the pilot trauma healing projects. As a result of the success of these pilot programs, the Bible-based trauma healing programs quickly began to extend beyond the initial reach of the seven countries in the Great Lakes Region (The Great Lakes Region of Africa includes Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo,

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Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda), to all of Africa, North and Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

Initially inspired by a phone call and being involved in a rescue mission, Cornerstone Church has taken the initiative to build awareness and organize fundraising events through bike riding and has partnered with ABS to fund Bible-based trauma healing projects in eastern DRC. Over the years, they have continued their efforts through a nonprofit, “Restoring Hope Ministries,” and have taken further steps to establish a partner relationship with the Evangelical Church in Central Africa (CECA-20) in Dungu. This partnership focuses on efforts to restore, train, and establish sustainable activities to help people in Dungu recover from the war and rebuild their broken communities, using the Bible for counseling and to make disciples.

The Impact of Biblical Counseling

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hroughout periods of turmoil in DRC, many counseling groups have descended upon the people in dire need of help to cope with the deep trauma caused by multiple wars and conflicts. However, many of these nonprofit organizations and other international groups did not address the wounds of the people’s hearts. These organizations would spend the majority of their time conducting research to diagnose and describe the nature and magnitude of civilians suffering, rather than focusing on the development of strategic approaches that would trace the cause and effects of existing trauma. Healing sessions for individuals or for groups of victims were absent.

Church leaders declared that the pastoral counseling learned in seminaries or Bible schools did not equip them for the sort of trauma people were facing. They despaired in seeking a better way to help wounded hearts.

Questioning why other counseling services did not help, they all stated that the missing piece in counseling was the Bible. Church leaders longed for training that would equip them to deliver Bible-based counseling that would ignite changes from within.

The message from the Bible helps disclose our state of deprivation and need for redemption. It leads to repentance and teaches about God’s love, mercy, compassion, and empathy. The message of the Bible teaches about sorrow, mourning, loss, love for enemies, vengeance, anger

release, and all types of trauma human beings undergo.

Only God the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible can address the torments of life and heal the heart.

Hence, when the counsel of God—which is the inspired and revealed word of God—is central in counseling, the counseling ministers to the whole person and leads to a lasting impact.

The American Bible Society (ABS) places the Bible as the central strategy for addressing the wounds of people’s hearts. This is what makes Bible-based healing sessions effective. Life changes start to happen when the Bible becomes a part of the counseling. Some scholars have named it pastoral dialogue, biblical counseling, or biblical trauma healing. How this type of counseling is referred to does not matter, but relying on the Bible and using it in counseling does.

By creating a safe group that upholds a careful listening method, opportunities are offered to people to spell out their suffering and share the narration of what happened with others. In doing so, healing groups encourage trust in others for storytelling. By using numerous examples of people who experienced rape, fugitivity, loss of loved ones, sorrow, forgiveness, humiliation, hunger, oppression, etc. from the Bible, many people begin recovering from past trauma. As the Bible became the focal point of reference in addressing trauma, the outcomes became obvious; what once was deemed impossible became possible.

Many participants in the healing groups began the process of healing. Victims of rape would be in tears after participating in healing group sessions where the Bible was at the center of forgiving the perpetrators of rape.

Women with children resulting from unwanted or forced pregnancies were able to forgive the ill-doings of rapists.

People who had amputated hands or lips cut off found peace by forgiving their attackers. Some young people who were forced to kill others experienced the power of the high deeds of Jesus Christ on the cross, confessing their wrongdoings and believing in Jesus as their Savior.

To our astonishment, the participants in biblical healing group sessions formed groups of Bible studies and prayer.

Those Bible study groups in Dungu were transformed into church planting projects.

In total, twelve new churches were established in Dungu, eastern DRC. Some of those churches are still growing today. The stigma towards victims of rape has decreased. Some aggressors have come forth and asked

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for forgiveness. The chaplain for the soldiers took the Bible-based trauma healing to the soldiers. Some participants who got help through the Bible-based trauma healing programs were trained to help other victims in the region. Those who lost siblings and relatives offered forgiveness to the killers. Pastors stated that their counseling offices were looking like hospitals with people lining up to undergo the process of healing with pastoral prayers and additional counseling. The Archbishop in Uganda also appreciated the program and inserted Bible-based trauma healing into the seminary’s curriculum as a class to be taken by all students before graduation.

Victims of the atrocities of wars who had gone through the Bible-based healing groups decided to move on with life.

Revival, transformation, and resiliency happened because the Bible was central to the counseling ministry. Despite ongoing deadly conflicts in the country and although Congolese have been experiencing turmoil for centuries, due to the impact of the Bible in counseling, churches in the DRC are being planted everywhere. Those churches are the ones growing the most. Young people love the Word of God and cherish prayers. They express joy and hope in vibrant praises and adorations.

The Congolese recognize that when the Bible is central to everything, they get the message which refreshes the mind, soul, and heart. The Bible helps them reset their spiritual life, kindle faith, experience peace in the heart, and feel encouraged and comforted. That remains the only way for them to become transformed from within, which extends to their conduct or behavior, as they deepen their relationship with God. The impact of the Bible in the process of healing can be attested to by strong testimonies of church leaders and the victims who participated in the Bible-based trauma healing groups: Trauma Healing ministry has helped us a lot. We are seen more as a hospital because we are treating cases that have challenged psychologists because the Bible is the true Word of God that restores and helps people to become resilient. From the time we started this program, my office and that of other pastors in Kisangani Diocese is more than a market. ... Unlike in the past, people who never talked for years now talk openly; those who thought that they

will never forgive others are now willing to forgive, read the Bible and attend church regularly. As a church, I feel that God is hearing our prayers.” The Rt. Rev. Lambert Funga, Bishop, Anglican Diocese of Kisangani Trauma is a symptom and addressing it does not in itself help a person. But Scripture-based Trauma Healing offers hope and builds resiliency in individuals.” Frederick Barasa, Program Manager, American Bible Society

In addition to these testimonies, Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and many other Bible scholars have recognized the transformative power of the Bible. When the Bible is central to counseling, the divine message addresses the wounds of the heart, removes the bitterness of the past, and makes all things new for a brighter future. When the Bible remains the main tool in counseling, it reveals Jesus Christ as the healer par excellence who takes away all kinds of guilty feelings, worries, and afflictions of the heart. As an agent of change, the Holy Spirit uses the inspired Word of God to bring lasting transformation, to renew trust in the Lord, to embrace the path of forgiveness, to reconciliation, and to hope for peace of mind and heart. When the Bible is central to counseling, healing may take time, but the recovery process can be catalyzed, leading to a new perspective and relationship with God, neighbors, enemies, family members, and the entire community.

Bagudekia Alobeyo is Associate Pastor at SACCPHILLY in Pennsylvania.

He holds a DMin from Westminster, and recently worked for the American Bible Society in Philadelphia, PA, promoting national and global Bible-based trauma healing, Bible translation, and Bible engagement throughout U.S churches and global communities. He and his wife, Suzanne, have five sons, six grandchildren in the USA, and five grandchildren who were orphaned and still live in Uganda. He is now helping the leadership team at his church grow a new English-speaking congregation, develop and implement a comprehensive trauma healing ministry, care for the Congolese refugee population, and ignite discipleship initiatives.

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Sending biblical specialists to the ends of the earth Westminster Theological Seminary exists to train specialists in the Bible to proclaim the whole counsel of God for Christ and His global church.

While God in His providence has set the course for each of our lives, to venture on our own various personal missions for Christ with the gifts that He has graciously given us, there is only one overarching mission. Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded His disciplines, saying “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” The task of all missions is summed up in the singular mission of the one Gospel, the proclamation of which is to resound to the ends of the earth.

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ONLINE LEARNING AND SPIRITUAL CARE Je r r y McFa rla nd

The Challenge of Spiritual Formation Online

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hat has COVID done for you lately? It has clearly had a global impact, and Westminster is no different. It is safe to say that our entire planet lives in a new normal that has come as a result of this disease, and the online approach to education has become an immediate necessity given this recent history. For Westminster, however, online education was not merely a reaction to COVID, but a strategic initiative launched with prayers and hopes of making our curriculum available globally to those unable to attend in person.

While educational circumstances and venues have changed, the uncompromising conviction of training our students in the depth of the knowledge of God remains welded to the need to know the grace of our God in Jesus. One of the many ‘Warfield Warnings’ in the days of Old Princeton is still relevant today.

In David B. Calhoun’s multivolume history, Princeton Seminary, he quotes from Warfield’s classic, The Religious Life of Theological Students. The Lion of Princeton wrote: Treat, I beg you, the whole work of the seminary as a unique opportunity offered you to learn about

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Hay Harvest

God, or rather, to put it at the height of its significance, to learn God—to come to know him whom to know is life everlasting. If the work of the seminary shall be so prosecuted, it will prove itself to be the chief means of grace in all our lives (Calhoun, Princeton Seminary, 2:324).

Spiritual formation is not an option or an elective in our curriculum. It must permeate the entirety of the seminary curriculum. So, the question of our day is whether a student can really have a personal impact online, in such a supposedly impersonal venue? How can interacting on a computer screen ever replace face to face interaction? Online spiritual growth and character development—are these even possible?

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through Westminster’s online programs on a daily basis.

But how, exactly?

Providence and Diligence: The Runway to Now

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Here is just one firsthand testimony to the fact that the Spirit of God can work through any means, no matter the limitations (from our point of view), to do an unlimited work in the hearts of his people. One current student notes: Only the Lord could use technology in such a sanctifying and uniting way. In a world that’s increasingly cold and divided by social media and tools, he’s redeeming them here for something truly good. . . . I’m grateful beyond words for being part of his church in this way.

God is indeed nurturing and maturing his people, and conforming them to the image of Christ, in and

et us first put all this in the historical context of our sovereign God’s work here at Westminster.

It all began several years before COVID hit us. A team of leaders for a new online initiative was established to make sure that we could present an extension of Westminster’s quality and content that would not compromise the integrity of the theology and gospel we have historically stood for in every season. This team included many graduates of Westminster who were gifted in educational technology, as well as creative thinkers dedicated to Westminster’s theological and curricular distinctives. Their task was to determine how best to offer our curriculum in and to a rapidly changing world.

The first fruit of this endeavor emerged when Westminster and CCEF put their heads and hearts together. With the encouragement of Dr. David Powlison, then Executive Director of CCEF, we embraced the true potential for educating biblical counselors in core theology as well as in biblical principles of counseling, and a new initiative was born. Westminster would now be offering a Master of Arts in Counseling fully online.

In addition, the online team saw the potential for others who were not necessarily desirous of a counseling emphasis but had a clear hunger for theological training for whatever career path they might choose. There were those who unashamedly wanted to be more confident as witnesses to Christ in their respective fields, and better servants in their churches. The right program could strengthen the layperson who wants to represent Christ and a biblical worldview more confidently while also better equipping those already in ministry. I still remember several conversations with prospective students who were elders or deacons and interested in theological studies. I told them that, as an ordained pastor, I would have loved to have more men trained in basic Reformed theology, not only to help me, but to keep me in check!

This core theological program would offer what many hungered for, a Master of Arts in Theological Studies fully online.

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For both the MAC and the MATS, the masters level content would entail a higher degree of learning that would align with the standards of the seminary. The course content and expectations would have to uphold the standards that the history of the institution required. With all the ducks in a row, these programs were launched in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

We do not merely pay lip service to the need to train leaders in character as well as in competency. We must train the heart no less than the mind; in fact, even more so.

Now five years later, our online programs have, by God’s grace, grown in numbers and quality. The reputation of Westminster’s online offerings has truly preceded us when it comes to student interest. Alumni testimony and word of mouth have been a personal influence and invitation to many. That success has enabled us to offer our larger programs online as well. In 2021, Westminster added the MDiv and the MAR to its online offerings, and we now have over 500 students online, with more to come. Today, students may join us on campus for the MDiv or MAR degrees, but they may also remain in their hometowns and at their local churches, close to community and family, or they may continue to serve the global church in the mission field, even while they train at Westminster, alongside colleagues and classmates from around the world.

Age-Old Wisdom for New Challenges

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ut once again, we must pause and ask: can online students truly be cared for and nurtured spiritually in these programs? It is challenging enough residentially, but is it even possible with all the online limitations? Students are literally hundreds and

thousands of miles away, with personal and circumstantial demands that may make them feel unlikely to be cared for.

We here at Westminster are proud that, by God’s grace, we have a legacy of holding fast to teaching and training leaders in a rich, wonderfully orthodox tradition of the Christian faith. Meanwhile, we do not merely pay lip service to the need to train leaders in character as well as in competency. We must train the heart along with the mind. Full and effective training for life and ministry must involve the whole man. Our philosophy and approach hark back to Old Princeton’s emphasis on these very issues. David Calhoun, again in his work Princeton Seminary, reminds his readers often of Warfield’s concern for precisely this crucial balance. It was Warfield’s belief, says Calhoun, that “any proper preparation for the ministry must include these three chief parts—a training of the heart, a training of the hand, a training of the head—a devotional, a practical and an intellectual training” (2:425).

Our pursuit of this necessary balance of life and learning in the seminary context is being used by God to shape the character of our online student ministry. At the danger of sounding overly simplistic, I would suggest that this uncompromising marriage of heart and head that has been at the center of Westminster’s curriculum since its founding is nothing other than the content and context of the gospel itself. No one said it more succinctly than B. B. Warfield when he wrote these words in The Religious Life of Theological Students: You will never prosper in your religious life in the Theological Seminary until your work in the Theological Seminary becomes itself to you a religious exercise out of which you draw every day enlargement of heart, elevation of spirit and adoring delight in your Maker and your Saviour.

Whether residential or online, we must offer this demanding reality for anyone who seeks to study the things of God in the Word of God. The supernatural presence of Jesus must be married to the knowledge of our Savior.

Students cannot and must not grow in the knowledge of Christ without growing also in the grace of Christ. As Peter wrote, we must “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).

Online no less than residentially, spiritual

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formation should be the hallmark of any institution and any individual that claims to follow and hopes to honor Christ the Lord. And spiritual formation is indeed happening in the online programs at Westminster Theological Seminary. Hear from another current student: I live almost 3,000 miles away from campus, so Westminster Online is a dream come true for me!

Not only do I get to take courses with the level of depth and rigor that WTS is renowned for, but I am also connected to brothers and sisters in Christ from around the globe.

How exactly does spiritual formation unfold for online students? There is no doubt that students have grown spiritually through their academic work (lectures, readings, and assignments), but the success we have seen in the spiritual nurturing of our students has been more subversive and relational.

Digital Shepherding: The Joys of My Current Role

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foundational principle of the ongoing success of the spiritual care component of Westminster’s online program is the primary and almost exclusive calling of the pastor to be a pastor. The pastor is, as Scripture depicts him, a shepherd. Whether in person or online, a pastor seeks to oversee the personal care of all his flock. As a parachurch institution, Westminster does not have ecclesiastical authority, but the need for someone to set a tone and ethos of genuine care for the souls of our students was clear.

As the one who came to occupy that role, I see my primary job as providing a growing context of planned and spontaneous fellowship for the online community. I hope to create a culture where people seek Christ in all of life, which would be a beautiful complement to the rich content of the gospel that the students will receive in their classes. Though it is not a part of the academic curriculum, it will be a critical part of the DNA of what Westminster online is to become.

The title of “Dean of Online Students” was a further clarification of the purpose of the position. One of my primary callings here is to perpetuate the context of encouragement among the students to help them see that

their common calling is not as students of Westminster, but as followers of Jesus.

The supernatural presence of Jesus must be married to the knowledge of our Savior.

Students cannot and must not grow in the knowledge of Christ without growing also in the grace of Christ.

All new students are introduced to our Pastoral Care Team during their first week of orientation, and I explain my role and desire to meet. I also send personal invitations to every new student to meet with me face to face.

The initial meeting is designed to build some relational bridges and assure each student that my role is to track with them during this season those things God is doing to them as well as through them. Students often share with me their own spiritual pilgrimage of how they came to Westminster. Although they are not required to meet with me, students are reminded at different times of my ongoing availability and my desire to connect. A vital pattern already evolving in this ministry is the fact that I connect with over 30 students one-on-one per month, with almost half being new and the other half follow-ups from our initial connection.

We also promote monthly coffee houses which are held at four different scheduling options to accommodate our students’ busy schedules and time zone differences. Each month features a relevant topic, such as procrastination, honesty, and remembrance, with questions sent out in advance. Since our coffee houses are not a part of the academic curriculum, students are not expected to participate, but they are welcome just to listen, and to come and go when necessary. The underlying purpose is to see the blessing that arrives when God’s

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people come together to share together the common call and pilgrimage of what it means to follow Jesus.

Here is just one example of the effect these gatherings can have on students: Thank you so much for yet another wonderful coffee house. These catch-ups are always so timely, in the midst of our intense study schedules and normal (and not so normal) pressures of life. Our group’s honesty, friendship, and growing trust in Christ is such a highlight of this entire Westminster experience. Thank you all so very much!

Clearly, the Holy Spirit directs the discussion even though there is a facilitator guiding it. Students are surprised at how relaxed it is and how easy it is to share if they want to. And although they are with fellow classmates, it clearly is not a classroom environment. There is a number of regular attenders, who love the monthly connection with others and even follow up with fellow students they have met at the coffee house. Several new friendships have been established that have carried on beyond graduation. One student said: It was so encouraging to hear from fellow students.

Being a seminary student can be difficult because most people don’t understand the struggles that go with it. So I’m thankful that even online there are ways to connect with peers going through the same things!

Another significant piece of the puzzle of developing the online community is found in the Core Advisory Team. This group consists of 6–8 current students and alumni who meet monthly with the Dean of Students.

They are a kind of thinktank tasked with finding ways to promote the online community and strengthen relationships. It was their idea to develop coffee houses and more recently to establish regional, in-person gatherings to enhance those relationships geographically. The history of this group was a direct result of my ongoing ministry as the Dean of Online Students in sharing my own vision.

Many of the original members took the initiative to say they wanted to partner with me in order to own the call to develop a vibrant community with fellow online students.

This, I trust, has been a pleasant taste of what the

Lord is doing with our online community in growing them in the sweet grace and knowledge of Christ.

There is much more to be said and done, but there is much to thank our God for in his ongoing redeeming grace in preparing these students for life and learning.

Maturity in Christ unto the Glory of God: Our Mission Always

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ndeed, much of this is happening in the lectures and small groups, but spiritual care and formation must also transcend institutional formalities and remind students that we are all in the perpetual “school of Christ,” which calls us to a daily life that confidently reflects and honors the one who has given us “everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).

In many ways, I believe that our best years are ahead.

Westminster is now out there, in the world, more than ever, and having, perhaps, a greater impact than ever before. In my hyperbolic moments of what I want this ministry and work to do for the glory of God and the work of Westminster, I have a dream. This dream is that whenever the online program of Westminster Theological Seminary is mentioned, people would immediately know, by way of reputation, that here is one of the richest pictures of the beautiful marriage of piety and learning of the orthodox faith. A place where the uncompromising Bible-centered curriculum is taught by a faculty of character and competency but in a context where students are vibrant and alive in their own pilgrimage and want the fullness of the gospel personally and professionally. And I am grateful and humbled, to the point of being overwhelmed, that the Lord has blessed me with this opportunity to serve and love the students of Westminster.

Jerry McFarland (MDiv, DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) has spent over 30 years in pastoral ministry, serving churches in MD, NC and PA. In addition, he pastored students residentially at Westminster for 12 years as the Dean of Students. Since 2017, he has served a similar pastoral role as the Dean of Online students at Westminster.

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Does Scripture contradict itself ?

Don't leave your lay leaders to learn from Google.

Westminster Theological Seminary | 100% Online The online Master of Arts in Theological Studies equips non-vocational ministry professionals and ministry leaders with a strong theological foundation, enabling them to serve with confidence and apply Scriptural truths to their life, work, and ministry.

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THE PROMISE OF GLOBAL THEOLOGY Nathan Shannon

Asher Brown Durand, The Indian's Vespers

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s every missionary knows, when we cross a cultural divide for the sake of gospel ministry, the Lord works no less in us than he does through us. And since what the Lord does through us in the lives of others is largely hidden from view—we will only know in glory—a cross-cultural witness to the Lord Jesus Christ is in a unique position to grow in grace and knowledge, in a manner at once humbling and enriching.

The same is true for theological education in cross-cultural settings. The global theological conversation which is at the center of theological education as missions holds tremendous promise for the reformation of one’s own approach to curriculum design, course delivery, and expectations. Critical thinking is a good example.

It is often said that East Asian educational culture

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lacks that critical ethos characteristic of the Western mindset. The typical East Asian student “does not think critically,” so the story goes, while the Western student does. Ironically, this simplistic view is rarely questioned.

Is it not possible that every culture encourages critical thinking, and values its own version, but that in each instance the ethos and context in which critical thinking is meant to operate are different? And what tremendous opportunities for mutual encouragement—indeed, for reform—if this were the case!

So, perhaps Western critical thinking is what it is because of the way in which Western culture conceives of the human person and of personal relationships. It is commonly believed, of course, that things are the other way around, that the way we think determines our sense of ourselves, of others, and of relationships, that our ideas come first. But this sequence is itself artificially individualistic, rationalistic, and thus reductionistic, and in that sense, notably Western.

And yet one notices that with the rise of so-called expressive individualism comes the demise of critical thinking and critical discourse as previously practiced.

A new mode of critique accompanies the new view of the human person—namely, critical theory, in which the deconstruction of persons is leveraged on the interplay of relational power dynamics. Covenant, too, is a deeply relational logic, but, alas, this one disappoints. On the Aristotelian model—the model familiar to us as ‘classical’ —persons are eclipsed by claims and propositions and syllogisms, and, pedagogically, behaviorism crouches at the door. However, now that the dominant logic is that of an actualistic anthropology of self-utterance, teachability dies from self-inflicted wounds.

Alternatively, no reader of Confucian thought can miss the twin emphases of social awareness and critical thinking. In Korea, the Westerner will be informed with a chuckle that he has no nunchi (“eye for seeing”); he does not know his place. That is, he is naive and childish in his social self-understanding. He constantly creates awkwardness for himself and others, so he needs to be instructed on elementary matters. In essence, he cannot think for himself.

In my experience, the challenge in East Asia is not to encourage the student to think critically as a westerner does but to encourage the student to stop thinking about himself, or of himself as a liability. The issue in East Asia is fear of failure and of the humiliation of letting others

down. The American, with his unburdened sense of self, is unfamiliar with this kind of pressure. He will gladly risk failure for a chance to try because he assumes that what he does is mostly about himself. One’s sense of self, and sense of one’s self in relation to others, makes all the difference.

And if so, if critical thinking always expresses our answers to a few basic questions—who am I? And what is my context?—then a Reformed, biblical theological ‘subversive fulfillment’ of the conventional view is the order of the day.

According to Genesis chapter 1, God created man in his own image and after his likeness, intending man to have dominion “over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Chapter 2 verse 9 says that “the LORD God brought forth out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food.”

This means that God entrusted to man these abundant natural riches, so that man would enjoy them and have dominion over them.

Verse 9 adds: “also the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

And in verses 16–17, the Lord speaks to the man and says: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Note well: the whole garden is beautiful; everything that surrounds man is aesthetically gratifying. Moreover, the fruits are good; they are delicious and healthy. And above all, man, by divine blessing, enjoys mastery over his entire context. But in the end, his fate hangs on his response to that word of God regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Adam might obey, or he might disobey.

It is important to understand that, fundamentally, the prohibition of Genesis 2:17 is an invitation. It is an invitation to Adam to interpret his entire context according to God’s Word and under God’s authority. In order to do this, Adam would have to interpret himself as he is, as a creature of God, even the image of God, under the absolute authority of the absolute God. Adam would have to understand himself as a creature of God who owes his Creator perfect obedience, up to and including even his own life. Specifically, Adam will have to objectify his own instincts, his own feelings, and his own thoughts and intuition, and to submit them consciously and intentionally to the law of his Creator. He

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will have to review his situation very carefully, considering the people involved, the relevant relationships, and the meaning of all that has been said. And he will have to adopt an obedient way of thinking, feeling, and reacting. And in order to do this, above all Adam must know that “God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient,” and that God alone is “the fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things” (WCF 2.2). In sum, Adam must “trust the Lord with all [his] heart and lean not on [his] own understanding” (Prov. 3:5). He must believe that: “Blessed is the man . . . who delights in the law of the Lord” (Ps. 1:1, 2). And he must confirm this belief through obedience, by not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

When we think critically, we delight in the law of the Lord, and we flourish in the pure joy of obedience.

Adam’s self-objectification and theocentric consideration of himself and his world represent the original ideal for healthy and wholesome creaturely thinking. The prohibition of Genesis 2:17 is an invitation to maturity by way of doxological self-examination, and it therefore represents the inaugural moment of human critical thinking. Accordingly, the proper context for critical thinking is covenant love and obedience to God. Godliness is the first principle of the life of the mind. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7). When we think critically, we delight in the law of the Lord, and we flourish in the pure joy of obedience.

But Adam transgressed the law of God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By transgressing the command of God, Adam declared that God’s Word was, in his view, negotiable, dubious, and not ultimate. Adam’s transgression said, effectively, that God’s Word was a suggestion rather than a command.

When Adam transgressed the law of God, he elevated his own human interpretation of the world to the same

level as God’s interpretation. He thus treated God as a mere creature. That is why when Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he came under condemnation of death. And when the Lord asked Adam, “what have you done?” he did not ask because he did not know; with this question, the Lord was leading Adam to a new kind of critical thinking, one filled with repentance and dread of divine wrath.

The Lord invites us, “Come now, let us reason together,” and the reason, the context for this summons, is this: that our sins “though . . . like scarlet . . . shall be white as snow,” so that, being “willing and obedient,” we “shall eat of the good of the land” (Isa. 1:18, 19). The renewal of the mind and the rebirth of sound thinking are part of obedient communion with God in Christ Jesus. Critical thinking belongs to the new life in Christ that we live by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. To think critically, indeed, to think well, is to declare that He is the Lord and besides him there is no other, and to think, lovingly and obediently, as little children, the thoughts of God after him.

In other words: When resourced with adequate depth, Scripture and Reformed confessions can facilitate cross-cultural conversation and engagement—for example, this one between East and West on the topic of critical thinking—which draws us all into richer self-critique according to Scripture, and which encourages each one to learn from the other to the glory of God. And we are only scratching the surface. The global theological conversation, into which theological education as mission ventures, holds tremendous promise for richer biblical theological and redemptive historical insights; for fresh insights into the theology of pastoral training; and for the mutual love and edification of the saints around the world.

Nathan Shannon (PhD, VU Amsterdam) is Associate Director of Global Curriculum and Assessment as well as Adjunct Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is the editor of P&R’s Great Thinker series and author most recently of Absolute Person and Moral Experience: A Study in Neo-Calvinism (Bloomsbury 2022). Dr. Shannon taught in Seoul, S. Korea, for more than six years.

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The Southgate Fellowship exists to advance biblical thinking and practice in world mission, as captured in the solas of reformational theology.

thesouthgatefellowship.org

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TRUTH LIES DEEP An Update from the Craig Center Nathan Nocchi

“P

rofundo latet veritas” (Truth lies deep). We must dig deep after the treasures of truth that are according to godliness, after the treasures of that wisdom which makes us wise unto salvation.” 1 These words were penned by William Twisse, the prolocutor of the Westminster Assembly (1643–1653). The Westminster Assembly was that notable gathering of learned ministers that convened at the directive of the Long Parliament to reform the doctrine and liturgy of the Church of England.

The call for reformation at this moment in history was seen not only as momentous, but necessary. It was, as Robert Baillie remarks, “wished for by all the godly for so many years . . . [since it was] for a very long time, hindered.”2 Indeed, “Romish Religion” was rampant and in great need of “repressing” for the sake of the church’s “doctrine, worship, and discipline.”3 Thus, as Thomas Gataker recounts, the Westminster Assembly was convened in the midst of great civil upheaval and vehement religious disputes to “consider Ecclesiastical affairs, and the settling of matters concerning Doctrine and Discipline according to the rule of God’s word.” 4 From the Assembly’s perspective, there was a rather great deal of digging to do to uncover those precious “treasures of truth” from a markedly textured theological terrain, a terrain having accretions of false doctrine and practices lacking scriptural warrant. From the Jerusalem Chamber, a room annexed to the Abbey in the fourteenth century, the Assembly issued a series of prodigiously important theological documents, such as directories and catechisms and the well-known Confession of Faith. Through these “indefatigable Labours,”5 the assembly of divines essentially codified a post-Reformation Presbyterian theology for the Kingdom, and soon, for the world.

Given our modern context, where, as J. Gresham Machen already observed a century ago,6 there are evershifting opinions about Christianity and its teaching, it

is important to tell this story of the Assembly, its work, and its world, so as to remind Christians of the rich and deep theological and pastoral tradition that lies behind them. It is to this end that the Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards exists. We undertake and facilitate scholarly research to preserve, educate, and publish about this assembly of divines and its world.

One of our significant initiatives to preserve the Assembly’s theology and history is to collect and collate manuscripts that are still hidden away in various libraries in England and Europe. These sermons, treatises, and apologetic works keenly portray the theology of those who shaped the Westminster Standards that we esteem today. Building upon these collection efforts, we then digitize these works to make them available at no cost for both the church and scholars.

The Center seeks to educate those near and far by hosting monthly seminars where seasoned scholars and PhD students give papers through which they explore the world of the Westminster Assembly. We see the academic endeavor to dig deeper into the theology and history of our tradition as vital for theological and spiritual formation, especially in seminary education.

As assembly member Francis Cheynell once said, “good Divines read their Catechisme often, that they may retain the grounds of Divinity.”7 With this in view, the Center is also formulating plans for future academic conferences.

Finally, the Center is undertaking efforts to publish new material, such as a popular-level curriculum on the Westminster Standards and its assembly of divines.

The chief end of this project is to offer a resource that is educational and devotional, showing that these doctrinal standards were produced by godly men living in a real world. The Center is also currently conducting research to produce biographical essays on each of the notable Assembly members, painting a portrait of their life, thought, and work. We envision these efforts culminating in doctrinal surveys in which the writings of the

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Samuel Scott, The Building of Westminster Bridge

divines are deployed to elucidate the theological topics presented by the Confession of Faith.

These various undertakings are pursued to support scholarly research that will benefit Christ’s church. Indeed, for the last twenty years, with generous support from the Craig family, the Center has endeavored to contribute to the spiritual and intellectual life of Westminster Theological Seminary, by equipping students and the Christian public with knowledge of the historical, systematic, biblical, and practical contours of the tradition of Reformed theology for which the seminary stands. To borrow a page from Stephen Marshall, we believe that we must “Looke to Immanuel’s cause above all things else.” Those who are called to “Preach upon these solemne dayes” must not “square God’s counsels with their owne designes.” No, their “design must bee to advance his cause and Kingdome…for the Lord’s sake, [we must] make Christ’s cause the cause of Religion, the cause of Worship.” 8

If you would like to know more about the Craig Center and how you can support it and its work, please visit craigcenter.wts.edu or write to Nathan Nocchi at nnocchi@wts.edu

1 William Twisse, The Scripture’s Sufficiency to Determine All Matters of Faith, 76.

2 Robert Baillie, A Dissuasive from the Errours of the Time, 90.

3 Matthew Newcomen, The craft and cruelty of the churches adversaries, 20.

4 Thomas Gataker, B.D. His Vindication of the Annotations by Him Published, 20.

5 Robert Baillie, Satan, the Leader in Chief to all Who Resist the Reparation of Sion.

6 See J. Gresham Machen, The Creeds and Doctrinal Advance.

7 Francis Cheynell, Sermon: A Plot for Good Posterity, 41.

8 Stephen Marshall, Emmanuel: a thanksgiving-sermon preached, 35.

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WESTMINSTER THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL 85th Anniversary

I

n 1938, the first issue of Westminster Theological Journal appeared in its now trademark beige paper cover. The issue was prefaced with a message from the editors that outlined the spirit that would motivate WTJ for the next 85 years:

Randall Pederson (RP): At that time a lot of academic journals were being discontinued and the faculty at Westminster felt the need to have a conservative voice given the widespread and increasing chorus of modernism.

But while we cling tenaciously to the heritage that comes to us from the past we must ever remember that it is our responsibility to present the Christian Faith in the context of the present. The position we maintain, therefore, necessarily involves the bringing of every form of thought that may reasonably come within the purview of a theological Faculty to the touchstone of Holy Scripture and the defining of its relations to our Christian Faith.

Brandon Crowe (BC): . . .I suspect its genesis was the fundamentalist/modernist controversy in some respect.

2023 marks the 85th anniversary of WTJ doing this work. 85 years is an incredible spell for a print theological journal in the USA. In that time period journals, magazines, and blogs have come and gone, but WTJ has steadfastly held fast to its mission. It’s not a glamorous one, but it is influential. Just take a look at the words of Kevin DeYoung, Joel Beeke, Dick Gaffin, and Robert Letham. Then check out the footnotes in your favorite theology books—WTJ has been a seedbed for orthodoxy in theological academia for generations.

—Robert Letham, author, The Holy Spirit

To commemorate this anniversary, we reached out to WTJ staff, past and present, for their thoughts and stories: Moises Silva (former Editor), Vern Poythress (former Editor), K. Scott Oliphint (Editor), Brandon Crowe (Book Review Editor), and Randall Pederson (Managing Editor).

Westminster Magazine (WM): Can you describe, in broad strokes, the genesis of Westminster Theological Journal? What precipitated its founding in 1938?

“We are called by God to love him, inter alia, with all our mind. In this respect, the cultivation of serious thought on an academic level is vital for the good of the church in proclaiming and defending the gospel. The WTJ has played a significant part in this throughout its life.”

WM: How has WTJ helped to fulfill the mission of the seminary over the last 85 years?

Moises Silva (MS): First, the journal provided a scholarly outlet for many, including our own faculty. Second, it extended the seminary’s outreach beyond what could be done locally with students.

BC: Faculty have historically published in the Journal, helping to disseminate their ideas to a broader audience. . . many may know the name of Westminster Theological Seminary because of the Westminster Theological Journal.

RP: The relationship between WTJ and WTS is an intimate one. The editor has historically been a faculty member and both faculty and students at Westminster routinely contribute to it. The journal further exists to

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advance to mission of Westminster and promote serious Reformed scholarship that addresses the need for robust academics as well as tackling issues relevant to the life of the church.

WM: What have been some defining moments in the life of WTJ? K. Scott Oliphint (KSO): For me, it was the 1995 edition which commemorated 100 years since Cornelius Van Til’s birth.

RP: Given its long history, there are likely many. I have been part of WTJ for almost 13 years, which seems like a long time (and it is!), but given the journal’s 85-year history, it’s just an inkling of that time. In my research into the journal’s past, defining moments (for me) have to do with the initial founding of the journal as well as the time when Moises Silva took over leadership of the journal and moved it into a more fine-tuned academic direction. . .

WM: What is the current mission of WTJ? How is it similar or has it evolved from the editors’ original intent?

MS: I do not know that there has been a significant change over the years.

Vern Poythress (VP): Though other evangelical theological journals have now arisen, our mission is still the same. We publish scholarly essays in all the theological disciplines, but we especially provide a platform for writers who are advancing the cause of Reformed theology.

We have published some specialized material related to the history and theology of WTS that might have found it difficult otherwise to find a proper platform for publication.

RP: The current mission of the WTJ is the same as it was in 1938. While society has changed and the broader church has become more liberal, the journal is one of the few theological publications that has stayed true to its founding mission. And I think that is a testimony to Westminster as an institution committed to its own founding mission to train pastors and educators for the church and academy. WTJ has not caved into broader societal pressures to become “relevant,”

in part, because solid theological scholarship is always relevant to the church.

“The Reformed faith has always emphasized the church’s calling to love God with all our mind and soul. Therefore, part of our worship consists of rigorous reflection on biblical interpretation, doctrinal formulation, and practical application, informed by the great writings of Christian history. For eightyfive years, the Westminster Theological Journal has been at the forefront of promoting scriptural orthodoxy and intelligent piety—the two requisites of any good seminary and journal, as John Murray once said. I hope and pray that Westminster Seminary (my alma mater to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude) and its flagship journal of Reformed orthodoxy will continue to do so for many years to come!”

—Dr. Joel R. Beeke, president, Puritan Reformed Seminary

WM: What is the value of a twice annual print academic journal in the age of digital media?

MS: My guess is that its subscribers (and most other readers) appreciate having an actual book in their hands.

VP: Scholars and libraries still need a permanent record, and many serious readers prefer hardcopy.

BC: It promises to be a much more valuable use of time. . . . It also serves as a physical (and digital) record of important conversations that can much more easily be accessed by future generations than a “hot take” on social media.

RP: I don’t think TikTok will be around 85 years from now. It’s a societal fad that doesn’t really offer any longterm benefit, at least when it comes to thinking more deeply about life and one’s faith. TikTok probably doesn’t help people develop the concentration necessary to think well and to write well either.

WM: What does the future hold for WTJ? How does the journal plan to approach its next 85 years?

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VP: To continue in the same way.

RP: I am hopeful that WTJ will continue to find a constituency in the church and the academy, that pastors, academics, and informed lay readers will find value in the articles and book reviews published; in short, that thinking more deeply about our Reformed faith and heritage will be something that is welcomed for a very long time to come. The moment we lose the robustness of our faith, and the intent to publish serious scholarship, is the moment we’ve lost our founding mission.

WM: What is, in your opinion, the most important, or best, piece that WTJ has published?

VP: Meredith G. Kline, “The First Resurrection,” WTJ 37/2 (1974-75) 366-75. It was a decisive argument in favor of amillennialism.

KSO: Gaffin’s article in the Van Til Centenary, also Murray’s article on who raised Jesus from the dead.

BC: Moises Silva’s “Perfection and Eschatology in Hebrews,” and Meredith Kline’s “First Resurrection.”

RP: WTJ has published a lot of good stuff over the years, so it’s hard (if not impossible) to just pick one and say, “This is it.” But I would give honorable mention to Dr. Poythress’s article “Time in Genesis 1,” published in WTJ 78.2. Other than Poythress’s article previously mentioned, I have a particular fondness for Richard Muller’s “Calvin on Divine Attributes,” published in WTJ 80.2.

“I’ve benefited from the Westminster Theological Journal for years. I subscribe to more than a dozen journals, and WTJ is the only one I read virtually cover to cover every issue. If someone was going to subscribe to only one theological journal, I’d recommend WTJ.” -Kevin DeYoung, author, Taking God at His Word

WM: What is the importance of academic journals for the Reformed community. How has/does WTJ participate in that broader relationship of church and academy?

“The Journal originated from the early faculty’s conviction that it would have a valuable role in the Seminary’s mission to foster Reformed theology faithful to Scripture. The successful maintenance of that conviction in the decades since has made the Journal one of the premier theological periodicals it is today.”

—Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Emeritus

MS: It keeps pastors up-to-date on important issues and helps them retain theological sensitivity in the midst of many responsibilities.

VP: Pastors find that there is a danger of growing intellectually stale if they do not have some engagement at a challenging academic level.

KSO: “Average Pastors” need theological “updating.” That is what the WTJ is for. When I was in pastoral ministry, I always greatly anticipated the next issue!

BC: 1. It provides reviews of new books with an intentionally Reformed perspective; 2. It widens a pastor’s expertise by introducing him to topics he may not otherwise encounter; 3. In the scope of the length of an article the pastor can follow and assess a sustained argument in much less time than it takes to read a whole book.

RP: By making pastors think through difficult issues and assess topics from varied angles, they can better articulate the Christian faith, and challenges to it, in a coherent, cohesive, and unbiased way. One of the beauties of the Reformed faith is its relationship to the medieval scholastic tradition, a tradition not without fault, but one that had stressed the importance of using one’s mind fully in its reflection on Scripture and defense of the faith.

Visit wtj.wts.edu to subscribe today!

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g in 3 m 02 Co ll 2 Fa

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF MACHEN’S CLASSIC...

PODCAST • AUDIOBOOK • HARDCOVER wtsbooks.com/wtspress

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IN PROFILE: ELDEN PAN Nathan Nocchi, Managing Editor of Westminster Magazine, recently sat down with Elden Pan, a current student of Westminster Theological Seminary, to discuss theological formation and the needed work of reformation in Malaysia.

Nathan Nocchi (NN): Brother, welcome! Why don’t you share with us your background, and how Reformed theology profoundly impacted your understanding of Christianity and service to Christ?

Elden Pan (EP): Nathan, thanks so much for having me! It is my privilege to be able to share these things. I am now in my second year of the MDiv Pastoral program. My family (i.e., my wife Jou Ee and two boys, Ethan and Emmanuel) is from Malaysia. We came half-way around the globe so that I could be properly trained and equipped for future pastoral ministry back home in Malaysia, Lord willing.

I am Malaysian, Chinese, and Indian (we’re called “Chindians”) by descent, and I grew up in a charismatic Christian home. Although my parents feared the Lord and sought to be as biblical as possible, it was a moralistic, therapeutic, and deistic environment brought about by a poor version of Christianity. Most of the churches in Malaysia, no matter the denomination, are charismatic.

For example, you would find that the larger Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches are all charismatic (even the Roman Catholic churches are influenced by the same charismatic movement!). Although I got baptized at the age of ten and was actively serving in children’s church and youth group for most of my years growing up, I did not know the God of the Bible.

So, I made my life plans according to this worldview and decided that I would pursue medicine because God would help me achieve my potential in this life.

In the first week of orientation at the medical school that I attended, God brought a Reformed upper-classman to befriend me. He offered to read the Bible with me. I began questioning everything that I ever believed, because he made me realize that I did not truly know the God of the Bible. Given this, I wanted to stop meeting up with him altogether, but I thank God that he persisted in guiding me, constantly pointing me back to the

Scriptures. After a few months, by God’s grace, something clicked internally—I realized I had to know God on His own terms. The doctrines of grace made sense and God’s sovereign election was so sweet to my ears! I then started attending the Reformed church that we’re still a part of—Christ Evangelical Reformed Church (CERC)—and began to grow in the Reformed faith.

Over time, my love for ministry and evangelism started to grow because I understood more and more that only the gospel can save. At the same time, I grew increasingly frustrated with the limitations of medicine (cf. Eccl. 1:2)—that one can only do “so much” to extend physical life and beyond that, there’s still eternal condemnation in hell. I wanted to preach the gospel to my patients more than cure them medically! So, I became more and more involved in ministry, and eventually the desire for pastoral ministry grew. I saw that there was, and still is, such a great need for faithful ministers of the Word. I then left my medical career after two and a half years of work in a university hospital to join the pastoral apprenticeship program in CERC. And over the span of two years in apprenticeship, both the internal and external calls for ministry became clear.

NN: Thank the Lord for persistent, godly friends that eagerly share the gospel! With regard to the theological context in Malaysia to which you referred, a recent census performed by the government in Malaysia determined that only a small percentage of the nation is Christian. Both Islam and Buddhism are far more prevalent than Christianity. This raises certain practical questions about personal piety and public worship. Indeed, not only is the church pressed by charismatic theology, but it appears to be a social minority! What is like to be a Christian in Malaysia?

EP: That’s right, Nathan. Based on the latest census in 2020, 63.5% of the population of Malaysia is Muslim, and 18.7% of the population is Buddhist. Christianity makes up only 9.1% of the population; and out of this number my estimate is that less than 1% of the Christians in Malaysia (which includes Roman Catholics) are of the Reformed Evangelical sort.

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It is tough to be a Christian on two fronts. Firstly, because Malaysia is a Muslim nation constitutionally, we’re only allowed to exist if we keep to ourselves. In other words, we are prohibited from evangelizing the Muslims (by law), and all Christian activity must be restricted to non-Muslim circles. At the same time, the Muslims are actively trying to convert Christians, especially in the more rural parts of Malaysia where less-educated Malaysians have been practicing a more cultural form of Christianity. Sometimes, it can get pretty extreme. For example, in 2008, the government banned all Christian printed material (including Bibles) that contained the word “Allah,” which is the proper noun for God in the Malay language, out of fear that the Muslims would be deceived. Imagine the US government banning all printed material with the word “God” in it! Thankfully this was overturned in Malaysia’s high court just recently in 2021. Still, fear looms over any bold, open proclamation of the gospel since a few Christian leaders have disappeared. These leaders were supposedly “seen to be reaching out to the Muslims.”

Alas, Muslim converts to Christianity are forced to meet in underground churches which have a significant lack of theological depth and precision.

Over time, my love for ministry and evangelism started to grow because I understood more and more that only the gospel can save.

The second front would be opposition from so-called Christians themselves, which sometimes can be more disheartening than opposition from the authorities or other religious groups. In my five years of ministry experience in Malaysia, it was difficult to be explicitly Reformed in any context of ministry without facing opposition. Because the nation is culturally diverse and has been pushing for tolerance amongst the different races, the church has all seen the same post-modern “tolerance”—unity

without sorting out any doctrinal differences. And thus, the Reformed churches that are firmer on preaching a certain understanding of sin (i.e., total depravity) or salvation (i.e., by God’s sovereign election) are seen to be intolerant and divisive.

NN: With opposition on virtually every side, this is truly a tumultuous context to minister in. This makes the minister’s task all the more important, indeed, for the Lord is our stronghold and His Word our pasture.

As one undertaking theological and pastoral studies at Westminster, how has your understanding of Reformed theology been nourished? Do you think that Westminster has sufficiently prepared you to minister back home in this context?

EP: It’s only been two years thus far, and I’ve grown so much in my understanding of Reformed theology, which I’m really thankful for. Where my two year apprenticeship in my church back home has given me a good foundation, I think my studies here have definitely provided an added depth— from the exegetical side of things, to the redemptive-historical, apologetic, systematic, historical, and pastoral. And more than that, I think the best thing about Westminster’s curriculum is that it has helped me to integrate these different disciplines together so that I can see how parsing a single Greek word rightly or wrongly can make a difference to one’s ministry and outlook.

And has it sufficiently prepared me to minister back home? Given what I have learned these last two years, I expect that at the conclusion of my studies, I will be even better positioned to minister in Malaysia.

Admittedly, there are some subjects that I would have to translate into my own context and culture. For example, the different false worldviews that we’re learning in apologetics are very Western. But there’s only so much that a seminary education can do, and Westminster is doing it well. Indeed, what Westminster is doing is making sure that we get the unchanging principia right.

NN: Praise God for His work at Westminster! Can you share something notable that you have learned about the theology of missions? Is there any clear connection between that theology and its practical application that you would like to discuss?

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eventually pastor a congregation, which would include leading a whole range of ministries, from preaching weekly to running Sunday school and youth group. In the mid- to long-term, there’s a great need to plant a Reformed church in East Malaysia, which is where my hometown is. It is more rural and less developed compared to Kuala Lumpur, and there are no English-speaking Reformed churches there at the moment.

Another area that God is leading me towards is doing ministry in our national language, Malay. Malay ministry is a completely different ball game with a different set of struggles altogether. For one, our best Malay translation of the Bible is a second-hand translation from the English Good News Bible—you can imagine how problematic that is! And Malay ministries often draw closer scrutiny from the government. But it is a massive harvest field—larger than the English-speaking community in Malaysia.

NN: Brother, thank you for your time and thoughts. As we conclude, how can we pray for the church in Malaysia? How can we pray for you?

EP: First thing that comes to mind is Dr. Edwards’s class on the “Theology of Evangelism and Missions” that I had last year, which was so helpful! And not just that, as I reflect more, there are so many other classes that have contributed to my understanding of missions. Where to begin? Van Tilian apologetics and J.H. Bavinck’s “magnetic points,” exegeting Matthew 28:18–20 in the Greek, biblical theology of ‘temple’ and ‘light,’ monasticism and ‘holy wars’ in medieval church history, and the list can keep going. I guess if I had to narrow it down to one thing that is more pertinent to ministry in Malaysia, it would be this. In the words of Dr. Garner, “global missions is the liberalizing tip of the spear for the church.”

In our efforts to bring more people to Christ, we are at risk of compromise and allowing liberalism to creep into the church.

NN: As you prepare to return home, what particular work do you believe the Lord is calling you to in Malaysia?

EP: I’m convinced that God has called me to pastoral ministry back home in Malaysia. My hope is to

EP: Thank you, Nathan. It was great to speak with you.

Firstly, please pray that God will be merciful to the church in Malaysia as a whole, as it is lukewarm and is caught up with every wind of doctrine (or gimmick) other than the gospel. Along those lines, pray that the biblical gospel will be restored to its rightful, central, and foundational place in the teaching and life of the church. Secondly, please pray that the Reformed churches and parachurches will remain steadfast under the pressure to compromise and with the threat of persecution, seeking to boldly proclaim the truth in love.

And pray for greater unity amongst like-minded Evangelical Reformed congregations, a unity that is centered around the truth of God’s Word. Thirdly, pray that the new government that was sworn in last year would work towards policies that provide better religious freedom compared to that afforded by the previous governments.

And fourthly, pray that God would raise up more faithful under-shepherds to lead His church. Finally, for me, I would appreciate prayer that God will continue to mold and prepare me for the ministry that He would have me do in the future. Please pray that I would not only grow in theological competency, but also in character and in conviction.

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N O W AVA I L A B L E Van Til expresses a vibrantly Reformed epistemology founded on the Word of God.

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THE NAME P i e r c e Ta y l o r H i b b s

We once lived inside a voice in a garden green and gold.

All we needed we were told.

We listened and we learned to hold all hope and longing in a choice to nod Amen and give God fame as we were planted in one name.

Still with patient grace God spoke and sang a savior into sight, one from himself for men to fight and bring us all into his light.

From deathly sleep we all awoke and found a covering for our shame, knit from that eternal name.

But we were blinded by the chance that we might be a voice alone.

We offered up our flesh and bone to grasp at what we could not own, and so began a restless dance between old glory and new shame as we left behind the ancient name.

It should have been that all was lost and scattered souls from hope depart, but God gave his unending heart to call us back from worlds apart.

And on a day called Pentecost, the voice set flame to earthly blame and called us home into the name.

A tower we thought we could build to make our measure something seen, a structure that would never lean but mark us each as king and queen so we could keep ourselves fulfilled.

But this was all a fragile game.

Our tongues were sundered by the name.

Stone to stone and seam to seam, the Spirit crafts and shapes and sands, uniting strange and distant lands into a frame marked in God’s hands, holes where holy love was dreamed.

God builds to show the world he came And readies rooms within his name.

We wandered then and wander still, across the hills, across the sea, enslaved by what we thought was free and groping for divinity, as if we were not wholly ill, and were not fading from the flame that burns within the name.

(Attributed to) Henri Biva, Fishing on a Sunny Afternoon

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a u o y e , d s e a l i m t n e ve a G h e h I t r g o f n i r t b ligh you may s d n e that to the n o . i t a th r v sal f the ea o

REFORMED T H EO L O G I C A L E N G AG E M E N T WI T H TO DAY ’S WO R L D

D E LI VE R E D TO YOUR M A ILB OX Acts 13:47

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