God’s Project

The Worldwide Church and us

Mission Statement For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk 2:14

Two Key Principles • • God is Proactive The Message is for All People

God is Proactive The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.“ Genesis 12:1

God is Proactive For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

God is Proactive When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Acts 2:1,2

For All People "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12:2,3

For All People “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

For All People

Two Principles Combined All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language Acts 2:4-6

No Holy City

For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Hebrews 13:14

No Holy Language After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. Revelation 7:9

Lamin Sanneh Christianity seems unique in being the only world religion that is transmitted without the language or originating culture of its founder.

Acts: God is Proactive • The Disciples missed the point and hung around in Jerusalem • • Got the idea when Stephen was martyred.

Paul showed the way.

Acts: For All People • Once again, the disciples missed the point • • Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8) Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10) • • General confusion across the Church. (Galatians) Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15)

End of 1 st Century

End of 2nd Century

End of 3rd Century

God’s Project 500AD 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% 100 200 300 400 500 World A World B World C

6th Century

632 AD

750 AD

God’s Project 1000 AD 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 World A World B World C

A European Faith.

A European Faith

• • • Culturally Theologically Politically

God’s Project 1500AD 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% 100 300 500 700 900 1100 1300 1500 World A World B World C

Reality Check • God is proactive • For all people

Europe is filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea!

God’s Re engineering • • • • Renaissance Age of Discovery Reformation Printing Press

Post Reformation Missions • • Catholic Missions • Dynamic: Tied to voyages of conquest.

Protestant Missions • More or less absent for two hundred years.

Early Catholic Missions

Protestant Missions

Protestantism in 1600

Protestant Missions

Protestantism in 1792: Spread by emigration.

First Wave Of Missions

Protestant activity in 1865: Denominational missions to coastal lands

Second Wave of Missions

Protestant activity in 1910: Inland/Interior Missions

God’s Project 1900AD 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% 100 300 500 700 900 1100 1300 1500 1700 1900 World A World B World C

Third Wave of Missions

Protestant Activity 1965: Missions to unreached peoples.

Gods Project 2000AD 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% 100 300 500 700 900 11001300150017001900 World A World B World C

50 20 C. Church Growth 40 30 20 10 World Population Europe North America Pacific Asia Africa 0 19 00 20 00

Languages With Scripture 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2800 1500 36 1600 52 1700 67 1800 537 1900 2000

When?

Most church growth occurred in the post colonial and post-mission period

Response to the Message

Why did Africans and Asians adopt Christianity? One all-too-obvious explanation is that individuals came to believe the message offered, and found this the best means of explaining the world around them. Their convictions are illustrated by the many stories of zeal in the face of persecution.

Philip Jenkins

The Centre Has Shifted Percentage of Non-Western Christians 80 60 40 20 0 1800 1900 2000

The Centre Has Shifted 250 West Rest of the World 200 150 100 50 0 1960 1990

The Centre has Shifted

We are currently living through one of the transforming moments in the history of religion worldwide… The Christian center of gravity has shifted to Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The Centre has Shifted

By 2050, only about 1/5 of the world’s 3 billion Christians will be non-Hispanic Whites. The era of Western Christianity has passed within our lifetimes…. The emerging Christian world will be anchored in the Southern continents.

Philip Jenkins

The Centre Has Shifted Which country has the most students involved in campus Christian Groups?

Nigeria

The Centre Has Shifted Which country has the most members of Operation Mobilisation?

INDIA!

The Centre Has Shifted Which country sends out the most missionaries per church congregation?

Singapore!

Reality Check • God is proactive • For all people

 

The earth is being filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea!

Timbuktu: Mali

Afghanistan

GOD IS AT WORK!

What should mission look like now?

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16

What should you be doing to play your part in this new mission environment?

Closing Thoughts • • • Renew your confidence in God • The Project is On Track The Church is Changing • Westerners no longer automatically lead Mission Needs Rethinking • Mission is from everywhere to everywhere • Multinational, multicultural teams