A Theology of Mission

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A Theology of Mission

• How to understand MissionbyRev Bob Frisken AM

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Mission is About

• The Gospel of the Kingdom
• And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached
  in the whole world as a testimony to all nations,
  and then the end will come. (Matthew 2414 NIV)

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Mission is About

• The Message of Jesus
• "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has
  anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He
  has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
  and recovery of sight for the blind, to release
  the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the
  Lord's favor. and he began by saying to them,
  "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your
  hearing."

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Why is the gospel good news?

• Because it is the power of God for the salvation
  of everyone who believes first for the Jew, then
  for the Gentile. (Romans116 )
• Because without the gospel cultures are centred
  on control and self worship
• The gospel has the power to transform culture
• The gospel has a view of people that will make a
  difference now and for eternity

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Theological Principles of Mission

• How should Christians respond to
• The secularism of our age and its impact on
  Christian belief and practice
• The amazing variety of folk religions around the
  world
• The resurgence of witchcraft and neo-paganism

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Theological Principles of Mission

• The answer lies in
• Understanding the culture of people
• Providing biblical answers to questions people
  face in their everyday life.
• Those involved in mission need a critical
  analysis of people and their cultural context
• To do this they need to understand the
  theological principles underlying mission

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Theological Principles

• A theology of creation
• A theology of Gods sovereignty
• A theology of the Kingdom of God
• A theology of power and the cross
• A theology of the Church as a caring community

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A Trinitarian theology of creation

• God is revealed as One yet in three persons all
  of whom are involved in the World He created
• God is invisible yet has created the visible and
  invisible world.
• Western thought has concentrated on what can be
  seen and measured and has neglected the invisible

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A Trinitarian theology of creation

• A Trinitarian theology sees God as both apart
  from (Transcendent) but also involved in
  (immanent) His creation
• It does not allow for a separation between the
  supernatural and the natural

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A Deistic theology of creation

• Western thought has led to two main streams deism
  and secularism

Deism divides God from his creation and sees a
radical separation between the two.
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A Secular theology of creation

• Western thought has led to two main streams deism
  and secularism

Secularism removes divides God from creation and
sees no place for the spiritual
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An Animistic theology of creation

• Animism sees all reality as divine and
  interlinked so all objects may have spirits
• A Trinitarian theology alone will provide answers
  for animistic religions or for other
  non-Christian religions

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An Evangelical Gnostic theology of creation

• Evangelical thought has been affected by secular
  dualism and has separated God from the natural

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A Trinitarian theology of creation

• Must adopt the theistic view that sees God as
• relevant to and Lord of all parts of creation
• continually involved in creation by his
  providence, power and presence

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A Trinitarian theology of creation sees God at
work in all of His world
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A theology of Gods sovereignty

• Non-Trinitarian religions are attempts to control
  life just as in the first sin Adam and Eve were
  tempted to worship themselves and be in control
• Satan said "For God knows that when you eat of
  it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
  God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 35 NIV)

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A theology of Gods sovereignty

• People want to be self sufficient and in control
  of what happened
• This leads to sacrifices to gods or spirits in an
  attempt to control life
• It also led to rules and regulations disciplines
  and the like to please gods
• The desire for control leads to magical
  approaches including practices found among many
  Christians who believe special formulae are
  needed if God is to answer prayer

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A theology of Gods sovereignty

• Rejects self centered religion and magical
  approaches
• Centres its message on God and his acts
• Calls on humans to submit themselves to God and
  live by faith and not try to control life
• For in the gospel a righteousness from God is
  revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from
  first to last, just as it is written "The
  righteous will live by faith." (Romans 117 NIV)
• Calls on people to worship God and live in
  submission to his will and not seek to manipulate
  God

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A theology of the Kingdom of God

• Gods purpose was to create a people for himself
• For he chose us in him before the creation of
  the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
  (Ephesians 14 )
• Christ came to remedy the effects of the fall and
  fulfil Gods purpose
• In love he predestined us to be adopted as his
  sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his
  pleasure and will (Ephesians 15 )

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A theology of the Kingdom of God

• Jesus came to establish and proclaim his Kingdom
  on earth
• From that time on Jesus began to preach,
  "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
  (Matthew 417 NIV)
• His Kingdom will change society
• "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has
  anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He
  has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
  and recovery of sight for the blind, to release
  the oppressed (Luke 418-19)

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A theology of the Kingdom of God

• Although his kingdom has come it has yet to be
  established in its fullness
• For the creation was subjected to frustration,
  not by its own choice, but by the will of the one
  who subjected it, in hope that the creation
  itself will be liberated from its bondage to
  decay and brought into the glorious freedom of
  the children of God. We know that the whole
  creation has been groaning as in the pains of
  childbirth right up to the present time. (Rom
  820-22 NIV)

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A theology of the Kingdom of God

• Gods Kingdom is found wherever people are
  subject to Jesus
• But Kingdom people are also subject to sin and
  temptation and will fail but will also experience
  Gods grace and forgiveness
• Pain, suffering and death will remain part of
  life until the fullness of his Kingdom comes
• "Now have come the salvation and the power and
  the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his
  Christ. (Revelation 1210 NIV)
• the creation itself will be liberated from its
  bondage to decay and brought into the glorious
  freedom of the children of God. (Romans 821 NIV)
  

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A theology of power and the cross

• Most religions seek power as the key tp
  prosperity, health success and control over life
• Christians need a biblical theology of power that
• Does not minimize the power of God through the
  miraculous and through prayer
• Does not sensationalise Gods power through
  overemphasis on signs and wonders or through a
  prosperity gospel

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A theology of power and the cross

• Neither miracles not the cross can be taken out
  of the gospel without distorting it
• God is powerful and Jesus promised power to his
  disciples as he left them
• I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me
  will do what I have been doing. He will do even
  greater things than these, because I am going to
  the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my
  name, so that the Son may bring glory to the
  Father. (John 1412 -13 NIV)

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A theology of power and the cross

• Gods cares for his children in this age but
  along with the blessing there will also be
  suffering
• "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one
  who has left home or brothers or sisters or
  mother or father or children or fields for me and
  the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times
  as much in this present age (homes, brothers,
  sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with
  them, persecutions) and in the age to come,
  eternal life. (Mark 1029-30 NIV)

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A theology of power and the cross

• The supreme demonstration of Gods power is seen
  in the death and resurrection of Jesus
• Gods power is rooted in love and redemption not
  in pride and vengeance
• The world sees Gods power as weakness ( 1
  Corinthians 123-27)
• Christians need to show Gods power in
  transformed lives through suffering and in
  confrontation of evil wherever they find it
• They need to guard against distorting it or
  seeking to use it for their own glory

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A theology of power and the cross

• Christians need discernment so as not to use
  Gods power to assure them of His presence
• There is a need to test spirits because signs and
  wonders occur in all religions as Satan seeks to
  counterfeit Gods power and confuse and blind
  people

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A theology of power and the cross

• Gods power is evident if
• God is glorified and not the person doing the
  signs
• Christs Lordship is recognised and his right to
  ask us to take up the cross and follow him
• If the Holy Spirit is emphasised
• It conforms with biblical principles and practice
• It is recognised as such by the community of
  Gods people

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A theology of power and the cross

• God does not promise either prosperity or
  continual health to his people
• We are called to live in and to share in a world
  blighted by sickness, injury, suffering and death
• God does heal through both natural processes and
  by divine intervention
• But the real triumph of the gospel is the power
  to overcome in sickness, accident and injury and
  in death (Romans 836-39)

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A theology of power and the cross

• As it is written "For your sake we face death
  all day long we are considered as sheep to be
  slaughtered."
• No, in all these things we are more than
  conquerors through him who loved us.
• For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
  neither angels nor demons, neither the present
  nor the future, nor any powers, neither height
  nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
  will be able to separate us from the love of God
  that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 836-39
  NIV)

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A theology of the Church as a caring community

• The Great commission was given not as a directive
  to preach a message but as an instruction to form
  a caring community
• Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority
  in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
  baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
  the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
  to obey everything I have commanded you. And
  surely I am with you always, to the very end of
  the age." (Matthew 2818 -20 NIV)

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A theology of the Church as a caring community

• The Great commission involved
• Making disciples of all nations,
• Incorporating them in a community through
  baptizing them
• Teaching them to obey all that Jesus commanded
  you.
• Jesus promised to indwell his community, always,
  and to the very end of the age.

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A theology of the Church as a caring community

• The Gospel is about setting up godly communities
  that
• are marked by love, forgiveness and care for each
  other
• demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit
• are committed to love others and to stand against
  the evil of the age
• will live and think differently to the culture in
  which they live

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A theology of the Church as a caring community

• Christian schools need to reflect the Church as
  Gods caring community.
• They need to have a teaching approach that models
  Gods way of life and living
• They need to be Christian learning communities
• They need to reach out to a needy world in
  accordance to the mission of Jesus

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Mission will be true to

• The Gospel of the Kingdom
• This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in
  the whole world as a testimony to all nations,
  and then the end will come. (Matthew 2414)
• The Message of Jesus
• He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
  prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to
  release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of
  the Lord's favor

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Mission will be true to

• A theology of creation
• A theology of Gods sovereignty
• A theology of the Kingdom of God
• A theology of power and the cross
• A theology of the Church as a caring community