Mission

[MoreCoffee]

Preaching the gospel to all nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples is an indisputable mission given to all Christians and especially to all Churches. Yet it is not always a simple task to undertake and it often requires great sensitivity to culture and folk beliefs before the gospel can be effectively preached. Saints Peter and Paul realised this and chose to acquaint themselves with the thinking and customs of the people to whom they went to preach the gospel. Today some appear to think that careful preparation is not spontaneous enough and that if one is filled with the Holy Spirit no such preparation (by means of acquainting one's self with the customs and beliefs of the people to whom one is sent) is necessary - the idea is that the Holy Spirit will enable the Christian to speak the right words to the right people and so accomplish his will despite the unprepared state of the missionary. Here is what the second Vatican council said about mission work in the introductory paragraphs of its document on the Church's missionary activity in the world.

Divinely sent to the nations of the world to be unto them "a universal sacrament of salvation,"[SUP](1)[/SUP] the Church, driven by the inner necessity of her own catholicity, and obeying the mandate of her Founder (cf. Mark 16:16), strives ever to proclaim the Gospel to all men. The Apostles themselves, on whom the Church was founded, following in the footsteps of Christ, "preached the word of truth and begot churches."[SUP](2)[/SUP] It is the duty of their successors to make this task endure "so that the word of God may run and be glorified (2 Thess. 3:1) and the kingdom of God be proclaimed and established throughout the world.

In the present state of affairs, out of which there is arising a new situation for mankind, the Church, being the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Matt. 5:13-14), is more urgently called upon to save and renew every creature, that all things may be restored in Christ and all men may constitute one family in Him and one people of God.

Therefore, this sacred synod, while rendering thanks to God for the excellent results that have been achieved through the whole Church's great - hearted endeavor, desires to sketch the principles of missionary activity and to rally the forces of all the faithful in order that the people of God, marching along the narrow way of the Cross, may spread everywhere the reign of Christ, Lord and overseer: of the ages (cf. Ecc. 36:19), and may prepare the way for his coming. (source)

1. Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium," 48.
2. St. Augustine, "Exposition on Psalm 44," 23 (PL 36, 508; CChr 38, 510).

 

[Stravinsk]

Preaching the gospel to all nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples is an indisputable mission given to all Christians and especially to all Churches. Yet it is not always a simple task to undertake and it often requires great sensitivity to culture and folk beliefs before the gospel can be effectively preached. Saints Peter and Paul realised this and chose to acquaint themselves with the thinking and customs of the people to whom they went to preach the gospel. Today some appear to think that careful preparation is not spontaneous enough and that if one is filled with the Holy Spirit no such preparation (by means of acquainting one's self with the customs and beliefs of the people to whom one is sent) is necessary - the idea is that the Holy Spirit will enable the Christian to speak the right words to the right people and so accomplish his will despite the unprepared state of the missionary. Here is what the second Vatican council said about mission work in the introductory paragraphs of its document on the Church's missionary activity in the world.

Divinely sent to the nations of the world to be unto them "a universal sacrament of salvation,"[SUP](1)[/SUP] the Church, driven by the inner necessity of her own catholicity, and obeying the mandate of her Founder (cf. Mark 16:16), strives ever to proclaim the Gospel to all men. The Apostles themselves, on whom the Church was founded, following in the footsteps of Christ, "preached the word of truth and begot churches."[SUP](2)[/SUP] It is the duty of their successors to make this task endure "so that the word of God may run and be glorified (2 Thess. 3:1) and the kingdom of God be proclaimed and established throughout the world.

In the present state of affairs, out of which there is arising a new situation for mankind, the Church, being the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Matt. 5:13-14), is more urgently called upon to save and renew every creature, that all things may be restored in Christ and all men may constitute one family in Him and one people of God.

Therefore, this sacred synod, while rendering thanks to God for the excellent results that have been achieved through the whole Church's great - hearted endeavor, desires to sketch the principles of missionary activity and to rally the forces of all the faithful in order that the people of God, marching along the narrow way of the Cross, may spread everywhere the reign of Christ, Lord and overseer: of the ages (cf. Ecc. 36:19), and may prepare the way for his coming. (source)

1. Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium," 48.
2. St. Augustine, "Exposition on Psalm 44," 23 (PL 36, 508; CChr 38, 510).

Totally unfamiliar with Bible and Gospel message person from somewhere other than a western nation (we'll call him Undugu)

Undugu: You say this is the word of God?
Missionary: Why yes. I am glad you have learned English, now you can read it.
Undugu: I'm very happy. I'm going to start at the beginning.
Missionary: Great!
Undugu: Genesis, first chapter, says universe was created in 6 days with God resting on the 7th.
Missionary: It does say that, but um...those days could be thousands of years and we're not sure.
Undugu: Didn't you say this was the Word of God?
Missionary: Why yes, it is - but some of these things are open to interpretation...
Undugu: The language doesn't look figurative to me
Missionary: But it is...because...science tells us...millions of years...

Undugu: Hmm.

Undugu: It says here in Genesis Chapter 1 verses 6-8 that there is an expanse that God calls "sky" and that it separates the waters below from the waters above.

Missionary: That's actually wrong. NASA has taken pictures with their super powerful telescopes no one else has access to - and there are billions upon billions of stars and galaxies up there. Not water.

Undugu: I see. So where is the other water that that this "sky" thing is supposed to separate?

Missionary: It doesn't exist. You see, you have to be smart and interpret these things correctly in light of popular science and science fiction movies that we here in the west enjoy. When God said that a firmament separated the waters - He was being literal about the ocean waters but completely figurative about the waters above the sky.

Undugu: Umm...ok. I don't understand this Genesis book very well...it seems hard to understand and accept if what you are saying is true. But can I ask you a question?

Missionary: Sure.

Undugu: From the very first chapter of the very first Book you say is the word of God - there are untruths in it, because pictures from satellites we can't access show different, and popular movies people enjoy operate under a completely different world view...exactly how am I supposed to believe anything else in it?

Missionary: You don't have to. Can you say "Jesus"?

Undugu: "Jesus"

Missionary: Can you say Jesus is Lord and that He died for your sins and ascended into space...er - I mean - heaven?

Undugu: Why of course. I can say that. But why should I believe it?

Missionary: Because it's written in the Bible.

Real stars:

 

[Rens]

Undugu :rofl3:

 

[Wilhemena]

Please, could you clarify how the Holy Spirit working through a man spontaneously is against the missionary's goal of spreading forth the gospel?

 

[MoreCoffee]

Please, could you clarify how the Holy Spirit working through a man spontaneously is against the missionary's goal of spreading forth the gospel?

I was thinking that the Spirit works through the faithful. But evidently others see it differently. That's why I wrote

"Preaching the gospel to all nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples is an indisputable mission given to all Christians and especially to all Churches. Yet it is not always a simple task to undertake and it often requires great sensitivity to culture and folk beliefs before the gospel can be effectively preached. Saints Peter and Paul realised this and chose to acquaint themselves with the thinking and customs of the people to whom they went to preach the gospel. Today some appear to think that careful preparation is not spontaneous enough and that if one is filled with the Holy Spirit no such preparation (by means of acquainting one's self with the customs and beliefs of the people to whom one is sent) is necessary - the idea is that the Holy Spirit will enable the Christian to speak the right words to the right people and so accomplish his will despite the unprepared state of the missionary."​

The Spirit works through the faithful and the faithful work as the Spirit leads by studying the languages, customs, and culture of the people to whom they are sent to preach. Consider the example of Paul in Athens. He had only a short stay there yet he spent time looking at their religious customs and learning about their culture before he preached the gospel to them.

So Paul stood before the whole council of the Areopagus and made this speech:

'Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because, as I strolled round looking at your sacred monuments, I noticed among other things an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. In fact, the unknown God you revere is the one I proclaim to you.

'Since the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he in need of anything, that he should be served by human hands; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything -- including life and breath -- to everyone. From one single principle he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed the times and limits of their habitation. And he did this so that they might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him; and indeed he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said: We are all his children.

'Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man. 'But now, overlooking the times of ignorance, God is telling everyone everywhere that they must repent, because he has fixed a day when the whole world will be judged in uprightness by a man he has appointed. And God has publicly proved this by raising him from the dead.'

At this mention of rising from the dead, some of them burst out laughing; others said, 'We would like to hear you talk about this another time.'​

After that Paul left them, but there were some who attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius the Aeropagite and a woman called Damaris, and others besides. Acts 17:22-34​

So the idea that one ought to listen to the Spirit, see and understand the customs of the people to whom one is sent, and then preach the gospel rather than tempt God by rushing headlong into a situation that is not understood and is unstudied by the missionary is a lesson taught many times in the holy scriptures. In the early 20th century some people from the Azuza Street Mission in Los Angeles rushed headlong into foreign lands believing that the Spirit would make provisions for them giving them the languages they would need to preach the gospel but the Spirit did no such thing and they had to return home having been unable to preach the gospel in those foreign lands.

In the first post in this thread I quoted from a document about Christian Mission as a calling from God made to the faithful for the purpose of establishing the gospel in all the Earth. The document correctly placed emphasis on proper preparation on the part of the commissioned missionaries before they embarked on their missionary journeys. Once more I refer you to the example we see in the life of saint Paul who spent years in preparation before his missionary journeys.

Those who had scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but they proclaimed the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, who came from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch where they started preaching also to the Greeks, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus to them. The Lord helped them, and a great number believed and were converted to the Lord. The news of them came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas out to Antioch. There he was glad to see for himself that God had given grace, and he urged them all to remain faithful to the Lord with heartfelt devotion; for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. And a large number of people were won over to the Lord. Barnabas then left for Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. And it happened that they stayed together in that church a whole year, instructing a large number of people. It was at Antioch that the disciples were [by divine providence] first called 'Christians'. While they were there some prophets came down to Antioch from Jerusalem, and one of them whose name was Agabus, seized by the Spirit, stood up and predicted that a severe and universal famine was going to happen. This in fact happened while Claudius was emperor. The disciples decided to send relief, each to contribute what he could afford, to the brothers living in Judaea. They did this and delivered their contributions to the elders through the agency of Barnabas and Saul. Acts 11:19-30​

All this happened some time before Paul embarked on his first missionary journey.

It seems right to conclude that it is normal for the Spirit to work through prepared people rather than working through people who refuse to prepare.