Influence of the Bible on Christian mission

¶ … Bible on Christian Mission

In the early 1960s, there was concern about the direction of the Christian mission in the world (Anderson, Gerald, 1961, p. 3). The reason for this concern arose largely out of events that were taking place in many of the "super power" nations around the globe; especially in America, where the "counter cultural revolution" was being waged against everything establishment from the Vietnam War to cutting down the rain forests in South America, and even God. But it was the relationship between Christianity and other cultures that was at the forefront of Christian mission thinking, and Christian missionaries were driven by what they perceived as their evangelical mission around the world. Presenting the Gospel and testifying to others as their own devotion in faith is the mission handed down to them through the written Word of God, the Bible.

Historian and theologian G. Ernest Wright provides the Biblical link for Christian evangelical mission saying this:

The rootage of the Christian mission in the faith of Israel may be discussed from several perspectives, of which three in particular are here mentioned. The first centers in the assembling of the texts which portray the redemptive relation existing between the Chosen People and the peoples. A second and deeper level of discussion centers in the doctrine of God which the Old Testament presents as an integral and exceedingly vital part of the Christian doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, Atonement, and Ecclesia, of which the mission of the Church is one important element. A third level, closely allied with the second, might proceed from a discussion of the offense of the Old Testament for the missionary enterprise, an offense deriving both from the contemporary Church's misunderstanding of the Old Testament and from the offense inherent in the very nature of the Gospel itself of whom we have any knowledge," for God had sent him both to save Israel and to lead them to worship Him, to the end that in Israel "all the families of the earth will bless themselves" (i.e., find blessing). (Anderson, 1961, pp. 17-18)."

This missionary goal is found in Psalms and Prophets, and in many other passages throughout the Bible that speak to creation, history and prophetic views (p. 18). It was to the third world countries around the globe that evangelists traveled to in order to witness and to convert people whose lives were rooted in paganism and exoticism and mysticism to Christianity. To that end, it cannot be said that the missionaries were without success; although Christians found competition in the Islamic convert or die philosophy, which has been hugely successful in Africa, a place of extensive evangelic missionary work. However, it was to the third world countries that evangelists took Christian prayer, which they believed was a way to be involved in the Promise of God, and ushering in the reign of God on Earth (Sindima, Harvey, J., 1998, p. 180).

Author and historian Harvey J. Sindima (1998) describes the importance of prayer to the people amongst whom the evangelicals were witnessing, teaching the books of the Bible, and leading in prayer this way:

Prayer is a silent revolution against evil in all its manifestations, individual and structural. To pray is to say the world is not as God intended it to be; it is no longer as good as it was at creation. To pray is to acknowledge that people have corrupted the world, and that the whole creation groans as it awaits liberation. Prayer is ushering the rule of God into one's life and the world (p. 180)."

Christians are taught the importance, the relevance of prayer in the Bible. There is a communication of faith, community, and in the evangelical mission accomplished through prayer. The Bible demonstrates the cohesiveness that comes to a community through prayer, and that in the face of the darkest hours of humanity, prayer has sustained mankind.

Sindina cautions that, in Africa, the socioeconomic and political conditions can follow either the path of "the here and now alone, or flight into otherworldliness, that is, existentialism or a pietistic faith, which is often a stale faith -- mere religiosity (p. 180)." The need for evangelical mission in Africa continues be strong, and, if neglected, it will succumb to the forces Sindina cautions about. The problem that exists for evangelists is that, today, much of Africa in experiencing civil war and the civilian populations are being used as political pawns by people seeking power, and who have very little interest in faith.

People in the Bible, as in African culture, are of a piece, and are also social beings, "the souls of their bodies, and the fellows of their fellow creatures."

This is to assert that authentic human life, umunthu, in the Bible means taking seriously the material conditions of moyo, the concrete social, economic, and political realities. To retreat into piety or an inward form of life, is to announce a vote of no confidence towards the external world, which is also a vote of no confidence in God who is at the beginning and end of history. On the other hand, to throw oneself into the here and now alone, is to depend on personal ethics to transform the world, and thereby to exclude God, a humanistic kind of approach, which is antithetical to Christian life. In both cases the kingdom of God is prevented from coming (p. 181)."

In South America, the Christian mission has been hugely successful, and continues strong continue with evangelical groups involved in building new churches, food, shelter and clothing to the indigent; and bringing the stories of the Bible and the inspired Word of God to people who would otherwise feel disenfranchised and adrift. There, Christian missionary work has provided a community and support infrastructures through faith based initiatives.

R.S. Sugirtharajah (2001) writes that there are three ways the Bible reached third world countries: precolonial, colonial, and post colonial (p. 13). As a result, Sugirtharajah says, Asia and Africa have close ties to biblical Christianity (p. 13). While South America meets these three criteria, it does not have a place in the historical references of people, place and time as do those countries of Africa and Asia..

Africa's connection with the Bible is celebrated in famous courtly and common people who figure in the biblical narratives. These include royal personnages such as the Queen of Sheba; the Ethiopian Eunuch; Ebedmelech, another Ethiopian royal (Ebedmelech = son of a king), who helped Jeremiah out of a water tank; and other ordinary people such as Simon of Cyrene who bore the cross and came from North Africa (Luke 23.26). Asia, too, has its claim to biblical connections. India is mentioned at least twice in the Book of Esther (1.1; 8.9). In Maccabees there is a reference to an Indian mahout with Antiochus' war elephants (1 Macc. 6.8). One often overlooks the fact that, of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, nearly half were either written in Asia Minor or written as letters to Christian communities there (p. 14)."