Global Studies Survey: GLST 500: Mission Theology

THE THEOLOGY OF MISSION

Michael F. White
Global Studies Survey: GLST 500
November 9, 2012

CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Biblical Text Related to Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Old Testament Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
New Testament Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Mission and the Nature of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
As the landscape and scope of missions change through the centuries, so does the terminology used in describing the field. It is important to realize the significance of the different terms used today. We learned in Moreau, Corwin and McGee’s text book, Introducing World Missions: A Biblical, Historical, Practical Survey that, missions (ending in the letter “s”) is the word that is used to describe “the specific task of making disciples of all nations.” Mission, on the other hand, “refers to everything the church does that points toward the Kingdom of God.” An even newer term in mission circles is mission Dei, Latin for “the sending of God.”
Mission Theology would best be described as God’s involvement in mission and how he utilizes his creation, man, to further His Kingdom and the salvific message of his Son, Jesus Christ. We will look at God’s word to see how the Old Testament as well as the New Testament views missions. We will also look at how the nature of God relates to missions. We will identify two key themes or motifs of mission theology and finally, we will address how mission theology relates to (1) a missionary (2) church leaders (3) lay people not in full-time
We read in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement in chapter two written by Walter C. Kaiser that this Christian era is included in this call and promise (Winter, Hawthorne, 2009 p. 11). Kaiser rightly makes the claim, “…this view [that the Old Testament does not have a missionary mandate] does not match the claims that the Old Testament itself makes.” He goes on to say, “Even if we limit our investigation to three key Old Testament texts, we will quickly see that these texts present some of the most powerful statements of missionary calling that can be found anywhere in the