How Did Revhade Contribute To Martin Luther Not Mission Oriented?

Reformation: Its Theological Breakthroughs and Mission Contributions

Rev. Kantilal Lavhade (B.A. B.D. M.Th. Missiology)

Introduction
According to Cairns, both name and definition given to the reformation depend on the outlook of the historians. For Roman Catholics it was a rebellion by Protestants against the universal Church, but Protestant historians looked at it as a reformation that brought the Church back to the pattern of the New Testament. This period of reformation was generally considered as 1517 AD to 1563 AD.1 Martin Luther started the open reformation against the theology of Roman Catholics by posting ninety five theses on the church of Wittenberg. Martin Luther in Germany, John Calvin in Geneva and Ulrich Zwingli in Switzerland, John Knox in Scotland, were called the great reformers of this period. This paper would focus on reformation and theological breakthrough and its contribution to mission.

1. Reformation and
First, Luther believed that the Great Commission had been fulfilled by the apostles and therefore had no further relevance to the church of later times. Luther 's concept of mission work among the Turks, was confined to the Christian witness that should be borne by those who were taken captive by the invaders or who had other chance contacts with the Moslem world. He never envisioned any kind of missionary task force to be sent abroad, either in the realm of Islam or anywhere else. We cannot find ‘foreign mission’ in Luther’s writing. For Coates, one more important reason is that, for the century and a half following the inception of the Reformation, the Protestants were completely absorbed in the struggle to establish and secure the principles of the Reformation within their own domain. Thus, the possibility of mission work abroad was actually not a live option for them.10 That is one of the reasons why reformers could contribute little to