\r\nIllustrate this statement from the New Testament, \r\n
\r\nchurch history, and the contemporary church.\r\n
\r\nFrom your examples discuss the role of the Holy Spirit in a missionary church. \r\n
\r\nWhat implications does this understanding of church have for the patterns of ministry?<\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n(Maximum 2000 words)\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nJurgen Hofmann\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nWord count: 2025\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n1st<\/sup> November 2011\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It is ‘of the essence…of the church to be a missionary community’ (p85 Mission-shaped Church – a Church of England Working Part Report by Church House Publishing, 2004) Assignment: Illustrate this statement from the New Testament, church history, and the contemporary church. From your examples discuss the role of the Holy Spirit in a missionary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7464,"parent":1147,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[225,307],"tags":[227,304,239],"folder":[102],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1174\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1174"},{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=1174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Introduction<\/h4>\r\nIt is often said that the heart of the church should be mission\r\nfocused. This principle will be examined more closely in this paper,\r\nworked out in the New Testament with particular reference to Acts 10;\r\n11; 15, the church history around the time of Zwingli, and the\r\ncontemporary church with the focus on a Dutch family. In each section a\r\nbrief overview of the context will be given. Within this context the\r\nrole of the Holy Spirit will be discussed as well as the implications\r\nfor the patterns of ministry.\r\n\r\n
The new testament<\/h4>\r\nThe first effective missionary work took place at pentecost (Acts\r\n2). After receiving the Holy Spirit the disciples started their work.\r\nBut as far as Acts 7, the church was still confined in Jerusalem and\r\nhad not stepped out of the city gate. It was like the disciples had\r\nforgotten the essence of Jesus very last words: \r\n
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Later God’s Spirit started to touch the hearts of non-Jewish people\r\nas well. Johnson and Newton Malony stated that an important group\r\nconversion took place around the Roman officer Cornelius, in Acts 10.\r\nCornelius, together with his family and servants, converted to\r\nChristianity (Johnson and Malony 1982: 94). According to Gaventa (cited\r\nin Stralen 2009: 36) this is the reason for Luke to describe Cornelius\r\nin Acts 10 as a representative of a bigger group.\r\n
\r\nA very important role was that of God’s Spirit, Who started the\r\nmissionary work among Gentiles. Cornelius had a vision and he was told\r\nto send his men and ask Peter to come over and minister to them. It\r\ntook a vision to make Peter realise that the good news was for all of\r\nhumanity. As Peter was ministering Cornelius and his household, the\r\nHoly Spirit came over them, and they started to speak in tongues.\r\nSeeing and hearing this convinced Peter, and he ordered his helpers to\r\nbaptise Cornelius and his household. The growth among the gentiles\r\ncontinued and even reached the people in Antioch (Acts 11: 19- 21).\r\n
\r\nNo longer were there new Christians who knew how to live in conformity\r\nwith God’s rules. These new Christians knew little about these rules.\r\nSome of the Jewish Christians thought that the new Christians should\r\nobey the law of Moses and be circumcised. In Acts 15 the disciples\r\ndecided not to burden the new Christians with heavy rules. The\r\ndisciples composed a letter with a few rules for the gentiles who\r\nconverted to Christianity ‘directing them how to govern themselves with\r\nrespect to Jews’ (Henry 2009: 270). \r\n
\r\nAll of this did not change the patterns of ministry immediately. Most\r\nof the followers of Jesus stayed in their own town and did not directly\r\nobey the words of Jesus in Act 1: 8. Mission was still mostly centred\r\naround Jerusalem but, in 70 A.D. a Jewish revolt failed. The Romans\r\nsacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple. These events were a major\r\nturning point for Christianity. Christians became dispersed, moving out\r\nmore and more beyond Israel. Jerusalem was no longer the main capital\r\nof Christianity. Antioch in Syria, Alexandria in Egypt, and Rome in\r\nItaly became the important centres of Christian communities. Now the\r\nChristians started to spread the gospel directly in the midst of the\r\ngentiles. It took a dramatic change, foretold by Jesus in Luke 19: 41-\r\n44, to change the patterns of ministry. The patterns of staying ‘close\r\nto home’ changed in stepping out, and live and work among the gentiles.\r\n\r\nChurch history<\/h4>\r\n\r\nIn later history the church became more dominant. The Church of Rome\r\nwas the dominant ruler of Western Europe with its own way of\r\nmaintaining loyal members. The sacrificial character of the mass, the\r\nredeeming character of good works, the value of Mary and the existence\r\nof purgatory (Boettner 1966: 182; 221; 281) were a way of the ruling\r\nchurch to keep the people loyal. The Roman-Catholic Church stated that\r\nthis church is the only true church and al other movements are to be\r\ncharged with heresy (Boettner 1966: 500). \r\n
\r\nA shift took place around the year 1500 and later. Throughout Western\r\nEurope godly men stood up against this practice, the Reformation period\r\nhad started. The roots of the Swiss Reformation are to be found in the\r\nperson of Huldrych Zwingli. Zwingli became priest and started to\r\nminister in different places in Switzerland. In 1516 Zwingli accepted\r\nthe office of preacher at Einsiedeln. Einsiedeln was an important place\r\nof pilgrimage where the people sought forgiveness of sin. Zwingli did\r\nnot like the way priests extorted money from the common people. He\r\nstrongly disapproved of this practice, and ‘turned away many a pilgrim\r\nby his sermons, to seek for consolation in some other way’ (Herzog,\r\nPlitt and Hauck 1891: 2577). \r\n
\r\nIn 1518 Zwingli was awarded the office of People’s Priest at the\r\nGrossGrossmünster in Zürich where he was able to preach to\r\nlarge amounts of people. It was in Zürich that Zwingli started\r\nto preach in a new way. According to Gilbert, Zwingli was conscious of\r\nhis mission as a reformer (Gilbert 1997). It is safe to say that\r\nZwingli was working not only as a reformer, but also as a missionary of\r\nGod’s Church. Catherwood says in his book that Zwingli was\r\n
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By preaching the word of God in an understandable way, Zwingli\r\nunderstood the very heart of Jesus’ teaching about the sower in Mark 4.\r\nBy the hearing of God’s word in an applied way the people started to\r\nsee in what way they could receive forgiveness from sin. In this the\r\nrole of the Holy Spirit is clearly seen:\r\n
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\r\nZwingli himself was very aware of the fact that it is the Holy Spirit Who gives real spiritual life because:\r\n
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The implications for the ruling Roman Church where very serious.\r\nThe income of the Roman Church depended greatly on the loyalty of the\r\nlay people. Now there was a rapidly growing group of people who called\r\nthemselves true followers of Christ. Many people departed from the\r\nRoman-Catholic Church and stared their own churches. The clerical and\r\nthe saintly intercessors were no longer necessary. The Reformed\r\nChurches appointed preachers, elders and deacons like the apostles did\r\nin Acts 14: 23. These overseers worked closely together with the church\r\nmembers. The schism from the Roman-Catholic Church brought back\r\nvaluable biblical principles, but at a high price. \r\n
\r\nAlthough many people came to a true understanding of salvation, this\r\ndid not directly change the patterns of missionary work in the church.\r\nDespite the fact that there were missionaries throughout the history of\r\nthe church, who ministered among non-believers, the church members did\r\nnot step out into the world to minister among non-believers. According\r\nto Newbigin this was because the gospel was penetrated\r\n
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\r\nContemporary church<\/h4>\r\n\r\nThe church in the western society has changed over the decades. After the Reformation, small denominations started to emerge.
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\r\nThis forced the western church to go outside, and revise their view on mission. Suddenly the words of Peter were relevant again:
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\r\nMany Christians started to develop new strategies to reach the\r\nnon-believers. Two of these people where Johan and Willy Maasbach in\r\nHolland. In 1952, this couple started to organise evangelism campaigns.\r\nAt that moment they were pioneers on this terrain. A big breakthrough\r\ncame in 1958 during the healing campaign with T.L. Osborn at the\r\nMalieveld, The Hague, and on the Bodenterrein, Groningen. Every evening\r\nthere were more than ten thousand people present to listen to the\r\ngospel, translated by Johan Maasbach. After this event people asked\r\nJohan Maasbach to speak throughout Holland (Stichting Johan Maasbach\r\nWereldzending, 2011). The campaigns were strongly focused on Jesus’\r\nwords in Mark 16: 17- 18, where He says: \r\n
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\r\nThere is not much to be found in writing about the healing of sick or\r\nexorcism practice in these campaigns. Despite this, the work of the\r\nHoly Spirit was evident in two ways. Firstly, many people accepted\r\nChrist as their Lord, and secondly, there were people from more\r\ntraditional churches who came to a renewed spiritual life. Repentance\r\nand conversion are the indisputable work of God’s Spirit (John 16: 8).\r\nKnippenberg says that this revival of faith was the main reason that\r\nthe Pentecostal Churches in Holland grew rapidly (Knippenberg 1992:\r\n159- 161). \r\n
\r\nThe Maasbach family always searched for new and better ways to preach\r\nthe good news. The patterns for their missionary work are different\r\nfrom that of the more traditional churches in those days. The\r\nMaasbach’s planted several churches in Holland, but they did not\r\norganise everything around the church building. They stepped into the\r\nworld of the non-believers through open air campaigns, youth meetings,\r\ntelevision, and radio programs. By doing so the gospel reached far more\r\npeople, and that can be seen as an obedience to Jesus’ command to go\r\nout into the world (Acts 1: 8).\r\n\r\nConclusion<\/h4>\r\nThat the essence of the church should be a missionary community can\r\nbe illustrated clearly throughout church history. Although differently\r\nworked out over history, the church saw the importance of mission and\r\ntried to make it the core activity in it existence.
\r\nDuring the whole of the illustrations in this paper it is unmistakeable\r\nthat God’s Spirit is the Author of mission, or like McGavran says:
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\r\nMcGavran continues by saying that ‘revival is God’s gift and human\r\nbeings can neither command it nor make God grant it’, but he says that\r\nGod is willing to listen, and answer, to those who are studying His\r\nword and pray intense (McGavran 1996: 134-136). \r\n
\r\nThe implications for the patterns of ministry depend strongly on the\r\nworld views of the people. Even if God’s Spirit is working through\r\nrevival, people tend to stick to their own patterns. Often there must\r\nbe a dramatic change in the direct environment to move people out of\r\ntheir trusted patterns. Frost and Hirsch gave an excellent summary\r\nabout this way of being a missional church:\r\n
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\r\nBibliography<\/h4>\r\n\r\nAll biblical references are taken from The Holy Bible: King James Version<\/i> (1611).\r\n
\r\n
\r\nBoettner, L. (1966) Roman Catholicism<\/i>, London, The banner of truth trust\r\n
\r\n
\r\nCatherwood, C. (2000) Five leading reformers lives at a watershed of history<\/i>, Fearn, Christian focus Publications.\r\n
\r\n
Gilbert, B. (1997) ‘Renaissance and Reformation’, in Gilbert, C. E. (ed.) Chapter 13 The reformation in Switzerland and southern Germany,\r\nhttp:\/\/vlib.iue.it\/carrie\/texts\/carrie_books\/gilbert\/13.html [Accessed\r\n20 October 2011]\r\n
\r\n
Frost, M. and Hirsch, A. (2003) The shaping of the things to come:\r\nInnovation and mission for the 21st<\/sup> Century Church<\/i>, Peabody,\r\nMassachusetts, Hendrickson publicers.\r\n
\r\n
\r\nHenry, M (2009) Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation)<\/i>, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.\r\n
\r\n
Herzog, Plitt and Hauck (1891) ‘The real-encyklop\u00e4die’, in Schaff,\r\nP., Jackson, S. M., Shaff, D. S. (eds.) A religious encyclopaedia: or\r\ndictionary of biblical, historical, doctrinal, and practical theology\r\ntogether with an encyclopaedia of living divines and Christian workers\r\nof all denominations in Europe and America<\/i>, 3rd.<\/sup> ed. Vol 4. New York,\r\nFunk & Wagnalls company.\r\n
\r\n
\r\nJohnson, C.B. and Newton Malony, H. (1982) Christian Conversion: Biblical and Psychological<\/i>,\r\nMichigan, Zondervan Publishing House.\r\n
\r\n
Knippenberg, H. (1992) De religieuze kaart van Nederland: omvang en\r\ngeografische spreiding van de godsdienstige gezindten vanaf de\r\nReformatie tot heden<\/i>, Maastricht, van Gorcum.\r\n
\r\n
McGavran, D. A. (1996) Understanding church growth<\/i>, 3rd.<\/sup> ed.\r\nWagner, C. P. (ed), Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans\r\npublishing company.\r\n
\r\n
\r\nNewbigin, L. (2006) Lesslie Newbigin: missionary theologian – a reader<\/i>, compiled and introduced by Paul Weston, London, SPCK.\r\n
\r\n
Stichting Johan Maasbach Wereldzending (2011) JMWZ Geschiedenis\r\nStichter: Evangelist Johan Maasbach,\r\nhttp:\/\/www.maasbach.com\/OverJMWZ\/Geschiedenis\/Geschiedenis.htm\r\n[accessed 27 October 2011]\r\n
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Stralen, H. van (2009) Gehoor geven, een discursieve benadering van\r\nde religieuze bekering<\/i>. De conversieteksten van Gabriel Marcel en\r\nGerard Reve, Amsterdam, Pallas Publications, University Press.\r\n
\r\n
Zwingli (1901) ‘Of the clarity and certainty or power of the Word\r\nof God’, in Bromiley, G. W. and Litt, D. (eds.) The Library of\r\nChristian classics: Zwingli and Bullinger, selected translations with\r\nintroductions and notes<\/i>, vol 24. Philadelphia: The Westminster press,\r\npp.59- 95.\r\n
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