Perspectives On The Church’s Mission Part 2: Missions In Historical Perspective -- By: Greg Peters

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 136:542 (Apr 1979)
Article: Perspectives On The Church’s Mission Part 2: Missions In Historical Perspective
Author: Greg Peters


Perspectives On The Church’s Mission
Part 2:
Missions In Historical Perspective

George W. Peters

[George W. Peters, Professor Emeritus of World Missions, Dallas Theological Seminary.]

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a series of four articles delivered by the author as the W. H. Griffith Thomas Memorial Lectures at Dallas Theological Seminary, October 31-November 3, 1978.]

The year 1792 has been pinpointed as the birthdate of modern missions, and William Carey has been called the father of modern missions. Both facts are only relatively true. Nevertheless they are remarkable and of world significance. This is so because within half of a century after that date every Protestant country had been awakened to world evangelization, missionary societies had been formed, missionary training centers had been established, and scores of pioneers had been recruited, equipped, and sent out into Asia, Africa, and the islands of the South Pacific. In all of this the American churches did not lag behind. Within seven years (1810–1817) three major societies had been organized and by 1825 all major denominations were involved in missions abroad.

Once the breakthrough had come, the missions movement continued to gain momentum and soon became a world phenomenon. Though an ebb and flow is evident in the history of missions, the flow has continued to gain over the ebbing and only recently has it leveled off and in some areas somewhat receded.

What was the milieu that brought about missions or made it possible for missions to break through? What historical factors have aided missions in its motivation and expansion?

From history it is evident that three factors played a most decisive role in the creation of the missionary movement. These are Western expansionism of Protestant countries, Western enlightenment and philanthropy, and Western evangelical restoration. The

first two factors will be bypassed, not because they are insignificant but because they are dealt with adequately in sources of secular history.

In Western evangelical restoration, two main currents—a theological restoration and a spiritual restoration—merged and became a stream of living water on parched Protestantism.

Western Evangelical Restoration

Theological Restoration

It may seem strange to speak of the need for liberating theology. But such was the case. Theology may become ensnared, yea, imprisoned in scholastic shackles which make it impossible for certain truths to break forth. This is what had happened in the course of history following the Reformation. It made the breakthrough ...

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