Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 09:4 (Winter 2005)
Article: The Need for Theological Education in Missions: Lessons Learned from the Church’s Greatest Missionary
Author: Benjamin L. Merkle

SBJT 9:4 (Winter 2005) p. 50

The Need for Theological Education in Missions:
Lessons Learned from the Church’s Greatest Missionary

Benjamin L. Merkle

Benjamin L. Merkle received his Ph.D. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently teaching in Southeast Asia. He has written articles for a number of theological journals, as well as for the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Broadman & Holman, 2003). Dr. Merkle is the author of The Elder and Overseer: One Office in the Early Church (Peter Lang, 2003).

Introduction

The modern missionary movement has made unprecedented progress in reaching the lost peoples of the world. The gospel has penetrated many countries and people groups that only a generation ago were considered “off limits.” There is much to be thankful for, and yet there is much work left to be done. The question, then, is where our efforts should be focused. Do we press on “full steam ahead” and put all our forces on the front lines in order to engage more and more unreached people groups? Or do we spend time and energy fortifying and strengthening the progress we have already made so that the enemy does not steal the fruit of our labor?

The Apostle Paul struggled with this same dilemma. As the apostle to the Gentiles, he felt compelled to preach the gospel where Christ had never been named (Rom 15:20). His desire was to press on into new territories expanding the kingdom of God—not only numerically, but also geographically. His goal was to lay the foundation and not to build on someone else’s work. As a pioneer he was constantly seeking to preach the gospel “to the ends of the earth.” Approximately twenty-five years after his conversion, Paul claimed that from Jerusalem to Illyricum he had fulfilled the ministry of the gospel (Rom 15:19).

We, however, would be mistaken to suppose that Paul’s only concern was to preach the gospel to “unreached people groups.” Paul’s mission strategy was much more comprehensive. It is simply not true that Paul viewed his ministry as complete in the regions from Jerusalem to Illyricum. In Rom 15:19 Paul does state, “from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled [peplrkenai] the ministry of the gospel of Christ.”1 Yet, this verse has often been misunderstood. Paul is not saying that there is no work left for him to do and that he must put all of his effort elsewhere. The focus of his ministry after his letter to the Romans indicates that he did not abandon his previous mission efforts. Rather, Paul’s statement must be interpreted much more narrowl...