Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice, who were missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, became Baptists in India in late 1812. Later, they were not allowed to remain in India due to a government prohibition. Therefore, Luther Rice returned to the United States, organized the Baptist Church, and founded the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions in 1814.[1] On the other hand, Adoniram Judson and his wife first decided to go to Penang, Malaysia. But there was no single ship to Penang during the rainy season. As they do not have a permit to remain in India, they rushed to find a ship to leave India. Finally, they could find only the Georgiana ship, which would sail to Burma (Myanmar). Judson and his wife embarked on June 22, 1813. Burma opened her door just wide enough for them to stay in. On July 13, 1813, they arrived in the country where they spent the rest of their lives. On the day that they arrived in Yangon, Judson said, “God closes other doors, but He opens the door He wants.”[2]

Judson worked hard for the gospel to take root in Burmese soil and tried to work on the mission with perseverance and tolerance amid difficulties. After his firstborn son passed away in 1816, Judson studied hard Burmese language and translation work 18 hours a day. Judson printed two tracts in the Burmese language to engage the gospel to the Buddhists. On July 12, 1823, he completed the translation of the New Testament from Greek. His translation of the entire text of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew was finished on October 24, 1840.[3] He wrote one poem during his Bible translation;
 
In Joy or pain,
our course is onward still;
We sow on Burma’s barren plain,
We reap on Zion Hill.            

Judson’s mission strategies included Zayat preaching and the distribution of Christian tracts. These tracts had served two purposes; they reached people interested in the new religious teacher and brought many people to the Zayat to hear more. The whole basis of Judson’s approach was person-to-person teaching in an informal atmosphere in which the visitors were perfectly free to express their views as well as to hear his. After six years of diligent missionary work, Judson experienced Maung Nau as the first Burmese Buddhist convert.[4]

During the First Anglo-Burmese War, Judson was arrested in 1824 for the suspicion of being a British spy because the Burmese could not distinguish Americans from the British. He was released to help interpret peace negotiations with the British after nearly one and a half years of prison confinement. Rev Moo Taw[5] said that “Judson suffered a headache disease for the rest of his life as he was thrown upside down in prison at night. But he did not stop his bible translation work in prison.” After the war, lower Myanmar was dominated by British colonials in 1826. Judson moved there with his family and continued mission work.[6] From that point, Myanmar Baptist Mission has been successful.  Judson’s impact on Myanmar and the effectiveness of his strategy are undeniable.  At the time of his death in 1850, there were 7940 believers, 6 churches, and 163 ministers. The Myanmar Baptist Mission, started by Judson, continued to spread into other ethnic groups before British colonization in 1885.[7]

Conclusion
The Second Great Awakening in the United States called for the spiritual renewal of the people, and as a result, they formed the first foreign mission board. God also prepared an atheist man, Adoniram Judson, to experience spiritual renewal and to obey a call to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the other side of the world.  Therefore, the mission movement can emerge only from the result of personal or corporate spiritual renewal. Historically, mission movements have not originated at the center of the institutional church. Mission was typically the personal efforts of devoted Christians who had experienced spiritual renewal. The spiritual renewal Christians no longer thought that the mission and evangelism were the responsibility of the state or the church to propagate the Christian faith. Christians assert that the whole church is called to the mission, but many Christian churches do not recognize and support those who are enthusiastically involved in the mission. Normally, mission structures and spiritual renewal personnel have been used to take the gospel to new cultures and places because true spiritual awakening produces true spiritual renewal personnel to work on His Great Commission.
    
   [1] Joseph Tracy, American Board, 37-38.
   [2] Shwe Wa and Sowards, Burma Baptist Chronicle (Rangoon: University Press, 1963), 3-4.
   [3] Simon Pau Khan En, Baptist Faith & Mission Opinion (Yangon: Myanmar Baptist Convention,  literature & Publication Department,2003), 118.
   [4] Shwe Wa and Sowards, Burma Baptist Chronicle, 39-40. Zayat was the building, a verandah thatched with Dani leaves and open to the road, where Judson would sit and receive all occasional visitors and inquirers. 
   [5] Rev Moo Taw is Pastor of Amherst Baptist Church which was established on December 2, 1827. He is a researcher about Adoniram Judson and building the museum in his church compound where the tomb of Ann Hasseltine Judson is situated.
   [6] Cung Lian Hup, “A Faithful Servant of the lord,” in  Missio Dei, Journal of Mission &Evangelism (Yangon: Myanmar Institute of Theology, Department of Historical Studies, 2009), 177-182.
   [7] Simon Pau Khan En, Baptist Faith & Mission Opinion, 119-121.

Several mission structures and societies could be formed to spread the gospel as a result of the Second Great Awakening. In 1803, Presbyterians began to form the Standing Committee for Mission Service at the Presbyterian General Assembly. These small groups were to carry out the mission among new settlers, native peoples, and black people. But there was no foreign mission society in the United States. The main figure in founding the foreign mission society was missiological entrepreneur Samuel J. Mills.

In 1806, Samuel J. Mills enrolled at William College. A small group of students held a prayer meeting to foster spiritual awakening on campus. Prayer meetings were normally held in a grove of trees. One day, because of a thunderstorm, a prayer meeting was held in a haystack. Later, that meeting was called the haystack prayer meeting. In 1808, the haystack prayer meeting group and other students formed a group called “The Brethren”. Their aim was to send the gospel to heathen lands. After four years of holding that haystack prayer meeting, they became seminarians at Andover Seminary. Moreover, God answered their prayers by sending someone who would later become a missionary to the foreign land, Myanmar.

They were joined by Adoniram Judson, the son of the pastor of the congregational church. But Judson was an unbeliever and rejected Christianity in favor of deism, and became an atheist while he studied at Brown College. But Judson’s philosophy was changed by a sleepless night in the inn. On one trip, Judson had to stay in a room of the inn next to a young man who was very ill and possibly dying. Judson could not sleep the whole night because of the groans of the ill man. When the morning arrived, the ill man passed away, and Judson asked the caretaker about him. Then he knew that the ill man was Jacob Eames, his best friend, who shared his deism at the college. Since that time, Judson has been torn between spiritual relief and intellectual pursuits.[1]
 
Two professors at the Andover Theological Seminary suggested that Judson study there to seek the truth. Judson entered as a special student at Andover Theological Seminary on October 12, 1808, because he was not a Christian. Judson overcame and recognized his need for forgiveness after reading Psalm 130, which was part of the seminary's regular curriculum. Then, on December 2, 1808, Judson dedicated himself to God, and he made a public profession of his new faith on May 28, 1809, at the Third Congregational Church in Plymouth. Judson became known for his devotion to the Bible in Andover. Judson decided to devote his life to the cause of missions at the beginning of his second-year seminarian at Andover.[2]

Judson thought of offering himself as a missionary to the London Society for the East Indies. Upon Samuel Mills’s arrival at Andover, Judson joined the Brethren to implement their ambition for the cross-cultural mission. On Thursday, June 28, 1810, they presented their mission at the meeting of the General Association of Congregation Ministers of Massachusetts. On June 29, the General Association appointed nine members to look into their request. On September 5, 1810, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was given its name by the General Association and adopted the constitution. The association approved the request of Adoniram Judson, Samuel Nott, Samuel Newell, and Samuel Mills to become foreign missionaries. On 19th February 1812, they sent Adoniram Judson as their first missionary to Calcutta, India.[3] Therefore, we can conclude that they were the first cross-cultural missionaries among white Americans.
 
   [1] Jason G. Duesing, “Ambition Overthrown: The Conversion, Consecration, and Commission of Adoniram Judson,” in Adoniram Judson: A Bicentennial Appreciation of The Pioneer American Missionary, ed. Jason G. Duesing (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2012), 57-60.
   [2] Duesing, “Ambition Overthrown,” 61-65.
   [3] Joseph Tracy, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions: Compiled Chiefly From the Published and Unpublished Documents of the Board (New York: M. W. DODD, 1842), 23-27.

Introduction
In considering the Christian mission throughout history, two key elements are necessary for the mission movement to emerge. The first factor that contributed to the mission movement is Spiritual Renewal. How did God’s people who received the Call of God get the motivation to leave their comfort zone and go on a mission in difficult and dangerous places? The answer to that question is the desire that comes from spiritual renewal by the Holy Spirit.

The second factor is the mission structure, which provides and supports the missionaries and their work. We need to understand that the whole church is called to be involved in the mission, but not everyone is called to be a cross-cultural missionary. A healthy local church will always encourage and support those of its members who hear God’s call. Therefore, it is essential to have a Spiritual Renewal and Mission Structure to have a Healthy Mission Movement. In the remaining section of this article, I will present how important these two facts are to reaching the mission in Myanmar(Burma)’s barren soil.

The Emergence of Spiritual Renewal
In 1776, American settlers began the Revolutionary War to liberate themselves from British rule. The war caused emotional and physical damage to people. As a result, spirituality in Christianity was declining in America. On the other hand, Deism was gaining popularity among college students. Its doctrine of God is based on the evidence of reason and nature only and rejects supernatural revelation. Deism is also the belief that God did not care about the existence of the world after God created it and let the world run on its own according to the laws of nature. Also, Deism emphasized the goodness of human beings and their capacity for understanding the world through the use of reason. Moreover, Deism held the morality of the Old and New Testaments but denied the miracles of the Bible, the deity of Christ, and resurrection from the dead as myth.[1] In such a situation, the future of the church seems hopeless according to those thoughts. However, God continued to do His work through His people.

The Second Great Awakening usually refers to the wave of religious revivals that appeared in the United States from the late 1790s through the 1830s. A significant influence on the beginnings of the Second Great Awakening was a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian preacher named James McGready. He had his personal conversion experience in 1786, and he was licensed to preach in 1788. In 1796, he began pastoring three congregations - Red River, Gasper River, and Muddy River – in Logan County, Kentucky. In June 1800, 10 people of the Red River congregation were converted in a sacrament service by the preaching of James McGready, William Hodges, and John Rankin. Also, McGready witnessed people’s conversion at Muddy River church, so he planned to hold a sacrament service at Gasper River in July. The Gasper River meeting, America’s first revival camp meeting, was scheduled to be a three-day and 45 people were converted in that meeting. This set the stage for The Great Revival at Cane Ridge the following summer.[2]

Barton Stone, who was a protege of James McGready, decided to organize a second camp meeting at Cane Ridge after hearing about the Gasper River revival. Stone announced a sacramental service for August 6, 1801, and between 10,000 and 25,000 people attended the Cane Ridge meeting. This was a Presbyterian meeting, but many Baptists and Methodists were present, including preachers from those denominations. In that meeting, hundreds were converted for the first time in their lives and rededicated their lives. This Great Revival is generally regarded as the beginning of the Second Great Awakening. This spiritual renewal movement continued to move in the eastern part of the country in its second decade.[3]

Timothy Dwight, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards, became the principal of Yale University in 1759. Timothy Dwight taught his theology to all students in three parts: a system of doctrines, a system of duties, and a system of dispensations. Timothy Dwight's ideas and teachings have had a profound effect. The revival of Yale began in the spring of 1802 with Timothy Dwight’s sermon “The Youth of Nain.” When the revival ended in August, only about a third of the students changed their lives, and many students entered the ministry. Such spiritual revivals continued to occur in other colleges. The movement spread throughout the southern United States and was a spark in the Second Great Awakening, a spiritual renewal.[4]
  
   [1] Barry Hankins, The Second Great Awakening and The Transcendentalists (London: Greenwood Press, 2004), 1-2.
   [2] Barry Hankins, The Second Great Awakening, 7-9.
   [3] Barry Hankins, The Second Great Awakening, 9-15.
   [4] John A. Andrew III, From Revivals to Removal, (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1992), 13-18.

Immediately after Pentecost in Jerusalem (Acts Chapter 2), the early church spread quickly in both eastward and westward directions. Geographically, the spread of faith reached from India to Spain by AD 301. Concerning the spread of the mission, early Christianity within and beyond the Roman Empire grew mainly through the efforts of ordinary Christians who were part of the Christian community. The active participation of evangelists, apologists, and the episcopal model of mission served only as secondary groups involved in spreading the faith.[i] Early Christian history indicates that the spread of faith is primarily accomplished through the participation of ordinary Christians in mission, along with collaborative efforts of secondary groups, including evangelists and missionaries.

Nowadays, many Christians limit the power and work of the Holy Spirit to performing and experiencing miracles in their lives, and or foretelling the future. Others think the Holy Spirit exists only to help them with guiding them into truth or understanding the Bible better. While these beliefs are not entirely wrong, they overlook a crucial element: the Holy Spirit empowers us in our mission towards unbelievers.

Jesus Christ’s mission mandate is for the disciples to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). In the Bible, we can see how the leading power of the Holy Spirit is the primary agent who fulfills this mandate through the lives of Christ’s followers. Consider the testimony of Scripture: When the power of the Holy Spirit was upon the disciples, the miracle of speaking in tongues occurred in Acts 2. Its purpose was to boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, plant the church, and initiate the Christian mission, not simply to perform miracles or please the interests of men. Even though the Jerusalem church was persecuted in Acts 8:1, the gospel of Jesus Christ and Christian mission continued to spread in Samaria because of “the ministry of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:2-24). Then, the Holy Spirit led Philip to share the gospel with an Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza (Acts 8:26-30). Therefore, Amos Yong says that “If Samaria was the first step beyond Jerusalem and Judea, the Ethiopian would continue toward the southern ends of the earth.”[ii]

Luke (the author of the Book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke) helps us understand that the salvation of God is available to all people, not just the Jews (Luke 3:3-6). Therefore, God chose Paul to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, ensuring that salvation reaches everyone (Acts 9). In the same way, God used the Apostle Peter to preach the gospel to Cornelius, a Gentile Roman Soldier, through visions and the direct command of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:19-20).

As the Word of God spread, the Antioch church became the first missionary church, sending Paul and Barnabas, who had been chosen by the Holy Spirit, on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:4-12).[iii] Thus, Jesus’s commandment to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth and God’s salvation for all were fulfilled through the leading of the visions, miracles, and power of the Holy Spirit, not merely by human power and effort.

The Apostle Paul was used by God to be a pioneer missionary, extending the Christian mission to Gentiles. Significantly, when Paul describes his ministry elsewhere, he says that it is all “through the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:17-20). We can see that Paul’s statement is true in Acts 16:6-10, in which Luke explains that Paul was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, Mysia, and Troas (Acts 16:6-9). However, Paul immediately went to Macedonia to preach the gospel to Gentiles after receiving the vision from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Paul is considered a pioneer missionary of all time because he did not serve in the ministry by his own effort and power, but obeyed the leading and power of the Holy Spirit.

The early church witnessed that miracles happened by the power of the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Gospel and to save lost souls, not simply to make Christians feel awesome. Moreover, the power of the Holy Spirit is at work not only with famous Christians known at popular conferences, but through normal people as they reach out in mission among unreached peoples. The Apostles and early Christian witnesses remind us that God’s mission is led by the Holy Spirit first and foremost, and the Great Commandment will be fulfilled through the power of the Holy Spirit, not our will and effort. Without being led by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will not be witnesses of Jesus Christ, and the Christian faith will not be spread constantly.
 
   [i] Stephen B. Bevans and Roger Schroeder, Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today, Illustrated edition (Orbis Books, 2004), 83–88.
   [ii] Amos Yong, Mission after Pentecost (Mission in Global Community): The Witness of the Spirit from Genesis to Revelation (Baker Academic, 2019), 179.
   [iii] D.A. Carson et al., An Introduction to the New Testament (Zondervan, 1992), 227–28.

We all know that the church in the first century was very faithful in laboring in its mission. Also, the early church’s lifestyle was very attractive to outsiders as they followed Jesus’ mandate, and the church also tried to spread its witness to the ends of the earth, sending Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy to build new witnessing communities in distant lands. The reason for their steadfastness in their mission is that they served as witnesses of Jesus Christ.[i] Therefore, as we are serving the same mission, we need to explore how the early church became witnesses of Jesus Christ because it achieved the humanly impossible.

Amos Yong says that “the spirit’s empowering witness (Acts 1:8)”[ii] is the key to understanding the strength, power, and mission of the early church, as well as its origins. Jesus explained that the power from the Holy Spirit is the promise of the Heavenly Father to His disciples (Luke 24:49). Jesus also knew that the disciples could not accomplish the mission of God without power from the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus told the disciples to wait for empowerment from the Holy Spirit to obey and follow His command (Acts 1:4-5).[iii]

When the disciples of Jesus Christ became witnesses empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), they boldly preached “the first missionary sermon (Acts 2:14-41),” and the first church was born. As the early church in Jerusalem emerged through the spirit-filled witnesses, no one could prevent them from speaking “in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:1-22) even though they confronted opposition. Moreover, in the midst of the healing and preaching of the apostles, the members of the early church prayed together for God to grant them boldness to share the word of God. Then, the whole church was empowered by the Holy Spirit, and they “continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:23-31). Therefore, the author of the book of Acts expressed the characteristics of the early church in Jerusalem, saying, “the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).[iv]

Therefore, the witnesses of Jesus Christ in the early church help us to understand that God provides the strength, motivation, power, and ability through His Spirit to carry out His mission. Conversely, we should rely on the power of the Holy Spirit rather than other impressive matters for doing the mission. Otherwise, our labour will surely be futile if we are apart from the Holy Spirit, just as branches are apart from the vine. Therefore, we must know where the power to fulfill His mission originates if we are willing to be His witnesses. Further, Goheen and Mullins strongly state that “All missional engagement must be empowered by the risen Christ through the Spirit.”[v] Moreover, we learn that the church must pray together for the opportunity from God to spread His word under any conditions and situations so that the church will be filled with the Holy Spirit to spread the good news.

According to early church history exposed in the book of Acts, the early churches emerged from witnesses empowered by the Holy Spirit. Because of this, the church must continue to be a witnessing community empowered by the Holy Spirit for building more witnessing communities in the community and around the world. If the church fails to be a Holy Spirit-filled witness locally and globally, the true witnesses of Jesus Christ and the word of God will be ceased first in the community, even if the church can establish its building.    

   [i] Michael W. Goheen and Jim Mullins, The Symphony of Mission: Playing Your Part in God’s Work in the World (Baker Academic, 2019), 38.
   [ii] Amos Yong, Mission after Pentecost (Mission in Global Community): The Witness of the Spirit from Genesis to Revelation (Baker Academic, 2019), 176.
   [iii] Yong, Mission after Pentecost (Mission in Global Community), 177.
   [iv] D.A. Carson et al., An Introduction to the New Testament (Zondervan, 1992), 226–27.
   [v] Goheen and Mullins, The Symphony of Mission, 45–46.

The topic “You will be my witness” (Acts 1:8) is a well-known Bible verse to all of us. It used to be a primary theme for the conference, the Bible camp, and the Bible study. But this topic is more than a Christian anthem. Michael W. Gohen and Jim Mullins say that Acts 1:8 “was not a command but a declaration of fact.” [i] Likewise, Acts 1:8 is not just merely a Bible verse for Christians to memorize, but also a principle for us to practice in our daily lives.

Jesus Christ taught his disciples about the kingdom of God for forty days after proving his resurrection (Acts 1:3). We can say that Acts 1:5-6 is the first meeting where Jesus and the disciples discussed mission before Jesus’ ascension. We all need to be aware of the agenda for this discussion and the decisions made during it. The disciples asked Jesus about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6). Even though Jesus taught about the kingdom of God during the forty days, the primary concern of the disciples was not about the kingdom of God. The interests of the disciples were “what you would do for us as we follow you.” In other words, the disciples followed Jesus Christ because they wanted him to fulfill their desire, which is to restore the kingdom of Israel.

Nowadays, many Christians resemble the disciples of Jesus Christ in Acts 1:6, asking Jesus to fulfill their economic, political, and social desires through laboring in various ministries or missions. Also, sometimes, the purpose of the church in doing missions is to recruit new members, rather than obeying Jesus’ mandate and God’s will to be done. However, the agenda of the first meeting between Jesus and his disciples regarding the mission was not for the purpose of His followers to fulfill their personal needs, because the gospel of Jesus Christ is not the same as the prosperity gospel, which teaches that following Jesus and doing God’s work will lead to prosperity.

Jesus did not answer the question about restoring the kingdom of Israel, asked by the disciples. This is to say that Jesus did not promise his disciples and followers that “I will not fulfill your desires or wants for doing what I ask to do.” In fact, Jesus replied to them by saying, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). Simply, Jesus told them that they would not have the authority to know what the power of God would do.

However, Jesus made an explicit promise to his disciples, saying, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). This is the decision of the first mission meeting between Jesus and his disciples. In reality, the disciples were already witnesses because they were eyewitnesses of the risen Lord. However, Jesus knew that they needed the power from the Holy Spirit to be effective witnesses. It was also a reminder to Jesus’ disciples that their primary interest should not be the power to restore the kingdom of Israel, but rather the spiritual power that comes from the Holy Spirit, which can help them to be witnesses at the ends of the earth.[ii]  

To conclude, we cannot be true witnesses if we follow Jesus Christ for our personal interests and agendas. The church also should not overlook Jesus’ mandate by emphasizing solely how God will bless the church for doing mission. Jesus wants us to be his witnesses through understanding the purpose of the Kingdom of God and receiving the power from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Paul E. Pierson said that “Instead of focusing inward on what God is going to do for you and your people, begin to focus outward on what God wants to do through you in the world.”[iii]      
  
   [i] Michael W. Goheen and Jim Mullins, The Symphony of Mission: Playing Your Part in God’s Work in the World (Baker Academic, 2019), 37.
   [ii] Ajith Fernando, Acts: From Biblical Text-- to Contemporary Life, The NIV Application Commentary (Zondervan, 1998), 52.
   [iii] Paul Pierson, The Dynamics Of Christian Mission: History Through A Missiological Perspective, unknown edition (William Carey International University Press, 2009), 21.

Many people who hear the word 'missions' will only think of supporting cross-cultural missionaries, mission boards, and international organizations. However, mission also includes what we do in our own neighborhoods. Although such contributions to cross-cultural missions and missionaries are excellent works, churches often forget their role within the local community and the specific context in which they operate. As the church thinks of itself as on a mission, it loses consciousness of why God sent the church into its context, cultural and community setting. In other words, the church is unable to remember its true identity and divine calling as a missionary of God by supporting the missions and missionaries.

The word mission originates from the Latin words mitto (to send) and missio (sending). Therefore, the meaning of mission is “to send and be sent.”[i] Our God has revealed Himself as a missionary God through His being, nature, and actions throughout the Bible and history. God leads the mission by sending the Son and the Spirit into this world to fulfill His purpose for us. Moreover, God wants us to be involved in His mission, as Jesus said that “As Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). This helps us to understand that the Triune God is both the sender and the sent.[ii] Moreover, we, as a church, must recognize that God has sent us into the community and the context where we are to continue the unfinished task of mission, which belongs to God.

Because of that, David J. Bosch said that “Here the church is not the sender but the one sent. Its mission is not secondary to its being; the church exists in being sent and in building up itself for the sake of its mission.”[iii] Therefore, we also need to learn to see the church as sent people, meaning the church is a missionary community. As the church is in God’s sending mission, the church must live out missional motives to spread its essence from one church community to another. By emphasizing support mission organizations and sending missionaries to distant lands, the church should not forget to reach the lost in the community that God sent us.[iv]  

David J. Bosch asserted that if the church, God’s sent people, is missionally motivated, it will genuinely worship God, who is a missionary by His nature and has a mission.[v] John R Franke also says that “if mission is part of God’s very nature, then only a missional church can fully, truly worship such a God.”[vi] Therefore, the life of church worship will welcome outsiders; moreover, it will teach its members to understand their calling in society, not only seeking pastoral care. Additionally, the church motivates its members to get involved in evangelism and social service beyond the boundaries of the church.[vii] However, “a church that refuses the call to mission is failing to be faithful to the God it worships, in the same way as a church that refuses the command to love.”[viii]  

In summary, the church is unclear about its role in God’s mission due to its supporting activities in the missions. The church also believes they are the sender in the mission, forgetting that it is being sent by God within the community and context where it belongs. This is one of the reasons why the church fails to be a witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the community and context it belongs to. Thus, the church is not only working to support missions and missionaries, but also gets involved fully in the mission. Our God is the author of the mission and has sent us to be involved in sending His love to every community, culture, and context.          
 
   [i] John R. Franke, Missional Theology: An Introduction (Baker Academic, 2020), 10.
   [ii] Franke, Missional Theology, 10.
   [iii] David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, 20th Anniversary ed. edition (Orbis Books, 2011), 381.
   [iv] Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church (Brazos Press, 2006), 129.
   [v] Bosch, Transforming Mission, 382.
   [vi] Franke, Missional Theology, 10.
   [vii] Bosch, Transforming Mission, 382.
   [viii] Franke, Missional Theology, 10.

There are many challenges in transforming the church into a missional one. However, if the church wants to be missional, the first step is to recognize that mission belongs to God. Additionally, we need to understand that the goal of the mission is not for the church to find its benefit, but to fulfill and obey the eternal purpose and salvific work of God. In other words, the transformation process of the missional church should emphasize "mission-centered church" rather than "church-centered mission."[i] On the other hand, many may think that “mission-centered church" causes the role of the church to fade away. In reality, it reminds us not to stray from the high calling of the church.

At the International Missionary Conference in Willingen, Germany, in 1952, attendees began to realize that mission is “a movement from God to the world, with the church functioning as a participant in that mission.”[ii] Additionally, the Christian mission began by God, whose very nature is missionary. According to the missional perspective of the Old Testament, we see that “God’s primary missionary method is his covenant people.”[iii] Therefore, God called Abraham to express His missional intention, promising that blessing would come to all nations (Genesis 12:1-3). Then, God chose the Israelites to reflect His missionary character to the nations, calling them “God’s treasured possession, kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6).

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis say that “Humanity was made in the image of the Triune God. The purpose of an image is to represent something, and we were made to represent God on earth.”[iv] However, the Israelites fail to represent God’s missionary character and missional intention, even though they are descendants of Abraham. Still, God did not stop His mission even when His chosen people failed to represent and reveal His eternal purpose. Therefore, at the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew, the author of the gospel of Matthew, described Jesus as the “Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1), who will bless all the nations through God’s redemptive work.[v] It reminds us that God sent Jesus Christ into this world to continue His important mission of love and salvation.

Therefore, Christian mission does not belong to the Apostles, the early church, or denominational churches because it originates from God’s redemptive plan for humanity. As God’s salvific work continues, the church must engage in the mission of God, recognizing that God is the true source of Christian mission. Consequently, the church should not view mission as either a church-centered focus or just one of many church programs. Most importantly, evangelism should not be reduced to member recruitment. Moreover, the church should see itself as the people of God and understand how the church must reflect and reveal, as Jesus’ ekklesia, God’s missionary intention and purpose.[vi]

In summary, David J. Bosch said, “God’s salvific work precedes both church and mission. We should not subordinate mission to the church nor the church to mission.”[vii] But, mission will still be subordinate to the church if the church thinks and views mission as “a process of reproducing church.”[viii] The idea of mission as reproducing church will lead to mission being seen as merely an optional task. This is because the church does not believe that engaging in mission involves continuing God's divine mission, which is intended to bring salvation and restore the relationship between God and His created people, thereby fulfilling His eternal purpose and salvific plan for humanity.  
 
[i] David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, 20th Anniversary ed. edition (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 2011), 379.
[ii] John R. Franke, Missional Theology: An Introduction (Baker Academic, 2020), 11.
[iii] Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2008), 33.
[iv] Chester and Timmis, 33.
[v] Chester and Timmis, 34.
[vi] Daniel L. Guder, ed., Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Eerdmans, 1998), 6.
[vii] Bosch, Transforming Mission, 379.
[viii] Bosch, 385–86.

As a Church, we recognize that our priority must be to participate in extending God’s kingdom. However, we struggle to remember or follow up on getting involved in this mission. Although the church engages in many ministries, many church members believe that Christian mission and evangelism are reserved for those who work in Christian ministries and dedicate their lives to cross-cultural missions. Consequently, while the church participates in various ministries, its primary focus is not on mission and evangelism. Moreover, the church sometimes unintentionally replaces mission and evangelism with different ministries and initiatives. Therefore, we need to understand why this perspective influences the church and examine how this idea is manifesting within it.

Christian history teaches us a valuable lesson about Christendom, which hinders the church and its members from engaging in missions to grow. Alan Kreider & Eleanor Kreider state that the meaning of Christendom is that “In Christendom, in which the reign of Christ was actualized, human potentates played a prominent role in the central act of the civilization, the worship service, the Mass.”[i] Furthermore, in the Christendom community, the church practices baptism without requiring conversion, and worship remains the primary focus of the church’s activities. Consequently, Christian mission became unnecessary and rarely discussed. In other words, “the church’s purpose was not to spread the faith to new lands; it was to ensure the eternal salvation of people already Christian and to buttress the orderly functioning of Christendom societies.”[ii]

During the Christendom period, mission is understood as owned by the church, leading to the intention of the church regarding mission becoming, ‘you can do it if you want, but if you do not want to, it is unnecessary.’ As a result, Christian mission has become a largely forgotten topic in the church, and mission and evangelism have been replaced by different names of social services ministries. Thus, engaging in mission is an activity of the church, similar to any other activity its members undertake when they choose to do so. Therefore, Darrell L. Guder firmly asserts that “In the ecclesiocentric approach of Christendom, mission became only one of the many programs of the church.”[iii]

Moreover, Guder claims that “Mission boards emerged in Western churches to do the work of foreign mission. Yet even here the Western churches understood themselves as sending churches, and they assumed the destination of their sending to be the pagan reaches of the world,”[iv] where people need the gospel and civilization development. This has combined with a culture that promotes a form of professionalized mission, whereby mission and evangelism are primarily carried out by specialists who receive financial support from church members. Additionally, churches often believe that financially supporting mission organizations is engagement in mission. This situation has resulted in a widely held view that mission and evangelism are only done by specialists, undermining the focus of the Great Commission given to all believers. This is another contributing factor to the decline of mission and evangelism in churches. Furthermore, evangelism and mission become specific projects to be managed rather than integral parts of the daily practices of all believers.

Therefore, we should examine how the concepts of Christendom align with the objectives of our church mission and evangelism. If we cannot analyze our mission tasks honestly, Christian mission will be perceived as belonging to the church, merely an activity or program of the congregation, and carried out by specialists. Specifically, mission and evangelism will disappear enormously in the church, leading to a cessation of renewal within the church.  
 
   [i] Eleanor Kreider and Alan Kreider, Worship and Mission After Christendom (Herald Press, 2011), 24.
   [ii] Kreider and Kreider, 39.
   [iii] Daniel L. Guder, ed., Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Eerdmans, 1998), 6.
   [iv] Guder, 6.

The biblical Greek word ‘church’ is defined as ekklēsia. Literally, the term ekklēsia means “those who are called out.” We need to understand how the word ekklēsia was used in the ancient world and its context. The authors of Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth say that “In the ancient world, the ekklēsia referred to a group of citizens who had been “called out” to administrate civic affairs or to defend the community in battle.”[i]

In examining this usage of the term, it is clear that the meaning of the ekklēsia indicates the group of people who are called out to serve for the common good of the country or kingdom. Therefore, ekklēsia is used when people are called to action with a crucial purpose from the authority and for the common good of the kingdom or country.

Surprisingly, the church, ekklēsia, is mentioned only twice by Jesus Christ in the four Gospels. The first usage is a promise from God, and the second usage is a commission for us. Jesus first uses the word ekklēsia in Matthew 16:18, saying, “I will build my church (ekklēsia).” Notice: Who is the builder of God’s Church? God! In this passage God is promising that He will build His church. This promise is why we are confident that no matter the difficulties we face, God will never abandon us.

The second usage of ekklēsia is found in Matthew 18:17 when Jesus instructs the disciples on their obligation to participate in the edification of the church even as they have disagreements with one another. This second usage reminds us that while God is the one who builds the church, we are the ones who should honor God in our relationships to one another.

Although Jesus uses the word ekklēsia only twice, it significantly contributes to understanding the concept of being the church and its purpose, as the first usage refers to the promise and the second usage refers to the community’s obligation and contribution to the common good.

Nowadays, many Christians are busy trying build the church in their own strength, forgetting Jesus’ promise in Matthew 16:18 and the meaning of ekklēsia. Let’s not forget: God is the one who builds the Church. Our part is to simply obey God and cooperate with God in his mission. The church will be built if Jesus’ ekklēsia understands their obligation.

As the Apostle Peter said, “you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). We must recognize that we are Jesus’ ekklēsia because we are called out to live in the light of the lord even while we were once in darkness (Eph. 5:8-9).

As I mentioned above, ekklēsia signifies that a group of people is called to assemble for the purpose of the kingdom. For that reason, we must understand that we are called out from the darkness by Jesus Christ to live not for our own desires, but for the kingdom’s sake. Jesus clearly said that “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). As we are a church, in other words, we are Jesus’ ekklēsia, we must pursue His kingdom and we are being assembled to fulfill our task for the purpose of His kingdom, not to live only for our own desires and personal agendas.

In conclusion, we are called to live with a purpose, contributing to the common good of God’s kingdom. As Jesus’ ekklēsia, the followers of Jesus Christ should not focus solely on building the church, as this is God’s work and not a task assigned to us. The task of being church, ekklēsia, is to extend His kingdom within and beyond Lake County.
   
   [i] John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, eds., Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth, Illustrated edition (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017), 773.

In the Old Testament, conversion means a profound calling for the Israelites to turn away from evil or other false gods and return wholeheartedly to God. Community or individual repentance is necessary for this turn. Moreover, Israelites have the responsibility to fulfill their role in spreading God’s blessing to all the families of the earth (Gen 12:3) and being the light of the world (Isa 42:6; 49:6).[i] Therefore, the meaning of the conversion begins with the transformation within the individual and the community. But its essence does not stop at this point. Additionally, Israelites must embrace the service for transformation, which is not only for themselves but also for the whole world. God wanted the “Double Conversion” of the Israelite, which involves transforming the repentant heart and soul and the commitment to transform the world as the people of God.

The statement, Jesus is Lord, is the most significant theme of early Christianity. We will be saved if we believe and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9), but but we cannot proclaim this confession on our own without the transformative power of the Holy Spirit working within us (1 Corinthians 12:3). For us, as believers, we can confess easily that Jesus is Lord. However, we will see that it was not easy for early Christians when we study the conversion of the apostle Paul.

The first conversion of the apostle Paul was to confess the crucified carpenter Jesus as the Messiah, Christ (Acts 9). Apostle Paul also confessed that God selected him to bring the mission to the Gentiles because God’s kingdom was open to the Gentiles (Acts 22 and 26). Therefore, the double conversion of the apostle Paul was to confess Jesus as Lord and the mission to the Gentiles.[ii] These two turning points were difficult confessions and conversions for the former Pharisee. However, Paul sacrificed his life to God, turning away from rubbish (Philippians 3:8), and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to transform the world.

In conclusion, the early Christians confessed Jesus as Lord so that they turned to God from idols and vain things, to serve the living God (1 Thess 1:9; Acts 14:15). Nowadays, many Christians believe that the whole church is called to the mission. Conversely, many Christians still require the second conversion: to confess the gospel of Jesus Christ to a fallen world. They are content with merely confessing Jesus as Lord, which is the simplest service in the church ministry. For the sake of God’s mission, the church needs the believers who confess Jesus as Lord, as well as the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, because God desires all people to be saved (1 Tim 2:4).
 
   [i] Richard Thomas France, “Conversion in the Bible,” The Evangelical Quarterly 65 (December 31, 1993): 293–94.
   [ii] Paul Pierson, The Dynamics Of Christian Mission: History Through A Missiological Perspective, (William Carey International University Press, 2009), 24–25.

Nowadays, many churches have strong membership on paper; in reality, members do not attend their worship service regularly, and some members join other free churches where celebrity preachers, famous worshippers, and good music are present. Also, they become selfish in spirituality because they will not attend church, where they cannot receive emotionally sugar-coated sermons and music, which they feel is better for their spirituality. Therefore, some churches change their worship services to attract people to the church for the sake of its future.

Consequently, one of the aims of the church is for Christians to come to the church, not build up its members to participate effectively in God’s mission. As a result, the church is entirely composed of two types of members: the first is satisfied with their salvation, and the other hopes to get something better from God. Even though they desire to glorify God, they do not dare to share the gospel with others and are not interested in participating in God’s mission. What they understand about being a Christian is to make a one-time decision to confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Although Jesus teaches us true worship should be done “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24), many Christians forget the essence of worship, which is to worship the missional God who wants to restore and reconcile us through Jesus Christ. Even though worship cannot impact an increase in membership, it is necessary for members to glorify God and sanctify human beings. Also, worshipping God is acknowledged for the Lordship of Jesus Christ because scripture says, “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11).

We all know that Christians must be involved in God's mission. To be involved in the mission of God, the function of the church must not be to entertain its members but to edify them. The edification in the church is to instruct its members to obey Jesus’ teaching and to imitate his way in their lives. For this point, worship enables believers to live a sanctified life and to be His likeness in God’s mission. Therefore, worship is crucial to building up church members to be disciples of Jesus Christ and worship has the beneficial effect of growing the church to engage in God’s mission.

In conclusion, Alan Kreider and Eleanor Kreider’s book, Worship & Mission After Christendom, states, “The church does not worship for the sake of the outsiders; worship is what the believers offer to God” (144). Worship is not aimed at persuading outsiders to attend church; rather, outsiders will come to Christ by witnessing the distinction of what we offer in God’s mission and kingdom. Therefore, prioritizing the “building up” of our members is crucial before they evangelize others. True worship can help us connect with His characters and God’s desire (1 Tim 2:4) and inspire us to actively participate in His mission.

Renewal is a profound work of God because it inspires us to live out our faith.  But we cannot experience renewal without prayer. So, it is crucial to pray to God for renewal within us. Timothy Keller once said, “Christians are used to thinking about prayer as a means to get their personal needs met. More mature Christians understand prayer as a means to praise and adore God, to know him, to come into his presence, and be changed by him.”

Therefore, we need to be mindful that if our prayers do not include a desire for us to be changed by God and for God to be glorified in us, then we will continue to miss out on God’s power and God’s plan. Rather than relying on God, we will be stuck in our own weaknesses and shortcomings. Relying on God through prayer, we will experience a restoration of renewal to obey His command. Moreover, when we examine the Bible or the history of the church, we will see that all renewal or revival moments have emerged through the devoted prayers of individuals and groups.

In the New Testament, the apostles experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 because they were praying together (Acts 1:14). When the apostles were renewed by the Holy Spirit, they boldly preached about who Jesus is and what Jesus had done for us. In other words, as a result of their prayers, they were renewed by the Holy Spirit, the apostles preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s church began!

Notice: The apostles did not perform miracles for the purposes of providing an emotional high. Rather, the miracles were a result of the power of God as God answered their prayers.  Therefore, the authentic renewal of God that resulted from prayer led to the disciples obeying what Jesus asked them to do. Therefore, the church is formed and nourished through the power of sharing the gospel, led by those who earnestly seek the renewal from God through prayer. Without prayer, God’s people will not receive God’s renewal and power, and God’s mission cannot succeed.

This principle can be illustrated from real life. In the summer of 1806, students from William College regularly held a prayer meeting under the willow to the south of West College on Wednesdays and under the maple trees in the meadow to the north of the college building on Saturdays. Notably, in August 1806, five college students -Samuel J. Mills, James Richards, Francis L. Robbins, Harvey Loomis, and Byram Green- organized a prayer meeting under the maple trees, but they were interrupted by a rainstorm.

Therefore, they sought shelter to continue the prayer meeting and gathered under the nearby large haystack. In that prayer meeting, they knelt and passionately prayed that the gospel be sent to Asia as they were concerned about the need of salvation of its people. Later, this incident was called the Haystack prayer meeting. It became the historic movement of American mission history because the first American foreign missionary board, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, was formed in 1810 from the impactful Haystack prayer meeting four years earlier.

In conclusion, prayer is an essential part of the renewal process in the people of God. Also, prayer fosters renewed people to participate in the mission of God in this fallen world. Therefore, we recognize that God’s renewed people who profoundly seek change through devoted prayers to God are always convinced to involve themselves in the unfinished task of the gospel.  

Paul E. Pierson, Emeritus Dean of Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of World Mission, asserts that "Mission has normally come out of renewal.” We can firmly agree with his claim because the history of Christian mission demonstrates that the mission movement is always intertwined with the renewal of God’s people, both individually and congregationally. This connection also proves that when God renews his people, they begin to live on mission for Him.

However, a sad reality in the history of Christianity is that the mission and renewal movement remain peripheral to the church’s main activities. As renewal is absent among God’s people, we often see various movements and programs instead of mission work in the life of the church. To change this norm, we must understand and follow two key factors to foster the renewal and mission movement in our personal and community life.

1. The first factor is the faith illustrated in the Bible. When our faith is not aligned with the Bible, the renewal is ceased in our life and community, resulting in the mission becoming forgotten. Also, we forget our God’s given spiritual gifts and ability in order to bless the world. Most of the time, we think that doing mission is just for the pastors, ministers, professors, and evangelists, even though we know that ministry is for all of us and the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 makes clear that all of us are called to make disciples to all nations. Therefore, we need sound biblical and theological breakthroughs to grow our faith and recognize our unique gift for His mission.
2. The second factor is to explore the historical context of Christian mission, which provides valuable insights into the connection between mission and renewal. Christians in non-Christian countries often attribute that their ancestors became Christians due to the efforts of missionaries. It is important to examine the motivation that inspired missionaries to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, crossing the geographical and cultural boundaries, despite encountering many difficulties and obstacles in their labour. Therefore, the historical context in which missionaries operated is necessary to evaluate both their mission and renewal movements, as well as contemporary context and movements.

In closing, God has a specific purpose for each of us, and we are called to participate in God’s mission. Many Christians mistakenly think that the gospel of Jesus Christ and the mission of God can be altered by the historical context we live in, which is changing constantly. However, despite the world is changing so fast, the truth of the gospel and the essence of God’s mission remain true. It is essential that we should discover how we can participate in the unfinished task of mission as the history continues. In upcoming letters, we will continue to consider the role of faith, spiritual gifts, and historical study which will facilitate increased renewal and mission at Gracepointe Church and beyond.