In which we define what it means to be “mission-minded”
Thursday, 15 September, 2005
Yes, Calvin was mission-minded. By that, I mean he had a great concern for the mission of God (missio dei—heh, I'll throw in a bit of Latin to make myself look smart! [Though not as smart as Seamus]). This is what Mike says about the missio dei:
In short, the missio dei is the bringing of men and women to the point where they, like the magi, fall at the feet of the Christ, worship him, and offer him the gifts of praise and consecrated lives. The extent to which any Christian endeavour has this as its goal, justifies the description of that endeavour as mission. Further, it is God's purpose that men and women from every family, every tribe and every people offer God and the Lamb praise and worship in their own tongue.
Mike Raiter, “‘Sent For This Purpose’: ‘Mission’ and ‘Missiology’ and their Search for Meaning”, Ripe For Harvest, R. Gibson (ed.), Paternoster, 2000, p. 127.
(I wonder about the ethics of quoting the guy who is going to mark your essay to suppory your argument. I've done it before though in my Primary Document Assignment on John Stott which was also for this subject. And, let's face it, Mike says some really good stuff.)
I reckon Calvin had an implicit theology of mission and it undergirded everything he wrote. But that's a subject for another blog post.
Blinks:
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How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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I’ll be interested to see the follow-up. Its fairly tricky to demonstrate an implicit position…