Calvin and Missions - World Evangelical Alliance

102 Calvin and World Mission
in us, we should also seeke their salvation which seeme to be as it were banished
men out of the Kingdome of God. 138
So then, seeing it is God his will [sic] that all men should be partakers of
that salvation, we must have a care to drawe poore, seelie and ignorant creatures
to us, that we may come altogether to this inheritaunce of the Kingdom
of heaven. 139
And, thus, we see in fewe words, that Saint Paules meaning is, to wit, that
foreasmuch as God will have his grace to be knowen of al ye world, and hath
commaunded his Gospell to be preached to all creatures, we must as much as
lieth in us, procure the salvation of all them whiche are at this day straungers
from the faith, and seeme ulterly to be deprived of the goodness of God, that
we may bring them to it. 140
Hence, it is evident that there was in Calvin’s thought the basic principles
of a missionary theology. Calvin had a Gospel that was offered to all
the world. He was participating in the extension of a Kingdom that would
include people from every language and land. The Kingdom would continue
to grow, in spite of all opposition, until it reached the farthest bounds
of the earth. Calvin’s God was still calling his people to himself and would
continue to do so until Christ’s second coming. God’s people were gathered
into his church. They were also gathered by his church. For each
Christian had the responsibility, “as much as in him lieth,” to share the
gospel with the whole world.
II. Calvin’s Missionary Influence
The question now arises: if this were Calvin’s thought, why then did he
do and speak so little about this fundamental task of the church?
Calvin’s lack of significant action and expression in this area was the result
of many forces and circumstances. Two such forces, which contributed
to his lack of positive action, became dynamic influences in the stimulation
of missionary activity two centuries later.
Calvin’s Doctrine of Election
First, Calvin’s doctrine of election does seem, in at least one aspect, to
have somewhat stifled missionary effort in his own day. However, in the
138 Sermons on Timothy, p. 148.
139 Ibid., p. 149.
140 Ibid., p. 159.