Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

expressions"
Missionary Number
LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 20, 1955
VOLUME LIV WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1955 NUMBER 5
The
"Why"
of Evangelical Missions
JAMES DeFOREST MURCH, D.D.
In United Evangelical Action, used by Permission.
EVANGELICALS are by nature missionary. The
largest per capita giving in Protestantism for
foreign missions is in strictly evangelical denomin
ations. For some years now the largest number of
new foreign missionaries have been sent by evan
gelical boards. In fact, if it were not for the new
ly-developing strength of these boards there would
be a tragic loss of zeal and accomplishment in the
total picture of Protestant Christian missions.
It is unfortunate that the once-universal Prot
estant fellowship in the task of evangelization has
been broken. There was a time when the missionary
of the world was united in its belief that
leadership
Jesus Christ, God and Saviour, is the only hope of
a world lost in sin and shame. Today humanistic
activism and an intellectual and religious syncretism
have been projected into world missions to the de
struction of its unity and evangelicals have been
forced to build again the foundations.
The only authentic Christianity that ever was or
ever will be is the Christianity that is both Jesus,
the historic Son of Man and Son of God, and the
Eternal Christ, the risen and everlasting Master
and Lord. This Christianity is not a search of man
for God. It is God's offer of Himself to men in
Christ, who was not a "fellow seeker with us after
bodily."
God,"
but "the fullness of the Godhead
This Christianity does not admit that mankind is
capable in itself of constant progress and improve
ment and of advancing toward perfection, but holds
that motive and power are in Christ to those who
are born again through the Gospel.
Evangelicals are, therefore,
convinced that the
preaching
of the Gospel is the essential task of
missions and must always remain so. We do not
object to programs for the solution of agricultural,
social, political and industrial problems but we be
lieve that each country, race and generation must
solve its own problems in the light of God's Word
through the native churches. Our chief aim is the
personal conversion of men to a new life in
Christ, to complete surrender to God's will as re
vealed in His Word and to new relations of love
to their fellowman.
Evangelicals refuse to identify Christianity with
non-Chrstian religions. Christianity is not a re
ligion in the sense that it is a search for God. We
refuse to compromise with heathenism. We believe
Christianity should perceive and hold fast the truth
of its own uniqueness. It should be proclaimed in a
simple message by words and deeds transfused with
love. It should anticipate the absolute triumph of
Christ as acknowledged Lord and Saviour. To this
end evangelicals shall not be satisfied until all men
everywhere have heard the Gospel and have had an
opportunity to accept it.
So much for the basic principles of evangelical
missions. We shall seek always to build construc
tively
upon these foundations.
But we are also realistically face to face with
"liberalism"
in foreign missions. Liberalism came
into the missionary picture as a parasite, living on
the boards, institutions, and missions built up by
evangelicals, and undermining the fundamental be
liefs and practices that have made Christian mis
sions a vital force in the world. Liberals deny that
men are lost without Christ, in the full New Testa
ment sense. They look upon the authentic historical
facts of the New Testament as "symbolic imagina
nontive
of Christianity. They consider
Christians as brothers in the common quest for
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