Reforming World Missions: Recovering a Biblical and Confessional Missiology

Description

In the work of world missions those who send missionaries are as important to the cause as those who are sent out. William Carey famously described missionaries as those who go down into an unexplored pit, and those who send and support missionaries as the ones who “must hold the ropes” for them. But if we are to hold the ropes, we must also know the ropes. That is, both sending churches and cross-cultural church planters must possess a missiology that is both biblically sound and confessionally robust.

This book was written to equip both churches and missionaries with just such a missiology. May God be pleased to raise up many biblically qualified missionaries who are sent well until the world is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters fill the sea!

Endorsements

From the caption from the Synod of Dort on the cover of this book to the historical essays on Carey, Pearce, and Judson (which, as an historian of this era, I naturally loved!), this volume on the missionary enterprise (which is at the heart of the gospel) is a veritable cornucopia of wisdom about the theology and praxis of missions. The wisdom it contains and the vision that informs it is much needed, for I fear that the passion for missions that marked what is rightly called “the greatest generation” of our evangelical Calvinist forebears—the world of Carey and his friends—is being displaced by a passion for politics. Oh that God would use this fabulous book to stir afresh in our hearts a zeal to take the gospel to the lost at home and abroad. Highly recommended!
—Michael A. G. Azad Haykin

The life that energizes our missionary labor is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and the foundation of our mission is his sovereignty over all things (Matt. 28:18-20). This book, Reforming World Missions, seeks to build our worldwide evangelistic mission directly on the unshakable rock of that sovereignty—both the sovereign authority of Christ’s Word and the sovereign power of his saving grace. Its authors write out of a deep commitment to Reformed Baptist doctrine as stated in the 1689 Confession, and those who hold the same confessional stance will rejoice in what they say. However, anyone who loves the sovereign Christ and who shares in his love for lost sinners will find much help in this book, and I commend it to your reading.
—Paul Smalley

About the Authors

Jerry Slate Jr. (B.A. Columbia International University) serves as one of the pastors of Berean Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia, which he planted in February 2003. He married his wife, Angela, in 1993 and the Lord has blessed them with six children. He has had the privilege of preaching God’s word and training indigenous pastors in various international contexts. Jerry has served as the chairman of Reformed Baptist Mission Services (RBMS) and of the Administrative Council for the Southeastern Association of Confessional Baptist Churches. He is also the co-author (with Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin) of Loving God and Neighbor with Samuel Pearce (Lexham Publishers).

Steve Martin (M.A. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) labored in Youth and Collegiate Ministry in California, Indiana, and Georgia before attending seminary and entering the gospel ministry. He pastored in the Atlanta suburbs for 31 years before becoming a “pastor to pastors.” He served as the first Dean of Students of International Reformed Baptist Seminary in Texas. In retirement he lives in suburban Indianapolis, Indiana with his beloved wife of five decades, Cindy. He has two children married in the Lord and six grandchildren.

David Vinson (B.M.E. Georgia Institute of Technology) is a retired Mechanical Engineer and has been married to his wife Cathy for forty-six years. They have six children and five grandchildren. During the 38 years of his Christian life, he has had only two pastors – Steve Martin and Jerry Slate. Both have faithfully taught, trained, encouraged, and exhorted him to love and serve the Lord as a layman. He is the author of the Christian science fiction novel, The First Sentinel.

John A. Miller (D.Ed.Min. Candidate Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Th.M. Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary) is one of the pastors at Redeemer Baptist Church near Macon, Georgia. He also serves as the Vice-President and Professor of Practical Theology at Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. John is also actively engaged in training indigenous pastors in various countries around the world. He has been married to his beloved wife Elizabeth since 2004, and they have been blessed with four children.