November 10, 2004

Albert Mohler on Missions

For the past several months I have been reading Al Mohler's weblog. For those of you who don't know, Mr. Mohler is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

His post for today was especially interesting. It is entitled Missions at Risk, A Failure of Nerve. In my humble estimation, he hits the nail on the head. Here are a couple excerpts:

America's evangelical Christians are facing a critical testing-time in the twenty-first century. Among the most important of the tests we now face is the future of missions, and our faithfulness to the Great Commission. At a time of unprecedented opportunity, will our zeal for world missions slacken?

This is the question we all need to be asking ourselves. I see the need for this question to be asked almost every time I visit a church, and regularly as I call pastors to set up meetings. There is a lot of interest in missions, but very little zeal.

Mohler again gets it right when he examines the root of the problem.

At base, the issue is a failure of theological nerve--a devastating loss of biblical and doctrinal conviction. The result is retreat on the mission fields of the world and regression on the home front. Since the middle of the last century, the mainline Protestant denominations have been withdrawing from the missionary enterprise, some even declaring a "moratorium" on the sending of missionaries charged to preach the Gospel. Among these denominations, the total missionary force is now a fraction of that during the 1950s, and many of those who remain on the fields have been assigned duties far removed from conversionist witness.

I know that I have been asked on a number of occasions why I am going to Brazil when "we already have so many missionaries there." Just for review, Brazil is a country larger than the continental US, with 180 million people, the vast majority of whom are bound by one false religion or another. The missionaries we have there are obscenely understaffed and outnumbered. Meanwhile, there are 5,000 Mormon missionares in Brazil at any given time.

Ok, enough of my soapbox. Back to what Al Mohler has to say.

The essence of this belief is universalism, the belief that all persons will be saved, whether or not they have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Universalism presents itself in many forms, including modern inclusivism, pluralism, and relativism. In its boldest and most honest form, it is the absolute declaration that all persons will be saved (if indeed there is anything from which to be saved). By this account, all religions have an equal claim to truth which underlies the "religious" character of humanity.

But universalism also takes other, more subtle guises.

Universalism also presents itself in a naive form, in which Christians refuse to deal with the issue and simply declare no position or conviction on the issue. Their stance betrays their lack of conviction and even compassion. Their conscience is uncluttered by concern for the lost.

I am convinced that Al Mohler has put his finger on what is happening in evangelical churches today. We must ask God to restore our passion for the truth, and for the lost.

You can read the entire article by Al Mohler here.

Posted by Andrew at November 10, 2004 9:47 AM

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Posted by: GoTennis at November 10, 2004 11:27 AM

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