All Articles For The Lord Gave the Word

Copyright (1982) Board of Publications, Christian Reformed Church in North America, reprinted from the October 4, 1982 issue of the Banner, with permission. Written by Dr. Paul G. Schrotenboer, general secretary of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod, and Bernice Schrotenboer, a retired foreign language teacher.

Thanks must go to Kalamazoo and to their committee for arranging and conducting this mission’s conference. Such a day is vital and good for the church; and all who were present experienced that blessing. Such conferences should be held more often, not only to detail facts of the specific fields, but to talk about methods and about the work God has given to us to do. Also they serve as specific occasions to discuss the blessed gospel which is the inspiration and motivation to preaching in our established congregations as well as on the mission fields. 

Now that we have completed our discussion of the missionary preaching of the Apostles we are going to interrupt the series on Missionary Methods in order to report on a Bible Conference in which the undersigned participated. The Conference which took place in May was hosted by Rev. Ronald Van Overloop and our home mission station in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to Pastor Van Overloop and myself, Rev. Steven Houck participated. It was a four-day conference and began on Sunday. Two worship services were held on Sunday.

The question with which we are dealing is this: who are the proper objects of mission work? To whom or to which peoples ought the church direct the preaching of the gospel? In our last contribution we considered whether or not the church should perform mission work among the Jews. This is the question of what is sometimes called “the priority of the Jews.” In that connection we presented a rather lengthy quotation of the late Dr. J.H. Bavinck (cf. Bavinck’s Introduction To The Science of Missions pp. 69-72). 

As we continue our studies of the Scriptural method or methods of performing mission work we will devote our attention to what has been and still is a very significant little book on Missions. The book is entitled:Planting And Development of Missionary Churches. Dr. John L. Nevius, a Presbyterian missionary to China in the late 1800s, authored the book. Dissatisfaction with the old methods of doing mission work led Dr. Nevius and his colleagues. In China to re-think missionary methods in the light of Scripture.

In the recent special issue of the Standard Bearer we began a survey of what each of the Protestant Reformed Churches is doing in its locale in church extension and evangelism. With this article we conclude that survey. 

It is almost as if the Lord is beginning a new era for us as Protestant Reformed Churches in missions. This is not to say that our churches have been lax in their calling to do mission work in the past. This, most emphatically, is not the case. From the very beginning of our history we have been engaged in missions. This has been exclusively in the area of home missions and church reformation and extension. God has richly blessed these efforts too. Many of our present congregations had their beginnings as home mission stations.

. With the last article we concluded our study of the principles of missions. With this article we purpose to begin a series on the proper method or methods of performing missionary work among the nations of the world. In other words our purpose shall be to examine the question of how the principles of missions must be implemented by the church in the actual practice of mission work. Quite frankly, the undersigned embarks on this venture with a great deal of reticence and even some uneasiness. There was no course in missions offered in the seminary while he was...

. We have repeatedly made the point that the chief task of the church in its mission work is the preaching of the gospel. In other words, mission work consists mainly in the preaching of the Word of God. This is what the missionary must do both publicly and from house to house (cf. Acts 20:20).

In the previous article we took issue with Dr. J.H. Bavinck’s opinion that there is no special urgency to do mission work among the Jews. The fact is thatRomans 11 in its context (cf. especially chapters 9 and 10) teaches that the natural branches (the Jews) once cut off may be graffed in again into the olive tree (the Church). This is the unique position and special privilege of the Jews. The wild branches (Gentiles) once cut off remain cut off.