The gospel removes any sense of superiority toward those who don’t share our beliefs. We respect and remember what it is like to seriously doubt Christianity. We therefore expect not-yet-believers in almost every facet of Redeemer’s ministry and life, and we make every effort to engage and address their questions and concerns. One of the main ways we do this is with the missional mindset that makes worship and small groups a place where Christians and non-Christians grow together.

In general the church’s communication and preaching must continually chip away at the main “defeaters” the main, widely held objections to Christianity that form an “implausibility structure” keeping most people from solid faith thought because “all the smart people I know don’t believe Christianity.”

Here are the main ones in U.S. cities today:

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In any discussion of Christian theology, it is virtually axiomatic that the doctrine of the trinity is the foundational doctrine which distinguishes a peculiarly Christian theology from the theology of any other religion, especially of the other great monotheistic religions. Likewise, in any discussion of Christian missiology, it is virtually axiomatic that the core pursuit of the Christian mission is to make good on the commission with which Christ left his Church, to make disciples of all the nations, as recorded in Matthew 28:18-20. But consider: if the doctrine of the trinity is the foundation of Christian theology and the Great Commission to make disciples is the foundation of the Christian mission, then that acknowledgment must have a necessary formative effect on the ultimate goal of missions. A major component of the Christian mission is to teach the doctrine which Christ left the disciples; a major part of that doctrine (or rather, all of it) is trinitarian. Therefore, the doctrine of the trinity must shape the way in which we go about our task as Christian missionaries. I am not sure that all of the ramifications of this concept have been well enough thought out in typical works on missiology. In order to pursue this idea further, this article will reflect briefly on the nature of the trinity, and then explore how those trinitarian truths must shape the goal, means, and source of the Christian mission.

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1. Give thanks to the Lord that “a people for His Name” will be established from among every people. (Rev. 7:9-10)

2. Ask the Lord to demolish spiritual strongholds and human philosophies or arguments raised up against the knowledge of God which produce barriers of resistance to the gospel. (II Cor. 10:4-5)

3. Pray that willing, skillful workers would be sent to reach this people group. (Matt. 9:38)

4. Believe God to enlighten the minds of the people about their worship of false gods. (Psalm 115:4-8)

5. Plead for the opening of eyes to the revelation of the Creator God and His Son, Jesus Christ. (Eph. 1:17-18)

6. Ask God to give understanding, sensitivity, a considerate disposition and discernment to those who communicate truth that it may be clearly understood. (I Peter 1:18-19)

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Ann Hasseltine Judson, wife of Adoniram Judson, was one of the first female American foreign missionaries.

Ann Hasseltine was born at Bradford, Massachusetts, [United States], December, 22d, 1789. She was converted at the age of seventeen, and after completing a pretty thorough and extensive course of study at Bradford Academy, she engaged, not from poverty, but from a sense of duty, in teaching the young. As she opened her school with prayer, her little pupils at first seemed astonished at such a beginning, as some of them had probably never heard a prayer before. She taught school in Salem, Haverhill and Newbury.

Her marriage took place at Bradford, February 5th, 1812, and on the 19th of the same month Mr. and Mrs. Judson embarked for Calcutta. They reached Rangoon in July, 1813.

She set out to return to America by way of London in 1821, and after spending a year in England and Scotland she sailed for New York, where she arrived on the 25th of September, 1822, but proceeded at once to Philadelphia. While here she composed and published a “History of the Burman Mission.” She spent some time in Baltimore under medical treatment. She also visited Washington. In June, 1823, she embarked again for Rangoon, where she arrived in December, 1823, after an absence of two years and a half.

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As we approach the point which marks a two-thousand year lapse of time since our Savior left us on earth with a great task to accomplish, namely, the evangelism of the nations, it is imperative that we pause to consider what precisely we are striving to accomplish; how far we have advanced on our goal; and what strategies we have in place for the continuation and ultimate completion of our mission. Is it possible that, in all our zeal for the work of the Kingdom, we are hindered at points by a lack of essential clarity on exactly what that work entails, and how we might best go about it? It would seem, simply by the fact of the overwhelming diversity of ways in which various Christian churches and organizations would answer these questions that the answer must at least in some cases be yes. If this lack of unity and vision in the worldwide Church poses certain obstacles to the accomplishment of the great commission, then how might we take a definite step towards overcoming those obstacles, and equipping the Church to pour out her energies in a united effort to reach the world? I would propose that we must first acknowledge the problems which inhere in our current situation, and then construct a full-orbed biblical theology of Christian mission; by which we may hope to address those problems which we have already recognized to be detrimental to our evangelistic efforts. This [post] does not presume to be that biblical theology of mission; but it is my desire that [it] may at least serve to highlight a need for more extensive work in that area, as well as provide a few rough ideas for a direction to pursue toward that end.

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In the latter part of the nineteenth century, an English Baptist pastor wrote a pamphlet in which he surveyed the state of Christianity in various countries. Although Europe was the obvious stronghold of the Christian faith at that time, this pastor said it was a “melancholy fact that the vices of Europeans have been communicated wherever they themselves have been; so that the religious state of even heathens has been rendered worse by intercourse with them” (64). He went on to observe in his pamphlet:

Of those who bear the Christian name, a very great degree of ignorance and immorality abounds amongst them. There are Christians, so called, of the Greek and Armenian churches in all the Mahometan [i.e., Muslim] countries; but they are, if possible, more ignorant and vicious than the Mahometans themselves. The Georgian Christians, who are near the Caspian Sea, maintain themselves by selling their neighbors, relations, and children, for slaves to the Turks and Persians.… It is well known that most of the members of the Greek church are very ignorant. Papists also are in general ignorance of divine things and very vicious. Nor do the bulk of the church of England much exceed them, either in knowledge or holiness; and many errors, and much looseness of conduct, are to be found among dissenters of all denominations. The Lutherans of Denmark, are much on par with the ecclesiastics in England; and the face of most Christian countries presents a dreadful scene of ignorance, hypocrisy, and profligacy. Various baneful, and pernicious errors appear to gain ground, in almost every part of Christendom; the truths of the gospel, and even the gospel itself, are attacked, and every method that the enemy can invent is employed to undermine the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ (64-65).

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