Mission

Abstract

""Some people do not believe in missions," wrote James Denney, "they have no right to, for they do not believe in Christ." Denney knew that the origin of the Greek word faith is found in the debate between believers and sceptics. Faith is a i:nissionary word. Faith and mission are two sides of a single coin. One without the other is counterfeit. I was asked to write on why the passion has gone from mission in the present decade :and here is the clue, I believe. English Christianity is experiencing a crisis of faith: a crisis which deeply affects our passion for mission. We have no passion for the impossible. The idea of winning the world for Christ in one generation no longer holds our mind. John Mott and C. T. Studd were great visionaries - but experience has taught us it cannot be done. Almost nobody contemplating missionary work to-day would imagine that it will be for them as with Carey to India, never to return. The idea of a "career missionary", a professional soldier of the cross, is almost unthinkable. Much of this is linked to our place in the European economic table. It is no longer English money that finances mission overseas - largely it is German and Swedish money that goes to the ends of the earth in the cause of Christ's mission. We can no longer do it - let them take the strain"