Acts 13:1-4; 14:26, 27
Introduction: True missionary work is initiated by God and is undertaken by God-called men with the assistance of the church. If it is initiated by either the church or God-called men, then the mission work is of men, not of God, Cf. Jeremiah 23:21.
1. God the Father first sent men to preach, Cf. Jeremiah 25:4. In the greatest missionary work ever God sent His Son into the world, Cf. John 3:17.
2. God the Son then sent men to preach, Cf. Luke 9:1, 2; 10; 10:1-9. He sent men to preach through the Great Commission, Cf. Mark 16:15.
Note: Baptists have differed over whether the commission was given to the church or to the Apostles and in preachers as their successors called to preach the gospel. On page 238 of the Minutes of the Philadelphia Association, “. . .the words of the commission were addressed to the apostles, and their successors in the ministry, to the end of the world. . .” These differing views are relevant to Baptist missionary methodology and mission boards.
3. God the Holy Spirit sent men to preach, Cf. Acts 2:4, 11; 8:4, 29. He initiated the missionary work of Barnabas and Saul at Antioch, Cf. Acts 13:1-4.
(1) He called them to a specific work, v. 2. That work evidently was preaching the gospel, v. 5. He also chose the place they were to preach and forbade them to preach in certain areas, Cf. Acts 16:6-10.
(2) He instructed the church through its prophets and teachers to separate Barnabas and Saul to that work, v. 2. That it was the church rather than the named prophets and teachers who sent them forth is confirmed in their gathering the church together to hear their report, Cf. Acts 14:26, 27.
(2) He sent them forth, v. 5. The involvement of the church and its leaders was secondary to that of the Holy Spirit.
Note: The history of Baptist missionary work and that of mission boards must be understood and judged in light of these principles. Fidelity to God’s Word, not so-called success, is the only criterion for evaluating this matter.
PROPOSITION: BAPTISTS WERE DOING MISSIONARY WORK LONG BEFORE MISSION BOARDS WERE EVER CONCEIVED IN MEN’S MINDS.
I. BAPTIST MISSIONARY WORK.
Note: From A.D. 33 to 1792 the gospel was preached throughout the world by God-called men both with and without the help of the church because churches were often scattered. The church is because the saints are, not vice-versa. Churches are constituted with baptized believers. We cannot say the saints are because the church is. This concept is from Romanism.
1. Missionary work Biblically defined: the sending forth of God-called men to preach the gospel, baptize believers, establish churches, and teach new believers to observe all that Christ commanded (Matthew 28:18-20) and the support of such by prayer and financial assistance by both the sending church and cooperating churches, Cf. Philippians 4:14-16.
2. Missionary work historically considered: do we find churches in ancient times sending and supporting missionaries as did the churches of the New Testament and historic Baptist churches today do?
Note: We can but surmise that the early churches followed the apostolic missionary pattern. Persecuted and driven from place to place, they evidently proclaimed the gospel while supporting themselves however they could.
Note: Those who went forth preaching were always linked with a church. Their objective was to form new churches out of those who became believers in Christ.
(1) The Waldenses sent out missionaries two by two. Each pastor also did missionary work, Israel of the Alps, Muston, Vol. 1, p. 19.
(2) The Philadelphia Association formed in 1707 was composed of churches that evidently did mission work because the Baptists grew rapidly and many associations were formed out of this association. In the Minutes of the Philadelphia Association edited by Gillette we learn:
• Money raised in 1762 for a Baptist Academy, p. 84
• Money requested in 1764 for a Baptist college in Rhode Island, p.109.
• Money collected in 1766 to support ministers traveling the interest of the churches, p. 97.
• Money sought for the college in Rhode Island in 1769, p. 109
• Money sent to suffering brethren in New England in 1774, p. 141.
• Sermon preached on Mark 16:15 in 1775 but nothing said or done about sending our missionaries, p. 148.
• Money raised for preaching the gospel in destitute places in 1778, p. 159.
• Money requested to send three preachers to preach in destitute places for three months in 1792, p. 283.
• Agreed to advise churches to make collections for missionaries to East Indies in 1795, p. 307.
• A query on the propriety of forming a plan for establishing a missionary society in 1800, p. 350.
• A committee appointed to form a plan for a missionary society in 1802, p. 370.
• Letters read from William Carey and Andrew Fuller about the work in India in 1805, p. 412.
• Recommended that collections be made or subscriptions increased for the used of the missionary society in 1805, p. 413.
• Query read in 1806: Can an orthodox Baptist Church receive a person baptized by Tunker Universalist without baptizing him again? Answer: Yes, p. 424. Then follows the first Circular Letter on Foreign Missions and Baptist Missionary Societies, pp. 426-433.
• Recommendation to collect money for domestic missions in 1807, p. 438.
Note: A change from concern for orthodoxy to methodology occurred at this point. What happened is akin to churches and preachers adopting “Church
Growth” methodology today. J. R. Graves wrote, “Work! Work! Work! Missions! Is shouted by the agents of missionary societies and by the religious press, while the faith and order of the gospel is thrown into the background, and those few brethren who seek to maintain them in their primitive purity are opposed and frowned upon, and the pre judices of the brethren excited against them as obstructionists to the spread of the gospel!” Church History by Hassell, p. 638.
II. BAPTIST MISSION BOARDS.
1. The rational for mission boards. They are thought to be a more effective way of doing mission work and combining the efforts of the churches, Cf. Acts 13:1-4.
Note: Concerning the mission work done in the Sandwich Islands, J. R. Graves wrote, “If the bottom facts were only known, it would be found these Islanders are only pseudo-Christianized heathens, and are to-day made tenfold harder to convert to Christianity than they were before a missionary ever touched the island. The work was done by Pedobaptists, unchecked by Baptist teachings or influence. The poor natives were taught exactly by the Confession that if they would mentally accept the forms of Christianity instead of idolaty, and be baptized for the remission of their sins, they would be Christians and saved.” The Tennessee Baptist, June 10, 1882 as quoted by Hassell, pp. 320,21.
2. The origin of mission boards. They replaced the original missionary societies among Baptists.
Note: The first missionary societies were formed by the Roman Catholics and were called Orders whom they sent as missionaries to get converts to Catholicism.
The first missionary societies in America were formed by the Congregationalists and Presbyterians in 1796 and 1798 according to Lambert in The Rise of the Anti-Mission Baptists, p. 5. The Baptist missionary societies were organized in 1815 and thereafter according to David Benedict, Fifty Years Among the Baptists, p. 116.
3. The objection to mission boards. They are unscriptural and unbaptistic.
Note: Lambert lists whose who led in the anti-missionary cause long before the Baptists split over the issue, The Rise of the Anti-Mission Baptists, pp. 25028.
• Elias Smith: he claimed missionary societies were designed to unite church and state.
• Elihu Palmer: he demanded the U. S. Government halt the work of missionary societies.
• Theophilius Ransom Gates: for fifteen years (1820-1835) his paper, The Reformer, carried page after page of fusillades against the missionary scheme.
III. BAPTIST CONFLICTS OVER MISSION BOARDS.
1. Missionary societies at first were tolerated. Finally, the pushing of the issue together with a change in doctrine made them intolerable.
Note: This query was introduced at the Kehukee Association in 1803: “Is not the Kehukee Association, with all her numerous and respectable friends, called on in Providence, is some way, to step forward in support of that missionary spirit which the great God is so wonderfully reviving amongst the different denominations if good men in various parts of the world.” This matter agitated the association until 1827.
2. Division over the matter existed for over thirty years. Finally the Kehukee Association agreed in 1827 to discard all missionary societies, Bible societies, and Theological Seminaries, Hassell, pp. 736, 37.
Note: The Black Rock Declaration followed in 1832. The opposition to all societies of men were stated clearly, and fellowship was withdrawn from those who were following the inventions of men.
Note: Following this division, the “new school” Baptists or Missionary Baptists departed so far from the historical Baptist faith that the Landmark Movement began in about twenty years to bring the Missionary Baptists back to the old Landmarks of the Faith. Many of the old-school or Primitive Baptists also departed from the historic faith. It is sad when preachers and churches depart from the faith and follow fads.
CONCLUSION: WE ARE MISSIONARY BAPTISTS, BUT NOT MISSION BOARD OR MISSIONARY SOCIETY BAPTISTS! We believe we undertake to preach the gospel in all the world according to Biblical principles. Let us as pastors also be missionaries and go into all areas of our world preaching the gospel!