The Missionary Field
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Bible Gateway, Matt. 28. 19-20). This is The Great Commission, God’s charge to all Christians. God has called his people to be missionaries. The word ‘missionary’ for most people tends to bring about thoughts of third-world countries and grass huts, and while there are some missionaries serving in those third-world countries and some may even live in grass huts, the word missionary cannot be summed up in that one scenario. A missionary is anyone who is called by God to share the gospel and make disciples. Missionary work is very diverse and takes on many different forms based on factors such as location and purpose. Missionaries serve both internationally and domestically and for evangelistic and need-based purposes.
International or “overseas” missionaries are probably the most commonly thought-of when the word “Missionary” is mentioned. International missionaries are those who leave their homeland and travel overseas to serve God in another country. These missionaries are all ages and serve for both long and short periods of time. The International Missions Board (IMB), an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, is an organization whose mission is to “make disciples of all peoples in fulfillment of the Great Commission found in Matthew” (About IMB). “The needs of a lost world are waiting” and the IMB is a gateway into that world for missionaries willing to serve overseas. There are many ways to serve through their organization. They offer opportunities for stude...
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Missionary- A person who teaches their religion to other people who believe in something else
In a survey conducted in 2012, LifeWay.com inquired about the importance of evangelism among members of the Christian faith. The results of the survey showed that 80 percent of people who claimed to follow Jesus Christ and had openly devoted themselves to the teaching of Christianity, felt that they had a “personal responsibility to share their religious views and beliefs about Jesus Christ with non-christians” (Wilke, LifeWay.com). Surveys such as this reflect the Christian doctrine of evangelism and the weight it holds within the Christian faith. As can be seen back in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ commanded His followers “to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).” However, Jesus never told His followers how doing this.
Once a missionary or minister had acquired their minute and successfully traveled to their destination (which was far more perilous than you might imagine), they went about spreading the word in one of many ways.
Walter Younger is a good example of a dynamic character because he changes from being blindly in love with money and dreams to turning into an adult who can make life decisions. Walter still loves money, dreams big, and has a hateful attitude, but he figures out how to regulate it. The Younger family faced racial and housing discrimination and segregation, and they were able to overcome it and set up a better life for themselves. This quote by Margaret Atwood, a Canadian poet, is a good way of summing up the thoughts and beliefs of Walter and the play: “I hope that people will finally come to realize that there is only one ‘race’ - the human race - and that we are all members of it” (Atwood).
At first, Walter starts as a man who does not have many traits and characteristics that a leader in the family should has. He feels frustrated of the fact that his mother can potentially support his sister, Beneatha, in her education career. Walter complains and feels depressed about his current life when he has many aspects that not many African men had during his time. Walter has a happy family, a loving wife, and an acceptable occupation. Unfortunately, Walter wants more in his life, and he feels hopeless and depressed when something does not go in his ways. Walter starts to change when he experiences and learns Willis’s betrayal, his father’s hard work, his son’s dream of becoming a bus driver, and his mother’s explanation about the Africans’ pride. Through many difficulties, Walter becomes the man of the family, and he learns the importance of accepting and living a happy life with his family. Like Walter, many African men had to overcome the challenges and obstacles. They had to face and endure through racism. These two ideas often led to many tragic and depressed incidents such as unequal opportunities, inequality treatments, segregation, and
During the time when Walter stareded gong to high schoolm those years were hard for him, for the fact that he suffered from a speech impediment. But that minor problem didn't stop him from writing. In high school he was a good student and could read well but he had a behavioral problem. In school he had a very severe speech difficulty, and he said he arrived at
When Walter was twelve years old, his parents moved the family from south central California to a more comfortable, affluent, working-class west Los Angeles. He was largely raised in a non-political family culture, although there were racial conflicts flaring throughout Los Angeles. When he was very young, he would sit right in front of the television set. He would close his eyes while watching because it w...
During the fourteenth century, the facilitation of trade and communication throughout Eurasia caused the Mongols to unintentionally expedite the spread of the bubonic plague in South- western China causing the disappearance of Christianity. However, in the sixteenth century, when the world economy began to stabilize, Roman Catholic missionaries made their way throughout Asia to win converts and set up churches, monasteries, and Christian communities by using European science, technology, and mechanics to piqué Chinese and Japanese curiosity. Without any adaptations of Proselytism “off limits”, it ensured the rise of Christianity in Asia after the demographic recovery of Europe. Missions conducted by notable Jesuits, such as, Matteo Ricci made Christianity both accessible and more appealing to the culturally and ethnically diverse population of Asia through language and technology while St. Francis Xavier, another missionary, took a similar approach but focused more on the arguments placed against Christianity. Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit priest, traveled from Portugal in trying to persuade China into adopting the Christian doctrine. Ricci and his cohorts were the first missionaries to make significant progress in China during the seventeenth century. Although he failed to evangelize all of China, his method of introducing Christianity created a significant cultural impact. These impacts required him to learn and be familiar with the Chinese language. Upon arrival to China, Ricci learned “to speak the native language and to read their books,” (Ricci, 271) which helped him to communicate with the locals about European science, technology, and mechanics. The document entitled, “A Discourse of the Kingdom of China” by Matteo Ricci...
The movie “The Mission”, directed by Roland Joffé is a 1986 British movie about the Jesuit missionaries experience in 18th century South American. The movie is partly narrated by Cardinal Altamirano. The Mission portrays the Church as corrupted, the Jesuits as being noble and the Guarani Indians community as animals.
Walter’s character in the play is very comparable to his character in the movie. His personality and character traits from the play were revealed in the movie. Walter thought mostly about money and not enough about his family. He worked hard at pushing Mama to give him some money, so he could invest it in a liquor store. He continued to act recklessly t...
Living in a poverty stricken area, Walter can only think about one of the many things he lacks, money. On the contrary, there are African Americans on the other side of Chicago who do have money and run large businesses. This pushes Walter to not only want to provide more for his family, but also dream big and become determined. The only way that he sees fit for him to make his dream come true and earn more
The missionary expansion and their work within different nations is a dilemma of well intentions versus prosperity and power. Many missionaries remained out of politics and out of local culture and only served the communities for the better. They increased educational opportunities and provided medical care; most importantly they served to ensure the communities could actively participate in the international community. While the government and businesses reaped the rewards of increased prosperity and power, these rewards were in many ways not the purpose of missionary expansion but merely an outcome.
Walter has a steady, but low paying job and wishes that he could do more for his family. The money he makes hardly provides enough for his family to survive. He is constantly thinking about get rich quick schemes to insure a better life. He doesn’t want to be a poor back man all of his life and wishes that he could fit in with rich whites. He doesn’t realize that people won’t give him the same opportunities, as they would if he were white (Decker). Walter feels that he needs to provide more for his family and starts to ask around on how to make some money. He gets the idea of opening up a liquor store and has his heart set on it. Because he wants to please everybody he loses his better judgment and acts without thinking of the long-term effects. He is ready for a change and feels the store will bring his family a better life (Hyzak). “Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his Limousine and say, Yes, sir; no, sir; very good sir; shall I take the drive, sir? Mama, that ain’t no kind of job ... that ain’t nothing at all” ( Hansberry 1755).
Today, even though the number of black churches has grown tremendously the number of black missionaries has declined. According to a 2013 Christian Times article, out the 4900 Southern Baptist Convention missionaries only 29 are black.50 We as culture need to get back to being dedicated to missionary work. There are a lot of people claiming to be Christians, but are they really? The question that needs to ask is you really a Christian, and if so what are you doing to either help others or spread the gospel?
Evangelism is one of the key component for changing people’s lives. McRaney states, “The word evangelism comes from a combination of Greek words for “good” and “messenger.” Evangelism involves bringing the goods. Kent Hunter reminded us that “when Christians witness, they tell how Jesus Christ has changed their own lives. The change in their own lives gives them the desires to share the Good News with others.” Christians must share their testimony to people and spread the gospel so that they can bring lost souls to Christ. God has commissioned every Christian to evangelize so that people will learn about Jesus Christ and accept Him as their personal savior. Matthew 28:19 states, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Christians are required to spread the Gospel throughout the world and can no longer just attend church. Christians must plant seeds and water the seeds so that lost souls will be saved.