"The Bible is not the basis of missions; missions is the basis of the Bible" -- Ralph Winter, missiologist
Most believers know that the Bible contains some statements about world evangelism. For missiologist Ralph Winter, saying that the Bible says something about world evangelism is putting the cart before the horse. Winter saw the Biblical call to world evangelism as far more than just one command among many in the Bible. Rather, said Winter, world evangelism is actually the reason the Bible wound up being written. World evangelism is, Winter said, "the basis of the Bible."
Think about it: Doesn't what the Bible says about Yahweh portray Him as the God who seeks and sends? Isn't the idea of the Father sending the Son a central theme of Scripture? Doesn't the Bible describe God going to great lengths to seek lost people, all the while encouraging His people to join Him in that quest?
Hasn't the book of Jonah been called "the missionary book of the Old Testament"? Didn't Mark and John and possibly Luke write their gospels to spread the good news of the Gospel across cultural boundaries? Isn't much of Acts about the Church expanding across geographic and ethnic boundaries? Don't the Apostle Paul's letters spring from what we call his missionary journeys in which he did cross-cultural church-planting activity?
"Yes" answers to those questions confirm what Ralph Winter said about missions being the basis of the Bible. It is indeed backward to say that global missionary activity is founded on the Bible. In reality, it was missions that formed the basis of the Bible.
To be sure, scores of Bible passages do speak to the subject of world evangelism. However, the importance of world evangelism grows out of more than just the number of biblical references to it. The mandate for global missionary outreach grows out of God's passion for world evangelism. That is what drove the writing of sacred scripture in the first place!
Recognizing that world evangelism is the basis of the Bible leads us to see missionary activity not merely as one command among many in the scriptures, but as the very reason for the Bible's existence. God is portrayed in the Bible as He who seeks and sends. That is why that, in sacred scripture, world evangelism appear not as an isolated directive but rather as a central theme.
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, there are various instances of God's concern for all peoples and his desire for them to come to know him. From the covenant with Abraham to be a blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:3) to the vision of every nation, tribe, people, and language worshiping before God's throne (Revelation 7:9), the Bible consistently emphasizes the universal scope of God's redemptive plan.
Furthermore, the early Christian church, as depicted in the New Testament, was characterized by its missionary zeal. Apostles and disciples traveled far and wide to spread the message of Jesus Christ. The Book of Acts, in particular, provides numerous accounts of evangelistic efforts to reach various people groups.
-- Howard Culbertson,
More mini-essays in the "Slogans that awakened the Church" series