Overflowing

In this book, I propose that the motives for participating in God’s mission presented by the evangelical movement need to be reexamined and transformed. By fully engaging the doctrine of the Trinity, as well as the interaction of man’s heart, mind, and will, we come to grasp the love of the triune God as the principle motive for missions. We will discover that the motive for missions is rooted in God’s overflowing love and in our response of love for Him, rather than in fulfilling a spiritual responsibility. These concepts form the core journey of this book.

Taking a cue from the definition found in the Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions, while taking the liberty of a few revisions, a theology of mission is:

… a personal, corporate, committed, profoundly transformational search—guided by the relational presence and power of the Holy Spirit—for a trinitarian understanding of the ways in which the people of God may participate in the triune God’s mission in God’s world for whom Jesus Christ died.

Let me invite you on a journey, one whose goal is not systematic principles or inflexible propositions. I want to journey with you on a profoundly transformational search, guided by the relational presence of the Holy Spirit, to understand and subsequently to respond more sensitively to His overflowing love for us and for the world He created. Centered on the triune God, filled with His love, we will endeavor to understand His heart for the nations and to respond by joining Him in His work. As with many journeys, there is much to see and much to do. When our family visits a new city, there is so much to see that not everything can fit into a single trip, or perhaps even into a single lifetime. The journey is more complicated than any map can define. A transformative journey is vibrant, alive, moving, and active. So it will be with our journey. There is so much to know about God, so much that not everything can fit into a single trip or even a single lifetime. We are seeking to know our loving God better, and He cannot be defined in one book or even in all the books in the world combined. Yet this fact should not deter us from growing in our understanding of Him and of how He works. On this journey, we can enjoy concrete experiences that give us a taste for the wonderful-ness of God and how profoundly loving is our triune God who passionately works in this world to spread the goodness of His kingdom.

Outline for the Journey So now we set off together on a journey of discovery guided by the Holy Spirit, engaging biblical and historical sources, to understand the evangelical theology of mission in its current state, to stimulate deep thinking about the triune God and how He has formed us as people, and then to uncover the implications of our findings on missions. I have selected a number of top destinations on our journey with several goals in mind. Let me outline a few of them. On Part I of our journey, we ask: What does the evangelical movement proclaim as the predominant goals and motives for missions? What are the underlying principles (“Behind the Scenes”) of the evangelical movement’s goals and motives for missions? What are some critical questions that set a course for the next parts? In Part II, we ask: What are the implications of the Trinity and our spiritual anthropology on a theology of mission? What key principles can we investigate from both trinitarian and affective theology that impact the goals and motives of mission? In the “Trinity Forest,” we will hear from trinitarian theologians and explore the repercussions of the Trinity. In “The Heartlands,” we will also consider the central points that affective theology highlights in Scripture regarding the centrality of the heart in a person’s spiritual life, and the response flowing out of a relationship with the triune God. In Part III: What biblical interactions and historical references assist in developing a trinitarian and affective basis for a theology of mission? We will explore two trails that lead us to where the rivers of trinitarian and affective theology converge. On one path (“Faraway Hearts Path”), we will evaluate Jesus’s interactions with Jewish religious leaders and opponents, in order to bring additional clarity to trinitarian and affective theology. On the second trail (“Historical Trail”), we will examine the historical tension between the evangelical and trinitarian/affective models. In Part IV, we will conclude our journey by answering the following question: What is our motivation to participate with the triune God in global missions? We begin by exploring God’s self-revelation in select Bible passages. In the final half, we outline our response to His self-revelation and the loving action that pleases God. All of these visits, interactions, expeditions, and research are done with the main goal of gaining a greater understanding of who our triune God is, what He is doing, and how we can join Him at work. But I do warn you that once you go on this journey, you may be dissatisfied with where a theology of mission has taken you before. That has been my own experience. So … let the journey begin!