THE ACTS 1:8 CALLING: A MISSIONARY ASSESSMENT
The promise of the Holy Spirit has been given to the church as an equipping and enabling power to do the work of ministry, and Jesus declared to His disciples that they would be His witnesses in the earth. As God’s communicators, and messengers, the church has been called to reach out with the message of the gospel of Christ in 3 specific spheres.
These spheres have been examined and studied by missiologists, with much wisdom resulting in the church’s role and responsibility to participate in the work of evangelism and missions.
Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8 These words were an addendum to Christ’s commands to go into all the world and make disciples (Mt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15)
UNDERSTANDING E1, E2, E3 – (”E” being Evangelism and Missions)
Three Spheres of Missionary Work
E1: “Jerusalem Missions” – Acts 1:12-8:3: E1 Missions – Corresponds to communicating the message of Christ to people of one’s own CULTURE and LANGUAGE. This is the calling of every Christian in every society, and is often defined by terms as, “Evangelism,” “Outreach,” and “Home Missions.” This is the kind of missions ministry that communicates to family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. It is most effective when done in the context of relationship building. The growth of every local church depends on effective approaches to E1 ministry. Because missions is progressive, E1 “Home Missions” is a training ground, and a spiritual prerequisite for churches and believers to engage in doing other forms of “cross cultural” missions. It would be a great disparity for a believer residing in his own culture to declare a spiritual burden for cross cultural missions in a foreign context, without being actively involved and spiritually concerned about E1, home missions ministry.
E2: “Judea and Samaria Missions” – Acts 8:4-11:18: Corresponds to missions that relates to the SAME (or similar) LANGUAGE, yet DIFFERENT CULTURES. Missions of this nature reaches out to one’s geographical or culturally close neighbors. This type of missions will often result in short term trips, serving, preaching, and ministering the gospel to people of different cultures. This type of missions ministry should be part of the program of every local church. It would seem that E2 relates more to the “nearest neighbor” principle, but who may speak different languages. (Eg. E2 missions for believers in the United States may find themselves reaching out to people in Canada, but also Mexico and Central America with Spanish being the language most frequently spoken. E2 might also be engaged in ministry in Carribean nations.) Therefore the overlap of language and culture may differ in E2 Missions.
Participation in Short-Term E2 Missions should be the consideration of every believer, because trips of this nature have the power to change lives, and stamp a burden and vision on hearts for the work of missions. E2 Missions does require getting out of one’s comfort zones, and sharing the love of Christ with people needing to hear the message of salvation. Many young people return from such E2 Missions trips to find that life is more than purchasing the latest style, gadget, or accessory on another trip to the shopping mall.
E3: “The Uttermost Parts of the Earth Missions” This type of ministry reaches out in far and removed places, in DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT CULTURES, to people of DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. Missions which reaches distant lands has throughout history presented significant challenges, yet with great rewards. The longer term E3 Missionary finds himself with an undeniable sense of calling to minister the love of God to people unlike his own, and finds his greatest successes after long term service. The E3 Missionary in a greater way than E2, requires a committed team of senders who pray and support the work on the foreign field. He cannot do the work of missions without those who remain behind who share in his call to support missions from home.
With E3 Missions, an overlap may exist, where the language barrier may not be the greatest challenge. When we consider the gift that United Kingdom gave to the world in missions, we can learn from history that the English gave education, language, medical care, administration, finance and banking to the nations they impacted. Therefore Western missionaries serving in Commenwealth nations might find the language barrier broken, because English being widely spoken, while other E3 cultural elements, worldviews, etc. will remain a great challenge.
THE CALL TO GO TO NATIONS, ETHNIC PEOPLE, AND PEOPLE GROUPS: The underlying word for all missionary activity is “GO.” There is no other way to be a Christian than to GO, to serve, and to love men and women in the name of Christ, and every believer can and should have a part in going or sending. Someone once said, 2/3 of the Name “GOD” is “GO!”
E1,E2,E3 Concepts: Dr. Ralph Winter, Pasadena, CA (1924-2009) – General Director of the Frontier Mission Fellowship and President of William Carey International University. Concepts adapted from: “Perspectives Course on the World Christian Movement: William Carey Library.”