The Biblical Theology and Current Theological and Practical Challenges in Urban Mission
Education:
In 1966, he became the first president of Westminster Theological Seminary and served until 1984.
This course enlightens the mind to what the Bible says about missions, how the church regards missions throughout history. and what to think about other religions of the world. God himself is the center of missions, according to Scripture. Thus, Dr. Clowney centers his series of lectures based off this idea and gives useful information for how to approach the mission today.
This lecture gives an overview of what missions is primarily about and gives insight to the idea of what it means to bless the Lord, to be a blessing, and to be blessed as seen through Abraham in the Old Testament and the coming of Jesus.
This lecture emphasizes the announcement of Christ’s coming in the New Testament. Christ comes to gather his people, and the church is to reach out and gather the elect. The gospel is a message of compassion and grace. Therefore, we are to show compassion and grace to the nations through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In this lecture, Dr. Clowney tells us Christ brings in the kingdom by the way of the cross, and the church is the resurrection assembly of Christ as well as a manifestation of the kingdom with Jesus Christ in authority. The church lives in the time between his first and second coming where God delays judgement. Thus, the mission of the church is to help bring forth the kingdom of God–not by force but by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ecumenism is the movement or tendency toward worldwide Christian unity or cooperation. The term emphasizes what is viewed as the universality of the Christian churches.
This lecture goes through the history of this movement by tracing the conferences that took place among churches of all denominations throughout the generations.
This lecture describes the problem with Liberation Theology, a movement prevalent in the 70s and 80s that relied heavily on Marxist ideology and distorted Biblical doctrine. Sin, for example, was often viewed in terms of oppressive social structures instead of an individual’s rebellion against God.
Dr. Clowney explores pros and cons of two different approaches to evangelism in mission. The direct approach gets straight to the gospel while the indirect approach seeks the understanding of the individual before presenting the gospel–if it ever gets to there.
In the latter portion of the lecture, he explains The Chinese Rites Controversy and the problems it presented in matters of approach.
Contextualization began when missionaries on the field recognized the need to understand the culture to establish a church. Questions such as “Can the gospel be understood among cultural boundaries?” and “Can Western Culture communicate the gospel?” arose.
Dr. Clowney presents how culture shapes theology as well as how theology shapes culture and emphasizes Christ as the transformer of culture.
Church Growth is a movement within evangelical Christianity which aims to grow churches based on research, sociology, analysis, etc. The Church Growth Movement started with a passion for the Great Commission, and seeing people come to Christ, but it also created a few problems.
Statistics will show a church is more likely to grow when it stays within one societal or cultural group. Yet to be like Christ, we know we must welcome all people and seek reconciliation.
This lecture walks through ideals of the Church Growth Movement and helps us understand how to prioritize disciple-making in the church while also overcoming barriers and moving towards reconciliation.
There are 4 billion people in the world with approximately 1 billion of those claiming Christianity. This lecture opens up a discussion about the resurgence and common practices of world religions as well as theories that attempt to define religion.
This lecture gives an overview of world religions by discussing in length the ways of Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam.
