The Inspirational Calvin - Part III

The Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God in Salvation, or let’s say ‘Calvinism’, has been criticised for creating neglect for mission. Those who hold this Reformed or Calvinist view of God’s work in salvation have been accused of being unevangelistic.

We believe that God chose, God calls and God regenerates (ie, Salvation is initiated by God and is fundamentally a work of God, to which we are enabled to respond). From time to time you will meet someone who believes that those who have held such a view are automatically less inclined to evangelism than those who believe the responsibility of saving souls is ultimately in human hands.

Now, let me give some cautions here:

1. There are many fine Christians who love God and are seeing people saved who hold both these views.
2. The reasons for Christians being unevangelistic are seldom doctrinal but are usually determined by other factors such a their unevangelistic local church culture, a lack of empowering by the Spirit, or an individual not getting free from condemnation into the fulness of the Gospel of God’s Grace
3. Unevangelistic Reformed Christians have certainly not helped the debate by digging their heels in and ascribing all responsibility for mission to God alone.
4. Neither side have helped global mission by squabbling with each other rather than actually engaging with those around them who don’t know Christ.

If a Reformed view of God’s work in Salvation automatically makes us unevangelistic then anyone who holds this view would be passive. However, history shows us that there are many, impressive, radical and fruitful examples of those who strongly held the Reformed view. This is, of course, proof that those who hold the Reformed view are not automatically less passionate about evangelism or missions.

Having seen, in the last post, that Calvin himself was easily the most missional of the early Reformers, let’s take a very brief look at three examples.

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758)

Edwards is one of the great theologians in American history. His methods of study and preaching were very much in the Puritan mould. He stands very definitely in the Reformed tradition. He is known widely for his accounts (and encouragement of) revival in his town and area.

In addition to that fact, the sermon Edwards is most famous for was an astonishingly bold, passionate, evangelistic one! ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God!’

After detailing the reality of God’s wrath, he spends most of the sermon urging his hearers to repent and turn to Christ!

Clic here to read more about Edwards:

George Whitefield (1714-1770)

Whitefield was without doubt an Evangelist and without doubt a ‘Calvinist’. In fact, this Reformed Evangelist became the prototype Evangelist.

Prominent features of Whitefield’s ministry have become characteristic and inspirational for Evangelistic Ministry around the world:

• His emphasis on the need for the new birth
• The appeal for people to come to Christ immediately
• His powerful preaching by which the people were not only instructed but deeply moved
• His massive open air meetings
• He was a tireless preacher – estimates 30,000 messages over 30yrs
• The interest in his own testimony, life story and personality
• The eagerness for publications by him and about him
• His international fame
• He was genuinely non-denominational, choosing to be buried in the crypt of a Presbyterian Church he had planted!

He transformed the sermon from the Puritan line-by-line teaching style into what one biographer called, ‘a dramatic event capable of competing for public attention outside the arena of the churches – in fact, in the marketplace.’

Click here for more on George Whitefield.

William Carey (1761–1834)

Carey, a Calvinist, challenged the orthodoxy of his day by urging all Christians to obey the Great Commission in Matthew 28. At a Baptist Conference when he shared his views, an older minister called out, ‘Sit down young man. You are a wretched enthusiast! If God wants to convert the heathen, He will do it without your help!’

But he didn’t merely urge that others should go, he and his family left for India in 1793. They persevered until they got their first convert 7 years later. Numerous mission stations were established in India by the time of his death.

Consider these facts about his labours for Christ and India:

• He was the first Englishman to introduce the steam engine to India. He encouraged Indian blacksmiths to make copies of his engine using local materials and skills.
• He brought to India the modern science of printing and publishing and then taught and developed it, having built the largest printing press in India and supplying fonts to other printers.
• He established the first newspaper ever printed in any oriental language because he believed that ‘Christianity seeks free discussion’.
• He was the first to make indigenous paper for the publishing industry rather than having to import it at high cost.
• He published the first books on science and natural history in India.
• He was the founder of the AgriHorticultural Society in the 1820’s some thirty years before the Royal Agricultural Society was formed in England.
• He did a systematic survey of agriculture in India and exposed the evils of a cultivation system that later collapsed.
• He was the first man to write essays on forestry almost 50 years before the government made its first attempt at forest conservation.
• He introduced the idea of a savings Bank to India to counteract the loan sharks.
• He was the first to lead the campaign for a humane treatment of leprosy patients in India.
• He was the first man to translate the Indian classics into English.
• He wrote the first Sanskrit dictionary for scholars.
• He founded dozens of schools.
• He launched the first college in Asia which educated both men and women regardless of their caste.
• He also pioneered the idea of lending libraries. He wanted to make worldwide information available to Indians through these libraries.
• He was the first man to stand against and raise public awareness of the widespread oppression of women and the practice of widow burning which was finally banned in 1829.
• He also translated the whole Bible into three Indian languages, as well as portions of the Bible into many others!

Not bad by any standards, this surely smashes the caricature of a supposedly fatalistic and apathetic Calvinist.

In conclusion then, can I urge you, to go back to Scripture if you are not yet convinced of God’s Sovereignty in Salvation and to thoroughly enjoy the description of His rock solid, glorious purposes. And can I also urge you to help your church become more evangelistically relevant in its town and for you to begin to see your life as a life of glorifying God by evangelistically serving those around you.

© 2009 Lex Loizides

To read more from Lex, visit his blog, which contains many short, inspirational stories and illustrations from church history.

Click here to listen to Lex's talk from Together on a Mission 2009

Facts about William Carey sourced from Ruth and Vishal Mangalwadi, Carey, Christ and Cultural Transformation