What are some of the global trends we are seeing and how do these present opportunities for us to advance the Great Commission? THE GREAT COMMISSION See NOTE 1 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matt 28:19-20) MISSIONS OVER THE AGES Jesus gave the Great Commission 2000 years ago, what’s happened since? Pagan Christian Empire State Reformation Modern 33- 100- 310-1500 1500- 1750- 1900- 100 312 1750 1900 present Early Apostolic Modern Age Rise of Islam (7th C) Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher AD 33 – On Pentecost day Peter preaches and 3000 Jews from various Mediterranean Basin nations are converted. The nations represented included Cappadocia, Pamphylia, Phrygia, Asia and Pontus [Turkey]; Media, Elam, Parthia [Iran]; Mesopotamia [Iraq]; Arabia; Crete; Egypt; Libya and Rome [Italy]. AD 34 - After Stephen’s martyrdom: Philip takes the gospel to Samaria. The gospel is spread in Judea [Israel], Phoenicia [Lebanon], Damascus in Syria, Cyprus and Antioch in Syria [but now in modern Turkey] (Acts 11:19-20). Philip baptizes an Ethiopian. Saul of Tarsus - also known as Paul - is converted. Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher Paul spends time in Arabia (Gal 1:17). AD 39 – Peter preaches to Gentiles in the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius in Caesarea Maritima. AD 47 – Paul and Barnabas embark on first missionary trip to Cyprus and Western Anatolia [part of modern Turkey]. AD 51 – Silas joins Paul on his second missionary journey through Syria, Cilicia [in modern Turkey] and later Greece. AD 54 – Paul begins his third missionary journey. Paul evangelised Illyricum [the Balkans: Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and coastal Croatia] (Rom 15:19) and Titus went to Dalmatia [Croatia] (2 Tim 4:10) and Crete (Titus 1:5). Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher AD 60 – Paul evangelizes Malta on the way to Rome [Italy] (Acts 28). Some claim that Paul reached Spain (as he had expressed his desire to do in Rom 15:28). John initially worked with Peter in Jerusalem (Gal 2) and Samaria (Acts 8). He was later interned on Patmos [a small Greek island] (Rev 1:9). According to the World Christian Encyclopedia (1982), it is estimated that by AD 100 the number of Christians in the Roman Empire had grown to 1 million out of a population of 181 million (0.6%). Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher The following accounts are based on tradition, not necessarily reliable. Peter Hippolytus and Eusebius say that Peter preached in Asia Minor 2 [Turkey] and Italy. Besides Peter own indirect reference (1 Pet 5:13), there is a strong tradition 1 of Peter preaching and being martyred in Rome. John Irenaeus and Eusebius both record that John preached in Asia Minor and died in Ephesus [Turkey]. 1 Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Lactantius and Eusebius 2 Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Bithynia and (the Roman province of) Asia Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher Matthew It is generally supposed that for 8 years after the ascension of Jesus, Matthew preached in Judea. The early Christians believed that Matthew continued his ministry by preaching in Ethiopia and Arabia. Still others suggest he worked in Palmyra [Syria] and among cannibals on the shores of the Black Sea. 1 Hippolytus says that Matthew preached in Parthia [Iran]. Philip Hippolytus says that Philip preached in Phrygia [Turkey]. 1 “The Twelve – A Study of the Apostles” by: James Korthals Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher Thomas Eusebius writes that “Parthia [Iran], according to tradition, was allotted to Thomas as his field of labour…” Hippolytus: Thomas preached to the Parthians, Medes, Persians [Iran], Hyrcanians [part of modern Turkmenistan and Iran], Bactrians [northern Afghanistan], and Margians [part of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan] (and) … Calamene, the city of India… Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher Bartholomew (Nathaniel) Hippolytus writes that “Bartholomew, again, preached to the Indians, to whom he also gave the Gospel according to Matthew…” 1 According to Eusebius, “Pantaenous is said to have gone among the Indians where a report is that he discovered there the gospel according to St. Matthew among some who knew Christ; Bartholomew, one of the Apostles had preached to them and had left them the writings of St. Matthew in Hebrew letters.” 2 Other traditions suggest that Bartholomew preached in Mesopotamia [Iraq], Persia [Iran], Egypt, Armenia, Phrygia [Turkey] and the shores of the Black Sea. 2 1 “India,” at the time, meant everything from Arabia to the east. 2 “The Twelve – A Study of the Apostles” by: James Korthals Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher Thaddaeus: Hippolytus says that Judas also called “Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus” (Matt 10:3) “preached to the people of Edessa [city in Turkey], and to all Mesopotamia [Iraq], and fell asleep at Berytus [i.e. Beirut in Lebanon], and was buried there.” James the son of Alphaeus An item about James the son of Alphaeus that has been passed down through tradition is the report that he may have travelled to Spain to preach to the Jews in bondage there. It is said that he then travelled back to Jerusalem. 1 1 Ibid Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher Andrew Eusebius says that Andrew preached in Scythia [parts of Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Romania, Poland]. Hippolytus says: “Andrew preached to the Scythians and Thracians [Bulgaria]… (and) Achaia [Greece]”. Simon the Zealot It is claimed that Simon the Zealot preached principally in Mesopotamia, including Parthia [Iran] and Babylon [Iraq]. Eusebius in his Church History names Simon as one of the missionaries “beyond the Ocean to the isles called the Britannia Isles.” This happened after preaching in Egypt and Africa. 1 1 “The Twelve – A Study of the Apostles” by: James Korthals Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher Matthias According to Nicephorus, Matthias preached the gospel in Judea and then went to Ethiopia. The Synopsis of Dorothea says he preached the gospel to barbarians and cannibals in the interior of Ethiopia and that he went to Cappadocia [Turkey]. 1 John Mark Eusebius write that “Mark was the first that was sent to Egypt, and that he proclaimed the Gospel which he had written, and first established churches in Alexandria”. 2 1 Ibid 2Church History, Ch. 16.1 Apostolic Age: Missions as the itinerant preacher This excerpt from Pliny the Younger’s (governor of the Roman province of Bithynia) letter to emperor Trajan about AD 110 indicates that, only 80 years after the crucifixion of Christ, Christianity had spread to the point that it was causing a notable stir in the Roman Empire: The matter seems to me worthy of your consultation, especially on account of the numbers of defendants. For many of every age, of every social class, even of both sexes, are being called to trial and will be called. Nor cities alone, but villages and even rural areas have been invaded by the infection of this superstition. As Pliny was in a rather out-of-the-way province on the north coast of modern Turkey, this seems to indicate that just a few generations after its beginning, Christianity had permeated every level of society. 100-312: Missions in the pagan Empire With the dispersion after the Jerusalem persecution and the gospel going to the Gentiles, the centre of gravity in Christianity slowly started to shift from Jerusalem to: Africa: Alexandria (Egypt) & Carthage (Tunisia) Middle East: Antioch (Syria) Europe: Rome (Italy) AD 100-313: the Church grows in the Roman Empire despite persecution by 10 emperors. 100-312: Missions in the pagan Empire Tertullian declares, “We are not a new philosophy but a divine revelation. That’s why you can’t just exterminate us; the more you kill the more we are. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church… And you frustrate your purpose. Because those who see us die, wonder why we do, for we die like the men you revere, not like slaves or criminals. And when they find out, they join us.” 1 1 Apologeticum 100-312: Missions in the pagan Empire Cen % Christian Non- White Evangelization Scripture tury white of world languages 1st 0.6% 70% 30% 28% 6 2nd 3.5% 68% 32% 32% 7 3rd 10.4% 66.4% 33.6% 35% 10 At the beginning of the 3rd century, Edessa (Urfa in Turkey) became the first Christian state. North Africa was a key Christian centre. Egypt alone had a million Christians by the end of the 3rd century. Circa 200 AD, Tertullian, in a letter to Roman magistrates opposing persecution of Christians, could boast that “nearly all the citizens of all the cities are Christians”. 1 1 Ibid: This statement, we suspect, is something of an exaggeration made for rhetorical effect, but it does show that the number of Christians was large. 100-312: Missions in the pagan Empire And with his typical sarcasm Tertullian says, “Of course we aren’t treasonous - if we were, we are so numerous in even your own estimate that we outnumber your soldiers! If you killed us all, who would be left for you to rule?” 1 2 1 Ibid 2 Tertullian writes, “For upon whom else have the universal nations believed, but upon the Christ who is already come? … Parthians, Medes, Elamites [Iran], and they who inhabit Mesopotamia [Iraq], Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, and they who dwell in Pontus, and