By Ron Adkins, FAS Fellow
The Apostle Paul tells the churches throughout Ephesus to “be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:1-2, ESV). One of Daniel Migliore’s seven theses for missionary theology reads, “The missionary activity of the church is a participation in the mission of the Spirit of the triune God. The work of the Holy Spirit is marked by the renewal of persons and the creation of a new community of the remarkably diverse.”[1]
I had the privilege of leading 15 people, including myself, to Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, Bolivia, in February. While in Santa Cruz, we worked with the Evangelical Church missionaries, Bryan and Molly Canny, as they have created tutoring centers in three communities which are after school programs helping students with their homework, but also sharing the gospel.
The second half of our mission was working with Evangelical Church missionaries, James and Jenny Wolheter, in Cochabamba. Among their many responsibilities, they also volunteer at a local orphanage that takes in abandoned babies. Some of these babies have been found throughout the city, many times left in public restrooms. One miracle baby girl’s mother tried to abort her at eight months. We helped the orphanage move to a better facility, began setting them up in their new facility, cleaned the old facility, as well as fed babies and changed diapers.
As James and I were sharing missional theology with one
another one evening, he said, “More than any other theological doctrine, we of
the [Wesley-Arminian] holiness doctrine are missional by design.” The reason
for this is that we believe that we can be “imitators of God” as Paul
commanded. God can cleanse us from all sin and can create in us a clean heart
which will in fact cause us “to
participate in the mission of the Spirit of the triune God.”
[1] Daniel L. Migliore, “The Missionary God and the Missionary Church,” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, 19, no. 1 (1998): 21.