An
unintended consequence of western worldview
on the Great Commission
There are hundreds of thousands of Asian Buddhists in North America. Generally, the Asian churches---predominantly Chinese or Vietnamese---have been ineffective in reaching them. To the contrary, Buddhist groups have been known to purchase church buildings from western congregations and turn them into temples of idol-worship. My conviction is that this has taken place because Asian churches in North America (or whose roots are from more mainstream Western missionary organizations) have adopted a western worldview in which miraculous healings from God no longer occur, or are no longer important in the preaching of the gospel as it was during the time of the gospels and Acts.A third school of thought holds that only charismatic or pentecostal churches operate in the area of miraculous healings, and therefore the practice and the teaching thereof is to be view with skepticism and great caution by respectable evangelicals. When such a worldview takes root in the mainstream Church of a society, then miraculous healings as seen in the New Testament to confirm the validity of the gospel will be either rare or non-existent. This goes a long way in explaining the failure of the Asian churches to effectively evangelize the Buddhists in North America. It is also an important part of the reason why the Church has for the most part failed to fulfill the Great Commission in Musl__m, Hindu, and Buddhist countries around the world.
The western theological stance regarding miraculous healings needs to be re-examined in the light of the fulfilment of the Great Commission and Christ's impending Second Coming. Should for the sake of the Great Commission we consider adopting a Middle Eastern perspective---taken from the culture in which the New Testament was written---on the issue of miracles?
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)
The End Time Model of Evangelism
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