So long as some Christians have called themselves Calvinists, other
Christians have probably alleged that Calvinists care little about
evangelism, missions, and church planting. The critique isn't new. But
only recently have we learned the extent of the zeal and effectiveness
of the early reformers in evangelism, missions, and church planting.
Elias Medeiros, Harriet Barbour professor of missions at Reformed
Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, will lead a workshop on The Reformer's Commitment to the Propagation of the Gospel to All Nations at TGC's National Conference in April, likely presenting this wider understanding.
But in this short article, I want to give a small taste of John
Calvin's missionary and church planting zeal in particular. If you want
to get a sense of Calvin's theology of missions and activity, you can
read Calvin's sermon on 2 Timothy 1:8-9, "The Call to Witness," Herman J. Selderhuis's John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life, and Frank James III's series of lectures, The Calvin I Never Knew.
From these works, I have compiled several fascinating, surprising, and
convicting facts about the missionary and church planting movement John
Calvin launched in France and throughout Europe.
Calvin, Equipper and Sender of Missionaries
In the 1550s the population of Geneva doubled as refugees, many of
them from France, poured in. Many of them sat under Calvin's preaching
five times each week.
They heard sermons like this one on 2 Timothy 1:8-9, where he said:
If the gospel be not preached, Jesus
Christ is, as it were, buried. Therefore, let us stand as witnesses, and
do him this honor, when we see all the world so far out of the way;
and remain steadfast in this wholesome doctrine. . . . Let us here
observe that St. Paul condemns our unthankfulness, if we be so
unfaithful to God, as not to bear witness of his gospel; seeing he hath
called us to it. Continue at John Starke
