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A statement on the missionary calling of the church *.

Article Excerpt
1. The Missionary Situation and the Rule of God

We meet here at Willingen as a fellowship of those who are committed to the carrying out of Christ's commission to preach the Gospel to every creature. Like the great missionary gatherings which have gone before, we face a world largely ignorant of the Gospel. But, unlike them, we face a world in which other faiths of revolutionary power confront us in the full tide of victory, faiths which have won swift and sweeping triumphs, and which present to the Christian missionary movement a challenge more searching than any it has faced since the rise of Islam. Amid the world-shaking events of our time, when men's hearts are failing them for fear of the things coming on the earth, what does the Spirit say to the churches about their missionary task?

The answer given to us is this: "Lift up your heads, because your redemption draweth nigh." Our word in this dark hour is not one of retreat but one of advance. We have to confess with penitence our share of responsibility for the terrible events of our time. Yet we preach not ourselves but Christ crucified-to human seeming a message of defeat, but to those who know its secret, the very power of God. We who take our stand here can never be cast down by any disaster, for we know that God rules the revolutionary forces of history and works out His purpose by the hidden power of the Cross. The Cross does not answer the world's questions, because they are not the real questions. It confronts the world with the real questions, which are God's questions-casting down all...

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