Upward Call

There has been a resurgence of Reformed theology among evangelical churches today and a renewed interest in their English-speaking heirs, the Puritans. As a result there is a greater awareness that conversion isn't the result of "praying a prayer" or responding to an altar call (a belief that is popular in Filipino churches). Rather, true conversion is accomplished by the Holy Spirit's work, infusing new life into a spiritually dead soul, producing godward repentance and saving faith. That faith takes hold of the gospel of justification by faith alone in the accomplished work of the incarnate God, by His dying on the cross to pay the penalty for sins (Rom 6:23) and to bring us into His kingdom (1 Pet 2:9). And through a simple faith in that gospel, God accounts Christ's perfect righteousness to us. In addition to this, there seems to be a greater understanding that true faith leads to a changed life. This has, in turn, led to a reassessment by pastors of the ...

(Updated May 18, 2023) My first exposure to Kairos was in 2008/9 during IVCF's Missions Camp. I was unable to finish the course, but I kept the reader. Ten years and one edition later, I retook the course with a very specific question in mind: Could I recommend it to Higher Rock's leaders for our church members? ABOUT KAIROS The Kairos Course was developed by Living Springs International as a tool to mobilize the body of Christ for world evangelization. It uses material from two main sources: World Mission , edited by Dr. Jonathan Lewis Perspectives on the World Christian Movement , edited by Dr. Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne As I'm told, it started out as the Condensed World Missions Course , but was further abridged to make it more accessible to people. Now, here is my personal assessment of the Kairos Course, based 1) on the course materials, and 2) my own experience in taking the course. I understand that a different group of facilitators m...

Having laid out a working definition of the church’s mission , we can now discuss what missions is. As previously mentioned, missions refers to various undertakings of the Church toward fulfilling its one mission. But what might be included in such undertakings? In other words, what is the scope of missions? Let's consider a few options. View No. 1 - Missions as being primarily to the Unreached People Groups. This is an extreme view that emphasizes the fact that the Christ’s Second Coming will occur only once “this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world” (Mat 24:14). Paul’s personal ambition to preach the gospel to those who have never heard of Christ (Romans 15:20-21) is applied to all missionary activity. Therefore, the argument is that missions ought to focus primarily on the Unreached People Groups, namely, those whose population has only 2% or less evangelicals and 5% or less Christians (according to the Joshua Project’s progress scale. ...

In defining the term “mission” and “missions”, it is important to recognize that it is not found in the Bible, unlike covenant, justification, or gospel , for example. Mission comes from the Latin verb, mittere , which corresponds to the Greek verb apostellein (to send), but the word never occurs in a noun form that could be translated as “mission”. The definition of the term is therefore up for discussion. It is also important to distinguish between the terms “mission” and “missions”. Modern theologians use mission to refer either to God’s mission in the world (i. e., His redemptive plans) and the church’s mission as received from the Lord and laid out in Scripture. Meanwhile, missions refers to various undertakings of the Church toward fulfilling its one mission. There is significant disagreement even among conservative evangelicals on what the church’s mission is. According to authors Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, From many conversations in print, online, and in person o...

I'm Kito Espiritu. I'm an associate pastor at Higher Rock Christian Church in Quezon City, Philippines. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, Elynne. What Is Upward Call About? The UC blog is all about the church and its mission in the world. I want to think clearly so that I can serve confidently. Why "Upward Call"? The apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-14: 12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians is a great book to study to appreciate how missions is essential to discipleship. It's hard to read the book seriously and overlook the very Pauline idea that to live as a ...