A MISSIONARY SPIRIT THAT NEEDS TO BE REVIVED

A MISSIONARY SPIRIT THAT NEEDS TO BE REVIVED

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April 10, 1998 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following article is reprinted from The Fundamentalist Digest, Nov.-Dec. 1997 (Don Jasmin, Editor, P.O. Box 2322, Elkton, MD 21922)--

In reading a copy of the Baptist Magazine (London, 1820), the writer read correspondence indicating that around the years 1819-1820 there was a group of 100 seminary students at the Andover Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts, who met regularly for the sole purpose of collecting material "concerning missions" to "enable each member to determine whether it is his duty to become a missionary."

These students prepared dissertations on missions regarding various foreign countries from the materials collected and then read them to the entire group. The Andover Seminary library was also seeking periodicals and books dealing with missions to add to its collection so that the above-mentioned students would have larger resources from which to draw, as they pondered God's will for their lives.

Could a group of 100 students be found in any Fundamental Baptist Seminary in the USA today who have banded themselves together solely for seeking God's will concerning missionary service? Christian writers termed that era "the Age of Missions." That pioneer missionary spirit needs to be revived in our Fundamental Baptist circles today. [No Baptist seminary existed at that time; Andover was an orthodox Congregational seminary where the Baptists in America sent most of their students until the founding of the Newton Theological Institute later in 1820's.]

CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BRO. CLOUD: This information reminds us that missionary zeal is no accident. It is the product of focus and planning and consecration. We are thankful that there are some fundamental Baptist churches and schools which emphasize world missions in such a manner that many young people are dedicating their lives to this crucial task. Three which come immediately to mind are Fairhaven Baptist College (86 E. Oak Hill Rd., Chesterton, IN 46304); Oklahoma Baptist College (Windsor Hills Baptist, 5517 NW 23rd St., Oklahoma City, OK 73127), and Northland Baptist Bible College (W10085 Pike Plains Rd., Dunbar, WI 54119). My personal favorite of these is Fairhaven.