The missionary imperative springs from the recognition that God’s glory is of such beauty and grandeur that all the nations of the world must know and worship Him. On the one hand, good theology undergirds the gospel and feeds authentic worship, which drives missions. On the other hand, bad theology and false teaching misrepresent God, distort the gospel, twist evangelistic motivations, and destroy authentic worship, all of which choke out the missionary impulse.[1]

Missionary-theologian Lesslie Newbigin writes, “Mission is an acted-out doxology. That is its deepest secret. Its purpose is that God may be glorified.”[2] Therefore, theology directly influences missiology because missions should be the overflow of worshipping God. In other words, theology leads to doxology, which drives missiology, and missiology should result in doxology.

Theology is extremely practical for missionaries.[3] Missionaries bear the responsibility of representing God and communicating the gospel to people who have never heard it. They lay the foundation of the Church in new places. As D. Jeffrey Bingham (Research Professor of Historical Theology and Jesse Hendley Chair of Biblical Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) says, “Evangelists are frontline theologians.”[4] That is why seminary training is so crucial. Midwestern seeks to train ministers of the gospel in sound theology because we take the worship of God seriously. Midwestern’s motto, “for the Church,” expresses a commitment to equip men and women with the tools they need to establish radiant, theologically rich, worshipping churches worldwide.

The Academic Life, Contemplative Life, and Missional Life

Another way of describing the interplay between theology, worship, and missions is to think in terms of the academic life, the contemplative life, and the missional life. At Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the professors in every department design their curricula to give their students a world-class education. Professors assign readings that engage with the top scholars in every field as they develop students into theologians. But no professor at Midwestern would be content with producing mere academics. Each one believes the life of the mind should feed the life of the soul. The professors at Midwestern want to cultivate worshippers. We long for our students to really know God, to see His beauty, and to stand in awe of Him. Professors would be grieved if their students stopped with the academic life and failed to move on to the contemplative life.

Yet even the contemplative life is stunted unless it overflows into a missional life, a life of active love for others. Matthew Barrett, Professor of Christian Theology at Midwestern, writes, “Gazing at the beauty of the Lord is the premier ambition of the theologian, but the theologian’s task is incomplete if his heavenly gaze is for himself alone.”[5] Contemplation of God should lead to definite steps to invite more people to encounter the majesty of God. In short, the contemplative life should inspire the missional life.

Newbigin, with characteristic incisiveness, says, “All true vitality in the work of missions depends in the last analysis upon the secret springs of supernatural life which they know who give time to communion with God. All true witness to Christ is the overflowing of a reality too great to be contained. It has its source in a life of adoration and intercession.”[6] This dynamic can be diagrammed as follows:

Summary 

When a Christian understands the relationship between theology, doxology, and missiology as well as academics, affections, and missions, seminary training takes on a whole new light. It is easy to grow impatient while studying. Everything in you wants to be on the field. But if it is true that a proper and lasting missionary zeal is the overflow of good theology and true doxology, then you should feel a willingness to press into your studies as you patiently prepare your mind and heart for missionary work.

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[1] Adam Dodds argues, “A demise in the belief in and confession of the Triune God will inexorably lead to a partial or faulty understanding of the gospel. Misunderstanding this good news, which contains within itself missional momentum, will result in a corresponding decline in missional consciousness and practice.” Adam Dodds, The Mission of the Triune God: Trinitarian Missiology in the Tradition of Lesslie Newbigin (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2017), chapter 6.

[2] Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 127.

[3] Martin Kähler famously declared missions “the mother of theology.” As long as the gospel remained in its original Jewish context, evangelists could assume a high level of shared understanding with their audience. But when the gospel began to cross linguistic, cultural, and geographic boundaries, the need for theologizing grew urgent. Missionaries had to work hard to define key terms to make the gospel intelligible among the nations. These missionary efforts eventually culminated in confessional statements like the Nicene and Chalcedonian Creeds.

Paul, the most important theologian of all time, self-identified as a missionary or “the apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom 11:13). He wrote the letter to the Romans, the most theologically dense work ever written, as a missionary support letter, urging the believers in Rome to assist him as he sought to “bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles (ἔθνεσιν, ethnos) for His name’s sake” (1:5; cf. 16:26). Paul’s theological output flowed from his missionary calling to bring the gospel to the nations.

[4] D. Jeffrey Bingham, Systematic Theology II, Class 6, Part 1, https://youtu. be/8g4igX6ztvw, accessed 9 May 2018.

[5] Matthew Barrett, “Classical Theology: A Spiritual Exercise,” Journal of Classical Theology 1 (2022): 5–19.

[6] Lesslie Newbigin, “Developments during 1962: An Editorial Survey,” International Review of Mission 100 no. 2 (Nov 2011), 401.