WHAT IS A ROPE HOLDER?

William Carey, the father of the modern mission movement, was visiting with Andrew Fuller in regards to being a missionary to India. Fuller said in reference to the lost souls in need of hearing the Gospel, “There is a gold mine in India; but it seems as deep as the centre of the earth; who will venture to explore it?”

“I will GO down” responded Carey.

He then state “but remember that you must hold the rope”, meaning that he needed support if he were to go.

ROPE HOLDERS are the ones who SEND out and support missionaries. ROPE HOLDERS are essential to the missionary task. They are just as key to the task of making His Name known as the ones who are GOing because the ones who GO are not as easily enabled to do so without the necessary sacrificial giving of the His saints and most importantly, without the integral adoration, pleas and thanksgivings offered up to The Redeemer.

John Piper once said in one of his sermons that there are three types of Christian; those who GO, those who SEND and those who are DISOBEDIENT. If the first two types of Christians do not describe you, then you need to start praying about where you are to GO or start praying about HOW you are to HOLD THE ROPES.

The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative

Most Christians would agree that the Bible provides a basis for mission. But Christopher Wright boldly maintains that mission is bigger than that—there is in fact a missional basis for the Bible! The entire Bible is generated by and is all about God's mission.

In order to understand the Bible, we need a missional hermeneutic of the Bible, an interpretive perspective that is in tune with this great missional theme. We need to see the "big picture" of God's mission and how the familiar bits and pieces fit into the grand narrative of Scripture.

Beginning with the Old Testament and the groundwork it lays for understanding who God is, what he has called his people to be and do, and how the nations fit into God's mission, Wright gives us a new hermeneutical perspective on Scripture. This new perspective provides a solid and expansive basis for holistic mission. Wright emphasizes throughout a holistic mission as the proper shape of Christian mission. God's mission is to reclaim the world—and that includes the created order—and God's people have a designated role to play in that mission.

Globalization and Its Effects on Urban Ministry in the 21st Century: A Festschrift in Honor of Dr. Manuel Ortiz

GLOBALIZATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON URBAN MINISTRY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Publisher's Description: When we think about globalization with the eyes and heart of a sovereign mission God, we must recognize the vast opportunities before us as God is moving His people around the world, bringing the gospel with them in new and different ways. Globalization and Its Effects on Urban Ministry in the 21st Century is an attempt to broaden the views of individuals and institutions alike to what God is doing around the world and how He is accomplishing His purposes through globalization. The book is organized around the four overarching themes of globalization, reconciliation, church planting, and leadership development.

URBAN FACE OF MISSION: Ministering the Gospel in a Diverse & Changing World

URBAN FACE OF MISSION... Publisher Review: How do we sing the Lord's song in "the strange land" that is now the 21st century? How do we take appropriate account of where and when we are without compromising the "old, old story of Jesus and his love?" Harvie Conn pressed these questions while teaching missions for twenty-six years, and this volume, written by former colleagues in his honor, does the same. Contributing chapters are: Paul Hiebert, Raymond Bakke, Roger Greenway, Samuel Escobar, Charles Kraft, William Dyrness, and others. The volume begins with a previously unpublished essay by Conn on missions and theology. In The Urban Face of Missions, writes Samuel Logan, "voices from around the world call all of us to think again about what the unchanging word of Scripture really does say about the changing world in which we live."