A Study on the Missionary Work of the Religious Reformers
This thesis aims to Know the views of the religious reformers including Jan Hus, Martin Luther and Jean Calvin on missionary work, and to know if they actually partake in missionary activities themselves. How did their views on mission influence the way in which future generations conduct missionary work? To approach this theme, we must first establish a clear definition of what missionary work is. And lastly, according to Karl Hartenstein, missionary work is to participate in God’s mission, that is Missio Dei. The author of this paper is interested in the latter definition since this concept seems to have originated from the religious reformers. Jan Hus placed the authority of the Bible over the authority of the church. According to him, the missionary work is to reform the church, when it goes away from the truth of the Bible. According to Martin Luther, the missionary work is the salvation of the world by the promulgation of the Gospel: “only by the belief in Jesus Christ.” According to Jean Calvin, man’s salvation depends upon only God’s sovereignty. Therefore, only God can practice the missionary work by his sovereignty. Like Jan Hus, Luther made efforts to reform the church, when it went away from the truth of the Bible. Jean Calvin taught many theologians in Geneva and sent them to France and other European countries. The religious reformers exerted an important effect upon today’s church. They taught us what is the genuine meaning of missionary work and what must be the direction of today’s missionary work.