Introduction
Christians do missions to spread the religious beliefs and practices to other people and parts of the world where people either do not have a religion or have other religions. Christian missions have been happening in different parts of the world where the mission has focused on spreading the Christian faith and winning more people into the Christian faith (Chapman 62). The Christian faith is spread in different parts of the world, and there are areas that the Christian faith is not spread hence the Christian missions are meant to spread the religion to those areas and in regions that are dominated by non-believers and other religions.
The Christians do missionary work on the basis that they have the responsibility to spread the world and reach out to more people and let them know about Christianity. The missionary work is on the basis that not all people know about Christianity and therefore it's the responsibility of Christians to become missionaries and spread the gospel (Weaver 18). The missionary work is mainly done to areas where Christianity is not popular and in areas with other religions. The missionary is done through evangelism, where the missionaries teach the people about Christianity and what it entails.
The mission theology acts as the foundation of Christian mission that promotes and integrates the Christian elements that have biblical foundations. Theology missions are part of biblical foundations where Christians have the mandate and responsibility of spreading the gospels to other people that do have faith and believe in Christians teachings (Chapman 64). Religion spreads through missions where missionaries in the past have moved to different parts of the world, spreading the Christian religions where the missionaries went and established religious institutions to the places they went. The theology of Christian mission in the pluralistic world entails promoting and contextualizing the elements of the Christian faith to new people with the goal of transforming their views and beliefs of the Christian faith.
The way Christians are doing their mission is changing while taking the religious the religious beliefs of others seriously. The new ways of doing mission include using modern technologies such as the internet and television sets to do mission and reach people located in different parts of the world (Chapman 66). Technology has become a significant tool of communication and was people meet and share ideas. Technology allows people to choose on the kind of things they want to see and follow; hence the people have the chance to choose what to see and follow. The technology mission respects the beliefs and practices of other religion because the mission is one in a manner that it focuses on the Christian faith without speaking on other religions. The Christian mission focuses on spreading Christian messages alone.
Religion has a role to play in a pluralistic society by shaping the beliefs of the people and ensuring that there is a stabilization of society by reducing conflicts. The Christian mission's advocates for the common good that the people will benefit from once they subscribe to the foundation and teachings of the Christian faith (Weaver 22). The Christian religion is guided by principles that all believers are supposed to abide to. The Church of England has been able to spread to different corners of the world through the missionary. The Christian teachings require Christians to have missionary work and spread the gospel and expand the Christian religion. Churches have been able to expand from small groups to larger religions that are spread throughout the world.
The mission by Christians should focus on the message of the Christian faith without focusing on the weakness and whereabouts of other religions. Conflicts are likely to emerge where the Christian mission discredits other religions by focusing on the negativities of other religions (Persaud 197). There are many religions in the world that focus on different values of the people, and they have the right to be respected regardless of the values that they advocate and stand for. Changing the religious beliefs and practices of the people can only be achieved through ideology challenging where the missionaries spread the Christian teachings and how the people will benefit when they follow the ideology of Christianity. Different religions have different beliefs; hence the missionaries need to keep the focus on Christian beliefs.
The missionaries need to know the barriers that they are likely to face during their missionary work and come up with strategies of dealing with the challenges. People have already been exposed to other religions; therefore, they are likely to resist contradicting opinion regarding religion. The resistance is likely to be more in areas that are dominated by other religions (Persaud 197). The missionaries need to have a tolerance that will able them cope with the challenges that they come across when they get challenged by conflicting ideas and beliefs. We live in a pluralistic society where people have the freedom to form different religious faith, and the people have the freedom to choose their religious faith. The purpose of Christian faith should not fight other religions but to teach them on the benefits and why Christianity is a better religious faith.
The world has greatly changed in terms of religion where the world has become more secular with more people becoming less concerned with religion. Immigration has contributed to the change where people are moving to different cities around the world that might not have the religious beliefs that they used to follow when in their home countries (Chapman 67). Major cities have become more secular because people have come from different parts of the world with different religious beliefs. The people living in urban areas get influenced by other people that live with them which determines the religion they are likely to join in the new home. Many people are choosing to live secular lives as opposed to joining any religious organization.
Engaging in mission as Christians in the religiously pluralistic world entail ideologically challenging other ideologies that are against Christianity with the objective of influencing their beliefs to shift to Christianity. People have different beliefs that there is an opportunity to convince them to begin believing in Christian teaching by becoming a Christian (Weaver 34). Engaging in mission as a Christian includes moving to areas that people believe in other religion and making them know about Christianity. Christian principles need to be followed during the mission. The Christian religion focuses on eternal life and the peace of mind that one gets when he/she beliefs in Jesus Christ and follows the teachings of the bible. The missionaries need to understand Christianity and what all is about before deciding to become missionaries.
Moral diversity of pluralism is an important aspect that needs to be embraced by Christians, where people of different religions get respected. Respect means that other religions will also respect Christianity and reduce conflict between different religions (Persaud 197). Morality and respect are among the principles of Christianity. The missionaries need to lead by example of what they teach and tell people to live like. When the missionaries live by example, they are likely to inspire and influence other religions because the people will see the benefits that Christianity brings and the life they are expected to live once they become Christians.
Missionaries need not be conservative on how they do their missionary work because they go to different places with different environments that they are not used to. The world as also evolved over the years and Christianity religion does not happen in a vacuum (Persaud 197). Adapting the environment will give the missionaries an easy time communicating with the people and convincing them that Christianity is a better religion. Adapting to the environment will also enable the people, and the missionaries understand each other and have great conversations because of the relationship formed between the missionaries and the people.
The Christian mission has a role to play in the pluralistic world by giving the people hope which is among the principles of the Christian religion. The secular world where people do not belong in any religion they suffer a lot, and they don't have any hope to learn on during challenging times (Weaver 39). When the missionaries play different roles to help the needy, they will give them hope and show them the better side of Christianity. Christians help each other when one is in need regardless of their religious beliefs. The secular world people do not care of each other, and therefore missionaries need to change the phenomenon.
Today, Christians need to do missions differently, taking into consideration the beliefs and practices of others. In modern societies, there is a diversity of cultures as well as religions (McKenna). This means that when spreading the mission, the Christians have to consider the beliefs of other members of the society and ensure that their message does not undermine or attack the nonbelievers. The mission should also impact the lives of both Christians and non-Christians.
When preaching Christianity missions, Christians today may need to have depth knowledge of Christianity (McKenna). In society, people believe in all kinds of things. When spreading the mission, you may encounter who believe that what they believe in is the right thing and subsequently question you about your religion. Some may also say things that are not a true reflection of your religion, but if you know what Christianity entails, you will be able to respond to them correctly. For example, a person who does not believe in life after death may ask you where people go after death. As a Christian, you will answer the question depending on the Christian beliefs. Also, to successfully spread the message of Jesus, you have to be convincing. If, for example, you are spreading the word of God in a pluralistic society and you are telling the people to get saved, you have to tell them why salvation is important convincingly.
In the pluralistic society, Christians not only need to be knowledgeable about their religion but also may need to study other religions (Wuthnow 43). Christians have been carrying out crusades in society for a long time. However, still, there are other religions such as Islamic, Hindus, and even atheists. The crusades are held to spread the gospel and win souls. During the missions, a person of another religion may approach you and say something about what he/she beliefs in which may contrast your belief. Therefore maybe you would be in a better position to respond to the person if you understand something about other religions as well. Muslims know something about Christianity and the Bible, so Christians should also be knowledgeable about other religions, and probably they can win souls to Christianity through the knowledge. The scriptures of other religions also contain revelation. By reading the scriptures of other religions, Christians can better understand diverse religions and acknowledge their impact on people's lives, just like Christianity. Learning about other religions helps in promoting correct perceptions. However, the knowledge of, for example, Islamic should not be used to criticize the religion.
In a pluralistic society, Christians have to spread the gospel even to those belonging to other religions (Wuthnow 44). Before venturing into religion, you should get to know them and their culture as a way of establishing a relationship and creating rapport. If you are ministering to people of another religion, you can start by asking them what their hobbies are or their favorite food. A...
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