From the Unfinished Task to the Finishable Task, Part II

Ralph Winter’s list of “Twelve Frontiers of Perspective” shows the major shifts in his thinking since 1976 that “profoundly modified and molded” his “perception of the mission task." 

(1) Unreached Peoples

(2) The Great Commission and Abraham

(3) From the Unfinished Task to the Finishable Task

(4) Failure with the Large Groups and the Off-setting Trend to “Radical Contextualization”

(5) Reverse Contextualization, the Recontextualization of Our Own Tradition

(6) The Reclaiming of the Gospel of the Kingdom

(7) Beyond Christianity

(8) A Different Type of Recruitment

(9) A Trojan Horse

(10) Needed: a Revolution in Pastoral Training

(11) The Religion of Science

(12) The Challenge of the Evil One

Today I found another book on this theme with contributions by Ralph Winter. Other authors include: David Bryant, Elisabeth Elliot, Gordon MacDonald, Robert Munger, Peter Stam, and J. Christy Wilson.

Kyle, John E., ed. 1984. The Unfinished Task. Ventura, CA: Regal Books.

From the back cover: "In August 1806, five Williams College students, caught in a thunderstorm, took refuge under a haystack. There they prayed for an awakening of student interest in foreign missions. Although none of them knew it, this was the launching of the modern missionary movement. On the 175th anniversary of the Haystack Prayer Meeting, a key group of leaders met to examine ways to finish the task of reaching the world for Jesus Christ. Their comments are found in The Unfinished Task, a book which presents new perspectives for missionaries and those considering a missions vocation."

     In Winter's chapter, "Missions Today--A Look at the Future," he discusses the three eras that he is known for coining. In a section titled, "The New Era: The Nature of the New Frontiers,"  he wrote, "We've mentioned that the first era represented the impacting of missionaries on the coastlands and the second era their moving into the interior. What then is the nature of the new third era of missions? It is what is left--the residue--what you might call the 'bypassed' peoples. … In the third era today, where the frontiers? They're everywhere.…" (pages 71, 72).

     Winter also contributed the final chapter of the book, "A Prayer for the Nations" (p. 277 ff.).

Exceprts from his prayer:

* "Many of us are wayward people, rebellious children; we have not obeyed with a beautiful, filial love. Heavenly Father, will you forgive us for the coldness of our hears, for the busyness of our lives as we have bustled about even attempting to do your work, without being with you in that work!"

* "We pray that we might be more useful than we've been, as we seek to serve and to do your will. We're glad, Lord, that we're not going backwards; we're glad that there are more people in the world now but fewer nations to be penetrated. We're glad, Lord, that the rate of population growth is not exceeding the rate of growth of the Christian movement."

* "Father, we really await your voice. Our prayers, Lord, must be listening prayers. So much has been given to us. It seems as though we have many, many people but are not organized as teams. Thousands of people are mired and ensnared by many trivial and secondary concerns, available only theoretically for your highest. Oh, God, we thank you for the challenge to give our utmost for your highest.

* "We pray for these nations, nations which have never been closer to us or better understood by us of more accessible to us."

* "And Father, I pray most of all that as we go from this place we might have a firmer grasp on your task of world evangelization and its role in our lives. Give us collaborative energy…. "

* "Oh, Father, give us renewed courage, not for our own benefit, not for our careers' sake, not for our program's sake, but only for your glory. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."