Mr. Shawn Wright helps us consider a few truths often forgotten from church history:

‘Even though the Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century were regularly fighting for their survival because of Catholic assaults, and even though they had few resources and were land-locked, they believed in and practiced missions. We see this in the ministry of John Calvin (1509–1564)….’

Taking the Gospel to the Nations

‘Calvin argued that God “means that the work of this deliverance will be so excellent that it ought to be proclaimed, not in one corner only, but throughout the whole world….”’

Three Key Missions-Focused Events in Calvin’s Ministry

‘These missional ideas were lived out through Calvin’s ministry. Three events prove this to be the case. In 1544 Calvin had a hand in sending the first Protestant missionary, Pierre Brully, to the Catholic region of the Netherlands….’

‘Calvin’s heart for missions, as well as his aggressive record of church planting, is on display in his beloved country of France….’

The Results

‘The results of these efforts were awesome, as Pierre Courthial recounts: “In 1555 there were five organized Reformed [i.e., Protestant] churches in France; in 1559, the year the first national synod assembled in Paris, there were nearly 100; and by 1562 they numbered 2,150” (in W. S. Reid, ed., John Calvin, 77)….’

‘Calvin also showed his heart for missions when, in 1556, he was asked to send pastors to Brazil….’

-Shawn Wright, “John Calvin and Missions: That God Gather Churches from All Parts of the Earth.”

Read complete article here.

(Resources in Vietnamese and English at GSiV:

Evangelism and Calvinism,

Researching Calvinism and Missions?,

Luther, Calvin, Farel, Reformation)