Step into many missionary contexts, and you’ll find that partnership in the gospel easily veers off the road into one of two dangerous ditches. On one side of the road, missionaries eager for partnership face the temptation to lower their ecclesiological convictions. I suspect this danger is less common for readers of this Journal. On the other side of the road, those who fear compromising convictions neglect the beauty of broadening our gospel partnerships.
A robust view of catholicity in missions safeguards against both of these dangers. In this piece, we want to show that catholicity is concerned with both preserving and proclaiming the whole counsel of Scripture. Faithful missionary partnerships help our gospel work to go deep and wide.
DEFINING OUR TERMS
Indeed, some of the earliest articulations of theological truth—the Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed—unashamedly declare that the one, holy, apostolic church is also catholic. Of course, these creeds were ignorant of the theological confusion to come.[1]
Initially, catholic merely meant the universal church, as opposed to a local expression of the church. As the centuries passed and controversy over doctrine arose, the term catholic was equated
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