“The true churches of Jesus Christ travail in birth for the salvation of men. They are the armies of the Lamb, the grand object of whose existence is to extend the Redeemer’s kingdom” (Fuller v2, 359). Fuller wrote the quote above in a circular letter to English Baptist clergy and laity in 1810, five years before his death. In these two sentences, we see what Fuller thought should be the vision and mission of local churches and the individuals that make up their membership. His visions didn’t come out of thin air. It came from the Scriptures. Consider Mathew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15. These verses support Fuller’s quotation above. Mark records Jesus saying, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Matthew records Jesus saying, 

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Both texts teach that churches, including our congregations, must prioritize the spread of Jesus’ Kingdom in the conversion of unbelievers through the preaching of the gospel by the power and presence of Jesus. In the previous article, I introduced you to Fuller and his long faithful ministry. Now I will show you how the mission stated above was taught, defended, and embodied by him. Particularly, I want to expand on his contributions to the Modern Missions Movement. A mission’s movement that is still at work today in entities like the International Mission Board. I will show you two significant contributions Fuller had on this movement. 

To begin with, Andrew Fuller’s theological writings laid a foundation and defense for the Modern Missions Movement. He wrote books, letters, and articles. It appears he always had a pen in hand ready to explain or defend the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude3). I mentioned his foundational work earlier, The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation. It, among some of his shorter works, laid the foundation for and defended the Modern Missions Movement. In the book he gives a biblical case for preaching the gospel to the unconverted, calling them to trust in Jesus. Fuller presents several texts and provides an interpretive basis for his understanding of them. He cites, Psalm 2:11-12, Isaiah 55:1-7, Jeremiah 6:16, John 12:36, John 6:29, and John 5:3 (Fuller v.2, 343-346). Each one of these citations supports Fuller’s argument, but let’s look at one example. In John 12:36, Jesus commands, “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” John then narrates saying, “When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.” Verse 37 shows us that unbelievers were present when John tells us the response to Jesus’ command. He writes “Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.” So, in this citation, like the others, Fuller correctly observes a command to believe the gospel for eternal life to audiences that were unconverted. High Calvinists believed that because unconverted people were unable to do anything spiritually good, they shouldn’t be responsible for responding to the gospel. Therefore, the preachers shouldn’t urge them to trust in Jesus. Though it is true that the unconverted are unable to do anything spiritually pleasing to God. They are still responsible for their rebellion. 

Arminians believe that if God holds us responsible for something, then we must have the ability to do it. High Calvinists believe that since we cannot spiritually please God, then we aren’t responsible for failing God spiritually. Instead, we are responsible for failing to obey God’s commands outwardly. Fuller uses an argument that responds to each of these false views that he discovered while reading the New England Puritan Jonathan Edwards. The key is to understanding man’s responsibility and ability to respond to the gospel is found in distinguishing between natural inability and moral inability. People have the natural ability to respond appropriately to the gospel. They have the physical capacities to do it. They can hear it, understand it, and see its truthfulness. However, they are morally unable to respond to it. Moral inability means that humans after the fall lacks the desire to obey God’s commands. Fallen humans don’t obey the gospel because they don’t want to. It is not as if God holds a physically blind man responsible for not seeing a cliff he walks off. It is more like God holding someone responsible for closing their eyes knowing the cliff is there and running off it anyways. It is willful ignorance. It is rebellion (Fuller v.2, 376-379). 

So how does one, who is morally unable, respond to the gospel correctly? Fuller answers that the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration changes the desires and affections of some who hear the gospel. Fuller asserts that “the Scriptures clearly ascribe both repentance and faith wherever they exist to Divine influence” (Fuller v.2, 379) This is seen in Ephesians 2:8 when Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing it is a gift of God.” Also, consider what John writes in his prologue, “But to all who did receive [Jesus], who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn 1:12-13). 

As Fuller has pointed out, we see that the Bible explicitly calls for unbelievers to respond to the gospel, that human inability is moral and criminal, and that the Holy Spirit must and does give certain individuals the ability to respond to the gospel. Also, as the introduction points out, it is the responsibility of churches and individual Christians to advance the kingdom of Christ through the preaching of the gospel. When all these things are taken together, Fuller was instrumental in laying a theological and biblical basis for the Modern Missions Movement. Put differently, the church is to preach, the unconverted are to respond, God the Holy Spirit enables some to respond in repentance and faith. Fuller shows how all these things are Biblical and can be reconciled with one another. This theological foundation gave confidence to other Baptists and eventually lead to the foundation of the Baptist Missions Society.

In addition to laying the biblical and theological foundations for the Modern Missions Movement, Andrew Fuller’s friendship with William Carey and service as the secretary of the Baptist Mission Society contributed to the start and continuance of the Modern Missions Movement. William Carey was a younger contemporary of Fuller’s. He agreed with Fuller’s theology but went one step further to voice the responsibility of Baptist churches to take the gospel to the unconverted around the globe. Fuller’s theological thought was employed by Carey to this end. Carey laid out his thought in An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians for the Conversion of the Heathens. Fuller, Carey, and group of other British Particular Baptist pastors came together to form the Baptist Missionary Society. John Ryland Jr., one of the pastors and Fuller’s most dear friends, recorded something that they, especially Fuller took to heart. Ryland wrote, saying,

Our undertaking to India really appeared to me, on its commencement, to be somewhat like a few men, who were deliberating about the importance of penetrating into a deep mine, which had never been explored, we had no one to guide us; and while we were thus deliberating Cary as it were, said, “Well I will go down, if you will hold the rope.” But before he went down… he, as it seems to me, took an oath from each of us, at the mouth of the pit, to this effect—that “while we lived, we should never let go of the rope” (Piper 4-5).

Fuller purposed to and did hold the rope tighter than the rest. He defended the society, raised funds, and wrote letters to the missionaries and supporters for twenty-one years. He traveled all-over English-Speaking Europe to gain support for the mission, sometimes traveling for three months of the year (Piper 5). Keep in mind that he still led a local congregation as pastor to preach the gospel and hold the rope. Carey would spend the rest of his life in India, translating the Bible and preaching the gospel. Many others would follow in his steps, including the American Congregationalist turned Baptist Adoniram Judson. Fuller’s writings and theology laid a biblical foundation for the movement. His friendship with William Carey and work as the secretary for the Baptist society got the movement off the ground. It is undeniable that he contributed a great deal to the Modern Missions Movement. It is remarkable what Fuller did as a self-educated farm boy turned pastor-theologian. It is incredible how God used him to change the course of history. In the next article, I will present four applications of the life, ministry, and thought of Andrew Fuller. 

Bibliography

Fuller, Andrew. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller. Edited by Andrew Gunton Fuller and Joseph Belcher. Vol. 2. 3 vols. Harrisonvburg, PA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988.

Fuller, Andrew. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller. Edited by Andrew Gunton Fuller and Joseph Belcher. Vol. 3. 3 vols. Harrisonburg, PA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988.

Piper, John. “Holy Faith, Worthy Gospel, World Vision.” Desiring God. February 6, 2007. Accessed November 11, 2018. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/holy-faith-worthy-gospel-world-vision.