A.B. Simpson (1838-1919) was an ordinary Presbyterian minister who believed in an extraordinary God. Founding a global movement called The Christian and Missionary Alliance, he emphasized Christ’s imminent return, not date setting, yet he presented bold hindsight about the two major world religions and a foresight concerning their current manifestation. Through experiencing Jesus Christ as salvation, sanctification, healing, and deeper life, by proclaiming Him as the coming King, Simpson exalted Jesus alone.
Such eschatology manifested expectations toward restoring the Kingdom for those in the ‘old faith’, to finish the gospel anouncement to every language, tribe and tongue. Simpson was ambivalent to the emerging dispensationalism of his day separating the church from the commonwealth of Israel (Eph. 2:12) and dividing up Daniel’s 70 weeks in a futuristic sense, yet he levereaged it to send many to the unreached. He focused on the imminent coming of Christ for the sake of getting on with the task. Thus for such unity, he encouraged the individual believer toward the Holy Spirit's power-producing collective action. The church advancing to all nations until the gentile’s fullness and the softning of Israel’s hardness occurs which is partially due to variations of replacement theologies of Christianity and Abbassid Islam, notwithstanding the horrible persecution of the observance of Judaism and its ethnic status for the last two millennia.
As stated in Matthew 24:14, imminency is based on taking the gospel to all nations to see the consummation of this age. Such vision, our individual mandate, part of the universal church in longing for this collective consummation, and this exists in a confused state precisely because of Western ecclesial hegemony. Still, Simpson would stand in awe of The Alliance today! Not for the numbers of worshippers that count into the millions but for sheer diversity as God’s work throughout the nations. The Alliance that began in North America is a global movement represented through the Alliance World Fellowship. Therefore, the denominational status today of the Alliance should take a backseat, IMHO, to its one purpose, preaching the word, healing the world and being His body!
On the other hand, Simpson represented an era instrumental in advancing evangelical pragmatism that simplified the gospel as a means to a glorious ends. Its practice in the Global North eventually fell into a dichotomy. It separated the message of the whole gospel by ‘word’ and ‘deed.’ Perpetuating social power structures and political systems of this world, even well-intentioned faith-based institutions, by misunderstanding the implication of Christ as our coming King already in our midst as His body! Notwithstanding, Simpson's Fourfold Gospel and writings still influence a unique exaltation of Jesus Christ and an understanding of the ‘old faith.’ The Fourfold Gospel was by no means a Christology but a theology, and one of purpose, for the collective day of the Lord through World Missions.
After our sending by the Peruvian Alliance to Italy in 2011, we had already witnessed various global shifts. We thought that the Alliance’s work in Italy was new, yet we discovered that a direct disciple of Simpson’s had brought the gospel to Italy over a century ago. His name was Michele Nardi (1850-1914). He became known as the ‘Moody of Italy’ a century before proclaiming Jesus to all by the ‘word.’ The ‘deed’ of Simpson set him apart from the late 19th-century missionary movement, for his example to the Italian immigrants and others modeled a ‘word and deed’ holism. The whole gospel to the Whole World is not a slogan! For Jesus is the gospel, not a commodity, and certainly not Western but the Torah of Judaism Himself. Pray that we emulate the reality of ‘Christ in us’ and be faithful to Simpson’s example toward ‘our hope in Glory’while we live for our blessed hope, Maranatha!
As singles, we ministered the gospel in Italy with the Doulos ship in 1985; we then returned, never desiring nor expecting such a door to open after serving in many other nations. From 2011-2018, our task consisted of replanting churches, helping refugees, and studying the culture and language. The complexity of gospel proclamation and transformation emerges today through Italy's changing demographics. Immigrants arrive in Italy either through displacement or global mobility, as the opportunity to proclaim the ‘word’ which demands the ‘deed’ to those in need. We are now based in Milan since 2021 within its most international section, Via Padova and near its Central station which is a bottle-neck for the Refugee Highway into Northern Europe, where the majority of migrants are headed.
All those who trust in our Lord Jesus Christ are part of His Great Commission as Acts 1:8 witnesses. The task of global missions involves Christ's body, as each individual has a role. Alliance Missions provides a vehicle for praying, giving, sending, or going. Wherever God has placed you, the Lord's presence resides within us through the power of the Holy Spirit, who provides your friendship and partnership, a reality witnessed through the years.
