Series: Missions
Category: Core Seminars, The Nature of the Church, Church Planting, Evangelism, International Missions
Summary:
Today we’re dipping our toes into the strategy of missions – how does the Bible say we “do missions”? Through the church. This may sound obvious, but it’s actually, sadly, outside the norm, or conventional wisdom, of many in broader Evangelicalism, who too often promote two errors, which will push against today: one of a hyper-individualized or personalized approach to missions…and the another version that basically outsources missions to parachurch organizations/groups.
Detail:
Good morning – we’re now in the fourth week of the missions core seminar class.
We’ve talked about the goal of missions. What is it?
A: The glory of God
We’ve talked about why we do missions
And then last week, Caleb led us through the reality of hell
Today we’re dipping our toes into the strategy of missions – how does the Bible say we “do missions”? Through the church. This may sound obvious, but it’s actually, sadly, outside the norm, or conventional wisdom, of many in broader Evangelicalism, who too often promote two errors, which will push against today: one of a hyper-individualized or personalized approach to missions…and the another version that basically outsources missions to parachurch organizations/groups.
Introduction:
Let’s start today with a story. Once upon a time, a member sent an email to one of her pastors. In it she basically said – “Dear Pastor, Great news! I’ve recently been accepted to serve as a missionary with a parachurch sending agency. I’ll be working with a team doing gospel work in a small city overseas. Sorry I haven’t really talked to anyone at church to get advice. This organization isn’t connected to our church, so I didn’t think you would know much about them anyway. And since I feel so strongly called by God personally, I’m sure the church will want to support what God has told me to do. I leave in a month for a two-year project. Since you will be my “sending church,” I’d love to meet up soon and talk about prayer and financial support. Thanks a lot. Signed – An excited church member.”
Poll: What do y’all think about this?
It might surprise some to know that this is not a made-up email. It’s a synthesis of several actual emails sent to elders of this local church, by well-meaning church members, over the past 20 years. These were members who loved Christ and had good intentions.
But in it you see both an individualistic approach to missions – one that’s dependent upon a sense of “call”. But you also find an approach that’s relying totally on a parachurch organization, without any interface with the church. This email seriously misunderstands a lot of what the Bible teaches about missions and who is responsible for the mission. So that raises the question we’re going to focus on today (and our first point):
I. TO WHOM WAS GOD’S MISSIONARY COMMISSION GIVEN?
The Assembled Church – (Luke 24:33-48)
“To whom was God’s missionary commission given?” It’s a more complex question than one might think. But it’s important to know who bears the main responsibility to see that Christ’s commission for missions is carried out.
Quick check: when we talk about this “commission” what are we talking about? Matthew 28: 18-20 – Christ’s command to go and “make disciples of all nations”.
In Luke, Chapter 24, we read about the giving of Christ’s gospel commission, and the context and circumstances of it’s being given. So this is after the resurrection, and following Christ’s appearance to two men on the road to Emmaus, we read:
[Luke 24:33-48] start at v 44
33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 35 36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 46 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.48
And as the Lord began the process to send out the first gospel missionaries, he didn’t do it by speaking primarily to individual persons as we might expect, as he did to the Old Testament prophets, but instead he first spoke to his assembled church and her leaders.
Now, as later passages make clear, Saul (or Paul) felt himself to be called as the Apostle to the Gentiles and was certainly a willing missionary, not one under human compulsion. But it is interesting that God chose to inaugurate his missionary plan by extraordinarily speaking to a church and her leaders about who they should send in a very public and corporate way. This is a special event; we don’t read of many similar special callings (maybe Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6-7) but it does accord with the pattern we see in Scripture.
It’s also important to point out: missions should be an overflow of personal and local evangelism. If we are followers of Christ, we’re all called to share His good news. We’re all called to evangelize others.
International missions – both at the church level and at the individual level – begins with regular, normal evangelizing wherever you are. If we aren’t sharing the gospel here and now, why would we think we would magically do so zealously and regularly in a more difficult environment, with language and cultural barriers? In that sense – of normal evangelism – we’re ALL called to evangelize the nations.
Ok – but for that distinct work of crossing cultural and language barriers – what does the Bible say about the mechanisms that make that happen?
2. Chain of missionary sending
In the Bible, we see the progression of the gospel in a so-called chain of sending
1. God sends his Son.17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
It then continues with the initiative of the risen Son.
2.The Son sends the Holy Spirit.49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
Then the Holy Spirit strengthens and empowers the church.
3. The Holy Spirit gathers and encourages the church.31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit , it multiplied.
And finally, the gathered church sends a few of her people on the mission that God has given them.
4. The church sends her people.
Of the congregation in Antioch, we read in Acts 13:2: 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Romans 10:14-15: 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?[a ] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
We see this repeated theme: a missionary doesn’t send him or herself. They are SENT. By whom? The pattern in scripture we see is that they are sent by the church.
This seems to be the plan of God in the New Testament. That the local church would gather, equip, and send (willing) gospel emissaries to declare the gospel and to gather new churches in places where Christ’s name is not known. In this sense, God intends the local church to be central in his missionary plan.
Certainly, this doesn’t negate the role of the individual Christian. We don’t know anything of missionaries sent without their consent, of course. And a desire in an individual heart may be the initiating event for a church to evaluate and send a member. I think that’s been true of every missionary sent out from this church – they have an initial passion, call, desire, or aspiration for this work. They talk to me or another elder about it, and we begin to consider what that might look like.
But at the center is the local church. We don’t see rogue missionaries in the Bible. We want to think about the local church as the engine
Ok – so we’ve established from scripture the idea that the church is an integral part or partner to sending…we also talked briefly about how the individual is certainly involved in that. But what do we do with that?
II. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A LOCAL CHURCH TO BE CENTRAL IN SENDING MISSIONARIES?
So what does it actually mean for the local church to be central in sending out missionaries? Four things seem especially clear.
1. Evaluation
It means that the local church takes the responsibility to evaluate the character and the abilities of members BEFORE recommending them to any other missions sending agency. The church, as the community that knows that person best, should be willing to test and evaluate their character, gifts, fruitfulness, knowledge and suitability, as best they can. It’s in the context of a local church that the maturity, wisdom, and faithfulness of an individual can best be assessed.
We’ll get into how CHBC does this later in this class, and will devote even more time to it later in the class, but you should know that the elder board view missionary qualifications as similar to that of deacons or pastors. We want to send our most mature, godly, and steadfast members to the nations…not just those who seem to want to.
2. Teaching/training
And in a local church, the majority of teaching and training takes place. As Paul exhorts Timothy (2 Timothy 2:2), it is in the local church that faithful men and women should be taught, so that they can, in turn, pass on gospel truths to others. Through regular preaching and doctrinal teaching, it’s the local church that trains up missionaries (and everyone else).
And a local church is also the normal place to oversee any special training or teaching that missionary candidates might receive.
3. Sending and supporting // overseeing and caring
None of this precludes a local church from partnering with another church (or churches) to help to send and support workers. Paul’s letter to the Philippians indicates that there were a number of local churches involved in supporting his missionary team.
Sending with authorization (a la Acts 15)
We’ll talk about this next.
Providing for material and spiritual support (3 John)
Sending them on their journey “in a manner worthy of God”
That’s also why we as a church support 25 missionaries and not 100 – we want to send them out well, and care for them generously. In the same way that this church is very generous to your pastors, you’re also very generous in how you support, care for, and send our missionaries. Praise God for that!
III. HOW SHOULD WE THINK ABOUT MISSION SENDING AGENCIES?
So if it’s the church’s job to send and support, what do we make of sending organizations?
We should think of them as…
1. An optional, but permissible, means of organized cooperation among churches.
Philippians 4:14-16: 14 Yet it was kind of you to share 15 16
We see in this passage that Paul looked to several churches (in Corinth, Antioch, and Philippi) for material support. Together those churches partnered with Paul to support his work. By extension it seems clear that any effort to organize that cooperation is warranted. That’s exactly what we see in John’s third letter. There he commends some itinerate missionaries with the hope that they would be supported from another church so that, together, John’s church and this other church would “work together for the truth.”
3 John 1:5-8: 5 Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6 You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7 8 that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
At its best, this is what a parachurch sending organization does. It helps organize cooperation and pools resources among multiple churches so that, together, they may partner in the spread of the truth of the gospel.
2.Only authority is that delegated to them by local churches (Acts 15:23-25).
But it’s important to right-size their influence. In other words, that though they may be helpful, the ultimate authority over our workers and our gospel work remains with the local churches.
3. Useful for strategic coordination, humility, and field oversight.
Sending organizations or partnerships can be helpful for coordination (so everyone knows who is doing what and where), as an act of humility in cooperation (we know and understand we only have so much bandwidth and ability), and for field oversight (a sending organization can have multiple folks working in one area who can better hold one another accountable than a church far away).
In my own mind, I have often likened the IMB to the State Department. In the same way that it’s hard for us, as citizens of DC, to muster the resources and manpower of Washington DC to conduct diplomacy abroad, so too is it impossible for the saints of CHBC to have a widespread, global work from our local church. In the same way that the State Dept has systems in place to send ambassadors, office infrastructure abroad already in place, and training for diplomats, the IMB has it’s own systems in place to send the Word forth. So in that sense, in partnering with the IMB, we’re also able to partner with work more broadly. But it also means that like State, the IMB comes with it’s own particular, often very bureaucratic systems that we have to navigate.
We lose some flexibility and some depth…but we gain expertise and breadth in international gospel work. It’s a trade-off that makes sense for our church at this time.
4. Servants of the local churches.
However it’s arranged, we want to partner with organizations that understand they are servants of local churches, not replacements for them. The Bible’s plan for us to reach the nations is not, primarily, through sending organizations or parachurch ministries. Praise God he does often use them! But what we see in scripture is the local church as the foundational, organizational plan for reaching others.
IV. WHY DOES IT MATTER THAT WE ARE CLEAR ON THESE POINTS?
1. Because the church is the goal and the means of missions (Eph. 3:10)
8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
2. Because individualism and “parachurch-ism” are real temptations (Acts 15:24)
Again, this is not to say that individuals don’t have a role and responsibility for God’s missionary plan, nor that individual desire and giftings aren’t important. And it’s not to say that organized cooperation beyond the local church isn’t useful.
But that the desire and initiative of individuals should be mediated through
3. Missions is intensely congregational, not just intensely personal.
Missions is a congregational enterprise. It involves all of us. We already read passages from the New Testament that speaks to this – those sent to share the gospel, to encourage and teach churches, were sent out by the church. Jesus Himself calls those to share his good news in front of the congregation.
Biblical missionaries are not some lone wolf actors who just decides on their own – outside of any community, pastoral counsel, and separate from other relationships. It’s to be done within the context of a local church. That’s why we ask our missionaries to take vows – similar to deacons – before the congregation. That marks the “official” act that makes them supported workers.
Q: How does this look or sound different from a missions philosophy you grew up with/were taught? What are other ‘errors’ or concerns we should consider in missions as it relates to the local church?
Ok, let’s get to some application that hits close to home:
V. WHAT DOES ALL THIS LOOK LIKE AT CAPITOL HILL BAPTIST CHURCH?
1. Teaching God’s Word is our most fundamental “missions” task
Mobilize members through Biblical preaching and teaching on missions
In particular, by shaping our congregation’s view of the gospel as a glorious message.
This is something we should want to share! People are dying. They need the gospel. We should want to go, and have a burden to go or support the work.
And as we do preach and teach, we want to raise the missionary imperative of the gospel
One thing we try to remind members of regularly: it’s possible God is calling you to uproot yourself and your family, move to another place, and do exactly what you’re doing here, but in a different country/city/context.
This is a regular part and expectation of the Christian walk – telling others about Christ, and in particular, telling those do not know His name.
We want to encourage everyone at this church to organize their lives around the gospel – whether here or overseas is secondary
2. Being a Biblical church is the organizational means –it’s the platform or foundation for sending
One of the best things we can do for our missions enterprises is building up a healthy church here. That creates the environment to train others, and a freshwater pool to dive into when they come home from the field.
3. Training and equipping members to intentionally go
We want to follow Christ’s command – and in doing so, we want to encourage normal things all Christians are called to do: evangelism; daily disciplines; making strategic decisions to support the church here and abroad.
But more specifically, we have:
missions reading group
Core Seminars
Short term trips
Regularly praying for our workers and that God would send more from among us
4. Sending teams in cooperation with the sending agencies.
Wanting like-minded teams from CHBC or likeminded churches
Cooperating with sending agencies that see church as central
5. Maintaining theological and pastoral oversight.
Sending/supporting based on close relationships
Keeping up relationships – visits, calls, and hospitality
Delegating, but never abdicating
For example: happy to delegate and trust those who work for us, too
Relationships with IMB, based on deep knowledge and like-mindedness
But we know, as elders of this church, that every person we send out, we are accountable to the Lord for their spiritual well-being.
Q: Any questions about how CHBC seeks to serve as this platform for missions, as a local church?
CONCLUSION
1. Local churches are central to the New Testament plan.
This is the organizational entity for the fulfillment of the Great Commission
2. The gathered local churches are the mediating entities – a glorious platform – for implementing God’s great commission.
God’s commission is executed through local churches, their relationships, and cooperation
Individuals take on their roles in the context of their identity as church members
And any sending organizations are involved under the full leadership and authority of the local church.
3. Local churches are both the aim and the means of God’s missionary plan.
Churches send missionaries, who gather other local churches
Churches planting churches is THE plan for global gospel advance
Any questions before we close?
Let’s pray together.
