«"What is a church?"»
This was the question I dreaded the most. I was 28 and had just been promoted from mission team leader to regional director. We were sitting in our monthly leadership meeting, and there were ten other team leaders at the table, representing over 80 full-time (full-support) missionaries in the «10/40 window.» The meetings were supposed to be inspiring and encouraging—and they often were. We discussed evangelism strategies and the fruits of ministry, the spiritual growth of disciples, and the potential for future multiplication. But every time someone would ask «THAT» question. Or something like it:
- Is our goal to plant churches?
- Are we really doing this?
- And, by the way, do we even agree among ourselves on what a church is?
- What makes a church a church?
I dreaded this question because I didn’t know the answer. What was worse was what I did know: from repeated, fruitless discussions, it became clear that no one in the room knew the answer. We didn’t know how to define a church, let alone a good or healthy church. What’s the difference between a church and a congregation of 25 students on a university campus? We’ve started many of those groups. What’s the difference between a church and 30 business people who meet regularly for Bible study?
This was not just an academic issue for us. By God’s grace, we have witnessed the amazing fruits of our labor. So when we had these discussions, we knew that there would be a gathering of believers that very week. These were gatherings where the people we had been teaching were present, and many of them were looking to us for guidance. But they quickly realized that we didn’t have much to offer them.
IT'S THE SAME STORY EVERYWHERE
In the nineteen years since I first set foot on the mission field, I have heard and seen the same story repeated in different organizations and regions. Too often Western missionaries have little to say about the church, at least not with biblical clarity. Among evangelicals, fortunately, the gospel is usually clear, the inerrancy of Scripture is usually affirmed, and the importance of theology is usually acknowledged. But the church?
Ask some missionaries if they can explain how their work relates to the task of church planting, and you will get fewer answers than you might expect. Ask them how they define a church and what a healthy church looks like, and you will get even fewer answers.
The reality is that when you send missionaries, when you support them, and when you partner with others to do so, you are exporting doctrine about the church. Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that too often we export bad ecclesiology.
And the consequences of this on the mission field can be tragic.
HOW DID WE GET TO THIS STATE?
There are probably many factors contributing to this problem. I want to suggest three.
1. Sending churches often view missionary work as something that can be passed on to others.
Church leaders have enough to do within their communities, so overseeing and providing resources for missionaries often seems like an excessive burden or beyond their capabilities or experience.
There are, of course, numerous advantages to using missionary agencies to meet these needs. The problem is that churches often overestimate the capabilities of missionary agencies. For example, no screening process can replace assessing a person’s gifts and qualifications through their regular participation in the life of the local church. This approach should begin early in the process, not become a quick checklist when a church recommendation form is suddenly requested.
2. Missionary agencies accept this «outside» work but do not have a clear doctrine of the church
Missionary agencies are either created with a specific mission or develop one as they work. Some decide to focus on evangelism among a specific segment of the population, such as students or business people. Other groups focus on training leaders in a specific theological program. Still others focus on planting new churches in a specific region or among a specific people.
What seems rare in these cases is an adequate assessment of «success» through the lens of the long-term health of the churches they planted. As a middle manager in my agency, I remember the struggle between achieving organizational goals (how many new groups did you start?) and the desire for our work to have long-term viability. My attempts to have conversations about the true health of our work beyond purely quantitative metrics were not met with much success.
3. Missionaries themselves do not understand what they are trying to achieve
There is a saying, «Shooting at nowhere will always hit the mark.» Every missionary on a mission is trying to do a good job. They share their faith, try to teach new converts, and pray that God will bless their work. This is a good start, but it is not the same as having a clear vision of a church that functions according to biblical standards and accumulates its own resources for further ministry. They do not have this vision because they do not understand what the Word of God says about the local church and the central role it plays in fulfilling the Great Commission.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
What can you, as a pastor, do to begin exporting better ecclesiology?
1. Practically evaluate your missionary program
- As a pastor, do you know the quality of the people you send out on missions?
- Do you know what they actually do on the mission? Have you asked them to describe their work in detail?
- Have you included the progress of their work in your church's prayers?
- Are your church leaders and members interested in building healthy churches through the missionaries you support?
2. Use Paul’s first missionary journey as a model for missionary work (Acts 13–14)
- Focus on the quality of missionaries, not the quantity. The Holy Spirit leads the church in Antioch to send Paul and Barnabas, two of their best (Acts 13:2)! Encourage those already serving in your church to think and pray about missionary service.
- Make missionary work a central part of your church’s life. The sending out of Paul and Barnabas was a time of fasting and prayer for the entire church (Acts 13:3). Similarly, consider how you can make prayer for your missionaries more regular in your church. Use pastoral prayers and church prayer meetings to pray regularly for the ministry of the missionaries you support and for the evangelization of people around the world.
- Encourage your missionaries to focus on the goal of planting healthy churches. Paul and Barnabas didn’t just preach or teach; they continued to visit and shepherd until pastors were appointed in each church (Acts 14:23). This is likely what the church in Antioch expected of them. So ask potential missionaries to formulate a ministry plan that includes both planting churches and shepherding those churches for their spiritual growth.
- Invite missionaries returning from vacation to give a full report to the church. Paul and Barnabas gathered the church together and «declared all things that God had done through them» (Acts 14:27). During a recent vacation, I was asked by several of the boards of churches that supported me to give a report on my ministry. I loved it! Deep down, missionaries want to know that their supporting churches are standing with them in the task of supporting and growing local churches. We also love the responsibility of knowing that we have more than just a few photos of smiling locals to share.
3. Think about doing more — with fewer resources
In short, the export of bad ecclesiology stems from the Western notion that «more» always means «better.» We send out more workers and demand more results from them. We measure success by the number of converts and the number of churches planted, without asking about the spiritual state of both the «converts» themselves and those «churches.».
I think we intuitively understand that many existing systems are focused on breadth rather than depth, but we don't know how to change them.
A simple step to start is to gradually move to supporting fewer missionaries, but doing it better. Give fewer missionaries more financial support. Put some of the money toward regular pastor visits to their work sites. Make arrangements for missionaries on leave to spend more time in your church. But most importantly, make their ministry your own. Make it your goal not only to build a healthy church in your own home, but to see healthy churches spring up everywhere you send missionaries.
