The Focus of Missions
I have been in many services where a visiting missionary has given presentations. Unfortunately, the presentations often largely have to do with the exciting events they hosted and the finale is how many people they got to pray a prayer or sign a statement about committing to Jesus. They may also talk about the humanitarian work done there.
Evangelism is important. However, the work isn’t done when a message is delivered because we cannot leave our brothers and sisters without leadership and fellowship! Bringing the gospel to places that have yet to be reached with the news of the Kingdom of Christ is a great service. However, our missions need to be more committed to the region than to only drop off the message.
The early church had a lot of missions, and no wonder because the gospel had most of the world yet to travel! One thing is common in all their missions work though.
And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Acts 14:23
When a new people have come to believe in Christ, it is vital that local elders be appointed and congregations formed for the edification and care of believers in that area. Paul instructs Timothy similarly in his letters.
Long-Term Goals
There are all sorts of mission ministries and you probably don’t have the resources to fund them all. Therefore, it becomes important to know what sort of work is most beneficial for the body of believers.
A good mission organization is going to be one committed to church planting and/or elder training work in the region to which they are being sent. Elders must be raised up. Then those leaders will likely need some help in establishing a congregation locally.
Once a body of believers exists, the area will have the light of the gospel for individuals for much longer than a few speaking events or some humanitarian building projects! The goal should, therefore, be local maturity so that the believers in that region can support one another entirely within their congregation.
Ask what sort of long-term, local goal is driving the work. If people are only being sent to build up the area’s infrastructure (drill wells, build hospitals, etc…) or to host events with an alter call, it will not have as much impact for Christ as those that focus on setting up elders and supporting local congregations.
Reached Area
What does that mean for areas that already have local elders and congregations? Largely, it means that any support to the work in that area shouldn’t come in terms of missionaries, but rather should be support directly to those congregations to promote the work they’re already doing. We see this in the collections the early church would take up to deliver to believers in other nations.
Of course, if a local congregation has gone off the rails, leadership that is not local may need to rebuke the leadership there and attempt to get things back on track. A lot of the epistles we have today were apostles doing exactly that. However, if there is a healthy body of believers in an area, our best service to them would be to support the local believers in what ministries they are engaged in. We also should be careful not to deprive the local believers of the blessing of supporting their own ministries when they are able to do so!
Dark Side of Missions
The early church would have had great difficulty (given the challenge of travel and even distant communication) even considering the idea of believers from distant lands engaging in short-term ministries in areas in which they were not natives. Even those, like Paul, who were always traveling would stay in an area for years building up local congregations. His intent was to visit again, but he knew they would be depending on each other when he left. That we can travel and communicate more regularly has lead to some unhealthy perspectives.
When the longest lasting contribution to an area isn’t the formation of a congregation of believers, but rather is some material need being met, the social gospel is proclaimed by action more than the gospel of Christ. Many may profess faith in the God of the people who came and gave them clean water, but without regular access to the one who gives living water they will most likely miss out on the greater good.
Another harmful perspective that easy travel can cause is the idea of non-local leadership. Some today treat the ministries they lead as their personal kingdom. Like any other business then, they strive to create an international organization where their own leadership holds authority over congregations in every far flung nation. While this wouldn’t have been possible through most of human history, between advances in network technology and travel it is possible to always be in touch and even regularly visit areas all across the globe.
However, this robs the local congregation of personal shepherding that is necessary for care of the believers there. It also undermines the headship of Christ over his church to have men extending their reach over as much as they can. Finally, it ignores the maturity of the believers who are local and likely should have ministries beyond what they are being allowed.
It can be hard to leave others in charge of something important. In our hubris, we think that we must keep a tight reign on everything to prevent everything from going off the rails. However, when it comes to the church, Christ is Lord over it all. We can trust that his way of establishing local congregations with local leadership can still provide sufficiently for his people in this life, even if we have better travel and communication options today.
There are faithful believers in every nation and people where the gospel has gone. While we should be eager to support them, we can trust that Christ will empower them to the local work that needs doing there, and we can be content to the work God has placed right in front of us as well.
