Whom Shall We Send
Ever since Jesus gave his final instructions to his disciples to make disciples in all nations, the church has been on a mission to spread his glory to all peoples (Mt 28:18-20). I'm so thankful many Christians today want to serve our Lord Jesus by taking his gospel to others! May his name be great among the nations! May the peoples praise him!
"Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!” (Ps 117:1)
It’s inconceivable for Christians today to think that we should not take the gospel to the nations. But in 18th century England that precise mindset gripped many church denominations. When the soon-to-be missionary, William Carey, urged his Baptist denomination to evangelize the nations, he was met with swift resistance: “Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine!” The now famous response, allegedly from John Ryland Sr., was representative not only of the Baptists but other denominations as well. The doctrine of God's sovereignty in salvation had been so abused as to render international missions dead in the water. Thankfully, the tide turned when Carey (and the less famous John Thomas) set sail for India in 1793. A flood of world missions followed.
The mission of the church has not changed, but she has often needed to return to her theological moorings. The pens and pulpits of Carey, Andrew Fuller, and others provided a much needed theological corrective in their day. Likewise, we must always be reforming—conforming to Christ and to Scripture.
Today we are faced with the opposite situation. In contrast to 18th century England, much youthful zeal is now being funneled into missions. It seems like everyone wants to be a missionary. (For my current purpose, I am limiting "missionary" to Christians who travel domestically or abroad for evangelism.) Instead of just a couple of Baptists, we have bunches of missionaries and would-be missionaries. Praise God that his people want to make him known in the world!
But while we thank God for this zeal, we must also scrutinize our own mission theology and methodology as Carey did. We are not facing a question of whether or not we should send people; near universal agreement says we must! Rather, with so many people desiring to go out, the questions are who should be sent and what should they be sent to do. On these points, there is great disagreement.
When we examine the NT to see how Christ's gospel spread among the peoples, a pattern quickly emerges. Qualified preachers, whether apostles or pastor-evangelists, were commissioned by their local churches to go out and proclaim the gospel. With the indomitable support of other godly saints, both men and women, these preachers taught the glories of Christ, competently handling Scripture with the humble and holy character necessary to be Christ's ambassadors. Then, miracle of miracles, regeneration dawned in hearts! Churches formed organically, growing together in Christ and going on to reproduce in the same way that they began. The church raised up leaders—full of character and competency to preach the gospel—and sent some of them out to plant new churches.
We must get back to the NT method of growth which centered on gospel preaching and church planting. Zeal for missions cannot be the only prerequisite for sending people out. Too many people are sent to the field prematurely without the necessary character or competency. Are they men who fit the biblical requirements for shepherds of the sheep? How does a church evaluate such character and competency? The proving ground must be the local church, over lots of time.
Is missions only for pastors? No, but missions does not occur without them. Who will shepherd the sheep? Who will preach and teach the Bible? Too much missionary endeavor today is completely disconnected from the pulpit. Not every work associated with Christianity needs to be sent out on the mission field. When we examine the tasks that Christians want to be sent in Christ's name to do, we must honestly ask if they are essential to the gospel ministry of the qualified pastor-evangelist who depends on aid from saints who have already proven faithful and effective. We cannot shoe-horn every church-related task into missions unless we have a sloppy view of the church. What happened to the primacy of the local church in the mission of Jesus Christ? How often do we see the planting of a local church as the aim of the missionary endeavor? Christ is building his church. So why does the local church so rarely factor into missionary efforts. To whom is the mission accountable? To elders? To churches? To boards? To no one?
Too many people with an inkling of zeal are being sent to the field to test the waters of missions. But are they first doing the work at home? Are they already supporting the Word going out in their own church? Have they proven themselves of such value to the leaders of their home church that, should God call, their leaders would send them with tears from their hearts? If they are not already doing the work where they live and work and go to school, what hope do we have that these would-be missionaries would suddenly be diligent and effective when faced with the far greater obstacles of the mission field? Yet many insist on thrusting the under-prepared into such situations to test the waters of their resolve—sink or swim. This is not the biblical model.
While we at Living Hope are currently restructuring our own home ministry and rebuilding our missionary support to better reflect our convictions, it is our our prayer that our church will continue to grow in making healthy home-grown disciples. Then may God see fit to enable us to send some of our best out to make new disciples by the faithful proclamation of the gospel and by godly shepherding—in the context of a new local church.
The missionary movement of the first century was always a church planting, pastor-sending movement. It is our conviction at Living Hope to prioritize missionary endeavors first by raising leaders from within, second, by seeking to support indigenous pastors, and third by cross-cultural missions, when needed. These leaders must be men who meet character and competency qualifications for elders
(1 Ti 3, Tt 1), and are already doing the work of shepherding. We would send them to serve a local church or to plant a new church centered on the preaching of the gospel. Like the Apostle Paul, they would be tent-makers if necessary, working night and day, to continue the work and not to burden the church (1 Ti 2:9).
We know that pastors do not work alone. In addition to faithful shepherds in the local church, many faithful brothers and sisters come around the missionary-evangelist-pastor to support his work of gospel preaching in any number of ways. If you read Romans 16, you will find the names of many people, male and female, who supported Paul in the work. He never worked alone. As a pastor, I cherish my co-laborers in the gospel! So our next priority of support would be to blessed saints who are critical in support roles within that local church, who directly support and aid the gospel work of the shepherd. Though there are circumstances when these critical gospel-support saints need financial assistance due to a church's infancy and inability to support itself, this is the exception and not the norm. Priscilla and Aquilla, two of Paul's greatest support workers, worked alongside him as tentmakers to support themselves in the work (Acts 18:1-4). So the primary people we should look to support are those directly related to planting, supporting, and preaching the gospel in the local church, supporting themselves if necessary. This seems to best echo the NT model.
Do you feel stirred to serve Christ in new fields? You must commit to doing the work here first. Let your competency and character be proven in this church over the long haul. And when God calls, may we as a church then send out some of our very best, extensions of our own hearts, for Christ's glory. And may his work speed forward!
"Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!” (Ps 105:1)
