More often than not, “partnering in missions,” means small churches give what little money they think they can afford to a larger church or a missions sending agency that will handle mobilization, screening, indoctrination, training, sending, and maintenance of missionaries on the field. This is not “partnering,” it’s outsourcing.

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Think Like A Missionary

Posted September 24th, 2008 by Ernest

The more I interact with pastors, the more I’m convinced that they need to be applying missionary thinking to their lives and ministries. The problem is that there are few missionaries or missiologists speaking into the American church, and even fewer American pastors who are listening. After all, what could a missionary have to teach a pastor?

I believe that American pastors need to consider 4 missiological concepts: indigenaity, sustainability, communication, and obedience.

  • Indigenaity is a botanical term that means a plant is native to its soil. Sure you can reproduce Daniel Montgomery‘s (Louisville, KY) Sojourn Community Church in, say, Southern California, but you shouldn’t. Missionaries around the world recognize that in order a church must be “native” to the community in which it’s planted. Cultures are curiously layered habitats. When your church prescribes the cultural application of the Word of God for people, you kill their ownership in that church.
  • Sustainability refers to a church’s ability to thrive through the passage of time and trials. Your church doesn’t only need to be relevant to today, it needs to be prepared to make itself relevant to coming generations.
    • Sustainable is always small, cheap (little or no money involved), decentralized, and amateur.
    • If your church is built around you (meaning either that you do everything or that you’re the reason people come and participate), it is not sustainable. A quick look at all the ailing copycat churches will give you an idea of what your church will look like when you’re gone.
    • A big splash today usually works against your church’s sustainablilty. If people come for the show, the coffee, or the quality child care, they’ll only stay until someone comes along with something bigger and better.
  • Communication isn’t universal. Neither is it simple. All sorts of things, verbal and non-verbal, factor into the transmission and reception of a message. You have to realize that how you communicate the gospel affects what gospel you communicate. A legalistic means of evangelism will result in a legalistic view of salvation. An impersonal, one-size-fits-all presentation will get you a generic and impersonal church. Missionaries have to learn not just a language, but the appropriate local use of that language. So do you.
  • Obedience is something I think all pastors take seriously. Nevertheless, being obedient means we cannot afford to assume. As soon as our fidelity to a system, program, pattern, or method becomes greater to our utter step-by-step dependance upon God’s Holy Spirit, we lose our way. Yet we talk all day long about models and styles of church, and rarely about how we were led to do what we do. Let’s stop having conferences and writing books about how and start talking about why.

In short, while you were becoming a Christian, you were also being removed from  your own culture. The common process of discipleship into a modernistic religious framework (which American Chriatianity is) necessarily hinders your ability to relate and communicate with your home culture. Pastors! You’re not a minister to your own culture, you’re a missionary to a foreign culture!

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8 Responses to “Think Like A Missionary”

  • Camel Rider Says:
    September 28th, 2008 at 12:32 am

    Good post…let me know if they listen….
    I would also add….you can’t have it both ways or everything you do is part of discipleship.

    Here’s what I mean. We present the Gospel by pointing out peoples needs. With our strong use of emotional appeals we in essence move man to the center of the Gospel. We have the soft music playing while we point out that Christ exists to meet their needs, to give them peace, and hope, and to forgive while we leave out that He does these things as we surrender to Him in obedience. Then we wonder why Christians are self serving….we’ve pre-discipled them to be this way.

    We do the same with finances. Churches boast if they give 10% to missions…keeping the other 90% to run the campus…maintaining and entertaining the flock. We build our state of the art multi-million dollar campuses and wonder why the body doesn’t give more. We’ve set the example…bigger is better…bigger is blessed…and if you give a little away, the rest if yours to do with as you wish.

  • Bryan Riley Says:
    September 28th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

    I don’t disagree. However, what is God’s plan when he gifts someone and calls someone to be a pastor? Could it be that the passion and giftings are all focused on being someone who can shepherd the flock and that really there are other people who are the “called” to be the evangelists – the missionaries – to the lost in the culture? I know we are all called to the great ministry of reconciliation, and even those who aren’t “evangelists” are ambassadors of Christ, but I’m talking about primary focus here. If primary focus of a local church pastor is to shepherd the flock, then is he or she really a missionary to a foreign culture, or is he or she one who is focused on edifying those who already believe and are in the family?

    Now, regardless, please know that I think we all need to be more missional in our thinking. All the time and in every way… but i’m thinking aloud here in response to your post.

  • stepchild Says:
    October 1st, 2008 at 1:55 am

    Bryan,
    Sorry it took so long for your comment to appear. For some reason, it got stuck in the spam filter. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

    The questions you ask are some of the same things I’ve struggled with for years. I guess I’d put both evangelist (as a gift) and pastor (gifting) in the “missions” category. I think the job of both is to “translate” the gospel into a culture. Of course, evangelism is translating it to an unbeliever, and pastoring is (or should be) ongoing translating to believers.

    In other words, I don’t really think that missions is an evangelistic activity any more than it is a pastoring activity.

    The other important thing to consider here is the rapidly changing American (and global) worldview. I think we’ve really yet to see an expression of Christianity that is contextually appropriate to the coming already here postmodern worldview. In that sense, the work of cultural translation of the gospel is never done.

    What do you think?

  • Bryan Riley Says:
    October 4th, 2008 at 12:17 am

    I’m not sure. I think a lot of our attempts at contextualization may be us getting in the way of the Holy Spirit. Who really does the translating? Who really awakens someone to the truth – at the heart level?

    I do agree that all Christians are missionaries – I was just thinking about the focus of a particular member of the Body – not everyone is a mouth or a finger or a toe.

  • Andy Giles Says:
    December 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 am

    Hey guys,
    I work as an evangelist for a church in Sheffield, England. Bryan, I think you’re spot on when you said that the gift of the evangelist is different to that of the pastor – though a pastor is called to do the work of the evangelist. Ephesians 4 talks about how God appointed both evangelists and pastor teachers (as well as apostles and prophets) to equip the body for works of service. So, even though a huge passion of mine as an evangelist is sharing the gospel with non-believers (this is my greatest joy) I understand my role as to stand alongside the pastor and use my gifts in preparing the church for mission and training up the members how to be better ambassadors.

    A question I have is, why do more churches not employ evangelists? Churches seem to have an employment order. First we get a pastor, then a youth pastor, then a worship pastor, then an administrator, then a children’s pastor etc etc. Now in no way am I demeaning these roles and I think all can have a place on a church staff team, but surely Ephesians 4 is calling is to notice and use the gift of the evangelist which God has given to his church.

    Your thoughts???

  • stepchild Says:
    December 4th, 2008 at 3:26 am

    Andy,
    Thanks for commenting. I’m not sure I’d be in favor of hiring a professional evangelist (no offense meant!) Evangelism is certainly a gift of the Spirit, but I don’t see it as different from the gifts of mercy, service, exhortation, etc.

    As far as I’m concerned, the idea of professional ministry is wreaking havoc on the church. It’s widened the gap between the “clergy” and the “laity.” It’s given us CEO pastors and it’s led to chronic apathy on the part of the people in the pews. The fewer paid positions we have in the church, the better, I say.

    Bryan,
    I’m not sure if you’re still following this old thread, but I wanted to say that I agree that it’s God who does the work of salvation. (Thankfully!) I do believe, though, that we tend to make too great a distinction between “pastoring” and “evangelism.” The gifts are different, but we’ve got to be careful not to isolate one from the other.

    If more evangelists (gifting) would think and act like pastors, and more pastors (gifting) would think and act like evangelists, I think both ministries would benefit.

    Does the role of “missionary” fall under evangelism, pastoring, neither, or both?

  • Andy Giles Says:
    December 7th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    Thanks for commenting back stepchild,
    I certainly agree that employing people can be a danger – though here in England we don’t really have the problem of CEO pastors since most pastors get paid a bare minimum. Also my role as an evangelist is not in the “Billy Graham”, big crusade style of evangelism. My main job is to equip the saints to do evangelism – thus hopefully overcoming the lazy laity issue.

    But with regards to your view of the evangelist gift, why does Paul choose to place it along with the other word ministry gifts for use in equipping the saints (Eph 4, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor teachers) rather than placing it in Romans 12 where those other gifts of service and mercy etc. are mentioned? I’m not here trying to justify my job (well, maybe I am a bit), I’m just wanting to find out your thoughts and see if iron can sharpen iron!

    And in regards to the question about what the role of missionary falls under, I’ve been doing a course with a house church movement called The Crowded House here in Sheffield, England and there big thing is being a “missional community”. From my thinking into this, the role of missionary becomes less an individual role but more of a community role. So as a community, or body, or believers, we are a missionary together and we incorporate gifts of both evangelism and pastor and all the other gifts as well. Thats the beauty of the church isn’t it.

  • stepchild Says:
    December 8th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    Andy,
    Thank you for the opportunity to discuss things here. I appreciate your willingness to respond.

    Certainly the gift of evangelism is different in kind from the Romans 12 sort. I suppose I meant that I don’t believe that people should be paid for exercising their spiritual gifts. I think there’s a place for pastoral leadership (which you clearly are as you train and equip your people for evangelism) to be compensated for their time, but that it should be according to their administrative roles, (1 Timothy 5:17-18, 1 Corinthians 9:14) not because of their gifting.

    I think you really said it well, that the church itself ought to be the missionary. I believe wholeheartedly that the missionary task/role/responsibility should fall to the church (as opposed to individuals in the church.) Thank you for pointing that out.

    Of course, I’ve heard quite a bit about The Crowded House. I may come around to get to know it first hand.

    Thanks again, Andy. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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