Keys to Becoming Local Church Centered in Missions, Part III

Most churches need help understanding and rising to their biblical role in missionary sending. This is not an unfair statement. That’s how it is. Even churches that have had the privilege of raising, equipping, and sending a missionary from their membership need help understanding their comprehensive role in validating the candidate’s call to missions, verifying their qualifications to serve well for the long term, and shepherding them on the field through a lifetime of ministry.

A historic shift through the decades of “modern missions” has moved most of the responsibility of missionary sending to para-church missions agencies. So, we've grown accustomed to the church giving cursory agreement to the missionary and mission agency concerning the missionary's membership in a mission agency, their field of service, their field goals, and their field methodologies.

Evaluating a local church’s ability to become a good missionary sending church becomes challenging. We must return to the foundations of the church’s doctrine, desires, and design through the lens of missionary sending. We ask a lot of questions to find out these basics.

Readiness to ask and give answers to questions is itself a mark of teachability and willingness to change. Readiness is a good thing!

Reluctance to ask and give answers to questions is often a natural response. Sometimes, leaders and missions leaders within the church feel a bit threatened. In that case, take it slow and affirm that the process is intended to yield positive and helpful results for the church's mission growth.

Resistance is a more challenging response. Some individuals and churches are resistant due to personality, history, or culture. This is still not a lost cause. Gentle correction and a willingness to listen to their concerns can often open the door to the questions and the potential for change.

Rapid change can be destructive. An old saying goes: Catastrophe can bring rapid change, and vice versa. Pray, proceed with caution, and keep moving forward wisely.

Here is a list of what we want to learn from a church in evaluating their readiness and capacity to become local-church centered in missions.

Doctrinally, does the local church understand:

• Its significance in God’s plan for His glory?
• Its purpose is both the starting and ending point of missions ministry?
• The exclusivity of the Gospel and the necessity of its proclamation?
• How does a nonbeliever become a believer?
• The qualifications of a missionary?
• The goal of the Great Commission ministry?

What does the local church desire in its involvement in world missions?:

• Random or deeply relational partnerships in ministry?
• Missionaries coming up from their own church, people sent to them from agencies, or just friends of the pastor and other influential people in the congregation?
• Anonymous pins in a world map or a more consciously focused approach?
• Does the church have a long-term goal for sending missionaries from the church?
• Does the church have a long-term goal for accomplishing something specific in a specific field of service overseas?

How is the local church prepared to be a good sending church?

• Is there a recognized process or training pathway for a missionary candidate?
• How should a candidate’s qualifications be verified and affirmed?
• How does the church guide and help select a partner missions agency and target field ministry?
• Does the church have a structure or mechanism for ongoing shepherding of its missionaries?
• What checks or safeguards are planned for oversight and care for their missionary, the missionary family, and the missionary’s ministry on the field?

MissioSERVE.org and Propempo.com have resources and references to check to help your church answer these questions. The book Missions on Point and the podcast Missions on Point also present a biblical and practical case for answering these questions.

Evaluation toward becoming a local church centered on missions is not easy or quick. Those involved in the evaluation need to do some homework on the documents and history of the church. They need to talk with key leaders. Discover the answers to as many of these foundational questions as possible. The answers are building blocks to learn the strengths and weaknesses of that specific local church and to develop steps toward becoming that great local church centered missionary sending church.