5 Things That Shouldn’t Be at the Center of Missions
Shining Lights in the World
What’s the Bible’s missions strategy? It’s faithful churches shining “as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15), advancing the gospel worldwide (Luke 24:47). Throughout history, churches have been the launch-pad for missions, the means and end of the Great Commission. Yet the trend among missionaries and missions agencies has been in another direction—varieties of pragmatism and minimalism that sideline the local church.
Here are five popular but poor substitutes for church-centered missions.
1. Parachurch
Good parachurch ministries are no substitute for the church. The best parachurch ministries help the church extend its reach through focus on specialized tasks like Bible translation, discipleship, or campus evangelism. Sometimes, however, goals shift and these ministries become less helpful. For example, one parachurch ministry was established to mobilize Christian university students to spend their summers advancing the gospel and strengthen local churches in a mega-city. Initially, their goal was simple: meet as many college-aged nationals as possible and connect them with local churches. As the program grew in popularity, the increased numbers of students led to a shift in the priorities of the ministry. Raising new leaders for the program became more important than connecting nationals to local churches. Though the program successfully raised up leaders to perpetuate itself for a few years, the early excitement over the impact being made in the city began to wane. Eventually, the numbers declined and the ministry folded.
Prioritizing the Church in Missions
John Folmar, Scott Logsdon
In this brief guide, experienced pastors John Folmar and Scott Logsdon show how church-centered missiology is essential for fulfilling the Great Commission.
Campus ministries offer a lot of good to Christian and non-Christian students alike. Far too often, however, Christian students curtail their church involvement because they have spent so much of their “spiritual” time elsewhere. Christian ministry is most healthy when its primary focus is planting and strengthening local churches. Otherwise, parachurch becomes a substitute for, rather than a servant of, Christ’s bride: the body of him who fills all in all. The best campus ministry leads students into the church, not away from it.
Missions agencies, too, can be helpful partners in Great Commission work. They often possess more know-how and experience than many local churches (for example, in technical areas like language learning, computer security, missionary health, and evacuation.) But local churches must not abdicate their responsibilities to agencies. The local church remains the engine behind Great Commission work. As Andy Johnson put it, “Any humanly-invented organization that assists in missions must remember that they are a bridesmaid, not the bride. They are stagehands, not the star.”
2. Movement Methods
“Movement-driven” missions aims at the rapid multiplication of disciples—with churches trying to reproduce every six to nine months.1 It’s reverse-engineered revival, emphasizing:
- Techniques—sure-fire strategies to spark movements. “A way of sharing that is proving effective in unlocking people’s willingness to say yes to Jesus.”2 But there is no missions formula to force the Spirit’s work.
- Speed. Farming, like parenting, takes time. Jesus’s agricultural metaphors (“First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear . . .” [Mark 4:28]) were different from a mass-production approach. But in movement-driven missions, speed is paramount. Reproducibility is highlighted. Doctrine is downplayed. The patient, deliberate work of preparation and ministry is minimized. Some movements say that trained teachers slow down the process, so new believers—or even non-believers in some instances—can teach. “Let the lost lead the Bible studies,” they say.3 False conversions and shadow churches are too often the result.
- Numbers. Success stories and massive numbers dazzle western churches, often resulting in increased financial support, but are the conversions genuine? Missionary pioneer William Carey counseled his son in India: “The conversion of one soul is worth the labor of a life. Hold on therefore, be steady in your work, and leave the result with God.”
Churches today must equip and send qualified workers, patiently proclaiming the word with the goal of planting churches that will endure for generations.
Give the Gift of Biblical Resources
The Crossway Global Ministry Fund supports book and Bible distributions to aid pastors and believers in need of theological resources. Would you join us in equipping fellow Christians around the world? Learn More.
3. Mercy Ministry
Mercy ministries are no substitute for the church. Jesus is full of empathy for the weak and helpless. By design, his followers are too. By demonstrating Christ's compassion and alleviating suffering, mercy ministries often improve the quality of life for those they help. As long as this is all they do, these programs will be welcomed even by those who don’t love Christ. The best mercy ministries additionally build bridges for the gospel and demonstrate that Christ’s work is holistic. However, even the best mercy ministries are no substitute for the local church and should follow the church’s lead.
Organizations like International Justice Mission (IJM) and Peace Corps claim to pursue noble ends like justice in the world and humanitarian aid, yet they will never replace the church while explicit proclamation of the gospel or planting/strengthening of churches remains necessary. One well-meaning American mercy ministry in Africa attempted to strengthen its connection to church by hiring pastors for each of its field offices. In this way, they thought, their staff could gather for worship and their ministry would become more church-like. However, rather than encourage their staff to become more involved in existing nearby local churches, they were pulled further away.
“Good works” are a means by which Christ is proclaimed and believers are incorporated into churches. This is why the local church should be the best mercy ministry—where physical or social needs of people are addressed along with an accompanying effort to meet their ultimate spiritual need for salvation and integration into the body of Christ.
4. Insider Movements
Matthew and his wife were troubled when several other team members in northern Afghanistan began to mimic Muslim prayer rituals. The missionaries thought this would make local people more receptive to them, but instead it dissolved their witness. Matthew said, “Local Afghans asked us what would happen to our team members when they returned to America, since they had become Muslims.” It was a case of over-contextualization.
Likewise, the “Insider Movement” (IM) encourages Muslims, for example, who come to faith in Christ to remain in the religious structures of Islam—still attending mosque, reciting Muslim prayers and creeds, all the while secretly following Christ. Proponents of IM say that leaving one’s former religious identity is dangerous and unnecessary, so they discourage church involvement. Muslims can stay Muslim. Hindus can stay Hindu. What matters (they say) is not gathering with a church but private devotion in the heart. But Jesus warned his disciples, “They will put you out of the synagogues” (John 16:2). He assumed that his followers would be publicly aligned with him.
It’s hard to imagine the prophet Elijah endorsing IM. Elijah rebuked those who “go limping between two different opinions.” “If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21).
None of this means that converts must immediately attend conspicuous “above-ground” gatherings. In some contexts it may be necessary to meet more discreetly with an “underground” church. But the church is not just one spiritual option among many. It is nonnegotiable.
The church is not just one spiritual option among many. It is nonnegotiable.
5. My Calling
Finally, my “calling” to ministry is no substitute for the church’s role in equipping, evaluating, and sending missionaries. Many Christians have felt their consciences nudged to give away their lives for the gospel to advance in the world. A single, powerful moment of commitment can change the course of an individual Christian’s life. They feel ready to sacrifice everything they have and view no barrier as uncrossable for the fame of our Savior.
This scenario was experienced by Paul (not his real name). What Paul did next is sadly all too common. He concluded God had spoken to him and he began to make decisions unilaterally. With a quick Google search, Paul was able to complete several online applications to become a missionary with a few sending agencies he knew. One of them approved his application, so Paul started raising monetary support from friends, family, and fellow church members. This is how Paul’s church discovered he was leaving. Though he didn’t ask much of his pastors, they helped where they could, but Paul had already made so many decisions on his own that they found themselves unable to offer much guidance. After Paul left, he remained only loosely connected to the church, largely self-directing his ministry on the field for the next couple of years.
What could Paul have done differently? We can’t know infallibly whether or not the Holy Spirit was working through Paul’s conscience to encourage him to become a missionary. In any event, Paul’s best option was to immediately seek counsel from his pastors. They were his God-given spiritual leadership. He may have objected that they had never helped someone become a missionary before. But they bear the responsibility to help him make wise decisions and equip him for the work of the ministry. Unfortunately, Paul’s sense of personal calling and drive became his sole authority and mechanism for accountability. As a result, he was deprived of access to the church’s most precious resources: theological training, ongoing spiritual care, oversight and accountability, and corporate ownership of his ministry. Church-centered missions does not eliminate isolation, burnout, or false teaching. But with a church committed to fellowship, to offering spiritual care, and to equipping in doctrine, missionaries will have protections that God has designed for them to have.
Conclusion
Too often in missions today the church gets lost in the shuffle. Jesus’s Great Commission involves “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:20). Why does this work? It is the body of Christ, where believers assemble, qualified leaders teach and administer the ordinances, and accountable church members disciple one another and model authentic Christianity. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” The way he will do it is church-centered missions.
Notes:
- https://www.9marks.org/episode/on-church-centered-missions-vs-movement-driven-missions-pastors-talk-ep-183/.
- Mike Shipman, “Any-3: Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime” (Monument, CO: WIGTake, 2013), 15.
- https://dmmovements.net/en/Lesson%2012%20-%20Plan%20and%20Implement.pdf , quoted in Matt Rhodes, No Shortcut to Success: A Manifesto for Modern Missions (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2022), 81.
John Folmar and Scott Logsdon are coauthors of Prioritizing the Church in Missions.
Related Articles
5 Questions about the Local Church
Ultimately, the local church makes visible what is invisible, and reflects in words and deeds the kingdom life that is to come.
5 Questions Every Church Must Answer Before It Can Send Out Pastors and Missionaries
Your church will be ready to send out pastors and missionaries only when it can answer each of the following five questions with a loud and hearty, “Yes, and amen!”
Apologetics does not just entail defense. Apologetics can be used to show that Christianity is true and that all non-Christian worldviews are false.
The Origin and End of Missions
A missions-centered church recognizes that its mission begins with the Great Commission. Such a church doesn’t simply pay lip service to Jesus’s command to make disciples of all nations.
