Understanding the Authority of the Sending Church
Completing the task of the Great Commission has always been a topic of conversation. How and when will the gospel be preached to every tribe, tongue, and nation? Acts 13:1-3 gives us our marching orders – this great task is to be the mission of the church. Each local sending church is tasked to send out its members to see churches planted in places untouched by the gospel. As we come into the modern era of missionary work, sparked by William Carey, we see missionary societies form to further propel this great work forward. Starting with the “New England Company” in 1649, churches started to pool their resources and partner together to be able to send out more missionaries. Enter the mission agency.
This new strategy in sending out missionaries primarily came from the United Kingdom. Notable agencies such as The Baptist Missionary Society (1792), the London Missionary Society (1795), and China Inland Mission (1865) all started within about 65 years. In 100 years, no less than 36 mission organizations started to see missionaries sent out around the world. We see these societies initially started along denominational lines – Baptists, Wesleyans, Presbyterians and Methodists all started organizations during this time. As we move into the 1900’s we continue to see mission organizations started, but without being tied to a particular denomination. Organizations like Wycliffe Bible Translators, Ethnos 360 and Send International all got started in this period.
However, it is during this period that we start to see a drift in how local churches are involved in this process. As mission organizations grew, they became self-governing and local churches became less involved. Now, instead of the local church being actively involved in the church-planting process, they were relegated to providing financial and prayer support, while doing a “hand-off” of sorts to the mission organization. As the mission orgs became experts in overseas work, the local church slowly lost touch, and both developed a new way of working together. Many church leaders felt ill-equipped to speak about the work their missionaries were doing, and some mission orgs ignored the local church's role and took on every aspect themselves.
Unfortunately, this has had lasting consequences. The average church today has low overseas missions involvement, and the churches that do prioritize overseas work often have little involvement in what their missionaries do on the field. The facts themselves confirm these consequences. According to The Traveling Team, there are about 400,000 missionaries in the world today (this includes Catholic & Protestant missionaries) with only 3.3% of those going to unreached areas. Considering that there are 78,000 evangelical Christians for every one unreached language group, the number of those going into cross-cultural work is very low. (1) When the leadership of a local church takes a back seat in this task, it slowly results in congregations that have little desire to personally be involved in the Great Commission.
What can be done to change this disparity? It has to be a combined effort from both local churches and mission organizations. For local churches – there has to be a new focus given to raising up young families & singles to go, properly vetting mission organizations, and being fully informed about the whole process. Only then can the leadership of the church provide continuing leadership, accountability, advice, support, and encouragement for the missionary they send out. This has to be driven first and foremost by the pastors, from the pulpit. When the leadership is united and passionate about something, the congregation will follow suit.
For mission organizations – there has to be a change in focus. It is the local church that sends, NOT the mission organization. The mission orgs role is to come alongside the church, providing leadership, resources & support on the field. Every mission organization says that they partner with the local church, now it’s time to actually do that. They must be intentional in inviting the leadership of local churches to be involved in the whole process and provide clear avenues to do it. The mission org must also recognize the authority God has given to local pastors, and that they do not give up that authority even when a missionary family is not physically present in the church.
As the Lord continues to build His church in 2021 and beyond, we see that both the church and mission organization continue to have vital roles to play. Mission organizations were started 300 years ago to see more people sent out to those who have never heard, and local churches were the joyful catalyst of this new strategy. To see God's mission completed, the church and the mission org must once again come together in biblical partnership, each understanding their role in this task of making disciples of all nations. When this happens, the Lord will bless obedience to scripture, and we will see many hear the good news of Jesus Christ! Soli deo Gloria!
(1) http://www.thetravelingteam.org/stats
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