June 18th, 2010
A couple of quick thoughts on this:
Most church leaders have a vague idea that maybe their church could be doing better in missions ministry. But, there are a couple of obstacles they must overcome in order to begin to address development.
- Most church leaders have never had any instruction in church missions development. Specifically, no good teaching on how missions and ecclesiology fit together; nothing on the dynamic of managing and developing a volunteer organization aimed at broad-based mobilization of involvement in world evangelism and Great Commission discipleship; nothing on identification and training of missionary candidates within the local church; almost nothing on global missions strategy; and nothing on biblical principles of sound cross-cultural (or even same-culture!) missions ministry. So where does that leave our hapless church leaders? Clueless!!!!!
- Most church leaders have no objective perspective on evaluating their present church missions ministry. Biblically and sound-leadership-wise, it’s inappropriate to only gauge “how we’re doing” by comparing yourself with yourself. They don’t know how to quantify their “A” starting point. Leaders need an objective external measuring stick. An easy way is to check out Propempo’s Church Missions Profile.
- Most church leaders have been content to let the missions geeks handle all the missions stuff in the church without any specific boundaries or parameters on how to do it or where to go. So they have no “B” destination point. Thus, most churches presently have a shotgun approach and don’t know how they got there or what to do to change it. They support a smattering of missionaries that have been related to a smattering of leaders and congregants in the past doing a smattering of types of ministry across a smattering of the globe. It does smatter!
So …. how does one get from “A” to “B”? First, one must, as objectively as possible, define what their “A” is in relation to a reliable external means of measurement. Leadership needs to agree on the unique direction and biblical principles defining the parameters of missions ministry within their unique local church. Then, one must prayerfully and studiously figure out what “B” should be. Finally, one must determine a reasonable plan and intermediate objectives to move the whole church from “A” to “B” with maximum growth and minimum casualties.
Ah, Propempo can help you do that! Give us a call or email: David (at) Propempo.net
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May 1st, 2010
It seems that teaching English as a visa-entry-platform is waning. Developing countries seem to want business majors or sciences & engineering majors who also speak English, rather than English majors who aren’t able to development business, research, and employment.
Surely there is a good place for specialists in each creative access country to learn and utilize special relationships, “insider” administrative process information, and market studies to help wannabe business people to get started. A developed portfolio of market conditions and opportunities, legal requirements and approval tracks, financial instruments and institutions, employment policies and practices, etc. would be of immense help in fast-tracking quality business start-ups. A similar resource person in originating (or “sending”) countries would be a mirror partner.
Where are these people? Why doesn’t such a Christian Chamber of Commerce resource person exist? Isn’t this a worthy and strategic appointment for the advancing the cause of Christ?
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April 20th, 2010
Churches often ask what priorities they should use to determine who and how much to support cross-cultural missions. The answer can be complex, dependent on a number of variables. Among those variables:
- the church’s understanding of the Gospel
- the church’s biblical definition of missions
- the church’s lineage of tradition and connectedness to missions
- the pressing issues of the day, time, era, location, network
Usually I default to helping them understand a simple graph.
A prospective missionary ministry’s Relationship to the church is the Y-axis
Ministry Priorities form the X-axis
Graphing the wannabe or already-is supported missionary on the graph helps determine how much he/she/they/it gets in support.
It determines arcs or areas of priority for funding guidance.
- pioneer evangelism and first-generation-Christian discipleship/training where access to the Gospel is the lowest (e.g. unreached people groups of the 10-40 Window), including Bible translators and Gospel-proclaiming development work in those areas
- indigenous church planting among unreached people groups and the training of those indigenous church leaders (note: this does NOT include support of “nationals” who remain in the home community as pastors who should be supported by their own people; it DOES include “nationals” who are pioneer church planters in places away from their home community)
- leadership training and development, including formal (Bible schools, seminaries) and informal training (TEE, BEE, itinerate modular training, etc.)
- support ministries for the above; e.g. – field leaders, administrators, pilots, mechanics, MK school teachers, curriculum development, publishing, construction, computer technology support, etc.
- local outreach ministries – Christian camp, Christian radio, local soup kitchen & thrift store (WITH a Gospel proclamation element), local literature, neighborhood and campus evangelism outreach
- generic community development – water well drilling, rural/agricultural development work, disaster relief, home office line staff (administrative assistants, finance office, etc.)
The closer a prospect is to the origin (0, 0 point), the more funding they get. A person who grew up in the church, personally owns the church’s doctrine, philosophy of ministry, and ethos, who also has the character, competence, and conviction for the prospective ministry, AND is targeting the focus and highest priority ministry gets the most funding — whether that’s determined to be a dollar amount or a percentage of support requirement. The person who has no relationship to the church at all and has no natural reason to be in the area except for fund-raising gets nothing. Even a home-grown missionary who is well=liked but is doing a 5th or 6th level priority get little funding. The sweet spot for the highest financial support is that individual or family who has proven their ministry and calling through long-term active association with the church and has been guided by the church leadership into a ministry of highest priority.
Your servant in God’s grace,
David
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January 11th, 2010
How slowly and quietly, almost imperceptibly, the Modern Church drifts away from biblical moorings! The winds of change bear along a light fog of uncertainty growing to an enveloping cloud of doubt. The loosened ties of Bible teaching have fallen away to popularist issue-oriented series. The discipline of disciple-making evaporates before the therapy of affinity groups. Marketing energy replaces shepherding. Equipping the saints is a lighthouse growing evermore distant because the Modern Church isn’t comprised of believers; the sail is set to capture the wind, chasing wind, ratcheting up efforts to more and more efficiently lure wind. So it is that our times see more churches than ever sinking beneath the currents of debt, driven to and fro along a consumerism mentality, and smashing upon the reefs of of personality-worship. Modern Churches are not longer able to call “all hands on deck”, because the true experienced sailors and officers have long-since abandoned the shell of the Modern Church.
Ah, maybe my rambling metaphor is turned around. Perhaps it is that the Modern Church is forever stuck at the dock and a biblical church is able to navigate and launch into the deep. … another day, another blog.
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December 18th, 2009
Every year around this season I take extra time to do a gut-check evaluation of myself: What are my priorities?, What am I becoming?, What would be said at my funeral?, How would others view my character?
So, more than a dozen years ago, I penned this little “poem” to describe the kind of man I want to become. Every year I should be a little more like this description. If not, then I have to make some corrections. Is so, then I can continue to pursue this illusive portrait.
Here it is:
==============
The Man I Want To Be
As I peer into the distance,
I can almost see The man I want to be.
That man: is true to himself and true to God’s Word.
In his presence is serenity yet intensity of purpose.
Deep within his calm resolve flames a fervent spirit.
That man: introduces grace and truth to every experience,
Provides his family with love, laughter, and contentment,
Embraces effective prayer as his constant companion.
That man: has unshakable confidence in God’s Providence.
And, somehow, he seems to really understand
How Today fits into Forever.
That’s the man I want to be.
===================
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December 17th, 2009
There are, perhaps, a hundred different facets by which the Incarnation and missions may be connected. Let’s think of a few, at least, to stir our imaginations:
- – Jesus made a huge cross-cultural move from heaven to earth; missionaries cross cultures for the sake of the Gospel.
- – Many of God’s promises and plans were fulfilled in Christ’s advent; God’s promise and plan of salvation is fulfilled through the personal proclamation of missionaries’ ministries.
- – In the incarnation, Christ entered this enemy-occupied planet; in deployment, missionaries often enter oppressive, even threatening, environments for the Gospel.
- – Jesus is the greatest gift to mankind; missions brings that greatest gift to unreached people.
- – Jesus came as the light of the world; we are to be a light to the world
- – The manner, motivation, and means is the same: Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, so send I you.”
- – Jesus gave His life away to provide the Good News; missionaries give their lives sacrificially to proclaim the Good News.
- – Christ came as a baby & subjected Himself as a child to learn language, culture, etc. in order to identify with people; ah, that’s what missionaries do to be able to identify, communication, and share the Gospel.
- – Christmas was planned by God for humanity; missions is also planned by God using us as His means to take the Gospel to all peoples.
- – Both the Incarnation and missions are a fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant.
- – Missionaries have the joy of attending the new birth of people into God’s family.
- – Mary had an attitude exemplary to missionaries, “I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to Your word.”
Merry Christmas
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October 27th, 2009
Ecclesiology and BIBLICAL Missiology have a kind of “symbiotic” relationship. Biblical Missions is both the means of planting local churches and natural product of biblical local church ministries. At the same time, local churches are the means by which the work of missions is done and the end result of biblical missions ministry. Worship of our preeminent Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the glory of God is the ultimate end (– an affirmative nod to our friend, John Piper). Edification, equipping, and evangelism are principal instrumental means in the process.
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October 2nd, 2009
Of the significant doctrines of the Word of God and the Christian faith, two of the most practical are: ecclesiology (the study of the church) and missiology (the study of missions). Understanding these two teachings and how they relate to each other provides the framework for all ministry. A biblical understanding of the church affects the daily life and practice of believers everywhere.
Unfortunately, a biblical ecclesiology has been largely abandoned by the American church (and missions) in favor of market- or consumer-driven, “church-growth” models. Seminaries and Bible schools focus on strategic planning and demographic research more than biblical principles and goals. The assumption, reflecting American culture and values, is that bigger is better. By the way, this assumption is biblically and spiritually untenable. Nearly all seminarians dream of, somehow, starting in a small church and growing it into a mega-church. If they can’t do that, they’ll settle for the stepping stone approach until they end their glorious career in mega-church-land. These trajectories don’t produce satisfying or biblically sound results. When churchmen discover that church is for believers, it’s like a new revelation. Worship is for believers; teaching is for believers; equipping is for believers; fellowship is for believers. No major facet of the regular local church corporate meetings is biblically designed to target unbelievers.
Now “missions” is not typically covered in any theology classes. Usually, it is relegated to fanatic fringe people. Yet, missions is a core purpose of the church. Apart from missions, the church need not exist on earth. Biblically sound and solid local churches are the goal of missions; and, missions is the goal of biblically sound and solid local churches.
If evangelism is not the activity of the local church’s regular meetings, then how is evangelism accomplished? Evangelism is the product of the church’s meetings and the activity of the church’s people away from the corporate meetings. Is it OK for a church service to be evangelistic? Absolutely! The church needs to model, teach, and proclaim the Gospel in everything it does. But a diet comprised exclusively of appeals to be saved is not what feeds believers.
Missions and evangelism happen out in the nonbelieving world. Personal witness and testimony through relationships are powerfully used by the Spirit to draw people to Christ. The ultimate goal is NOT to develop a huge church; rather, the ultimate goal is to develop believers who will faithfully form biblical, reproducing churches.
When we get our ecclesiology and missiology straight, our churches will grow strong and deep resulting in a brilliant Gospel impact in our communities and our world.
Tags: ecclesiology, local church, missiology, missions
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July 31st, 2009
It’s a real joy to watch the lights go on for a church in missions. All of a sudden, it seems, God puts together elements of people, awareness, doctrine, action, conviction, and practice to bring about new direction, vision, and joyful progress. As the church wrestles with this new sense of direction and purpose, they also must deal with managing change.
A natural catastrophe can generate radical change in a group’s culture; and, a radical change in a group’s culture can generate a natural catastrophe. Change must be managed! The internal culture or ethos of an organization has a certain inertia, some more and some less, that is actually healthy. The questions and potential obstacles are not barriers so much as they are teaching opportunities. But it takes time to teach and for learners to learn. People don’t resist change so much as they resist being changed. “I like change. Go ahead: You first.”
So, leaders must nurture and shepherd change to have minimum whiplash and spillage. Communicate! Be vulnerable about the rationale and potential weaknesses. But don’t give up on a God-given, open-discussion-tested, information rich, heart felt consensus about new direction. Leaders probably didn’t arrive at the new direction or vision conviction overnight; so don’t expect the flock to do so either. Walk them through the steps of your thinking. Help them accelerate on the on-ramp to the superhighway of direction to a new destination. Pray! Then, go for it.
Change inevitably rattles some. You may have fallout. Well-guided, well-informed people, given a chance to participate and even be in on the formative stages of new direction, generally get behind the new initiative and support it. Change doesn’t even seem like change so much, when folks have been involved in the decision process.
Reaching the unreached? Adopting a people group? Developing missionaries from your own congregation? — all these unquestionably bring God glory in line with His will. So, go for it! But, manage the change with prayer, wisdom, communication, involvement, information, and teaching.
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