Introduction
Speaking about Missions in the Local Church is speaking about somthing that should be self-evident. The Swiss theologian Emil Brunner has written that the Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning. William A. Dyrness elaborates this by stating that “theology consists primarily of reflection on mission. This is true on the most basic level: the most highly developed theological statements, those of the Apostle Paul, were forged in the context of the first expansion of the Church.” This leads Dyrness to stating that “mission lies at the core of theology . . . all that theologians call fundamental theology is mission theology.”
No wonder that theology, and through it the church will be led astray when it is disconnected from its roots; that is mission. We might conclude that theology and church-life which does not further Missions is void and unattractive and endangered to become false.
If this is so fundamental it cannot surprise that mission is also the main theme developed in Scripture. As our topic concerns missions and the Church, we want to explore briefly some biblical data on these two subjects
I. Missions according to the Bible
Normally, when we ask christians where in the Bible we find an emphasis on missions, nine out of ten will point to Mt.28 or Act.1:8. But there can be no doubt that those references are not just incidental, they are expressions of a trend that can be traced back in the Old Testament.
H.A. Wiersinga pointed out that it is significant that over and over again the New Testament appeals to the Old Testament when it talks about mission.
Paul justifies reaching out to the heathens by quoting Es. 9:6 in Acts.13:46,47. In Rom.15:8-12 he shows that God's focus has always been on all humanity by quoting from the Psalms, Samuël, Deuteronomy and Isaiah. And when he comes to expressing his explicit desire to preach to those who never heard the Gospel before (vss.20,21), he finds support for this longing in Is.52:15. If we consider Paul's mission work exemplary, we must make sure that our work is rooted in the OT.
But not just Paul, we find others in the NT who draw from the OT concerning Missions. So does James during the Apostles Convent in Acts 15:14-18. And last but not least, Jesus Himself explains to the disciples from Emmaus that not only His suffering and His Resurrection were predicted by the OT, but also the fact that this message must be taken to all nations is in accordance with "what is written", Lk.24:44-47. We do not know what OT data Jesus used in His little Bible-Study to these men; was Gen.12, Ps. 67, Jonah, He had a wide choice! Starting from Genesis, the whole OT testifies univocally to Israel's Call to be a blessing to the nations.
II. The Church according to the Bible
If there was a clear missionary task for Israel, it is only to be expected that the church has a similar calling. In the New Testament era, the church plays a most important, global role.
A. The importance of the Church
Alfred Kuen's book on the Church, Je bâtirai Mon Église, starts out by showing that the Church is:
Important to God:
- Christ said that He would build His Church and that it will never be destroyed by evil forces (Mt.16:18)
- Christ loved the Church and sacrificed Himself for her.
- Through the Church the eternal wisdom of God is proclaimed in the heavenly places (Eph.3:10)
- The Church is God's household (1Tim.3:15)
Important to us:
- It is through the channel of Church history that we got to know the Gospel.
- The Church was intended to be the place where God's children can enjoy fellowship with "family-members" and where they can flourish and be nurtured spiritually (Eph.4:11-15). With reason Ignatius of Antioch accuses those who do not participate in the church of pride (his letter to the Ephesians 5:2. Solitary religion is unthinkable to the early christians.
B. False conceptions of the Church
God could have hardly given higher privileges to the church, but in spite of that we see in church history that Satan has succeeded in planting in the mind of christians an overestimation of the church. This developed in such a way that the Roman Catholic Church stated that there would be no salvation outside of the Roman Mother-Church.
The overestimation by Catholics led to an underestimation on the side of protestants. Instead of stressing the fact that conversion means being born into God's family, protestants (and evangelicals in particular) stressed salvation as an affair of the individual. These conceptions led to different missionary approaches. The way the local Church is conceived determines the role and strategy of the missionary on the field.
Both conceptions can get out of balance. But to us, Evangelical European christians, the underestimation of the importance of the Church is the disease we are most susceptible to.
In many cases it has led to organising the missionary enterprise around a certain individual with a special call. As this individual had his personal support-group, he conducted his work in order to convert individuals rather than aiming at the establishment of churches.
IF WE SEND OUT MISSIONARIES WITHOUT A SOLID ECCLESIOLOGY, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WEAKNESS OF THE CHURCHES THEY PLANT
C. The biblical position of the Church: ‘intensive and extensive.’
This is not the place to work out an ecclesiology as such, but let us just state in summary that the Church has an inward function and an outward function. H. Berkhof calls this duality intensive and extensive:
1. Inwardly the Local Church is the place where christians worship God and get spiritually nurtured. This is what is mainly exposed in Paul's writings.
2. Outwardly the Local Church serves as a centre for evangelism and missionary outreach. This is found in the Book of Acts.
Both aspects need a well-organised structure. In order to accomplish this the local Church-community needs, on the inward-side a meeting place, church-bulletin, time-table for those to preach, schedule for those members to pay a pastoral visit, sunday-school program, good management of money-matters etc. etc.
These are all important things, but again the danger exists of getting out of balance. In what follows we are going to stress especially the danger of being too inward-bound.
In order to avoid one-sidedness, it needs to be said that we do not want to fall into the same trap as did the study-report of the World Council of Churches, published in 1967, entitled: The Church for others. This report was mainly influenced by Dutch theologians like A.A. van Ruler and J.C. Hoekendijk and went too far by stating: "It is the world that must be allowed to provide the agenda for the churches."
This led the ecumenical movement to become more like a social aid agency in the sixties and like a political pressuregroup in the seventies. Berkhof summarized this development in his and concludes that the Church's service to the world depends on her relationship with God. The church first responsibility is to cherish this fellowship with her Lord, so that He can give her what she can pass on to the world.
But having said that, we notice that the inward-aspect is the one church members are most concerned about. The church-leadership will be tempted to give most of their time and energy to this aspect. If not, the members will start complaining for not receiving enough nurture and care.
In his concise book entitled Church and Missions Alive, Samuel Stoesz rightly remarks "that the lost do not complain if they remain unreached", and he adds that "a church tends to drift away from, never toward evangelism or missions" (p.38).Therefore if the inward-aspect needs a well thought-through structure, that applies even more to the the outward-side.
As the inward-aspect concerns every church-member, the same should be true for the outward-aspect. Kenneth Strachan compared fast-growing movements and concluded that one principle semed to underlie all other factors: "The expansion of any movement is in direct proportion to its success in mobilizing its total member-ship in continuous propagation of its beliefs" (Stoesz, 38v).
It must be sensed by all members of a local church that everyone has a part to play in a multinational endeavour. This gives an obligation, but it also can be a reason for a feeling of contentment. Just like we Dutch are proud of our national airline, because it operates well internationally, so there can be contentment in a tiny little village-church through the awareness of being part of a world-wide enterprise.
The question to be answered then is: How to mobilize all individual members for the Global Task?
III. Doing missions in a local Church
A. Christians need to understand their position
Howard Snyder worked this out during the first Lausanne Congress and showed the exciting fact that the church does effect the world and the heavenly regions, as Paul shows especially in the letter to the Ephesians. But the average christian is not aware of the great implications of his christian living. He does not see the effects and for that reason he cannot get enthusiastic about it.
Imagine Mr. So-and-So working in the Rolls Royce factory in England. When people ask him what work he is doing, he can answer: My work is putting pieces of iron in a corner on a factory-site. This answer never impresses people and it does not give him a sense of contentment.
The reaction is totally different when he answers that he is involved in the production of Rolls Royces. When he answers that, he cannot help but feel a little proud and he is better motivated to do a good job the next day. A good director of a company will make sure that alle workers have a sense of producing an important product. So does good church-leadership make sure that each and every church member is aware that we are part of God's Strategy in Human History (title of an excellent book by R.T.Forster and V.P.Marston).
The community should hear regularly that the church is made for world-wide outreach.
B. A central Task Force needs to be set up.
This is just another way of saying that a committee needs to be installed, but this wording (which I owe to Stoesz) sounds more active and is therefore more accurate. Its task will be to further missions-awareness.
There is the real danger that the moment a committee is formed, all other members will think that they are not actively needed any more. The main purpose of the Central Task Force should be to achieve the opposite: to make sure that every church member becomes connected to the missionary enterprise.
The seize of the committee should fit proportionally to the seize of the local community, but if possible, people of different age-groups and from both sexes should be involved.
Ideally this Task Force is interlinked with the Leadership-team, the Youth Group, the Men's group etc.
The Central Task Force will have to write a Local Church Policy that, among others: – prevents decisions based on personality or momentary whims – defines responsibilities of church, missionary and the mission agency
This committee will be in contact with the denomination's missions headquarters, and/or with other organisations. Members of the Task Force can divide the responsibilities so that all following aspects are given attention by at least one member.
C. The church must become globally active.
In order to achieve this the following actions need to be taken:
1. Pray
The church must learn how it can Touch the World through Prayer. This is the title of Wesley L. Duewel's very instructive book. Innumerable and strongly motivating are the stories from the mission-field about what God can do in answer to prayer.
It is of the greatest importance that prayer for missions is not relegated to a prayer-group only. It should be normal that mission is an integral part in all different meetings; for youth, elderly members, or whoever meets. Especially the sunday worship-service is crucial, for it is the only moment that all members are gathered at one place.
2. Inform the church about the world-scene
Regularly the community should get information on global developments. This can be transmitted through reports during the service and through the church-bulletin. One of the best comprehensive sources of information is Patrick Johnstone's Operation World.
3. Inform the church about missionaries.
Missionaries prayer-letters are essential reading. Correspondence with the people on the field assures accurate and up-to-date information. In the NT we see that Paul considered it important to inform the churches about his doings and he implored them to use that information for prayer.
4. Care for missionaries on the field
A mature and reliable link person should be appointed to assure that the church is aware of the needs of a certain missionary. Together with the Special Task Force, this person can make sure that the community will let a missionary concretely experience its care.
5. Care for missionaries on Home Assignment
Most missionaries have a rather heavy workload during their time 'home'. It is very important that the local church "protects" the missionaries for too much activity.
Give them time to relax, to get used emotionally to living in their own country again, because they have gotten alienated from it and need to re-adjust.
Give them time to get used to their own church.
6. Set up a Mission Budget
“A church member told a mission strategist: 'I find it difficult to pray for mission – my heart isn't in it'. The reply came: 'Get your cheque book out and write out a hefty sum to any mission that catches your attention. Then you'll begin to pray – because Jesus said: 'Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also!" (Illustration from InterAction's Information Leaflets)
The Church should be given a sound biblical basis for giving.
The NT gives clear indications of the financial care that christians gave to fellow-christians in other places, see for example Acts 11:27-30 and 2Cor.8 and 9. A good example concerning a certain missionary's financial support from a particular local church is given in Phil.4:10-19.
Without going into details, we want to stress that the above illustration is not just applicable to individuals. The same is true for the local church-body. The handling of the finances shows its priorities.
7. The local church should actively try to recruit new missionaries within its community
We have stated before that the church is God's model for reaching the world. Nothing (money, teaching, conferences) is enhancing mission-awareness more than the sending of people of flesh and blood of the own community into the world. Nevertheless this seems to be one of the most neglected areas in the mission's program of local churches.
The church should pray fervently to be able to send gifted people. This means that young people and not only they,. should get a change to try out their gifts in leading bible studies and sermons. It means that the church will try to help finance special studies, if necessary.
A few weeks ago I was speaking to an interdenominational group of students coming from different universities in the Netherlands. I challenged them to consider if they might be called by God to go to the mission field. When time for questions was given, some seriously interested students expressed that their local church was expected to be a main obstacle instead of a main supporter for their vision for mission!
Recruitment of missionaries should be one of our top priorities, because people is the greatest "treasure" we can supply. And "where our treasure is, there our heart will be also!”Rev. Arie Verduyn is chairman of the Executive Committee of the AWF since 2004. Before he served as director of CAMA-Zending, an independent missionary sending agency in the Netherlands (1992-2004). He did his theological studies in Belgium and at the "Freie Theologische Akademie" in Germany. From 1981 till 1991 he taught in Congo, Africa (former Zaire) at Theological Institutes in Boma and Kinshasa. Arie and his wife Jansje have five children.
IV. Conclusion
We started out by stating that there should be an intrinsic relationship between the church and missions. This will be the case, if the church is tuned to Spirit of God. Therefore, underlying all things proposed in this study should be a deep longing for seeing God's priorities accomplished through us. Bowing down before Him, will make the way free for His Spirit to get us into action. Then all the necessary will be done joyfully and the general principle will be experienced:
The church that seeks to bless, will be blessed!
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About the author:
Arie Verduijn lives in his home country, the Netherlands, where he was born in 1953. He was elected as President of the Alliance World Fellowship in 2004. His deep desire is to see Churches of the Christian & Missionary Alliance from every nation collaborate in reaching those who have not yet heard the Gospel. Verduijn has been ministering in many countries and is involved in missions’ projects on different continents.
From 1992 till 2004 he was director of CAMA-Zending, a Dutch sending agency related to the Christian and Missionary Alliance. During this period he served on the board of the Dutch Evangelical Missionary Alliance and taught at the Evangelische Theologische Hogeschool. He still teaches at theological institutes in the Netherland. From 1981 till 1991 he lived with his family in Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he taught at two Theological Schools (1981-1991). He was ordained as Alliance pastor in 1985. In the seventies Arie studied in Belgium, Germany and France. Arie Verduijn is married to Jansje; they have five children, four of them are married.[/one_third_last]