Missional Churches
Our vision at BMA Global is to “plant new churches while simultaneously strengthening existing churches.” The apostle Paul certainly did this with the new churches planted on his missionary journeys by revisiting and writing to them.“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel” (Gal. 1:5). “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel” (Col. 1:5). “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them” (II Tim. 3:14).
It has been stated in many different ways, but do not forget that how you approach ministry (methods) can be determined by context, but what you do is determined by the Scriptures (message). A New Testament church is called to be biblically faithful and culturally relevant (I Cor. 9:19-23). The primary driving factor of what you do must never be personal preferences. Your church does not exist for you but rather for the honor and glory of God. The resources He has given you are not for yourselves but for His church and His glory. Revival, revitalization, church health and church planting are vitally important to advancing the gospel.
One pastor shared how God gave Him a new vision for His church, where he served, to be mighty in five areas — prayer, evangelism, disciple-building, the Word of God and in serving the Lord. Why revitalization? To make sure your church is faithfully following and serving Jesus. Why church planting? To be obedient to the Great Commission in looking for places that need a faithful gospel witness. The beauty of an association (fellowship) of churches is their ability to partner together in carrying out both of these God-ordained endeavors and God-sized mission.
The actions and activities seen in the early New Testament church demonstrate that they understood Christ’s expectations. Jesus told His disciples, “…As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). Maybe we have forgotten that the early church was already living on mission as they learned how to apply the theological teaching they received. Does our theology drive our missiology, or does our missiology drive our theology? The goal is not to debate the order but to lead us to completely embrace the truth that God, by His very nature, is a missionary God and then commit our lives to that mission.
In Comeback Churches, the authors remind us that “The wrong question is whether your church is ‘traditional’ or ‘contemporary’ and which is better. The real issue is whether your church is biblically faithful, acting as the presence of Christ in the community at large, able to relate Christ to people in culture and is on mission.” Quite often, the question of a local church is, “How big should we be before we consider planting another church?” or “How much reserve funds should we have if we are prayerfully considering planting a church?” While these may be important and well-intentioned questions, they are not the right ones.
In Church Planting Thresholds, Clint Clifton stated, “Here’s the right question: At what age and size is a church responsible to begin obeying the Great Commission in Matt. 28:18-20? The Great Commission is the duty of every church regardless of size, demographic or budget.” Am I saying you must immediately plant a new church? No, but I am saying every biblical church must be willing to do whatever is necessary to get healthy in order to further His kingdom through planting more gospel-advancing churches. Remember, the vision is starting new churches while simultaneously strengthening existing churches.
It begins by being mighty in prayer, then moves to being mighty in evangelism. Comeback Churches stated, “In its simplest form, the term ‘missional’ is the noun ‘missionary’ modified to be an adjective.” The purpose of the adjective is to help modify or describe the noun. Does missional describe who your church is and what you are doing? As a body of believers, are you functioning as missionaries in your community? Are you prayerfully considering what you, as a congregation, can do outside your church building and programs in order to build bridges to people who are far from God? Jesus said He came to seek and save the lost.
The issue of the North American context is that churches have failed to see where they live as a mission field. Many churches see missions as something they do in areas of spiritual darkness by focusing on highly unreached people groups. This kind of thinking has led to outreach strategies seen as evangelism here, and mission work there. The time has come to think as missionaries right here and right now. Begin praying, asking God to give you wisdom in how to reach the people in your zip code. There is a geographical bias that suggests the North American church has a home field advantage, but that is no longer the case.
Clint Clifton pointed out that another challenge is, “American churches have been far too busy with ministry to give much attention to mission.” The metric has become all about bodies, buildings and budgets. The Great Commission is the responsibility of every New Testament church regardless of its location. Are you willing to spend the time in prayer to discover what God’s plan is for your church to reach your local community? You agree that people need the Lord, but do you have a plan in place to intentionally reach them with the gospel? The local church is God’s tool to advance His mission here and around the world.
Are you actively training your people in the four P’s (Presence, Proximity, Powerlessness and Proclamation) of incarnational missions? Do you have a plan to evaluate and exegete your community properly? Need some resources to help? We would love to help, so please email me (larry@bmaam.org) or Heidi (heidi@bmaglobal.org) to request resources like How to Exegete Your Community and others!
100
Larry Barker
Director of Church Planting and Church Health Larry Barker submits a weekly column titled, Healthy Church Solutions, designed to strengthen and encourage the local church.
Other posts by
Larry Barker
Contact author