BT Staff / Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Put The Shoe on The Other Foot

By Charlie Costa, BMA Global MENA (Middle East & Northern Africa) Missions Coordinator

The intent of this column is not to teach or preach — we do plenty of that in our churches. The purpose is to challenge our thinking and cause us to think about some long-held convictions, beliefs or ideas. That is not necessarily a call to change. It may deepen those convictions, but it may also cause us to change. My personal email will be at the end of the column. Please feel free to disagree and express your view. Let’s reason together. We will both come out richer at the end.

I am very much convicted about our middle name — Baptist Missionary Association. I thought maybe some reflection is in order on the matter. What does it say about us? Is it a true reflection of our purpose and modus operandi?

As we begin to examine the word “missionary” as an acrostic, the M stands for “Motivated.” True missionary spirit is measured by the level of involvement at the local church level. What motivates your church? Your motivation will drive your missionary spirit. Here are some challenges that can hinder our missionary spirit — not necessarily in order of importance:

• Lack of information about the different mission fields — There is very little effort on the part of the local church to keep its people informed about what is happening on the BMA Global mission fields. Most churches expect missionaries to contact them, and then (after a love offering) it’s over. In my lifetime, I have seen few BMA churches that keep updated bulletin boards with maps and the pictures of missionaries or their newsletters available in a prominent place in the church. If our real purpose is to reach the world, we should display the information about our missionary efforts prominently, from the local and state levels to worldwide missions.

There are opportunities via BMA Global, our state papers and especially the Spotlight on Missions column in the Baptist Trumpet that can help provide the local church with information directly from the mission field. If a church is a motivated missionary-minded (as per our name) church, they will take the initiative to find out what’s going on rather than wait for information to come their way. Missionaries needing to stay stateside to raise funds is a sign of our failure as an association of churches. Think about it for a moment.

• Often changing church leadership — Pastors do move quite often. That is a fact. What happens is that the pastor is the one who knows the missionary or about the missionary, and when he moves, so does the information. The core problem is that the information is never shared or communicated. Pastors forget. Good intentions are not in question, but intentions never bring souls into the fold or fulfill the purpose of what brought us together as an association. Pastors are entrusted to educate their people on missions, and when they feel inadequate for that purpose, they can bring in a missionary or a missions director.

• Misplaced church priorities — I am amazed how many small churches have been saving money for a building program when their numbers do not fill their current facility. Or how many churches have emergency (rainy day) funds set aside. Did the Lord call us to build buildings or share the gospel? Is the Lord unable to take care of His church in an emergency situation? I am not saying these are unimportant issues, I am just asking what’s the priority of your church? Let me ask it another way — what will you offer the Lord when he returns, “Behold the children… or behold the bank book, or the facility we can never fill”? “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, …” (I Peter 4:17). Does that say anything to you?

• Bad governance and stewardship — If we believe other churches agree with us on the doctrinal and associational principles, which is the base for our cooperation, whenever a decision is going to be made, it should be based on these principles and sound governance practices in faithfulness to God and the principles of cooperation. Autonomy is not a license for any decision I so choose. I Cor. 10:23 speaks to this matter: “All things are lawful for me (autonomy), but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. (recognizing sound practices).” I am afraid we use autonomy as an excuse for any decision we want to make, irrespective of how sound or appropriate. Autonomy is not a license for mismanagement, bad governance, skewed stewardship and political scheming. Autonomy assumes, inherently, responsibility. It assumes a right set of priorities based on Scripture. Some have taken autonomy to mean that the local church can decide on things that have already been mandated by Scripture. A church need not vote on “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

• Lack of proper understanding of what associational work means — Choosing to work together is an autonomous decision by every church who understands that together we are stronger and more effective. We convey trust in the other churches as a true expression of associational work. Associational work is a group of churches choosing to work together based on sound biblical principles and proper governance practices for the greatest impact possible for the glory of God. It also means that when we elect people to certain positions of responsibility, after they are deemed qualified by what we call today a Nominating Committee, we need to trust them to do the work we have selected them to do. If they are not trustworthy, don’t elect them. If they are trustworthy, don’t tie their hands but hold them accountable. Associational work means the willingness to review our practices and policies to always meet the highest standard possible. If the world seeks high standards, how much more should the church? Looking at the lack of interest in our associational meetings and the bleed in attendance annually at the national meeting is proof of all this.

Are we willing to admit that these are but some of the challenges that hinder us as churches from being truly motivated Missionary Baptist churches? I hope that being motivated will launch an honest open discussion on why our association is fragmented in many ways, each has their own understanding of what mission work is and how we can be motivated to come together and make a difference for the sake of Christ.

A BMA pastor recently said to me that he was involved in another Baptist denominational work for a few years before coming back to the BMA, “I love the BMA, but I loved the associational spirit in the other denomination and how churches rallied together to fulfill their biblical mandate.” Sobering words. The intent of this column is not to teach or preach — we do plenty of that in our churches. The purpose is to challenge our thinking and cause us to think about some long-held convictions, beliefs or ideas. That is not necessarily a call to change. It may deepen those convictions, but it may also cause us to change. My personal email will be at the end of the column. Please feel free to disagree and express your view. Let’s reason together. We will both come out richer at the end.

As we examine Missionary, we begin with the M standing for “Motivated.” True missionary spirit is measured by the level of involvement at the local church level. What motivates your church? Your motivation will drive your missionary spirit. Here are some challenges that can hinder our missionary spirit — not necessarily in order of importance:

You have opportunities via BMA Global, our state papers and especially the Spotlight on Missions column in the Baptist Trumpet that can help provide the local church with information directly from the mission field. If a church is a motivated, missionary-minded (as per our name) church, they will take the initiative to find out what’s going on rather than wait for information to come their way. Missionaries needing to stay stateside to raise funds is a sign of our failure as an association of churches. Think about it for a moment.

• Often changing church leadership — Pastors do move quite often. That is a fact. What happens is that the pastor is the one who knows the missionary or about the missionary, and when he leaves, so does the information. The core problem is that the information is never shared or communicated. Pastors forget. Good intentions are not in question, but intentions never bring souls into the fold or fulfill the purpose of what brought us together as an association. Pastors are entrusted to educate their people on missions, and when they feel inadequate for that purpose, they can bring in a missionary or a missions director.