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William Carey Works with One of the Indian Christians Converted See Carey, Page 12 Under His Ministry Fall 2011 andWilliam the practical Carey nature of missions By Sam Masters “The water of life is free, but building the pipeline is costly.” Many years ago a senior missionary said this to me. At first it struck me as odd, but I have come to agree. Missions is costly in many ways. It requires significant financial commitment, but more than that, it requires that people give their very lives. Sons and daughters must be relinquished to follow where the Lord would lead them. Parents must be left behind. As the years have gone by, it has become clear to me that the idea rings true in another way. The analogy of missions to building a pipeline gets at the practical side of the task. Plans must be drawn up. Tools must be gathered. And the work must be done energetically and persistently. The Practical Side of Missions in Acts Missions requires sustained efforts of a practical nature. Take the book of Acts for example. It is, of course, the story of how Christ’s church spread by the power of the Spirit from Jerusalem to the ends of the known world. It contains a collection of apostolic messages that serve as models for our William Carey works with one of the Indian Christians converted See Carey, page 12 under his ministry. Inside: Creating problem Preaching on the other side of the Church planting report. PAGE 14 dependency in missions. PAGE 3 world. PAGE 4 ARBCA Update n ARBCA Update Vol. 28, No. 4 Fall 2011 Phone: (717) 249-7473 Fax: (717) 258-0614 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.arbca.com Editor: Scott Swanson E-mail: [email protected] Circulation: Circulation requests may be sent by e-mail to [email protected] or to the address below. Contributions to defray the costs may be sent to ARBCA Update, P.O. Box 289, Carlisle, PA 17013. The Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America is Grace Baptist Church, Jackson, MS a nonprofit organization registered in the Commonwealth of Grace Baptist Church, Papillion, NE Grace Baptist Church, Taylors, SC Pennsylvania. The purpose of this association is to advance Grace Bible Church, Catawissa, PA Christ’s kingdom by providing a fellowship in which churches of Grace Community Church, Brunswick, ME common confession may find mutual encouragement, assis- Grace Covenant Baptist Church, New Waverly, TX tance, edification, and counsel, and may participate in coopera- Grace Covenant Church, Gilbert, AZ tive efforts such as home missions, foreign missions, ministerial Grace Covenant Church, Olmstead Township, OH Grace Fellowship Church, Bremen, IN training and publications — all of which are often beyond the Grace Fellowship Church, Dover, DE scope of one local church. Grace Reformed Baptist Church, East Haven, CT Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Elkader, IA Administrative Council Officers Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Merrick, NY Pastor Fred Pugh, Chairman Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Pine Bush, NY Pastor Jon Hueni, Secretary Pete Van Dorn, Treasurer Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Placerville, CA ARBCA Coordinator: Gordon Taylor Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Rockford, IL Heritage Baptist Church, Worcester, MA Member Churches Heritage Baptist Church, Owensboro, KY Berean Baptist Church, Austell, GA Heritage Baptist Church, Mansfield, TX Berean Reformed Baptist Church, Hickman, CA Heritage Baptist Church, Shreveport, LA Bible Baptist Church of Galway, NY Heritage Church, Fayetteville, GA Bible Fellowship Church of Greentown, PA Hope Assembly of Bible Christians, Mississauga, ON, Canada Centinela Baptist Church, Lawndale, CA Hope Reformed Baptist Church, Farmingville, NY Christ Reformation Church, Tillamook, OR Kemp Road Baptist Church, Dayton, OH Christ Reformed Baptist Church, Escondido, CA Miller Valley Baptist Church, Prescott, AZ Community Baptist Church, Fargo, N.D. Pioneer Valley Baptist Church, Chicopee, MA Cornerstone Church, Mesa, AZ Port Cities Reformed Baptist Church, Lewiston, ID Cornerstone Chapel, Bristol, TN Providence Reformed Baptist Church, University Place, WA Cornerstone Fellowship, Newburgh, IN Redeemer Baptist Church, Macon, GA Elm Street Baptist Church, Sweet Home, OR Redeeming Grace Baptist Church, Matthews, VA Emmanuel Baptist Church, Jesup, GA Reformed Baptist Church, Lafayette, NJ Ephesus Church, Rincon, GA Reformed Baptist Church of Kansas City, KS Free Grace Baptist Church, Bremerton, WA Reformed Baptist Church of Northern Colorado Faith Reformed Baptist Church, Media, PA Reformed Baptist Church, Virginia Beach, VA First Baptist Church, Clinton, LA Reibers Reformed Baptist Church, Shermansdale, PA First Church of Hixville, North Dartmouth, MA Santa Teresa Baptist Church, Santa Teresa, NM Free Baptist Church of Limerick, ME Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, Concho, AZ Free Grace Baptist Church, Chilliwack, B.C., Canada Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, Lenox, GA Free Grace Church, Lancaster, CA Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, Ontario, CA Grace Baptist Church, Bartlesville, OK Sycamore Baptist Church, East Moline, IL Grace Baptist Church, Ben Wheeler, TX Trinity Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, LA Grace Baptist Church, Carlisle, PA Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, Jackson, GA Grace Baptist Church, Chambersburg, PA Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, La Mirada, CA Grace Baptist Church, Commerce, GA Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, Mercer Island, WA Grace Baptist Church, Hartsville, TN West Suffolk Baptist Church, Suffolk, VA ARBCA Update 3 Commentary: ‘Come over and fix your roof’ By Gordon A. Taylor A year ago in this column I gave extensive quotes from Roland Allen’s book, “Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?” In that column I emphasized the need to expect that preaching the gospel will result in conversions and churches being built. But there is also another theme in Allen’s book that deserves special attention. Allen points out the danger of creating dependency. I have been reading through a book entitled “When Charity Destroys Dignity,” by Glenn Schwartz. There is one unforgettable story that vividly illustrates the danger of dependency. A team went from a church in North funding. It may, therefore, be difficult for and teach the people to give. It worked and America to build a building for a very the man paid with foreign money to receive in a short time this missionary had started poor congregation in Guyana. The team a hearing. 14 congregations without financial support bought all the supplies, did all the work Secondly, some local people may say, from the outside (Schwartz pp. 259-260). and provided a very fine building for the “I can’t be a missionary because I don’t get If dependency is to be avoided national church after three weeks of work. money from overseas.” Schwartz points there must be a basic conviction that Once the building was completed, they out that this is such a problem in India that the indigenous Christians are capable of presented the keys to the church leaders nonbelievers assume that if someone is a running their own church and programs. It and headed home. About two years went Christian, he is being paid from overseas. is this mindset that will help create a sense by and the church received a letter from this Thirdly, this takes the joy away from of ownership among the members of the indegenous church. the indigenous Christians of supporting and national church. This mindset will prevent It read, “The roof of your church sending out their own missionaries. outsiders beginning projects that cannot be building is leaking. Please come and fix it” But can they afford it? Yes, they can sustained by the local people. (Schwartz p. 239). Clearly, the indegenous if the national Christians are taught to tithe The local people must be given church did not take ownership of the and if they are given the freedom to make ownership from the very beginning. When building. their own decisions. that ownership is given new churches will Sometimes good intentions may cause For example, an African missionary be strong self-supporting, self-governing impediments to gospel outreach rather than was sent from his church in Nigeria to and self-propagating congregations be a help, as was intended. If it were only work in Tanzania. He was given an air making a significant impact for Christ in the matter of building buildings it would ticket and a small amount of money to get our world. be a small thing. But some missionary started. He was told that this was all the Gordon A. Taylor is coordinator for the methods create dependency and so hinder money the church had and he should expect Association of Reformed Baptist Churches gospel progress. no more. He would have to plant a church of America. One very attractive missionary method is to support “nationals” rather than sending a North American missionary. It sounds good because in some countries a “national” can be supported for as little as $50 a Future Updates to go paperless month. Many pastors and missionaries can Beginning with the Winter 2012 issue of the ARBCA Update, the newsletter will be supported and so the gospel will spread only be available in PDF format on our website (www.arbca.com). We are asking more widely and more quickly, will it not? member churches to either print the Update for distribution or forward the e-mail they But there are problems with this will receive, announcing that a new issue is available, to their membership list. Those method that affect the long-term growth who are not members of an ARBCA church are encouraged to send us your e-mail and stability of the indigenous church. address to request an e-mail notice from us with a direct link to our website whenever First, the person employed is often a new issue is available. Our e-mail address is: [email protected] seen as a “foreign agent” of those providing 4 ARBCA Update Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies Reformed Baptists on other side of world By Dr.
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