From Medora Road to the World
MedoraCommunityBibleChurch
Missions Handbook
Revised January 2008
From Medora Road to the World
This is not a department in our church; this is what we do.
This is who we are; this is why we exist as a church.
We believe that the mandate given in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) is the responsibility of the local church. The Bible tells us how the early local church fulfilled that mandate.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Biblical Missions ...... 3
Biblical Philosophy of Missions ...... 5
MCBC Policy for Missions ...... 12
Criteria for MCBC Missionary Support ...... 15
Missions Department ...... 18
Financial Policies ...... 25
Appendixes ...... 28
Endnotes ...... 33
Introduction toBiblical Missions
LocalChurch Missions in Acts
The Book of Acts reveals explosive Gospel expansion. The time frame from the commissioning of the disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 to the forming of the first 120 believers as the church in Jerusalem was less than two months.1 In only a matter of a few days, this new 120-member church had swollen to over 3,100 believers and continued to expand.2
With the tremendous growth experienced by the church in Jerusalem also came fierce opposition. Discontentment from within the church moved the church to mobilize and organize for effective ministry (Acts 6:1-6). The opposition from without moved the church into the world. It was persecution that drove the believers from their cocoon in Jerusalem and scattered them abroad as witnesses to Judea, Samaria, and beyond—just as Jesus had said (Acts 1:8). As these witnessing believers scattered, the Gospel erupted with power (Acts 8:1-4).3 The fallout from this Gospel explosion created the birth of a new church in Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). Soon the maturing church in Antioch was called on by God to send men out to continue the mission of Gospel expansion by planting churches throughout the world (Acts 13-14).
The purpose of this handbook is to set forth a Biblical philosophy of missions for MedoraCommunityBibleChurch, hereafter referred to as MCBC. Because a strategy of missions (what will be done) grows out of a philosophy of missions (why and how it is done), a Biblical philosophy will be established to provide the foundation necessary to support a strategy that is Biblical, functional, and successful. The details for implementation of this philosophy are included in the missions handbook.
Terms Defined
Because the words “mission,”“missions,”“missionary,” and “church planting” mean different things to different people, the terms are to be understood in this handbook as follows:
Mission
Mission is the purpose of the ministry. It is the overall good the church is attempting to accomplish.4 Our church's mission is to see God glorified through making Christlike disciples.
Missions
Missions is the term that describes the program of ministry that sends forth mature believers to accomplish the ministry of reproduction.5 While the broad definition includes the reproduction of believers, the more narrow definition limits missions to the reproduction of and establishment of believers into a local church.
Missionary
A missionary is one who is sent from and supported by the local church to a defined area for the purpose of evangelizing the lost, maturing believers, planting New Testament churches, and supporting those who do these ministries.
Church Planting
Church planting describes both the process and the goal of a missionary's ministry of maturing believers, establishing national leadership, and forming a New Testament Church with the people in a given geographical area.
Indigenous
Indigenous describes a church which reflects the culture in which it is located, administrating and supporting its own life and outreach.
Parachurch
Parachurch is a ministry which compliments and works alongside a local church. This type of ministry works in areas where a local church is not able or is poorly equipped to do the job effectively.
BiblicalPhilosophy of Missions
I. The Underlying Reason for Missions (or The Premise for Missions)
The underlying premise behind this philosophy for missions is a conviction that the Bible not only clearly establishes the mandate for missions, but also sets forth the method for missions. Comparing the way missions is handled today with the way missions was handled in Acts, it becomes apparent that we have strayed from the pattern given in the Word of God for a local church’s missions strategy.
In many churches today, there is minimal involvement of the church with the missionary on the field and little (if any) accountability of the missionary to thelocal church. Sadly,the local church has delegated its responsibility of selecting and sending missionaries to missions sending agencies and left the burden of obtaining financial and prayer support to the missionary.
The missions philosophy and strategy presented in this chapterare taken from principles found in Acts 13-14. While understanding that there is room for flexibility in missions due to changing cultural and technological factors, the church at Antioch set a pattern that should be followed today.
II. The Foundational Principles
The following four principles are taken from the model of the church at Antioch and the unique relationship the Antioch church had with its first two missionaries, Paul and Barnabas. The process that the Antioch church followed with Paul and Barnabas was one through which God called and the church sent.
This model relationship provides the structure for a Biblical philosophy of missions.
A. The First Foundational Principle
The missionary is to be proven in the context of local church ministry prior to being sent.
The Antioch church was a ministering church. The thirteenth chapter of Acts opens with the identification of those who were faithful in the ministry of that church, among whom were Paul and Barnabas.6 It was in the midst of faithful ministry in their church at Antioch that Barnabas and Paul were “separated out” for missionary service.
It was in the context of the church in Antioch that Paul matured as a church leader, having been brought there by Barnabas (Acts 11:26). While in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas engaged in a teaching ministry for nearly a year, until they were entrusted to take relief money to the believers in Judea who were experiencing great famine (Acts 11:30). Paul and Barnabas continually proved themselves by faithfully doing the work of God in that church and city. As John Phillips writes:
“These were men who had labored in the Antioch church. They had seen souls saved there, they had proved themselves to be gifted evangelists, and they had demonstrated their ability to teach. . . . Under their ministry, the church had grown. Everybody knew them. They were loved, trusted, respected, and consulted.”7
It is the responsibility of the church to disciple the believers. When a church fails to train, equip, and then engage believers in ministry, the pool from which to harvest missionaries becomes virtually nonexistent. The church must then look outside its own ministry to find faithful missionary candidates whom they can support. Paul and Barnabas were not men looking for support from outside churches that did not know them, had never seen them before, and likely wouldnever see them again. These were men who had been proven through faithful ministry in their own local church.
MCBC will only send those who have a proven testimony in ministry (ITimothy 4:12; Acts 13:1-3). Our goal is that any missionary sent out by the church would first be involved in the ministry of the church. It is here that his heart for ministry is seen, his burden is felt, and his character is tested.
This will also allow the missionary to be known and loved because he is part of the church family.
B. The Second Foundational Principle
The missionary’s call will be confirmed by God to the local church.
It was obvious to the church in Antioch that God had His hand on Barnabas and Saul. The church had been seeking the Lord (“fasting”) and serving the Lord (“ministering”) (Acts 13:2).8 It is in such a climate that God chooses to work. The Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work of the ministry” (Acts 13:2).
The Holy Spirit will reveal His will to a God-seeking and Spirit-sensitive church body. “It is the responsibility of every local church (especially of its leaders) to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, in order to discover whom He may be gifting and calling.”9 Someone who is not recognized by a Spirit-led church as faithful, mature, and called should not pursue the mission field until others have a sense of God's calling on his life. It is essential that the church be faithfully praying for laborers and confirming those whom God has called.
One concern with modern missions is the way in which a missionary gets to thefield. There appears to be little, if any, true sending role of the local church. Wehave bred today an individual autonomy when it comes to the ministry of missions. If a man is called into missions, his church may take little financialresponsibility for him, leaving him dependent on the mission board system to care for him and provide him accountability. Sadly, the local church is left to function in a supporting role with little investment in the ministry of themissionary. This leaves the missionary on his own, which is not the Biblical pattern.
MCBC will send those who have worked in partnership with the church to confirm the call (Acts 13:2). It is not only essential that the missionary have a testimony in ministry, but that both he and the church are certain of his calling. The church leaders have the responsibility to seek laborers for the harvest. As God leads, missionaries will be raised from within the church or others who fit the criteria.
C. The Third Foundational Principle
The missionary is to be sent out by the local church.
Acts 13:3 reads: “And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” Convinced of the calling and the qualifications of the two men, the church commissioned them by the laying on of hands and sent them forth (v. 1-2). “The laying on of hands was the church’s commissioning of the two to missionary service. The remaining three (leaders) of the Antioch church laid their hands on the two missionaries as their Spirit-chosen substitutes to the regions beyond. It was a mark of confidence and fellowship.”10
Having been given the authority by God to carry out the Great Commission, the local church is to ensure that the work is done according to God's plan. The pattern is clearly church-centered, church-supported, and church-supervised. The missionary, who has been commissioned by a church, becomes the representative of that entire church. He is then able to extend the church's ministry far beyond where the church as a whole could minister.
Therefore, MCBC will send those who are like-minded in doctrine and philosophy (II John 10; Romans 16:17; II Thessalonians 3:14-15). Because the mission is that of reproduction, it is imperative that the right thing is reproduced. Having been involved in the ministry of the church, the missionary will have a firm grasp of both the church's philosophy of ministry and its pattern for ministry. Just as it is expected that the ministry leaders within the church be like-minded, so must the church-planting missionary also be like-minded.
MCBC will send those who will be involved in reproducing Bible-teaching New Testament churches and related ministries. While there are many good ministries in which a church could be involved, MCBC will primarily be involved in church-planting related ministries in which the goal is to glorify God, evangelize the lost, and edify believers to be Christlike disciples, and where local believers are trained for leadership to pastor their own churches.
Unfortunately, today, being sent out by a church typically means promised prayer and financial support. The church does not view the missionary as an extension of its ministry and the missionary does not view himself as anextension of that church. He is more identified with his mission board than his"sending" church. He is also more accountable to his mission board than his sending church. He is supported by numerous churches (with whom much time must be spent when back in the States) rather than by his “sending” church.
Sending in the Biblical sense involves more than sending one off to the work. It involves sending by equipping with what is needed for the missions task.
D. The Fourth Foundational Principle
The missionary is to return home to the ministry of the local church following periods of ministry on the field.
It becomes necessary for the continued vision of the church for the missionary to rehearse what God has done while he was ministering away from the body. In Acts 14:27-28, Paul and Barnabas returned to the church in Antioch to rehearse all that God had done. There is to be a continued tie with the missionary to the sending church. The return visit was for “a long time” (v. 28). This extended time back in Antioch indicates that continued ministry in the church had time to be accomplished. Time spent back with the missionary’s sending church allows the missionary to minister to the body, as well as for the body to minister to the missionary and his family.
III. The Defining Purpose
The purpose of missions in the church is to reproduce Christlike disciples who will be able to reproduce themselves and will be part of an indigenous church. This purpose finds its support from three foundational pillars.
A. The first foundational pillar that supports the missions purpose of the church is that God must be glorified.
Glorification involves our worship of God. The driving force behind every area of the ministry of the church (missions included) is to glorify God (Ephesians 1:5-6; 11-12; 3:21; I Corinthians 10:31). This not only affects what the church is trying to do, but also governs the means of how the church will accomplish it. This overriding purpose, when implemented, keeps the church from other methods and means that stray outside the clearly defined doxological principles given in the Bible.
B. The second foundationalpillar that supports the missions purpose of the church is that the lost must be evangelized.
Evangelization involves our witness to the world.11 Although evangelization is one part of the purpose, evangelization alone falls short of the Commission. The church has been given a charge to make disciples through instruction, training in doctrine, and imitation. Salvation is the first step in the process of what God wants accomplished. (Matthew 28:19-20).
C. The third foundational pillar that supports the missions purpose of the church is that believers must be edified.
While glorification involves our worship with God and evangelization involves our witness with the world, edification involves our work with believers. Our work with those that we see evangelized is to teach, train, and disciple them to maturity. In short, we are to assist them in becoming Christlike disciples (Romans 8:29). Christlike disciples are to be edified, brought to maturity, and established in the faith. Disciples should become part of a local church so that they can carry on the work of ministering. This being accomplished, God is glorified and the lost are evangelized (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 20:28-32; Hebrews 3:13; Ephesians 4:11-13).
The Commission given in Matthew 28:19-20 is the ongoing responsibility of the church. Christlike disciples are to be reproduced and New Testament churches are to be replicated in order to continue the work of reproduction. This is to be an ongoing multiplication process. Since Pentecost, the cycle has been that a church is born, matured, and then reproduced. It is because of this “life cycle” of the church throughout the ages that there are churches today that are able to enter the process and see Christ's Body, the Church, advanced.
IV. Six Essential Areas of Emphasis
In order to fulfill this purpose, we shall commit our prayersand resources to aid in the support of the following mission emphases:
1. Send out evangelists and pastors – directed by the Holy Spirit through our
local church to occupy new frontiers for Christ – to preach the Gospel of
redemption in Christ Jesus unto salvation, to win converts, to baptize, to make disciples, and to establish evangelizing, multiplying, self-supporting,
local churches.
2. Train candidates who meet Scriptural qualifications and give evidencethat
they desire to commit their lives to Christian service as pastors.
3. Support seminaries, schools, and organizationswhose primary purposeis to prepareand equip believers for Christian service.
4. Support MCBC college students – college students must read our
Missions Philosophy and Policy and fill out an application for assistance.