To do what?
Are we done creating missionary roles that ought
to be filled by national believers?
Although there are many places in our world where pioneers are still needed, for the most part, the advancement of missions in the 21st Century ought to include more and more national believers who fill the churches established by our missionaries, past and present. Even in the pioneering places, national believers from nearby locations may have a greater advantage over those coming in from afar.
The Great Commissions belongs to all believers and all churches. It is no longer ‘the West to the rest’ but the mantra should be ‘EVERYONE EVERYWHERE’; every believer seeking to reach their world by living out Jesus Christ in their community or leaving their community to reach their region, their country or their world.
Modern day missions began with a passion to reach the lost of the world. Missionaries left their communities and people to take the Gospel to foreign lands. Inevitably, the need for church planting arose and a common appeal for support was for men to plant churches around the world. When the need arose for national pastors to take the place of church planters so they could move on to a new place, basic discipleship required additional theological education. Over the years, the trend to prioritize training in missions has been a major movement worthy of commendation. However, most training has focused on better-trained pastors and laypeople; but little, it seems, on national missionaries.
Instead, the greatest growth in missions has not been more evangelists, educators and church planters. The expansion of “Missionary Job Choice” has created a vast array of ‘be a missionary’ opportunities. One website appeals for missionaries and lists 24 different ministries to serve people in limited-access countries in Northern Africa. I checked off four as legitimate missionary objectives and you can probably guess three – church planting, evangelism/discipleship, leadership training, and radio ministry. The remaining 20 ministries ought to be the work of national believers (missionaries) and ministries of the national local churches. These ministries require trainers (missionary educators), not workers, from our western churches.
Let American/western churches return the focus of missions to church planting and teaching/training. In addition, radio ministry and translation of the Scriptures should be included.
