Audio Transcript:

Welcome to Missions on Point, the Propempo perspective on church and missions. 

Thank you for taking time to listen to Missions on Point, episode 252. This is a series on training for the sending church. It is number 3 out of 10. We're on the third one, we're calling Evaluation 3. In this episode, we'll be discovering our past, present, and future missions commitments.

Let me encourage you about this series in a few ways. Most of you listening probably have never felt like your church needed to think through becoming a sending church. Or perhaps something has happened that causes you to think about becoming a sending church. Either way, getting into the process may seem daunting. Don't worry. It's normal to feel that way. It is, in fact, very biblical for you to think about training to become a sending church.

I maintain and teach that it is God's design that the local church take the lead in raising up missionaries, equipping them, sending them to the field, and shepherding them in missions. Today, we will focus on discovering what our present missions commitments tell us about our past, present, and future.

Training to become a sending church is an outstanding opportunity to evaluate and re-evaluate what we're doing in missions. One of the benefits is that it forces us to take an honest, open look at our church's values and commitments. 

Today, we'll examine the local church's financial obligations in missions and outreach as a key to evaluating the potential for change that must take place in the future for us to be a good sending church.

One of the most common misgivings about asking questions about the roster of financial commitments to missionaries and ministries is the fear that someone will get deeply offended. People who have been involved in the church for a long time with an interest in missions will automatically feel that they have to protect those people and organizations with whom the church has been committed in the past. It does take extra effort to assure all those involved that our intentions are good and worthwhile. We want to be gracious in how we go about discovery while being fair and honest about how and why these ministries became a part of our church missions commitments.

What are we looking for?

1. When did this missionary or ministry originally get approved for partnership donations from our church?
2. What was the relationship at the time to the church or church members?
3. What is the relationship of that missionary or ministry presently?
4. What is the primary ministry and purpose of this missionary's ministry or the organization's ministry we support?
5. How well and how deeply has the relationship between this missionary or ministry been fostered with our church family?
6. What is our financial commitment to this missionary or missions ministry? And how does that compare with our total missions giving as a church?

There are churches out there that actually do not have a global missions budget at all. Some have been so focused on starting up or reaching their community that they have neglected thinking about or financially supporting anything in cross-cultural missions. Others are so wired into their denominational solutions that they only give through what may be required as part of their budget or an annual funding drive. The last type of church that doesn't have a global missions budget is one that, because of growing financial limitations, has had to slowly reduce its missions budget to nothing or next to nothing.

Now, assuming your church has a budget for cross-cultural missions, let's examine those original questions and explain them further. Ideally, you'll be communicating directly with the people involved. That means you'll communicate with the missionaries or the mission organization you're supporting and ask some of these questions for them to answer. In doing so, you're encouraging them to pray for your church and this process of becoming a sending church. Formally, invite them to pray for God's help and direction as you define what will be the ideal for your church's future in missions.

Let's go back to the first two questions:

1. When did this missionary or ministry originally get approved for partnership donations from our church?
2. What was the relationship at the time to our church or church members?

This refers to how and why the support relationship in each ministry was formed. It should help you understand how it was initiated and the ministry's goal at that time. We're building a history of your church's mission's growth, values, and development.

Look at the next two questions:

• What is the relationship of that missionary or ministry presently?
• What is the primary ministry and purpose of this missionary's ministry or the organization's ministry we support?

These questions provide background to the depth and continuity of the relationship with your church. Depth of relationship to the church is one of the priority marks we teach in sending churches. It is easily one of those objective facts guiding the level of financial support in the future. Then, the question of the type and purpose of ministry is another one of those keys. Is their ministry originally and now in alignment with the vision and priorities of your church now?

The next question is:

• How well and how deeply has the relationship between this missionary or ministry been fostered with our church family?

Though related to the relationship question, this one answers the area of mutual communication as a marker of relationship and partnership in ministry. It goes both ways. Does the missionary or ministry communicate with the church or church leaders with a frequency and depth that exhibits a sense of partnership? Does the church communicate and query the missionary about their life, work, family, health, etc., showing care, concern, and a sense of ownership? Visiting the missionary or ministry on the field is a huge indication of a mutual partnership.

Then we come to this last question:

• What is our financial commitment to this missionary or missions ministry? And how does that compare with our total missions giving as a church?

This point defines the scope of the present support commitment of an individual missionary or ministry compared to the whole. Doing this for all your support partnerships will also show whether your church has tended to support many with smaller funding versus support fewer with larger amounts. It can also show a strategic focus. A focus or priority might be:

• geographical, like a particular area of the world, or
• a target segment of people, like cities, rural, tribal, or a specific non-Christian religious affiliation, or
• a type of ministry, like those based on a humanitarian means of ministry, or business as missions, or open church planting, or ministerial education, or
• a network related to your church, like ethnicities or professions existing in your church or fellowship of churches.

An important reminder is not to get hung up over answering these questions honestly and well. The more accurate you are now will help you and your missions leadership to be clearer and better equipped to define your future priorities.

At this point, there is a concept that we usually need to grasp to have the freedom to move ahead. It is the act of "grandfathering." Now, I am a proud grandfather in the physical human sense, but what I am talking about here is a legal term. When an authoritative body creates a new law that may negatively affect people whose status automatically would make them a lawbreaker, they typically write a "grandfathering" clause into the law. It means that the new rule does not automatically apply to them. Usually, terms of time or defining elements allow that person or family to continue with whatever it is until that time is up. Then they fall under the terms of the law.

For example, in a neighboring city, development bought up all the land around a lake except for a few homes that already existed on part of it. They made a rule that gas-powered watercraft were not allowed on the lake. But they grandfathered those original residents who had gas-powered watercraft before the rule was made. So, as long as the original residents owned those homes, they were allowed to have and use their gas-powered watercraft on the lake. Eventually, everyone on the lake had peace and quiet.

In our case, in developing a missionary-sending church, it is necessary to evaluate our past and present missions commitments, agree to a more well-defined future vision for missions in the church, and then make a step-by-step plan to move toward that preferred future. As we walk through this process, we may need to grandfather certain people or ministries, at least for the immediate future.

I know many churches that have created gracious and kind ways to taper off support of those missionaries and ministries that do not fit the sending church's vision for the future. Sometimes, the church has discovered about those missionaries:

• They changed their doctrinal stance to not be in alignment with the church
• They changed their ministry to not be within the priorities of the church
• They have come up short in their commitment to communication, relationship, and partnership with the church
• They are so missions-agency-oriented that the local sending church has no place
• They don't exhibit the qualities of a sound and effective missionary
• Maybe their ministry doesn't even fit into the definitions of global missions or cross-cultural missions work at all

This process, done well, is very helpful in the evaluation stage. In fact, in most churches, it is very enlightening to review and honestly evaluate all those relationships. 

As you do this, don't forget to pray. Ask your church members to pray for the church leaders and the missions leadership as you work through this process. And ask your missionaries and those you support to pray for you as you go through the process and look toward defining what the future will be as a biblical and God-honoring sending church.

We'll move on to education and elevation phases in upcoming episodes. 

Thanks for joining us today on Missions on Point. We trust that you'll find more help and resources on our websites at propempo.com and missyouserve.org. We are so thankful for those who support us, enabling us to produce this podcast. Now to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen.