I am Not A Christian

Identity in Christ is important.  But does one have to call themselves a Christian to be in Christ?

In a 2013 article in the International Society for Frontier Missiology the issue of identity was presented. Can one be a Hindu/Christian, a Muslim/Christian?

Awal, a Middle Eastern man made this statement,

A while ago my daughter asked me, “Dad, what am I really?  Am I a Muslim or a Christian?”  I said, “You’re a Muslim that follows Christ.  Our Muslim identity is written on our identity cards, it’s our extended family our heritage, our people—but we follow Christ.“

We are not Christians.  We are Muslims.  I no longer care what Christians think.  I care what Muslims think.  However, even if our president asked me, “What is Christ to you?  I would tell him my faith.  I will not compromise Christ—ever, but I am not a Christian.

The ending “-ian” means “belonging to the party of”; thus “Christians” were those of Jesus’ party.  For over two thousand years people of faith have referred to themselves as belonging to the party of Jesus.  Agrippa asked Paul if he was trying to convert him to the Jesus party (Ac. 26:28)?  Identifying oneself as a Christian is not necessarily wrong, in the right context.  In fact, being a Christian has served the cause of Christ well in many parts of the world.  But in the wrong context being a Christian is an obstacle.

In discussing religion with my Hindu landlord years ago he said, “You were born a Christian, I was born a Hindu.”  I quickly corrected him and replied, “I was not born a Christian.  I became a follower of Christ.” 

In another situation I was walking in a Muslim district in New Delhi.  A man who couldn’t figure out why I was in that area (actually I was there to get a haircut) asked me straight up, “Are you Muslim.”  My answer both was both unsatisfactory and confusing when I replied, “I am a follower of Isa.”

To those of us who serve are followers of Christ, whether it be to the Muslim in Detroit or Dakar, to the Hindu in Nepal Kansas City or Kathmandu, recognize that the words we use can be a bridge or an obstacle for those we talk to.  Indeed, in some context’s it’s okay to say, I am not a Christian.

Just In Time Learning

JUST IN TIME TRAINING KC - AUGUST 23 - 25, 2016

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

Why Pre-Field Training?

It’s a hard sell.  Missionaries are trying to get to the field.  They’ve been approved by their denomination or sending agency, they’re raising support and to stop in the middle to attend a three-day, one or two week training session seems to be a waste of time and money.  But is it?

The Long Road Less Travelled

What is the process for getting to the mission field for a career missionary?  Consider the chart below, an arbitrary time scale to be sure, but a guide nevertheless.

1.     Discovery could be an introduction to missionaries in Sunday School to a mission conference where one is introduced to everything from Hudson Taylor to orphanages in Haiti.

2.     Interest is the dipping the toe into the water by attending an Urbana conference, a short-term mission trip or taking a Perspectives course.

3.     Commitment is answering “the call.”  It’s that defining moment when one says, “Here am I Lord, send me.”  But how do I get there?

4.     Preparation may include going to seminary, an internship in a local church as well as filling out application to a missionary sending agency.  This period time could easily be five years or more.

5.     If one perseveres to the point they are approved to be a missionary, they begin the funding process, which is between six months (rare) to three years (sadly, not unusual).

How prepared is a missionary really for cross-cultural service? Their cultural anthropology class was six years ago and they have no clue why the study of kinship has anything to do with being a witness to a Hindu.  True, they did spend two weeks in the Dominican Republic participating in vacation Bible school, but did they learn what it takes to set up residence in Serbia?  They may feel called to serve in the Philippines, but exactly what is the need in that country, which has had the Gospel four times longer than they have been alive?

JUST IN TIME LEARNING

Just in time (JIT) training is that period of time, about six months to one year before being fielded, which can make all the difference in the life of a missionary family.

First, it sharpens their focus.  If a missionary is 50% into fund raising , JIT will actually help the missionary raise the most difficult period of support raising because their focus will be on what they are going to do and who they will be working with.  A clear focus not only motivates the missionary, but also those who listen to their plea for support.  Hazy goals will produce hazy results.  Clear goals will produce realistic and attainable results.

Second, JIT means that when a missionary does get on the field six months later they will have a head start on what needs to be done and the process on how to achieve their goals.  The missionary will actually understand that contextualization isn’t just a word they learned ten years ago in an obscure classroom, but a reality in the context they now find themselves.

The reality is, many missionaries are woefully ill equipped before launching out in cross-cultural work.  Just-in-time training is not only practical, it could very well be the defining moment in the life of that missionary.

To learn more about JIT in KC August 23 - 25 go to this link.

Missions Across the Street

Last weekend in the Dallas area, I visited a good friend and partner in our work for 40 years.  When I first visited his church back in 1975 they were located at the end on a vacant lot on a dirt road.  Today, their church is surrounded by houses and businesses.

One of the interesting things about this neighborhood is that most of the people who have moved in are either from Nepal or Tonga Islands.  He asked me the obvious question, “As a missionary, do you have any ideas how we can get these people in church?”  Great question, and of course I did have some suggestions. 

There is hardly a place in the America where there are not immigrant people groups.  A vast majority of these people will never enter into a church, indeed, cannot enter a church because of cultural barriers.  So how do we reach the Nepali Hindus, or the Pakistani Muslims who are in our communities?

When I first went out as a missionary to Africa I heard the refrain in U.S. pulpits, “If we aren’t taking the Gospel across the street we shouldn’t be sending missionaries across the world.”  In today’s world our neighborhoods is every bit as foreign as those we send 10,000 miles away.

My advice to my friend was obviously brief as how to befriend a Hindu, which may lead to a discussion of Christ and His salvation, couldn’t throughly be explained over lunch.  I was able, however, to give some simple ideas to get him started.  How to take those suggestions to the next introductory level will take at least one full day and for the serious cross-cultural church planter more than a week.  However, I was encouraged that he at least was thinking about the questions.  Perhaps in the future I will be able to coach he and his church member how they can serve their ethnic community.  It really is true, cross-cultural ministry is not just on the other side of the world, but also across the street.

For more information on how to reach those across the street, visit our webpage, http://Lewis-Training.com

The Lowe’s Model of Missions

The trend of North American local churches and world outreach for the past decade has been the Lowe’s home improvement model, do it yourself or…”Let’s build something.”  Rather than hiring a plumber or carpenter, let’s save money (surely not time) and just do it ourselves.  In the same vain, instead of depending on a mission organization or American missionaries on the field in reaching the world with the Gospel, many American congregations have adopted the philosophy of let’s just do it ourselves.  We, the local church, can save money, engage our local congregation in projects better than the old model of sending missionaries.

There is a certain ring of truth to this trend.  It cost a great deal of money to send North Americans overseas and in today’s economics the expense is outstripping the budget, as the IMB announced last week when they determined they are forced to reduce their missions staff by 800 people (http://www.imb.org/updates/storyview-3509.aspx#.Ve3DbShDIws).  However, beyond economics, the Lowe’s model of missions is, mostly about meeting the needs of the local church. 

What are the motivations for Lowe’s model of missions. 

FOCUSED MINISTRY - We will target the people and fields we want to support.  Example, instead of supporting a North American missionary family going to Germany, which we are not interested in, we will support a national pastor working among the Aka pygmies in the DRC. 

ECONOMICS – Instead of supporting the Western missionary for $200 per month, which is not even 3% of his needed monthly support, we can use that $200 to sustain a national pastor for a month.

 HANDS-ON – Along with focus we can engage our local congregation in taking trips to work alongside the national, build orphanages, have feeding programs and provide leadership seminars.  We can, in some ways, duplicate our church in the states overseas. 

On the surface it looks like the Lowe’s model of missions makes more sense than contracting a professional.  However, below the surface, where reality resides, we find a different story. 

ARROGANCE – The Lowe’s model of missions is a little like the song from Annie Get Your Gun, “Anything you can do I can do better.  I can do anything better than you” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO23WBji_Z0).   Just because the American church can finance a program doesn’t mean they know how to do missions better.  It’s true, the Western church can make ministry on the field look shinny and appear successful, but it’s arrogance to think it’s better than what a North American missionary on the field can do. 

MISSIOLOGICALLY NAÏVE – There is no evidence that supporting a national pastor, missionary or church planter is more effective than a North American.  Cheaper, yes, but saving money is not the issue, or shouldn’t be.  I have been working with nationals for thirty years.  I have met and worked with some indigenous servants who were really gifted and blessed of God.  I have met others who were inept and ineffective.  Due to tribe, caste or socio-economics, in some cases, nationals are actually less effective than North Americans.  An Indian from the south is not naturally a more effective in outreach to Hindu’s to the north.  Indeed, because they do not know language or know the culture of those in the north, they could easily be more of a liability than a blessing.

THEOLOGICALLY INCONSISTENT - An American church I am familiar with recently ceased funding American missionaries all over the world to focus on a particular unreached people group in South Asia.  The reports of people coming to Christ and churches being established by the nationals were staggering.  In visiting this indigenous mission I was stunned at their lack of understanding of basic Bible doctrine.  In fact, our guide from this mission stated openly that he thought going to a seminary was a waste of time, remarking that most false teaching is due to people going to seminaries!  Over the course of two days I visited several of their churches in the region.  Not one time was the Bible opened.  Every testimony from the church members was conversion through healing, some from deafness, cancer and one reported to have risen from the dead. 

The American congregation that supported this indigenous mission is a solid, conservative and theologically strong church.  There is no way that they would allow the teaching from this South Asia congregation to creep into their church.  Yet, they have invested thousand of dollars into this national organization.  Why?  The only thing I can think of is due to the naïveté of this church’s mission leadership. 

CHANGE TO THE SLOGAN

The Lowe’s model of missions needs a different focus and a new theme.  This will mean a remodeling of our thinking, including better training among American churches and indigenous leaders in missions.  It will mean a bit more humility, on both sides, than stating “anything you can do I can better.”  It means recognizing that, indeed, the old ways of doing missions needs to be analyzed, but also recognize that not all those in the West are disqualified from serving Christ cross-culturally.  The 3.6 billion people in this world who have never met a Christian will not be reached with the Lowe’s model of missions.   Rather than state, “Let’s build something,” Lowe’s current slogan is more appealing…”Never Stop Improving.”

Keys To Effective Missionary Training

FOUR KEYS TO EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAM 

Through a partnership between LCCTI and Glenwood Baptist Church in Kansas City, we provided a missionary training program called Double Time last week. Here are four keys that made it successful.


1. LEARNERS - There are three types of people who attend special meetings: Prisoners (they are there because someone made them attend - Visitors (love to fellowship, eat and have a good time) - Learners…obviously serious students with a focus. Those who attended DOUBLE TIME this year were motivated learners.


2. ACCOMODATIONS – Environment goes a long way in setting the tone for classes. If the motel breakfast is a bagel in a bag hung on the room door and cockroaches on the shower floor begins the day, class time is already has an uphill climb. DT students commented that they really appreciated their accommodations.

3. CONTENT – Trying to teach a two-week course in three days is impossible. However, we chose the most important and practical subjects to tackle and, based on the evaluations, I believe DT hit the mark. One missionary stated, “The classes opened my eyes to so many characteristics of culture and methods of research that can be recognized and used for my field. Preparation breeds confidence, and I feel more knowledgeable on how to work on the field.”

4. HOST – Hands down, the success of DT was because of our host, Glenwood Baptist Church. GBC didn’t just host a missionary training program, they made an investment in the lives of those who attended; underwriting some of the accommodations, catering the lunches, providing child care and even making sure there was plenty of snacks for breaks. 

Plans are taking shape for DT/KC in 2016, and we have already heard from missionaries who will be on furlough next year who want to attend.

Perhaps your church or organization would be interested in a Double Time intensive.  Contact us to learn more how we can help you in your training needs.

Introduction of Lewis Cross-Cultural Training now on YouTube

The Great Commission Church

I’ve had an epiphany of sorts recently.  As a missiologist I am concerned with mission strategy, communication of the Gospel to the unreached people groups of this world (3.6 billion people in this world have never met a Christian).  Over the years I have made an attempt to share my own understanding of missions with others, especially local churches throughout the world.   My discovery is that many local churches are, either unaware of the complexities of cross-cultural work or, worse, honestly don’t care.  Some churches are quite happy to just “do missions” as they would any program of the church or, follow the latest trends and fashions to excite their congregation.  One dear brother stated flatly that his only interest in missions was to meet the needs of the local body, which meant taking people on short-term mission trips to areas of the world where there is already a high percentage of Christians. 

However, I am encouraged that there are some churches, pastors and individuals who have a deep desire to know how best to serve Christ in global outreach.  Often people ask me how they can make their missions program more effective.

Energize Your Church for Global Outreach is a short and concise guide that I believe would help any church, mission team member in creating a more effective Great Commission program.  This book is a guide, not the final authority on how the church should structure their mission program.  Read it; make modifications that fit your own local context. 

You can receive a .pdf copy of this book by going to http://Lewis-Training.com/ of download it on your Kindle. 

 I am happy to interact with anyone, receiving helpful suggestions for further study.

Part III: Analysis/Implementation (A)

Now that the mission team has gone through the process of defining the purpose of missions for their local congregation, educated themselves in missions through Perspectives and reading, it’s time to implement a comprehensive global program.

Based on your three top priories in missions, who and what projects you now support.  Are they in line with your missions goals?  Let me give you an example (not based on any church I know…random thoughts).  Here is a list of a common mission projects:

1.     Church planting family in Bolivia working with the Quechua.

2.     Youth camp in Albuquerque

3.     Teacher of English in Beijing

4.     Crisis Pregnancy clinic in the city

5.     Retired missionary couple in Omaha (served 40 years in Botswana)

6.     Missionary with orphanage in India

7.     Bible/tract printing in Cambodia

8.     Bible teacher in Lebanon

9.     Single woman missionary in Mexico

10. Agricultural project in Mali (West Africa)

Let’s suppose that your evaluation scale looks something like this:

Church planter -                                 10 points

Unreached people or country             10 points

Church planting facilitator                    8 points

Administration/support                         5

Evangelism                                           5

Social work                                          3

Other                                                   1

Now let’s evaluate your present mission projects

1. Church planting couple in Bolivia – Their score would be 20, as they are involved in church planting among an unreached people group.

2. Youth camp in Albuquerque: Score 1 – My thought that not everything that is outside the local church budget should be paid for from the missions budget.  If the church feels strongly about this youth camp then it should funded through general offerings.

3. Teacher in Beijing 10 points for working in restricted country, perhaps 8 points for facilitating church planting or church growth, depending on what they are teaching and interaction with the local church.  If they are just teaching English with no specific outreach perhaps only a 3

4. Crisis Pregnancy clinic in the city –  Score 1, same as youth camp.

5. Retired missionary couple in Omaha (served 50 years in Botswana) Score 1.  Is this retired couple dependent on support to live?  If so, perhaps a stipend, depending on the relation of the church it has with former missionaries and for how long.   This is one of those emotional issues you will have to work through.

6 Missionary with orphanage in India Very much like the teacher in China, if it is a specific outreach to a community of Hindus or Muslims, 10 and 8 points.  If it is a stand-alone project perhaps 3

7. Bible/tract printing in Cambodia 5 points for evangelism, 10 points for unreached people.  If, however, it is just a printing press without any tie to outreach 5 points

8. Bible teacher in Lebanon – Probably a score of 18, unreached area of the world, facilitating church growth and, hopefully the planting of new churches.

Single woman missionary working with women in the church or seminary in Mexico - score 8  as a facilitator in an evangelized country.

Family involved in an agricultural project in Mali (West Africa).   If the project is associated with the national church as a means of outreach to Muslims, score it as a 20.  If it is just teaching people how to farm with no tie into outreach give it a score of 3.

Well, I think you have an idea of how to go about it.  You no doubt will create your own evaluation method as it fits your church context.  But an assessment system is important as you continue to work the process of making your missions program more effective. 

How do you gain information on missionaries and projects and their work?  First, read all the letters they have sent to your church over the past two years.  If you are not keeping these updates, shame on you.  There should be a file (and in these days of electronic filing is easy to keep missionary reports), and so go through these files and read carefully what is happening on the field.  If you don’t receive regular reports then write them a personal letter saying, in a non-threatening way, “Hey, haven’t heard from you in awhile.  What’s happening with you and your family and the ministry you are involved in?”  DO NOT SEND OUT A QUESTIONNAIRE.  Missionaries hate these things and, quite frankly, if the supporting church has been paying attention to the missionaries or organizational reports, you won’t need to send out a questionnaire.  Of course, relationships are the key to an effective missions program.  If your church members are engaged in missions, at least with regular updates, then you probably have a good idea what’s happening on the field.   Of course, when the missionary is home on furlough (home assignment) you will as a team have a perfect time to learn more about what they are doing on the field.

Next post will be on what do to with the information you have acquired.

Define Your Purpose: The Third Lesson in Creating a Missions Program

After you have assembled your team for missions, the first item on the docket to discuss is the fundamental questions, what are we trying to accomplish in missions?  In my classes I routinely remind my students “hazy goals will produce, at best, hazy results.”  If missionaries surrender their lives to overseas service they should at least have a plan for where they are going, what people group they are going to serve and what ministry they will be involved in that process.  If this is true for missionaries going, it certainly should be true for sending churches as well.  So, what’s the plan?

Here are three things to consider when creating a mission policy or guidelines.

1.     What type of work do we want to support?

2.     Who do want we want to focus on in terms of mission outreach?

3.     Who are the best people to help us reach out world outreach goals?

Mission Work

There are about as many mission activities as there are missionaries on the field.  Most of them are worthy of support.  Unfortunately no church can be involved in every mission ministry so it is important to choose what type of ministry is most important and focus on those programs.  I would suggest that you limit your support to two, possibly three, projects.

Church Planting – The heart of Christianity is the local assembly of believers.  Our Lord’s Great Commission was for His followers to go into the entire world, present the good news of His salvation, baptize those who choose to follow Him and then disciple those new believers in God’s Word.  There is no other singular important ministry that is more vital than establishing local congregations.  Of all the ministries your mission committee will consider the one question that should be asked is, “how does this ministry contribute to the establishing of the church?” 

Evangelistic ministries are worthwhile but evangelism does not plant churches.  It’s been said that you can do evangelism and not plant a church, but you can’t plant a church without evangelism.  Too many evangelistic programs are stand-alone programs.  The printings of tracks, radio or television programs and open-air evangelistic meetings are most effective when they are tied to the church planting process. 

Discipleship programs within themselves are not church planting projects.  Orphanages, rescue shelters, feeding programs, youth camps, seminaries and countless numbers of other ministry programs (which I will address later), though helpful, are not church planting programs.  As a missions team, you should always have at the forefront of your thinking, “how does this ministry aid in the establishing of a church?”

Types Of Church Planters

Pioneer Church Planters – A pioneer church planter is one who goes to a defined location and a people where there are few or no churches.  That was my job description when we moved to Kenya in 1976.  After language school I worked among two tribal groups called the Pokot and Turkana.  Both of these tribal groups lived in remote semi-desert regions of the northwest, bordering near Uganda and South Sudan.  The roads were often impassible, not easily accessible.  As a result of their remoteness there were few churches among the people and very few missionaries working among them.  For fourteen years I went to the towns and villages and established twelve congregations through witness, evangelism and discipling.

Two hundred years ago most Western missionaries did pioneer work, but that is no longer the case today.  Most Western missionaries are involved in other types of ministry, but there are still a few that do pioneer church planting. 

Facilitative Church Planters -  The reason there are fewer American pioneer church planters is because in many places of the world it is the national missionaries and pastors who are engaged in pioneer outreach.  There are, however, Western missionaries who come alongside the national church and help facilitate pioneer church planting efforts.  The FCP missionaries teach, disciple and promote the work of national church planting. 

After leaving Kenya as a resident pioneer missionary, I became a non-resident facilitative church planter.  There are several seasoned veteran missionaries with experience and expertise, like myself, who now train nationals in how to plant churches.  In my case, because I have worked in over 50 countries, I bring a perspective in training that comes with age.

It should be noted that not all discipling ministries are FCP.  Many short-term ministries from North Americans today are engaged in teaching marriage seminars, teaching a Bible course in a college or a two week children’s programs.  Much of those programs is taught from a mono-cultural Western perspective that is not contextual, and therefore could not be classified as FCP activity.

To recap, the role of a church planter is one who establishes or helps establish a congregation.  A pure church planting missionary, be they Western or national, does not pastor a church for an extended period of time, their focus in multiplying congregations, not a single assembly.  Like the Apostle Paul, a pioneer church planter is always on the move, with a focus of establishing another church in the next town or region.

As we will see later, other ministries can and should point to establishing a church.  

Part One in Developing a Missions Program: Create a Team

There are two common approaches to determining the mission program of the local church.  The first is pastor led.  In many congregations the pastor determines which missionaries will be invited to be a part of a mission conference or speak before the congregation.  In some cases, the pastor has the authority to take on missionaries for support or pledge money to a project without the congregation voting on such projects.  The second approach is through committees.  Committees are important, but many times committees can be cumbersome and time consuming. 

I personally do not have a problem with either approach as long as the pastor or the committee know the issues of missions and its complexity.  I will no doubt say this many times in the course of this series, but missions is for the most part an emotional exercise and that is unfortunate.  For a mission program to be successful the emotion of ministry (serving the poor, or having a warm feeling for a family of six going to Congo), must be eliminated. 

Because “committee” has a negative connotation in some quarters, I suggest that the local body create a team, which is a trend concept that fits well in today’s twenty-first century vocabulary.

The reason to create a team on missions for the local church is, first, it fosters inclusion and a sense of belonging into the life of the church.  Not everyone has the talent or ability to teach a class or be a part of the worship team.  However, they want to serve Christ and being a part of a world outreach program gives them a sense of belonging.  Second, group decisions give balance to any project.  If the decisions of world evangelism are just in the hands of the senior staff it may not have a balanced approach.  Third, if the rest of the body is aware there is a missions team that is giving direction in the congregation, theoretically, they will have more confidence that missions is not just another program that the church is doing.

WHO SHOULD BE ON THE MISSION TEAM?

First, they should be people who are active participants of the congregation.  By that I mean they attend regularly and support their congregation financially. 

Second, they should be interested in global outreach.  Between ten and fifteen percent of people in any congregation, including liberal non-evangelical churches, are interested in missions in one form or another.  We can safely say that there is the same percentage of people in any congregation that are not interested nor engaged in missions of any kind.  Obviously the first place to look for a mission team would be people who are already interested global outreach.

The makeup of the missions team should be a combination of older and younger people, male and female.  I don’t think it’s imperative that the senior pastor is a part of the team, but I also know that if the pastor or senior leadership of the church is disinterested in missions it will be very difficult for the program to advance in an effective way.  One mission policy I am aware of state that at least one person in the leadership, be they a deacon or elder, be on the mission team.

Start off by announcing to the congregation that a missions team is being formed and all those who are interested meet.  If there are people in the church that is known to be interested in missions, they should be encouraged to attend the meeting.  At the first gathering you might prepare a questionnaire for those in attendance as a guide.  Here is a sample questionnaire.

1.     Have you ever served on a missions team/committee before?  Yes – No

2.     Do you presently support missions either through the church or outside of the local congregation?  Yes – No

3.     What type of missions are you most interested in?  (a) local missions (b) foreign missions (c) Bible translation (d) church planting (d) social action – orphanages, feeding program etc. (e) Other (explain) ________________________

4.     Would you be willing to take a course in missions provided by the church to be a part of this team?

5.     Name one part of the world or people group that most interest you?

This is the beginning, step one in creating a good mission program for your church.  We will visit the purpose of the team in the next post.

Global Missions in the Local Church

Missions For The Local Church: Introduction

Recently I visited one of our supporting churches.  It’s a well-established and growing congregation.  The pastor asked me a question that is not uncommon, in fact, almost everywhere I go in the U.S. I am asked the same question – “How can we make our congregation more mission minded?” 

The majority of North American evangelical churches do missions.  By that I mean they have a missions program, like they would have a program for youth, children or seniors.  Missions is important in the sense that they believe it is a part of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).  Many churches would never think about abolishing their mission program but, unlike youth, children or seniors ministry, missions does not support the “bottom line,” i.e., church attendance or budget.  In fact, missions and missionaries are usually seen as a liability to the growth of the church.  Missions is not a program that will help pave the parking lot or renovate the nursery.  Missionaries neither tithe nor teach a class.  For the skeptic, missions is a drain on resources.  This is never said overtly, but is manifested in benign neglect. 

However, because missions truly is important, pastors desire to go beyond just doing missions and instead want to do missions right.  It is because of this felt need I write this series on creating an effective global missions program for your local church.

At the outset let me state clearly that in creating a good missions program for your congregation is a process.  Like every program of the church, developing a missions program requires one major thing…a commitment to its development.  As you will see in this series, there are no five easy steps or one model to hold up as the example for all to emulate.  As with many things in life, doing things well takes time and effort.  If a pastor or church leader is not committed to the process then the chances are that two years from now your global outreach will be as dull as it is today, the result being a uninspired congregation for God’s heart, taking the Good News of Christ and His salvation to the ends of the earth.

So what is the process for creating a good missions program for your local church?  Here is the outline for upcoming posts.

1.     Create a missions team.  Who are they, why they exist, what is their job?

2.     Define your purpose.  How does your church and missions team define what is missions; church planting, social work, short-term, harvest versus seeding sowing ministries?

3.     Mission awareness.  How can your team and congregation become savvy in understanding missions today?  Where are the resources to help you become an educated body of world Christians?

4.     Evaluation.  After you complete steps one to three, its time to create a guiding missions document or policy.  Analyze your present global outreach and work toward the goal of becoming a Great Commission church.

You will notice that this outline does not discuss finances, and for a very good reason.  If missions is done well and has a designed purpose the funding of mission projects will take place.  I will make the case later that churches that do missions well seldom suffer financial hardship for their local ministries.

As we go through this series, please send your comments and questions along the way.