Centrality of the local church in “missions” and the Pauline strategy

Acts 2.2; 3.1
May 2008

David Hasselgrave, in his book Planting Churches Cross Culturally: North America and Beyond, gives us a terrific definition of “missions,” the mission of the church.

“The primary mission of the church and, therefore, of the churches is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and gather believers into local churches where they can be built up in the faith and made effective in service; thus new congregations are to be planted throughout the world.” (Planting Churches Cross Culturally: North America and Beyond p. 17)

Mr. Hasselgrave hit the nail on the head. The local church is absolutely central to successful mission work. This model, suggested by Mr. Hasselgrave is totally in line with Paul’s strategy found in Acts 13:1-14:28.

Paul, sent out by the church in Syrian Antioch, preached the Gospel in Salamis, in Paphos where the Proconsul Sergius Paulus was converted and Elymas the Sorcerer was made blind, in Pisidian Antioch where a church was established, in Iconium where a church was established, in Lystra where the people mistook Barnabas and Paul for Zeus and Hermes and a church was planted, and finally in Derbe where another church was planted. On their return trip to Syrian Antioch Paul and Barnabas stopped at each one of these fledgling churches to encouraged them and appointed elders to oversee each flock. This model is reflected in the quote from Mr. Hasselgrave.

Paul’s mission was to preach the gospel and plant churches, he gave each group a foundation to build upon and if they followed his model, people from within each congregation would be rise up to preach the gospel in other towns and plant churches there. It is a cycle of organic growth.

It seems to me that in an age where travel has become faster, easier and more accessible the movement to spread the Gospel and plant churches has nearly ground to a halt at least in New England. Church growth has been redefined as growing existing churches in size, adding to their numbers and programs rather than growing the universal church through Gospel preaching and church planting. Not that new churches aren’t being started; however, new churches are started as a result of splits in local congregations, not from a desire to grow but from a desire to change. Boredom and frustration with tradition has become the primary motivator to start new churches not the increase of the Gospel.

If the local church were to lock on to the mission as modeled by Paul and suggested by Mr. Hasselgrave to take the gospel to the areas surrounding it then support of the idea of sending career missionaries to do the same work in foreign lands would be greatly increased. As it stands now our understanding of what missionaries are to do is limited by our understanding of the mission of the church. If we understand our mission locally and follow that same mission globally the gospel certainly would spread with greater success into the outermost parts of the world. This is the mission of the church; we must be faithful to follow the example laid out for us in God’s word – preach the Gospel and establish churches.

This understanding of our mission is a great threat to our flawed ideas about success and church growth. Even so, the paradigm needs to shift in order for the church to be obedient to God’s Word. Local churches must shift from bunkers and safe havens to training grounds and educational centers where the people of God can grow and learn what they need to know in order to continue the work of the Gospel so that they, in turn, can be Christ’s witnesses in their own Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.

Unfortunately our local example does not reflect this ideal scenario of planting a church, teaching and training its people to plant another church and teach and train those people to plant another church and so on. We have to start over. Our paradigm must shift. We must let go of our traditions and grab on to the original mission of the church – to spread the Gospel and plant new churches, teaching those new converts and congregants to follow the example set for them.