Missionary Work Shouldn’t Sideline Local Churches

Jerry and Kelly were in their 50s when they moved to an Eastern European country with very robust religious freedom. There are plenty of good evangelical churches, seminaries and Christian ministries in the place they serve. 

After they arrived, they became members of a local church and officially submitted to it. They regularly attended worship, discipled other members, brought many non-Christians with whom they’d built relationships, and gave financially. 

They served by serving the local church. 

Jerry’s full-time job was teaching at a Baptist seminary. Through almost a decade of teaching he’s contributed to training hundreds of pastors and preachers, not only from that country, but from many others. 

He also started a flourishing book ministry at the seminary, and introduced hundreds of students to good authors. I’ve visited the family many times, and have been blown away by how many people they’ve poured their lives into. 

Their example teaches an important lesson about how missionaries should relate to churches in the countries they serve: Healthy missionaries don’t sideline local churches. They strengthen them.

It’s an important principle for missionaries to consider before they ever leave for the field—especially since the vast majority of missionaries serve in places where gospel believing churches already exist. 

There is great potential for missionaries to strengthen—or harm—local churches. 

HEALTHY MISSIONARIES STRENGTHEN LOCAL CHURCHES

Another sister in Christ moved to a relatively closed country. She’d spent a year in intensive training, including a boot camp at Radius International. Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church connected her with a local pastor in the country where she was headed, and when she arrived, she already knew which church she was going to join. 

As she was going through regular membership classes at church, and intensive language classes at a local school, she started actively befriending local women at parks, shopping malls, and other local spots. She organized cooking parties at her apartment, and invited several non-believing friends and several ladies from her church.

She was actually the first missionary that joined this local congregation, though it might be one of very few Reformed churches in that region. I asked one of the pastors why more missionaries in the area hadn’t joined. 

He told me some are forbidden by their sending organizations to join a national church, some don’t know the language, and most seemed put off by the expectation of becoming actual members of the church. 

They were ok with casually attending, but not submitting to the church.

In even more closed countries, it often would be difficult for missionaries to regularly attend a local church. Such public association would probably lead to their deportation and problems for the local pastors.

But I know of a missionary brother who spent years building friendships with several faithful local pastors. After gaining their trust and respect, his team started introducing the pastors to good teaching and training opportunities 

After a decade of patient work, it’s amazing to see how much influence the Lord has allowed that team to have among many dozens of pastors in the region. 

Compare that approach with an organization that flies out a couple dozen local pastors to a hotel for a week-long training, and then asks them to write reports of their work. 

Which approach will have a real and lasting impact on the health of local churches?       

UNHEALTHY MISSIONARIES WORK APART FROM LOCAL CHURCHES

I’ve also known missionaries who have served for years in a closed country without ever joining a church. They love Jesus and want to see people saved, but they say they don’t want to distract local Christians from their ministry and from taking on the responsibilities at their church. 

Sadly, the vast majority of missionaries I’ve encountered over the years fall into this category, regardless of the country where they serve. But this approach comes with many pitfalls:

Most of the ministry is gone when the missionaries leave the country. They might have been doing incredible work: facilitating evangelistic platforms through sports, education, or social work, offering training to local leaders. But unless they join a local church and help it take ownership of their ministry, it will not last. 

Much of their fruit will be lost. If missionaries won’t join a local church, why would locals take it seriously when the missionaries encourage them to become church members? 

I can think of over a dozen people in my city who stopped attending church after their missionary mentors left. They still call themselves “Christians” but show no fruit in their lives. What a tragedy.

No matter how passionate a missionary might be about the Great Commission, his example of neglecting a local church speaks louder than his words. The few local leaders who catch a vision for missions will most likely follow the example of divorcing missions from a local church.

DANGEROUS MISSIONARIES POSITION THEMSELVES ABOVE OR AGAINST LOCAL CHURCHES

The worst case scenario is when missionaries encourage local believers to defy or sow division in their local churches. I know of one family who came to Christ through American missionaries, joined a church, and eventually drew discontent. That discontent turned into hostility, and they encouraged other members of the church to call for the removal of their pastors. 

It turns out, they’d been consulting with the missionaries, who told them they needed to leave the church. When the pastors tried to arrange a meeting with those missionaries, they refused and stayed anonymous. The damage to the local church was substantial. 

But I can imagine the missionaries writing a report to their supporters of how they rescued a couple that they’d led to Christ, from tyrannical local pastors. 

THE LORD DRAWS STRAIGHT LINES WITH CROOKED STICKS

If the success of missions depended on us, we’d totally and utterly fail. We’d only bring pain to God’s people and shame to his name. Praise God that he uses imperfect missionaries to draw his people to himself!

But God’s sovereignty can’t serve as an excuse for our misguided understanding of a local church’s role in our missions. Working to strengthen local churches on a missions field is much more challenging than doing your own thing. 

It involves working closely with many local leaders who come from a different culture and background, don’t align with you in all theological questions, hold to different views in the philosophy of ministry, but are the ones who will stay and continue the work when you return home. 

How much wiser it is to come alongside the good work that the Lord is already doing rather than starting your own thing that will likely not outlive your stay on the field.