What is the role of church staff in church missions leadership?

Your local church tradition or ethos may be different, but we recommend that the role of church staff be primarily facilitation and operational support. The function of the office of the missions Pastor and/or missions team requires a lot of administrative support. It has been said of the missions operations of the local church that, “It’s difficult to run an international enterprise on one meeting per month.” For missions to be well run in the local church there is a high volume of communication and coordination that must take place. Church staff are usually better equipped and have available time allotments to serve the needs. If there is someone on staff designated as the missions coordinator, leader, or pastor, the leadership will have to decide whether or not that staff person functions as the chairman or leader of the missions team. We recommend that the missions team leader be a layperson. The designated staff person becomes the COO (Chief Operating Officer) for the Missions Team. The missions staff person may have specific skills, training, and experience to functionally lead or at least supply appropriate training and influence to the missions team. However, we believe that a missions mobilized church includes the “insider” members of the church retain ownership and leadership of the ministries of the church. Applying the principle of Eph. 4:12, the staff equip the church for the work. There is a strong sense that appropriately qualified staff missions leadership should execute the day-to-day operation of missions, but that the Missions Team, comprised primarily of lay members of the church, should establish the boundaries and direction for missions, under the authority of the Elders or overall leadership council of the church. Support for logistics, technology, communication, prayer, personnel functions, financial accounting, receipting, and disbursement, promotion, event planning, coordination of hospitality, etc. are the roles of church staff. Policy, priorities, major decision-making, direction and vision are the roles of the Missions Team under the broader church leadership. We will discuss the specific role of “missions pastor” later in the “Church Leadership” path-book.

What is the role of the senior pastor?

The senior pastor has an absolutely critical role in church missions leadership. When it is clear that the senior pastor is passionate about world missions, a synergetic effect enables the church to achieve missions goals above expectations. If the senior pastor does NOT value missions or, heaven forbid, sees missions as a competitor to his own ministry “vision,” then the local church’s missions efforts will be viewed as something peripheral to the life of the church. Many pastors who have experienced a change of heart in favor of a biblical missions vision for the church report that it had a major positive impact on their church’s health and growth. If there’s fire in the pulpit, there’s fire in the pew. [[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”97″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”width: 300px; height: 360px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; float: left;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”400″}}]]We have never had a senior pastor tell us that they don’t want to see missions functioning well in their church. The reflex response is, “Of course we want to be (or are) a missions-minded church!” There is an instinctive sense that missions is necessary and important, even though most pastors have had little or no exposure to healthy models of missions-focused churches, little or no training in missions organizational leadership, little or no training in the pervasive biblical foundation and support for world missions, and little or no exposure or experience with nitty-gritty cross-cultural field ministry concerns. The typical pastor has had only one course in missions history or church planting, and that one only because it was required. Pastors sometimes assume that Acts 1:8 gives them license to use all resources to reach their “Jerusalem” first; then, progressively move out toward their “Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” However, the text indicates the command is to reach these areas simultaneously, not sequentially. So, how then does a senior pastor grow in understanding and skill in this area? First, the pastor must have some openness to it. If the pastor is truly closed to owning his role in leadership of world missions vision in the church, that “demon” can only be cast out by prayer and fasting. Usually though, the pastor has just never been challenged to “lift his eyes to the Harvest.” He may never have been confronted with the joy and exhilaration of proclaiming the glory of Christ to all nations. Reading the right books can help. Check out the recommended titles in Propempo’s A-store. Finding a mentor can be a big help, – a fellow pastor who has walked that trail and learned valuable lessons and who has a church deeply involved in strategic missions. Here’s a true story to illustrate just giving your pastor a chance to be challenged by world missions: I asked a local church pastor out to lunch. My purpose was to find out what their church was doing in missions and if I could help them. I had visited his church; I knew nothing beyond the minimal routine denominational missions obligation was happening there. After we’d eaten, I asked, “What is your missions vision for your church?” His face was blank. I don’t think anyone had ever asked him that question before. After a thoughtful pause (it looked like his mind was racing to come up with an answer), he replied, “I think our church has been very successful in evangelizing our community. I think we should plant some other churches just like ours in nearby areas.” I could tell that he felt satisfied with his answer. It seemed like he thought, “See! That’s a great answer!” Then again, I hadn’t responded yet. I wanted to compliment him. I realized that he was a pastor in this first level: missions was only a possibility. I could tell that he wasn’t sure where this was going. So, I said, “That’s a great start! You can use local church planting as your laboratory and internship process to train people to plant churches all around the world.” You could have knocked him over with a feather. He looked like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. Fast forward: Six months later, while visiting this dear brother’s church, I found in the lobby a freshly printed missions vision statement. It stated, in essence, “Our church is going to plant other churches, locally and overseas. We’re going to get experience here that we can use to deploy missionaries around the world.” How can the senior pastor grow in his missions leadership?

1. Don’t block missions progress. Don’t view growth in missions vision as competition for local ministry growth.
2. Encourage excellence in mobilization through the Missions Team, Missions Leader/Chairperson, and/or Missions Pastor.
3. Speak often in global terms of God’s glory and the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ and His Gospel among all nations.
4. Pray publicly and privately for missionaries and their work.
5. Read quality missions materials in balance with your other reading (or media).
6. Ask for help in understanding missions. Attend conferences or workshops specifically aimed at developing missions ministry in the local church.
7. Invite a Propempo staff person to consult with you and your leadership to sharpen effectiveness and resource your own skill development.
8. Open lines of communication and relationship with your supported missionaries.
9. With your missions leadership and the blessing of your financial leaders, plan to visit your supported missionaries on their field of ministry as an observer and encourager (not as a visiting star).
10. Preach a world missions message at least annually.
11. Enthusiastically participate in your church’s annual missions event.
12. Challenge your people to consider missionary service as a legitimate vocational calling.

What is the role of the missions pastor?

If we were consistent with biblical priorities, a “Missions Pastor” would be the second full time pastoral staff member of every church. The missions pastor is the designated staff leader for missions mobilization for the congregation. This includes responsibility for, facilitation and coordination of all aspects of congregational involvement in world missions. Often it may include all forms of outreach, both local and cross-cultural. While the missions pastor may serve as the chief operating officer for missions interests, he will probably also have a role as educator, trainer, and mentor for the missions team members, missionary candidates, and the congregation at large. The missions pastor may have delegated oversight of:

• teaching or classes on biblical, theological, and strategic foundations for missions
• local outreach with connections to evangelism and cross-cultural outreach
• general congregational education about missions, missionaries, the missions process and priorities
• interface with church leadership
• liaise or lead the church Missions Team
• promote and provide opportunities for individual participation
• stimulate and provide opportunities and tools for missions prayer
• promote and communicate needs and opportunities for missions giving and budget process
• develop and deploy training and opportunities for Short Term Missions
• supervise, coordinate, and assit in missionary care, including on-field visits
• study, facilitate decision-making, and develop missions strategy for the church’s focus and involvement
• develop and implement a process for church-based missionary training and guidance of that training through delegated specialist persons or institutions/schools

When should the church have a missions pastor?

The answer to this question lies at the feet of the church leadership. How you answer will reveal your true priorities in ministry. Our short answer is, “As soon as possible.” However, the answer may vary widely depending on your local situation and ethos. Let’s consider several scenarios that may illustrate how your church may answer this question. Consider a church which, by God’s grace, has an excellent, well-informed lay leader for missions ministries. This person may have considerable cross-cultural field ministry experience. This person should have good leadership and administrative skills. This person is committed to the local church and understands how your church leadership decision-making operates. This person may serve on the elder or leadership board of the church. This person should have significant time available to commit to their missions leadership role in the church. When a local church is blessed with a person like this, someone who works closely and well with church leadership and staff, you may not feel the need to hire a Missions Pastor. This case does not mean that hiring a Missions Pastor wouldn’t produce better results; neither does it mean that you should never consider “hiring” a Missions Pastor; rather, it means that your church may have more resources to exercise stewardship along different lines of priority. We have seen this scenario work well: a senior church leader/businessman functions as the missions leader until retirement, then becomes a volunteer staff Missions Pastor as a transition for the church to eventually hire a Missions Pastor. Consider a small, one-staff church wanting to grow. We’ve stated previously, “If we were consistent in biblical priorities, the second staff pastor of a church would be a Missions Pastor.” The Missions Pastor is rarely a full-time position, especially in a small to medium sized church. It is quite common for a missions-minded church to make the second full-time pastor position a combination of roles. Among those potential roles: Missions Pastor, Youth Pastor, Worship Pastor, Small Group/Discipleship Pastor, Evangelism/Outreach Pastor, Counseling Pastor, University and Young Professionals Pastor, “Enfolding” Pastor, Administrative/Executive Pastor. In our experience, the best Missions Pastors are those gifted in administration and communication. it’s takes a lot of organizational leadership skills to lead, facilitate, and mobilize the church body in this complex, international endeavor toward fulfilling the Great Commission. If the church leadership wants to make missions a priority and grow significantly in vision for ministry outside the walls of the church property, there is no clearer statement than hiring and giving the (at least part-time) responsibility for facilitating missions ministry development to a full-time staff pastor. Be careful to not give untested or broad-scope authority to a greenhorn. i.e. – If your new half-and-half Missions Pastor – Young Adult Pastor is coming straight from seminary graduation, he will most certainly need significant on-the-job training and experience under wise guidance from qualified lay leaders before he exercises significant policy or decision-making powers. Consider a medium-sized church desiring to define or implement a clear missions vision. A Missions Pastor can be a wonderful complement to a growing church. Not only does he have a heart for strategic cross-cultural ministry overseas, but that mindset applied to local ministries can be a big help to local outreach, general administration, small group ministries, discipleship, and/or local church planting initiatives. Rarely does the senior pastor have the time and focus to do the interpersonal spade work to develop and implement a larger strategic plan for the church; but a Missions Pastor must think in those terms as part of his overall philosophy of ministry. A number of Missions Pastors have been effectively utilized in some leadership function in the strategic planning and implementation process for the local church. A medium-sized church should consider giving significant oversight and/or facilitation of missions ministry to a staff pastor. At the same time, there should be a commitment to training and seeing that staff pastor grow in understanding and ability in church missions administration. Propempo.com is a good place to start. There are many others useful Internet resources, as well. A strong reading program, using Propempo recommended resources and other available resources documents sprinkled throughout the website would be helpful. Then, have the designated staff person contact other like-minded churches to learn from them. One phrase we hear often is, “There is no sense in re-inventing the wheel.” Request Propempo to come and do a leadership training session for your church staff and missions leadership. Or, use a Propempo diagnostic to discover your church’s strengths and weaknesses; then use that knowledge to address issues and grow. [[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”99″,”attributes”:{“alt”:”mustand seen vision”,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”border-width: 6px; border-style: solid; margin: 6px; float: left;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”456″}}]]As an aside, though “vision” is idealized in American church culture as part of the requirements or expectations of the “senior pastor,” such “vision” is usually more like “hyperactive imagination” or even “vain imagination” than a biblically-informed perception of future trends and outcomes. Biblically, one person’s subjective sense of supernatural revelation does not become normative (applicable) to the whole church just because the senior pastor thinks so. A corollary to Propempo’s axiom, “Don’t let missionary candidates ‘lay hands on themselves,'” would be, “A leader’s vision must be tested by biblical truth and reality as understood by those affected.” Be Bereans! Consider a larger church. What about larger churches? At what point should we move from a part-time or shared-responsibility staff position to a full-time Missions Pastor? We don’t know your church’s particular situation, but typically a church that gives $100,000 per year or more to international cross-cultural missions should put a full-time Missions Pastor on their radar. The cause of missions has all the elements of an international Christian business, with communication and management issues on both local and global ends of the spectrum: prayer, priorities, “product,” promotion, personnel, program, and “pesos.” If mobilizing your congregation in missions is a priority in your ministry philosophy, as we think it should be, then your Missions Pastor will be very active in cultivating individual participation and ownership in missions, as well as mentoring and training those aspiring to become career missionaries, as young adults or second-career workers. Short Term Missions and “Business As Missions” facilitation and management push the envelope of responsibility to higher and broader intensity. Missions becomes a regular elective in your Christian education curriculum and a requirement for those pursuing missions ministry. Guidance and fund-development for projects and missionary personnel grow with your missions support commitments. Frequency of meetings for leadership of missions grow as well. Another check point for staffing is when your church approaches 1,000 in Sunday morning attendance. At that point, if you don’t already have a Missions Pastor in a North American church context, your church is behind the curve in missions development. The priority proven by having a designated Missions Pastor will have positive benefits to all the ministries of your church. A Missions Pastor can influence every ministry of the church to have an outreach mindset, every ministry to think of the Great Commission as central to their distinct purpose. Every church scenario is unique. If you are thinking about this question, perhaps the Lord is already prompting you and your leadership to consider the timing, qualifications, and impact of hiring or designating responsibilities as a Missions Pastor to pastoral staff. May God lead you to just the right mix and person to see God glorified through your local church (Eph. 3:20-21).

What is the job description of a missions pastor?

The Missions Pastor (or equivalent title) is usually directly accountable to the Senior Pastor or the governing Board. Often, the Missions Pastor responsibility is combined with other pastoral leadership roles, such as: Outreach or Evangelism, Small Groups, Administrative Pastor, Discipleship, Men’s Ministry. Sometimes the Missions Pastor is the leader of the Missions Team; sometimes he is accountable to the Missions Team functioning as the Chief Executive Officer or Chief Operating Officer over the area of missions. The Mission Pastor is usually responsible for oversight and/or execution of the missions leadership and mobilization functions of the church. Compare the areas of activity and ministry in Propempo’s Church Missions Profile :

• Biblical foundations for missions
• Local outreach
• Congregational missions education
• Church leader missions development
• Missions Team leadership & development
• Individual participation by congregants
• Prayer for missions and missionaries
• Missions giving, fund-raising, & stewardship
• Short Term Missions
• Missionary Care
• Missions Strategy
• Missionary Training

What kind of qualities make a good missions pastor?

Every church may think a bit differently regarding staff qualifications. Often included, though unspoken perhaps, is formal training in an acceptable theological seminary. Though biblical and theological foundations are very, very important, that education by itself is not a guarantee that the candidate will be an effective missions pastor. Do the check on theological alignment and discernment! It’s a prerequisite! Then look at other attributes. A missions pastor must first and foremost be passionate about missions. He must be well versed (no pun intended) in the biblical foundations and priority of missions. He must have missions in his blood, eat it for breakfast, breath it, ooze it, love it. He should have a missions-active mind, inquisitive about what God is doing around the world, seeing world news in light of God’s program for His glory in every nation. He should be culturally quick to learn and embrace new things, new foods, new vocabulary, new ways of thinking. A missions pastor must love the local church. If he is not a churchman at heart, he will never really understand the priority and process of church planting in missions. He must understand the dynamic of working with and through people, flawed but redeemed people. He should be balanced in involvement in serving other areas besides missions. He should have a heart to disciple and encourage other church leaders in missions. He should view missions as something that the church does together, rather than what he does on behalf of the church. He is the prime missions mobilizer in his local church. He fulfills a pastoral role; that is to say that he is a shepherd of people. Great people skills, great communication skills, great teaching/discipleship skills — he’ll use all these qualities to the max. A missions pastor needs to be a much better than average administrator. There are scores of relationships and communications, both inside and outside the church, that require a lot of attention to detail and management. He is mobilizing and working with people across a wide variety of ministries and experiences. Events, travel arrangements, logistics of short term missions teams, meetings, training classes, financial tracking and accountability – all these and more are a part of his day-to-day job. There is no pastor who has a broader range of administrative application than the missions pastor. A missions pastor must be a discerning, avid learner. There is a world (no pun intended) of information and trends out there. The missions pastor needs to stay as current as possible with the good, the bad, and the ugly of missions. He needs to be the resident expert on missions questions, even if the church isn’t presently connected to some trend at the time. He needs to have a humble, teachable spirit, in order to learn from missionaries and mission leaders, and to adopt that childlike learning posture to appreciate the cultural, linguistic, and spiritual environments of the church’s workers on the field. A missions pastor should be able and willing to travel to fulfill his shepherding and guidance responsibilities of the church’s supporting mission family. He should exhibit a willingness to travel at low cost and to stay in spartan accommodations or homes along the way. This aspect requires that the interview process needs to examine the wife and family dynamic to determine if there is sufficient support and strength for him to be away from home for frequent and/or extended periods of time. You don’t want to hire someone as missions pastor and then have to make the difficult choice of harming his marriage and family or failing to do all that he should do to fulfill his responsibilities.

Is it OK to have a combination position, Missions + something else?

Most churches do this. Often, the missions pastor is a good administrator and has a heart for ministry. Is it not unusual for the missions pastor to also serve in one or more major ministry areas, such as: youth, local outreach, small groups, discipleship, “enfolding”, administration/executive pastor, young adults, adult teaching, staff leadership, planning and policy development.

What is the staff pastor’s relationship to the MT?

The relationship of a pastor to the Missions Team depends somewhat upon the role of the pastor and the size of the church. The Senior Pastor of a small to medium sized church may be much more involved and hands-on, while delegating authority and responsibility to qualified and committed lay leaders. He should be well-informed about the missionaries and direction without micro-managing the function of the MT. It is healthy for the Senior Pastor to communicate at least annually to the missionaries about the big picture issues and direction of the church. He will want to know and understand (and comply with) the missions policies. Too many churches have gotten into big trouble because the Senior Pastor “gave his word” or “made promises” outside of the policy and agreement of the MT. The Senior Pastor should seek to be teachable and informed about missions, missions strategy, and church missions administration through the Missions Team. In a larger church, there is no question that the Senior Pastor needs to delegate responsibility, authority, and day-to-day management of missions issues to others. Usually this involves a subordinate staff member, but may be directly relating to the MT leadership. Other staff pastors or staff ministry leaders need to coordinate missions-related issues with the MT and in alignment with accepted policy. e.g. – The Youth Pastor does not create a Short Term Missions trip or project apart from the guidance, help, and authority of the MT. The Missions Pastor (or Missions Director) is at least the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of missions ministry of the church. He may also be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), depending on how the organization is structured. Let’s unpack what this means. Usually the Missions Pastor is hired to facilitate the day-to-day operations and administration of the missions functions of the church. This COO function is essential. Even if the church does not have a hired staff member doing this role, there is a layperson or other staff person responsible for this function. The operation of a growing world missions ministry requires a tremendous amount of communication, administration, personal interaction and relationships, delegation, and organizational management. “You can’t run an international organization on one meeting per month.” A full-orbed function as Missions Pastor also requires a certain amount of spiritual leadership, interpersonal counseling and mentoring, fund development and accounting, candidate training, prayer leadership, etc. Done well, the Missions Pastor role becomes a model and influence on every other ministry of the church — toward a heart for outreach, effectiveness, and discipling/equipping of workers. Whether or not the Missions Pastor also functions as the CEO over missions ministries is another question. It largely depends on the local churches organizational ethos and ministry philosophy. Of course, whichever way it goes, all are under the ultimate leadership of the local church elder or decision making leadership board. If leadership and control of ministries is vested in lay-leaders, then the Missions Team will be the “boss” of the Missions Pastor. This makes the Missions Team Chairperson/Leader the de facto boss. i.e. – The Missions Pastor, in this scenario, reports to the Missions Team. While a member of the Missions Team, the Missions Pastor reports to, makes policy suggestions, makes recommendations, etc. to the Missions Team; but he is subject to the decision and direction of the Missions Team. The MP may have a lot of influence in decision making and policy; he will suggest or nominate MT members; but the decision lies with the Missions Team. There are great advantages to this arrangement. It can work very well when there is good relationship and communication between the major players. If leadership and control of ministries is vested in staff positions, then the Missions Pastor will be the Chairman of the Missions Team. He will be the “boss” and the MT is his team to delegate action and make things happen. While the MT may function more as a Board of Advisors, in this case, there can still be a lot of mutually and ownership among all parties. The danger is, if the MT does not have enough backbone or develop enough experience and discernment, the MT can be a “yes-man,” rubber stamp body. If for whatever reason the Missions Pastor is not balanced, wise, well-equipped, or well-informed, he can lead the whole church body down a tangent that is not helpful. On the other hand, if the MP is balanced, wise, equipped, and informed, and has good communication and relationship with “his” Team, this arrangement can be very efficient and productive. Most often, regardless of which direction the actual organizational chart leans, there is some middle ground practice which best suits the personalities and skills or those involved. Trust is built over time. Leaders, Missions Team members, staff, and laypersons will be satisfied with the arrangement. However, it is healthy to ask the original questions again, from time to time: Who is in charge?, Who makes the decisions?, Who is responsible to execute the decisions?, How can we tell if we’re doing the best job?

What is the staff pastor’s relationship to church missionaries?

Since we’ve mentioned other pastors’ role with respect to missions already, we’ll focus this section on the Missions Pastors specifically. Even when the Missions Team may have recruited church members to function as key points of contact and communication, the Missions Pastor is often the face and voice of the church to your supported missionaries. The senior pastor should be known to them (and vice versa). But the Missions Pastor is the main conduit of information flow back and forth. The Missions Pastor should have regular routine communication with each supported missionary. He can respond to each prayer letter with some not of interest, concern, or question for clarification. Doing so shows the missionary that the MP is reading them and has some understanding of their current situation! The MP should communicate significant events or changes or vision in the local church to the missionaries. He should make connections between the missionaries and those people, small groups, Sunday School classes, short term teams, etc. that have a special concern and interest/ownership of their family’s life and ministry. When the missionary visits the church, the Missions Pastor should be among the first to greet them, insure proper hospitality and provision are made for their stay, and inquire about any special needs or considerations or goals for their stay. In short, the MP is the primary advocate for the missionary to the church body AND vice versa.

What is the pastor’s relationship to missions from the platform?

“If there’s fire in the pulpit, there’s fire in the pews.” This applies not only to spiritual passion in general, but also to missions vision in particular. It never ceases to amaze us that pastors who sincerely believe that they understand and preach the Bible sometimes don’t see missions outside the standard “Great Commission” texts. A pastor who understands the great overarching theme of God’s glory through all time and creation will see it throughout the Bible. God’s glory and the power of the Gospel sweeping across all of redemptive history and all nations will be evident to the pastor and his people. The spread of God’s fame and the power of salvation through the Savior, Jesus Christ, woven into God’s purposes through the ages and now through the church (revisit Ephesians 3 here) is remarkably clear. The pastor has both an exegetical and a leadership responsibility to fervently communicate missions to his people. He models it through his prayers, sermon illustrations, relationship to supported missionaries, interests and concerns for international issues affecting the spread of the Gospel. It reveals it’s permeating influence through his priorities and passions, expressed from the platform (and in private). If missions is a marginalized ministry, or tangential to the core of the church’s focus, or a distraction from building the local “kingdom”, then it will be regarding as unimportant to the people as well. On the other hand, if the pastor is “all in” with loving and fueling the obedient push to disciple all nations, then the people will treasure and highly regard it also.

What is the pastor’s relationship to supporting field ministry?

We’ve already talked about the pastor having regular (at least annual) communication with the church’s supported missionaries. A letter describing the major themes of teaching and ministry for the year would suffice. If there are significant personnel changes or trends for the church, the missionaries would like to hear it directly from the pastor. We recommend that the pastor have a long-term plan to visit every missionary in their field of ministry – not as a guest superstar speaker, but primarily as a learner. As a shepherd, the pastor should take an interest in the manner of life and stresses of local living and culture on “his” missionaries. Experiences on the field produce a heart for the workers, their ministry, and those to whom they minister. Illustrations of sights and sounds, joys and terrors, smells and touch begin to empathetically infuse the pastors sermon illustrations and prayers.

How can the pastor prevent getting overwhelmed by missions stuff?

Missions is great! It’s exciting to see how God is expanding His kingdom, building His church, bringing glory to Himself around the world. The torrent of information can be overwhelming! Yet, the needs are so great. Human suffering and depravity is overwhelming, too! Compassion fatigue sets in. It’s possible to get so interested in missions that other key ministry activities suffer. Balance is one of the most difficult goals to achieve. As a pastor, you have to manage the flow of information and concern in balance with your other ministry responsibilities. While you definitely want to grow and model a heart for the nations, you need to keep your feet firmly planted in ministry to the congregation to which God has called you. Helping your key missions leaders and advocates of the church understand your need for balance will help. They should be encouraged to bring to your attention or recommend only the information and resources most significant to your understanding. Get your own copy of Operation World and systematically plod and pray through it. Get someone on the Missions Team to give you an update on the current status and concerns of your church’s supported missionaries quarterly. You don’t have to read all the new books coming out on missions; you don’t have to subscribe to missions journals and periodicals; you don’t have to know everything out there on the Internet about missions. Your delegated missions leadership people should do that. They can be your buffer, briefer, research assistant for missions info.

Does the pastor have to be the leader of missions in the church?

Yes! Yes! Absolutely, yes! The pastor is the leader and barometer of all spiritual growth and development in the local church. If the pastor doesn’t prize and love missions, the people will not either. So, yes, the pastor should be the leader of missions in the church. But, no – the pastor does not have to personally bear the responsibility and activity of missions leadership. Go back and read through our “Church Mobilization” path. Recruit and delegate responsibility for missions mobilization and management to other capable people in the church. The pastor is the spokesperson and primary teacher, but not the primary do-er. Certainly the pastor needs to have a solid understanding of the biblical and theological bases for missions. Missions should be just a interwoven in his teaching and preaching as it is in the Bible (and that’s a LOT!). However, the primary concern of mobilizing the congregation and maintaining communication with missionaries, etc., should be in the job description of the Missions Team.

How does missions enter into teaching and preaching?

First of all, it’s not too much to say that, if the Pastor’s teaching and preaching is void of reference to mission, then he is not well acquainted with God and His Word. God is all about His glory spread and proclaimed to all nations. The Bible is saturated with God’s purpose to glorify Himself through the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all peoples. To NOT see God seeking to make Himself known to all nations, is to be blind and self-centered, whether intentionally or unintentionally. A man of the Word will be a man who sees missions woven into the fabric of Scripture from Creation to Revelations. All of history is His story of redemption unfolding through the testimony and example of His people. Secondly, a faithful pastor will develop strong relationships with, at least, the missionaries whom the church supports. These dear workers are extended family, adjunct staff, fellow-workers in the Gospel who are a part of and representing your church. It is incumbent upon the pastor to know them and their needs. Lord willing, over time, he will have opportunity to visit them on site and see, feel, taste, touch, and hear the environment in which they minister. This kind of experience cannot help but ooze out of his pores and filter through his illustrations as he teaches and preaches. It becomes a wellspring of anecdotal evidences of God’s grace, mercy, and providence in fulfilling His will.

What priority should missions have in the church?

If we were consistent with our convictions and the priorities of Scripture, the second full-time ministry staff position in the church would be the missions and outreach pastor. Missions is the core of the church’s existence and purpose. Missions is the heart from which all other ministry lifeblood flows. If you get the missions priority right, all the other priorities of the church will be in harmony and alignment; they will all more naturally have a vision and understand their complementary parts of the big picture. The church leaders who figure out that missions is a nonnegotiable priority for the church will find that everything else in the church functions better. Part of the reason this is true, humanly speaking, is that people respond with amazing dynamism and generosity to a church that is not self-centered in its outlook and ministry philosophy. “It’s not about US. It’s about God and His purposes. It’s not about expanding OUR kingdom; it’s about expanding HIS kingdom.” Those two kingdoms are not the same thing! You take care to be focused on His kingdom, and “all these things will be added to you.” If the people of the church do not explicitly hear from the leaders this kind of outward focused purpose and ministry philosophy, they will not deduce it on their own. In fact, if they don’t learn it from the leaders, the leaders are in danger of being impediments and a blockage to the flow of blessing and resources. Check it out: the great promise of God doing “exceedingly, abundantly, above all we ask or imagine” in Eph. 3:20-21 in given in the context of a whole chapter explaining the priority of missions in the church in God’s big plan. We propose that believers are not even eligible to claim such abundant blessings without the condition of being in alignment with God’s missions purposes. What priority should missions have? High, if not highest, priority! High visibility! High on the list of ministry philosophy! High in the hearts and minds of every ministry leader and taught to every congregant!

How can I find the best information on missions for teaching/preaching?

if you are tuned in to seeing and understanding missions in the Bible, the Bible itself is always your best resource. There are three essential book resources which are foundational:

• Let the Nations Be Glad, by John Piper
• From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, by Ruth Tucker
• Operation World, edited by Jason Mandryck

Just how significant is missions content in the Bible?

One Bible teacher said that we could equally argue for the missions basis for the Bible as much as for the biblical basis for missions. The special revelation of the Scriptures is, in itself, a grand example of God’s mission heart in initiating loving outreach to lost humanity. From the proto-evangelon of Genesis 3:15, to the culmination of the ages in Revelation 22, God demonstrates His holiness, sovereignty, and love. The preservation of Noah, the Abrahamic Covenant, the continual steadfast love of Jehovah throughout the history of Israel, all these, both in descriptive and prescriptive passages, show the trajectory of the Gospel culminating in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Almost every time the Old Testament uses the terms “all nations,” “all peoples,” or “all families,” “all flesh,” “the ends of the earth,” (or equivalents), it speaks to God heart for the nations. These phrases occur approximately 1,000 times! Sometimes, fresh objective observations of the Scriptures bring fresh insight. For example, while we often think of Ezekiel as being a strange exilic prophet to Israel, some 60 times God indicates that the judgments and calamities prophesied for Israel and the surrounding nations are intended to result in an awareness and dependence upon Himself as the one true God: e.g. – “that they might know that I am the LORD,” “then they will know that I am the LORD,” “and you shall know that I am the LORD,” etc. These are missional statements! Paul certainly saw that Christ was the seed foretold in the Abrahamic Promise (Galatians 3:16). So, every time we see a connection to the Abrahamic Promise, we can see connections to Christ. The whole book of Hebrews points to images and illustrations from the Old Testament demonstrating the superiority of Christ in every respect. Missions aficionados often refer to ‘the Great Commission” as Jesus’ Last Command – having priority as a mandate for His people until His returns. An awareness of Christ’s sensitivity and intentionality to reach other ethnicities is evident throughout the Gospels. He “must” go through Samaria; he heals all that come to him from throughout the region of Galilee (called, “Galilee of the Gentiles”) and Decapolis, irrespective of ethnicity; he raises the centurion’s servant, and a Syro-Phoenician’s daughter. One cannot read the Gospels with an open mind and not be impressed with Jesus’ heart for all people. Certainly the close of each of the four Gospels and the book of Acts leave no shadow of doubt as to the intent and direction of God in reaching all nations. Fast-forward to the scenes recorded for us in Revelation chapters 5 and 7. In the future we know that some from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation (ethnicity) will be present around the Throne of God in Heaven worshipping the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, our Savior.' This over-arching purpose of God for His glory to all peoples across every ethnicity of earth is our purpose. It is the ultimate temporal purpose of the church. It should be reflected in the vision statement of every local church.

What priority should missions teaching have in my teaching/preaching?

Your own prayerful, open-to-missions-minded Bible study will help you figure out the priority in your personal ministry. Certainly don’t resist or bail out of opportunities to preach and teach on missions when it comes out in the course of teaching through the Bible. In fact, try to make sure that at least one time each year you preach on missions, at an appropriate time in the bigger church calendar of events. Maybe you would be the keynote, kick-off speaker or closing speaker in your church’s missions conference. Don’t let visiting speakers and missionaries have all the fun! You may recall the story behind John Piper’s book, Let the Nations Be Glad. The story behind the publication of this book is significant. As the lead pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, John Piper was initially disinterested in missions. It was one of those ministries that ran by itself. They had a significant organizational structure for handling that. They had an annual, week-long missions conference. Piper planned to have personal vacation time during that week. However, one year the planned keynote speaker of the conference was unable to come at the last minute. The missions pastor impressed upon John Piper the necessity of his canceling his plans for personal vacation and filling in for the missing speaker. When he reluctantly agreed to do it, he canceled all appointments and locked himself in his study to develop the messages for this missions conference. Never before had he seen or received training in the comprehensive and pervasive passion of God for his glory extending to all nations. This series of messages developed for that missions conference became the basis of this book. The “missions awakening” of John Piper has been providentially used of God through this book to awaken many pastors to the strong biblical support and vision for world missions throughout the Scriptures. So, don’t leave town when missions events are scheduled. Participate. Build relationships with the missionaries. Visit them on the field. Your own study for your teaching missions through the natural course of ministry will have an impact. Your people need to hear you talking about it, preaching it, etc. To some of them, it will never be a priority unless they see and hear it firsthand from the pastor. Give it to them! It will be good for your congregation and good for you. When you see it in the Scriptures, you will be more convinced of the rank and value of missions in the church.

How can I lead our church teachers to teach missions?

We’re going to address modeling later. But, being a good model of teaching missions whenever the opportunity shows up is one of the best ways to encourage others to do the same. You can say that missions is important to you and to the church; but if your actions (often for the pastor through your teaching and preaching) don’t back up your words. To be clear, if you don’t point out missions in the Scripture and use missions illustrations, your teachers and leaders will fail to do so, also. Church teachers and leaders should be expected to attend missions conference events. You or the missions pastor can have a “missions in the Bible” or “missions in the life of our church” orientation session during one of their ministries’ orientation or training meetings. Your warmth and enthusiasm for missions and missionaries will be contagious. Read and recommend great and encouraging missions resources. Many good basic resources are recommended and available through our own Propempo Books & Media page. We recommend that most Christian families get From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya (by Ruth Tucker); it is a wonderful “Readers Digest” anthology of missionaries biographies which could be used in family devotions, Sunday School classes, kids clubs, Bible study features, etc. Good biographies are a great and natural way for people, including your church teachers to ratchet up their interest and respect for missions. Create opportunities for your teachers and leaders to interact with missionaries and missions issues, including the prospect of guiding the training and ministry development of missionaries coming from your own congregation. Attend and bring others with you in church missions exposure and training events. Ask Propempo to come and do a seminar at your church! Find and pass along opportunities in your local metro region to hear and learn from mission leaders and/or missionaries. You could even get the ball rolling for your church to sponsor such an event, e.g. – Missions Committee/Team training weekend or retreat, a workshop on “missions involvement in our small groups”.

How can I creatively present missions to people new to missions?

This is a common question for pastors whose church is active in missions. Our evangelical culture is so dominated by the larger denominations that people coming to our church with a mainline denominational background have no clue how wonderful and extensive doing missions in a good church can be. One of the first things on new folks’ minds is: how do we fund missions? They might even ask the challenging question: why do we fund missions? if in their background, missions funding just happened in the background as a percentage of church giving (sent to some functionary of the denomination, association, or fellowship), they might be surprised that your church does missions funding differently. Some new folks may have never heard of missions funding apart from the annual end-of-year push. Including the church’s relationship to missions ministries and missionaries and the practical ways in which the church supports mission, including the funding vehicle/s, should be a standard part of new-member orientation classes. Have your Missions Team develop a brochure or handout that explains how you do it at your church. Make sure that at least once each year there is some explanation from the platform about how you fund missions at your church and the importance of 100% participation. Having special missions-related features is a good way to present missions and your missions philosophy to new people. Every time there is a major catastrophe in the world, the way in which you present prayer requests, the ministry opportunities arising from it, and the channels through which your church might respond with assistance all speak volumes to newcomers about the significance and priority of missions. Does your church personalize missions through the way you support and develop ownership among your congregation. Connections through each Sunday School class or small group “adopting” a missionary are a good start. Encouraging personal relationship and communication with missionaries is helpful. Having good communication pieces on different levels can make a big difference for newcomers’ understanding. Including a missions section or column in your regular church newsletter. Make sure that there is some visual display of missions interest that the church supports. Try to have individual “prayer cards” or bookmark reminders or refrigerator cards that they can use. It’s useful for new people to see and hear from other besides the usual leaders talking about missions. Testimonies of folks from short-term missions trips, missions announcement or corporate prayer led by someone other than paid staff, etc., can be a strong assurance that missions is for the whole congregation.

What principles should I teach to help my church focus on the right things?

1. God’s glory is the overarching purpose of God in all of creation, history, and the Bible.
2. God really is sovereign in all things. He will completely fulfill His purposes.
3. So, it’s really all about God and His purposes, than it is about us and our comfort.
4. The Bible is God’s inspired, authoritative, sufficient special revelation.
5. The Bible teaches and commands us to be about proclaiming the glory of Jesus Christ and the Gospel to all nations.
6. The Bible also teaches us that the local church is God’s primary agent of fulfilling His will and His missions purposes.
7. Our church wants to be obedient and faithful to do what God instructs us to do in His Word.
8. We have the joyful responsibility of being God’s ambassadors and witnesses to a lost and dying world.
9. We trust that God will use our church, and some particular people from out of our church, do help fulfill the Great Commission.
10. We rejoice in every step of progress, including times of hardship and suffering, toward that grand completion.

What resources should I use to help church ministries understand missions?

First, we must encourage you to get your ministry leaders to explore and read the articles on Propempo.com. Our recommended books and resources, found through our Books & Media page, will be a fountain of resources for their education and inspiration. The top books we recommend for missions ministry development would be:

• Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, by J. I. Packer
• Let the Nations Be Glad, by John Piper
• Serving As Senders, by Neal Pirolo
• Test, Train, Affirm, and Send Into Ministry, by Brian Croft
• When Helping Hurts, by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert
• Just Do Something, by Kevin DeYoung
• Don’t Waste Your Life, by John Piper
• HERE to THERE: Getting From Cross to Your Mission Field, published by Propempo
• The Church is Bigger Than You Think, by Patrick Johnstone

How can I get ministry leaders to incorporate missions in their areas?

Two common misconceptions frequent church ministry planning processes. The first is that resources are limited to incremental adjustments from the most recent results. This is a misconception for two reasons: it does not give credit and glory to God for His unlimited resources to fulfill His purposes; and, it does not account for the dynamics of vision. The second misconception is that each ministry is in some sort of kind and gracious Christian competition with each other for resources. Ministry leaders think their ministry is the center of the universe and should receive more time, attention, finances, manpower, etc. These misconceptions and the tension they bring, whether overt or covert, are resolved by understanding and keeping focus on the central purpose of the church. If missions and outreach is not the core and heartbeat of every ministry, then the church begins to become ingrown, shortsighted, maintenance-minded. The Nursery should have a vision for the families of the children for whom they provide care. The Sunday School classes should be consciously trying to reach the families and friends of their students. The Youth should be actively witnessing and discipling other youth. The Choir should have a mindset that they lead people to worship a worthy God, just as should be done in all the world. Missions-connectedness should permeate every ministry so that it seems natural that children and youth would aspire to become missionaries, young adults and adults would be seeking greater and greater involvement in the Great Commission for themselves and their families. When church ministries have a philosophy of ministry that puts a missions-heart at the core of the purpose of their existence, the competitive spirit becomes one of cooperation and collaboration. Resources are driven by vision and faith in God to fulfill His purposes. The purpose of our church ministries is NOT to create the biggest, best [fill in the blank] ministry. It is to give God glory by seeking to fulfill His purposes for the church, and that keeps “discipling the nations” as central to every ministry.

What outside training would be helpful to maximize leaders’ effectiveness?

Besides you own leadership, you might find it effective to have missions orientation and training with a special workshop or seminar. Sometimes, missions agencies you’re connected with may have staff available to do seminars on such topics as:

• Missions Education through all the ministries of the church
• Short Term Missions as a means of training and discipleship
• Developing a vision for outreach through your ministry
• How every church ministry can be involved in world missions
• Serving As Senders
• Missionary Care
• Developing a Missions Leadership Team
• Developing a Church Missions Vision
• Raising and Sending Missionaries From Your Church

How can I relate to our missionaries in helpful ways?

Every pastor or missions pastor should have direct communication with the missionaries you support.

• an annual letter, similar to a condensation of your “state of the union” report at your church’s business meeting
• a quarterly greeting, email, or Skype call
• a Christmas card or birthday card

What role do I have in discipling and shepherding our missionaries?

Missionaries need spiritual shepherding, too! One of the most frequent causes for missionary failure is their inability or unwillingness to make their personal walk with God through personal spiritual disciplines a priority. Missionaries may become blinded by “doing God’s work” to their own need for spiritual nurture, personal spiritual growth (read that: change), and holiness. No one automatically becomes unassailably “holy” by virtue of position or title. Missionaries must fight all the harder, due to adverse environment, even spiritual oppression. The missionary’s home or sending church pastor has an essential role in keeping the spiritual accountability and vitality of his missionaries on the forefront of his ministry to them. No accountability question should be assumed. We’re aware of missionaries who have, at best, coasted spiritually, or, at worst, left a destructive trail of immorality in their wake. The simplest reason why such spiritual downfall happens is that pastors allow public reports to imply that everything is OK spiritually. Sometimes missionaries need rebuke, correction, and instruction. Pragmatism sometimes get in the way of doctrinal integrity. It is the pastor’s duty and responsibility to insure that the missionary’s life and ministry is accurately portraying what your church would do or want done in their situation. They are an extension of you and your church. You need to get into “their stuff” and find out what’s really going on. In order to minister to them, the pastor must have a comfortable line of direct communication open to each sent (if not also those supported) missionary. Today’s world offers electronic communication, mobile phone access, Internet connections through email, VOIP, video phone, etc. There’s really no reason why a pastor couldn’t arrange to have some direct communication with each missionary at least annually and for special occasions or concerns. A pastoral visit on the field would facilitate and help the relationship and accountability. Let your missionaries know about the greatest recent book you’ve read, the highlights of church family news, ask a challenging question, find out about the quality of their marriage and family relationships.

How should I lead in screening, confirming, and equipping potential workers?

As pastor, you are the leader in developing and attesting the ministry fittedness of those in your congregation for ministry. Here are thoughts that will fuel your understanding of this significant role, written for a prospective missionary candidate: Arguably the most essential step toward the mission field is developing the ministry skills in and through a local church setting that you’ll need on the field. The apostle Paul, the greatest missionary in church history, is a highly appropriate example of this truth.

1. The church at Antioch observed Paul doing significant ministry in the church at Antioch for several years before he was released to the mission field (Acts 11.25-26). In fact, Paul was “in training” for as much as twelve years between the time of his conversion and “call” to missions and his actual departure for missionary work.
2. Paul did not simply volunteer to go to the field. The elders set him apart through the direction of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-3). While this incident is not typical, and while it is not wrong to volunteer for the mission field, confirmation of “the call” does not happen in a vacuum. Michael Griffiths writes, “The most that an individual can do is express his willingness. Others must determine his worthiness. The individual may be free to go, but only his church knows if he is really fitted to go.” (in Get Your Church Involved in Missions)

How does my personal life and example lead others in missions?

At any given moment, someone in your church may ask you, “So, what do YOU think about missions?, How important is missions to you, personally?, How do you pray for missionaries?, How do you give to missions?” Are you ready for those questions? If your answers to demonstrate objective, observable actions on your part, it’s impossible for you to make a case for practical, sacrificial involvement of others. It is unacceptable to claim that “missions is not my thing,” or some such lame answer. You are the pastor! Missions reflects the core reason for the church’s existence! Missions is NOT a tangential, peripheral ministry of the church. So, though you may think that you prepared, equipped, or inclined toward missions leadership, you’ve got to take a long look in the mirror and realize that, as pastor, you are a key missions leader in your church. Get moving! Ask yourself, am I an adequate model in these areas (below)? If not, how do I need to change, grow, or become informed in order to be a good model? You may need to ask for some help from mature people around you.

• prayer for missionaries
• prayer for world missions
• giving for missions through your church
• financial support of missions and missionaries beyond your church
• leading your family in missions interest, concern, prayer, giving
• reading missions related books and articles, missionary biographies, etc.
• communication with missionaries
• hospitality extended to missionaries
• plans for visiting missionaries
• growing awareness of and concern for those of ethnic or other cultures around you
• willingness to give platform time to missions interests
• weaving missions illustrations in your preaching and praying publicly
• awareness of missions opportunities and concerns through world events
• seeing and finding missions throughout the Bible

How can I model financial stewardship for missions?

The bottom line is: give to missions. However your church supports and gives to missions, you must personally do it — joyfully, liberally, and timely. It must not be an afterthought or “extra.” You do not get a “pass” because you are in ministry. You shouldn’t wait until you’re paid better, or you work yourself out of debt, or you’ve funded your “emergency fund.” You cannot expect anyone in your church to do any better in the area of giving to missions than you and your family are giving. Give based on your gross income, not your net income. If you have multiple income streams in your family, give from the aggregate not just your individual income. Give intentionally, thoughtfully, and planned. Giving out of emotional knee-jerk reactions to special appeals will not fund a consistent missions ministry of the church. Your model for giving, in both quality and quantity, is what your model is for the church. It’s OK to talk about it, not brag about it. If it comes up, feel free to let others know about how you plan and prayerfully give to the missions efforts of your church. They want to know. They want to know what the pattern is. Be ready to answer that question, “How do you determine how much to give and when to give to missions?” This area also means that you will have to speak up in staff and board meeting to defend the missions budget, its growth, generosity, and direction. You model both by what you do and by what you say to promote and steward missions funding. Ask questions; but check your motives to look for subtle turf or pride wars going on in your heart. Missions funding is not a zero-sum pie; a bigger slice going to missions, does not mean that God will not adequately fund other ministries in the church that may hold more interest for you. You might even have to curb your financial appetite for that ministry or outreach or limelight that has become the apple of your eye, your favorite vision, your pet project. Pray, think clearly, and model fiancial stewardship favoring missions outreach beyond the walls of you and your church’s reach in those meetings and in private conversation with your church leaders. They will notice. God will bless your leadership through your modeling in the area of financial stewardwhip.

How can I demonstrate ownership and commitment to missions?

Most pastors are ex officio members of every standing ministry team, department, committee, or board. Exercise your privilege to attend the Missions Team meeting. Go as an observer; but go prepared and informed to encourage and motivate them to high goals. Ask to get involved directly with missionaries, short term missions, field visits, etc. Just your asking will be an encouragement and reinforce your support of those things. Find out what unique contribution you could make to plans and resourcing for missions efforts. e.g. – Could you be a special speaker or MC for a missions event? Could you be a resource teacher/trainer for a short term missions team on ministry, or servanthood, or prayer, or biblical content? Could you supply some resource from your library or your counseling time to aid a missionary in need? You could volunteer to be in the hospitality rotation for visiting missionary or missions speakers. Your patient and sympathetic interview of missionaries when they pass through the area will go a long way to showing and growing your concern for them and their ministry. Your commitment to visit them on the field is enormous and impactful in every direction. Be as current as you can be with missions and world events issues. You will probably need someone from the missions team or missionary community to help you triage what is out there to find what is the best, most concise information for you to digest.

How does my preaching show a passion for missions?

It’s difficult to be too critical of pastors who have never had teaching or modeling of even seeing missions throughout the Scriptures. Seminary training rarely teaches it. Most churches that you grew up in didn’t have pastors who frequently pointed out the missions content and implications of the narrative and teachings of Scripture. For example, have you ever heard a message which emphasizes what the Bible states is the purpose of the story of David and Goliath? You’ve heard plenty of Sunday School lessons and sermons on that story. Most likely, nearly all of them emphasized the courage of David, how God favors little guys with faith, even ridiculously allegorized versions about all the elements of the story, from the extra large armor of Saul to the five smooth stones. But, 1 Samuel 17:46 clearly states that the desired outcome of the encounter of David with Goliath is intended that, “the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel (NIV).” There is a missional purpose to the inclusion of that story in the canon of the Old Testament! Pray that God would open your eyes to see it, not just in 1 Samuel 17 but throughout the Scriptures. Jesus’ response to his hometown audience in the Bethlehem synagogue told in Luke 4 shows that He knew that those stories conserved by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for us demonstrate God’s heart for the Gentiles. It was a message that enraged his listeners; but the import should not be lost on the preacher of that passage. In Luke 24 Jesus used all the Old Testament Pentateuch, Psalms, and prophets to show God’s global message of salvation through repentance and faith through Himself as the exclusive God-man and Messiah to be proclaimed throughout the whole world. The story of John Piper and the birth of his book, Let the Nations Be Glad, is illustrative of the plight of many pastors who having previously seen the significance of God missions passion reflected yet in their preaching. May God spare you years of wandering to discover this truth. Then, may God inspire and invade your preaching with a passion for missions that is undeniable to any listener. Among the key resources that every pastor should be familiar with is John Piper’s book Let The Nations Be Glad. The story behind the publication of this book is significant. As the lead pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, John piper was initially disinterested in missions. It was one of those ministries that ran by itself. They had a significant organizational structure for handling that. They had an annual, week-long missions conference. Piper planned to have personal vacation time during that week. However, one year the planned keynote speaker of the conference was unable to come at the last minute. The missions pastor impressed upon John Piper the necessity of his canceling his plans for personal vacation and filling in for the missing speaker. When he reluctantly agreed to do it, he canceled all appointments and locked himself in his study to develop the messages for this missions conference. Never before had he seen or received training in the comprehensive and pervasive passion of God for his glory extending to all nations. This series of messages developed for that missions conference became the basis of this book. The “missions awakening” of John Piper has been providentially used of God through this book to awaken many pastors to the strong biblical support and vision for world missions throughout the Scriptures.

How does my family life reflect a high view of missions?

Your family devotions should include missionary stories and biographies. Your wife and children should know and see missions in the Bible because you have pointed it out to them in real life. Your awareness of how to see and discuss national and world events through a world missions lens will coach, encourage, and train them to see Gospel opportunities woven into the course of history. Your family’s hospitality to, generosity to, relationship with missionaries will model and provide life guidance for your kids and their missions interest. Are you willing for your children to grow up to become missionaries? Are you doing and saying things that would encourage that or discourage that? Check your heart. What you do at home becomes the standard by which you can expect others to measure their family’s orientation to and embracing of missions. What does your family do to care for missionaries? Do you make and/or send cards for their birthdays and anniversaries? What does your family do away from home? Do you think about missions connections even on vacation? Do you continue to pray consistently for missionaries, even when your “off” or “away”? These kind of things are the true litmus test of your high view of missions (or otherwise).

How do I encourage young people to consider a missions vocation?

The younger, the better. Many pastors never really consider challenging young people to include “missionary” in their list of possible occupations. Then, almost as a surprise, they receive a pastoral reference form from a mission agency stating that they need your endorsement for young Joe Churchmember to become a missionary. Too little relationship, too late. Some grew up in churches where it was the highest and best goal for young men to aspire to become pastor/preachers. Missionary aspirations were OK for those who couldn’t reach that pastor/preacher rung in the spiritual vocational ladder. Alas, such thinking is shortsighted and prideful. Holding up examples of good missionaries and biographies of good missionaries is a great start. Young people aspire to be like their heroes. If you point them to missionary heroes, they will want to be like them. Having your Sunday School and Youth staff regularly encourage thinking about missions will help. Youth are able to participate in service projects and mission outreach. Short Term Missions can be an avenue for discipling and training in missions values and skills. Your annual Missions Conference is an excellent opportunity to encourage young people to consider a missionary vocation. You may encourage your Missions Team to put together a workshop or seminar or special visiting teacher (like Propempo staff!) to explain the pathway toward becoming a missionary. Youth and their parents need to see and hear concrete steps toward training and qualifying for missionary service. Your personal “pat on the back” will carry an extraordinary influence in the mind of possible missionary candidates.

How does my enthusiasm and embrace of missions show to others?

This question practically answers itself. If you have enthusiasm for missions, you will not be able to contain it. It will show! The converse is also true. If you do not have enthusiasm for missions, your lack of enthusiasm will become painfully evident. We maintain that, if you love God and His Word, you will not be able to resist having a deep, heartfelt love for missions. Maybe you’ve lacked exposure in the past. Maybe you’ve been burnt by bad experiences in the past. OK; get over it! Find some good experiences. Develop some good models. Ask for help, if you need it. It’s just like anything that is of high priority or value to you. If you truly embrace and love it, it will ooze out of your pores, trickle through your speech, show up in your agenda, etc. What happens in a staff or board meeting when missions topics come up? Do you zone out? or, Do you wake up and lean forward and interact with it? When the missionary is speaking, are you thinking of penetrating questions to learn about their life and ministry? or, are you hoping it will finish so that you can get on with your life? Be honest with yourself. You may have to overcome “missions deficit syndrome” in your training, experience, and inclination in order to properly lead yourself, your family, and your congregation in this essential ministry.

How do I personally engage in the tasks of missions in my church?

Your selective volunteerism will be a large encouragement to all involved in missions tasks. It is important for your congregation to see you doing some of the same things you’re promoting for them to do. So, if you are able to attend (as a learner!) missions seminars, training events, conferences, do that. Your benefit will be greater than just what you gain from going yourself. We’ve already spoken about your participation, whether as ex officio or official membership, in your missions leadership committee or team. Hospitality and relationship-building with your missionaries is integral to your engaging with missions. Visiting missionaries on the field should be a priority for you and your church. To have that personal touch and experience will go a long way to your and your church’s understanding of the ministries and people you are supporting. Field visits don’t have to be very long; a few days is fine. Depending on the geography, you might have a connect-the-dots trip to hit several in one trip. Remember, this is not a vacation, it is not a resort-hopping trip, it is not supposed to put you in the limelight or add anything to your resume. Field visits are for you to shadow and experience and question your missionaries life and ministry on the field. It is relationship-building and information gathering. One way that you can make a unique and necessary contribution to the work of missions is through the discipleship and mentoring of missionary candidates. You can and should have some involvement in their lives as they develop and grow in ministry effectiveness through your watchcare. Here are some ideas for doing that, below. You don’t have to do all these things yourself. However, you may be involved in guiding and shepherding the process along. In the end, you will have to give that pastoral reference form to a mission agency. You want it to come from long exposure and solid personal relationship, not out of ignorance. Here’s a list of great learning activities in which you might be involved in guidance and mentoring.

• It’s critical for the candidate’s missions motivation to flow out of the biblical concept of the glory of God and His global purpose to see Jesus Christ glorified in all nations.

In what ways should I engage with our supported missionaries?

We’ve already discussed this in the course of answering questions of several previous articles in this “Church Leadership” path. Here are some of those ideas in list form:

• communicate regularly with your supported missionaries
• work to develop a relationship with them
• try to understand their field ministry context and challenges
• shepherd their family and marriage relationships
• try to learn the mission agency structure and leadership through whom they serve
• pray for them systematically and consistently
• when they come through your area/church, make sure you have a private time of interview and coffee or a meal with them
• resource them with whatever latest, greatest applicable resource you encounter or enjoy
• advocate for them; be their best cheerleader
• ask them penetrating questions that push them to make goals, be theologically discerning, properly understand and represent your church’s ministry
• demonstrate love and appreciation for them
• rejoice with their accomplishments and weep with their disappointments
• praise their good communication and admonish their lack of or poor communication

Should I prioritize personal field visits?

Yes. Reasonably, depending on the size and resources of your church, the pastor should try to visit one missionary or one swath of missionaries every other year or so. This should be considered as part of your job description. It doesn’t mean that you have to do it alone; you may find it advantageous or even necessary to be accompanied by someone with more experience in the particular area you’re trying to visit. You may need some training in security procedures. Again, you must not consider this a vacation or an opportunity for being in the limelight. This is not a ministry spotlight trip for you and your gifts; this is a shepherding ministry trip to and for the missionary. It doesn’t mean that you need to stay in a cave or ignore the opportunity to take in cultural sites and features. But it should not be a teaching or preaching tour.

How and when do I communicate with our missionaries?

• Not less than annually, a state-of-the-union letter describing highlights of the church’s ministry
• When the missionaries visit, personal communication and an interview/coffee/mealtime with them
• Perhaps quarterly, some personal email, Skype, or phone call of greeting and “catch up” about their ministry and concerns
• A field visit, once every ten years on the field.
• Special communication in times of crisis
• Affirmation of prayer for them through whatever normal channels the church may use

How can I support the work of the Missions Team in mobilizing the church?

Visit the team. See how they operate. Go as an observer/learner. Ask questions. Develop a close relationship with the Missions Chairperson/Leader/Pastor. Have regular meetings to find out what’s going on and what issues they are wrestling with. Ask the Missions Team for help in understanding missiological trends or issues, your missionary “staff” environments, etc. Develop a good source for missions information and resources from which to find statistics, illustrations, etc. for sermons and teaching. Speak of the Missions Team and their ministry in public and private meetings. Give them time for the annual Missions Conference event, platform time when needed, missionary time when needed. Encourage other ministries of the church to seek resources and vision for missions education and outreach through their own ministries. Make the process of administration of the Missions ministry of the church easy by encouraging proper resources of their work and helping direct personnel resources to assist them.

How can I encourage the Missions Team in their work?

Meet with the Missions Team and the Missions Team Leader with some frequency and consistency. Help them receive the personnel and financial resources and space they need to do their job well, without encumbrance. Grow yourself to be a mission-minded, missions-advocating pastor. Study and become aware enough of missions trends and issue that you can adequately discuss and guide their thinking and discernment to be aligned with proper doctrine and practice. Challenge them to excellence in all they do for mobilization of the congregation and management of the complex missions enterprise in the church. Introduce them to Propempo resources and training, including the plethora of information and resources available through Propempo.com

How can I encourage our missionaries in their work?

First, you need to know them. Know their goals and strategies; learn their ministries strengths and inclinations; find out what aspects of their work, local culture, language learning, administration, housing situation, etc. create concerns. Try to get them to open up and share what going on beneath the surface in their heart and mind. Shepherd them; encourage them; point them to specific Scriptures; hold them accountable in the spiritual life. Send them a book or DVD or Internet link that would encourage them, or bring them joy or laughter. Get them connected to affinity groups or families in your church – people that will follow up in those interest areas or hobbies.

What is the essence of delegation in the area of missions?

Invest in and trust your church missions team (or committee, or board, or task force, or whatever you call them). Choose a missions leader who understands missions and is a good communicator, with good management skills. Provide the best resources to inform and guide the team possible. Propempo and Propempo.com can be your church’s ally. If you will meet at least monthly for a coffee or update meeting with the missions leader, you will be kept apprised of direction, progress, and significant issues from the team. If you and the elders/leaders board provide the missions team with the basic principles for guidance, you should be able to trust the team to carry out the day-to-day management and promotion of missions within the church. Having mutually understood direction and focus will serve your church well and facilitate trusted delegation.

What are the primary areas to delegate (and the areas to hold on to)?

Delegate: the annual missions conference interview, evaluation, & recommendation process for making support commitments construction of the proposed missions budget approval, management, training, and discipleship of short term missions teams/project administration and promotion of missions education and ownership distributed throughout church ministries, e.g. “Missions Advocates,” small groups and SS classes “adopting” missionaries routine missions communication via email, brochures, displays, newsletters, etc. management and leadership of monthly (and other) missions team meetings recurring prayer meetings and emphases Hold on to: setting guidelines principles for decision-making and future development approval of strategic focus/focii for future vision development and implementation final approval of the budget approval of keynote speakers invited from outside the church review, at least in concept, of public media & announcements for Sunday morning services

How can I make delegation work?

The surest way is to have such a relationship with your missions leadership, both staff and/or lay leaders, that that is a large sense of trust and understanding. Relationships trump ripples of problems that will inevitably occur. If you and your mission leaders are “on the same page” and trust each other, you’ll be able to repair and rebuild any glitches that pop up with a minimum of lost inertia. So, take the time to meet with your missions leaders. Visit that Missions Team from time to time. Show appreciation for their hard work behind the scenes. Written communication usually helps clarify and sharpen expectations. These are not “edits” or “memos” giving orders from on high. Rather, it will be a summary of a conversation in which some direction or guidance was given, received, and understood by all involved. Having the missions team keep a record of minutes or proceedings of which you receive a courtesy copy will help you keep up with what’s going on in their meetings. Yes, that means you have to read it! Certainly having the person responsible as a missions leader of the missions team reporting with some regularity to the elder or governing leadership board of the church will go a long way to having “no surprises.” A part of the missions policy document/s should be simple job or position descriptions. Anything to keep expectations and accountability clear is a help, without being overbearing or over-detailed. You still need to allow people to discover or creativity figure out how to do their tasks. It’s possible that they would do things differently AND better than you and other church leaders might imagine! Give lots of credit as publicly as is reasonable to those who are behind significant progress or events. Good leaders give credit freely and take blame for themselves. Doing so will encourage trust and loyalty much more than you might think. Be a good listener; offer your evaluations and corrections cautiously and in the right context. These delegation skills will serve you well in any area of ministry, not just missions.

What changes when I delegate?

Several wonderful things happen when you delegate well: You affirm that the church is all the people of the church; it is not your private fiefdom/kingdom. You develop ownership for the ministry among others, which happens to be one of the keys to obeying and implementing Ephesians 4. You open channels for the flow of much more energy, creativity, and joyful service. You provide greater margin in your personal life and ministry, allowing you to focus on excellence in your own priority ministries. You enhance your followership quotient; that is, when people see that you are not the “emperor, micro manager, ogre-leader” they are much more willing to volunteer and serve wholeheartedly. You model the very quality of leadership you want and need others in the church to exhibit, mobilizing others to get involved and have ownership of ministry in the church. You become a better pastor and yourself develop a larger sense of trust in others.

How can I make delegating effective?

The essence of effective delegation is clear communication and clear expectations on both sides. Both parties in the transaction must understand and interpret the communication, as identically accurate as possible. So, written records can be very helpful, whether formal or informal. Affirmation that responsibility and authority to fulfill that responsibility is important. One pitfall of leaders who otherwise think they are effective is that they do not confer the authority and resources necessary to do the task. When you and your colleague have had the delegation conversation, try to get a verbal assurance of understanding the task assigned and whatever parameters. Good goals include some description of the end/s desired, the time deadline, and whatever limitation on resources. If your delegatee is clear on expectations and everyone understands that he/she has the authority to make it happen, the only item remaining is to agree on some frequency or stages of reporting on progress or completion. Depending on the nature of what you are delegating, make the report requirements as minimal as possible. Remember, we’re getting away from micro managing!

How does my vision influence the missions vision of the church?

Two stories illustrate the impact and influence of a pastor “getting missions” in his vision for the church. A few years ago I asked a local church pastor out to lunch. My purpose was to find out what their church was doing in missions and if I could help them. I had visited his church; I knew nothing beyond the minimal routine denominational missions obligation was happening there. After we’d eaten, I asked, “What is your missions vision for your church?” His face was blank. I don’t think anyone had ever asked him that question before. After a thoughtful pause (it looked like his mind was racing to come up with an answer), he replied, “I think our church has been very successful in evangelizing our community. I think we should plant some other churches just like ours in nearby areas.” I could tell that he felt satisfied with his answer. It seemed like he thought, “See! That’s a great answer!” Then again, I hadn’t responded yet. I wanted to compliment him. I realized that he was a pastor for which missions was only a possibility. I could tell that he wasn’t sure where this was going. So, I said, “That’s a great start! You can use local church planting as your laboratory and internship process to train people to plant churches all around the world.” You could have knocked him over with a feather. He looked like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. Fast forward: Six months later, while visiting this dear brother’s church, I found in the lobby a freshly printed missions vision statement. It stated, in essence, “Our church is going to plant other churches, locally and overseas. We’re going to get experience here that we can use to deploy missionaries around the world.” John Piper tells this account of his own growth in missions “ownership.” When he first came to Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, it already had a missions program with an annual missions conference planned well in advance. Being the typical, well-disciplined pastor at the time, he decided that the annual missions conference week would be a good week to take a vacation. One year, just weeks before the conference, the missions committee came to him to insist that he stay. The planned keynote speaker couldn’t make it at the last minute. They urgently needed him, the pastor, to be the speaker for the week! Let me interject here, while this was an unplanned incident, it was a genius stroke of Providence. I’ve often wondered if the situation couldn’t be duplicated in other churches. i.e. – Could you try doing this same thing with your pastor? Maybe you should consider asking your pastor to preach on missions! Back to the story: Piper panicked! He had little or no experience in preaching missions. But there was no way out. The vacation was shelved; off the shelf came the Bible and commentaries to start studying. He shuttered himself into his study to do the tedious work of preparation on short notice. What happened? God spoke through His Word! John Piper got it! His whole perspective on missions and his role was transformed. His classic book on the supremacy of God in missions, Let the Nations Be Glad was the result. An enduring result was a determined change in the purpose, vision, and values statement of Bethlehem Baptist Church — pushing missions into a clear passion of the church. Does the pastor’s vision for missions affect the church? Absolutely. Do whatever it takes to capture a passionate vision for missions in your own heart for the sake of your church!

How does delegation better fulfill my role as pastor?

When you learn how to delegate effectively, you will be amazed at the positive transformation it makes in your personal ministry and in the life of the church. People love to take ownership and be a part of something that is bigger than themselves. You will love the newfound time and energy to devote to priorities in ministry, instead of personally putting out fires all the time. You will be a better pastor, because you’re equipping the people for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4). Your church will have greater capacity to grow both numerically and spiritually. Your obedience, servant-leadership, and delegation skills will model for other ministry leaders all down the line and make them more effective leaders. Delegation is a win-win!

What is Delegate ?

We wish there was a good class on delegation. Unfortunately, American pastors, who don’t have a plurality of equal-to-them elders functioning as a team together, tend to have a emperor complex. American pastors are infamous for being control freaks, micro managers, “my way or the highway” kind of leaders. By actions more than by actual words, the American pastor stereotype tells everyone around them, “I’m called to be the leader. I’m the visionary. I’m the one giving directions here.” It kind of smells like the attitudes Jesus warned His disciples against. Delegation is something that happens when the pastor has a heart attack or he just really doesn’t want to do that thing that’s being delegated. Yet, if the church is to grow, delegation must happen. In fact, ironically, delegation is the very thing that facilitates church planting ministry and helps the burgeoning church to develop indigenous leaders. It’s true that delegation means some degree of release of control. Things won’t be done in exactly the same manner or end up with exactly the same results as if you did them or you micro managed the stuffing out of it. However, it’s better to learn how to delegate so that you don’t have a heart attack, rather than have the heart attack force you to delegate. Delegation is the art of persuading and communicating others to do a task or project for the good of the whole body. Delegation gives both responsibility and authority to others. Delegation also allows for the possibility of failure. Failure isn’t always bad, by the way. Through failure we all, including you, learn from experience. Missions is one of the prime areas of ministry where you will be dependent on delegation to accomplish the education and mobilization of the church in a specialized area that you would not be able to accomplish on your own without neglecting other essential ministry priorities. You must find competent and proactive leaders and servants to carry the missions ministry of the church farther and better than you could. It’s OK if you want to be involved. It’s OK for you to give others resources and ideas to fuel their progress. It’s not OK for you to micro manage and subjugate everyone in the missions team to do it your way. This section will help you with some ideas about how to effectively delegate in the area of missions. There might be some transferable principles into other areas of church ministry, as a bonus!

Advance to Missionary

We’re excited about this new online resource! Content is in the process of being created and ported. Prayerfully support Propempo.com and consider contributing to its content. The next path-book, “Missionary,” on Propempo.com will help you (or your missionary candidate or supported missionary) walk through eight steps of personal ministry and skills development with a view to long-term effectiveness in a cross-cultural field setting. Some of the early steps: Learn, Aim, Plan, Build, are foundational to sound ministry philosphy and personal growth as a cross-cultural worker/missionary. Strategic field skills to: Evaluate, Strategize, Multiply, and Finish, complement life-growth and spiritual impact from beginning to legacy. Every wanna-be missionary should spend time interacting with these concepts. Look for resource links to documents and resources in each section. Walk on! Please prayerfully consider supporting Propempo.com and the ministry of Propempo International