Bridge Building To Our Local Church

by Paul Borthwick

When I first started pursuing cross-cultural service, I really wanted to bypass my local church. My experience with a short-term mission project had introduced me to the "red-tape" and bureaucracy of the local church. When I started to consider something more substantial, I remembering thinking to myself, "Can't I just raise prayer and financial support from my family and friends?"

Let's be realistic: sometimes the local church doesn't seem too desirable when looking for partners in missions service - whether long-term or short-term. Mission outreach often seems like "just one more thing" on a vast menu of church programs. Why bother to build relationships with people who may not seem informed, excited about, or supportive of missions?

Two Stories

Two experiences (in these cases, with respect to short-term missions) illustrate why we need to work to build bridges to our local churches.

Diane's short-term mission experience left her feeling a little flat. It had all seemed great at the outset. She had linked up with a good mission agency at the Urbana convention. When she received her assignment, she received excellent financial support from her family and a few friends. And her peers in her fellowship group on campus were very excited with her.

But when she arrived on the field (in her case, Central Africa for eight weeks), she found out just how alone she was. Her family wrote regularly, but others seemed to forget about her, or so she felt. When she returned home, no one seemed interested in the intense experiences she'd had in a new culture. Her aloneness made her think, "I doubt I'll ever go into missions again."

Louise had a very different experience. Rather than going with an independent program, she decided to go through her church-affiliated short-term program to Eastern Europe. At the start of the summer, she experienced some deep frustration with the sending process. She wondered, "Why do I have to do all of this paperwork? Why do I have to meet with the missions committee? When I'm so ready to go, why does it seem that my church is dragging its feet in actually sending me out?"

The pre-field training required that she spend time developing relationships with people in her church. After a special send-off service, a dozen friends took Louise to the airport from the church.

During her summer, letters and emails came regularly. She never felt the same sort of aloneness Diane felt because there were constant reminders that she was not alone; her church was behind her. She returned home two months later to an airport reception crowded with church members toting "Welcome Home" signs. Several expressed anticipation about hearing her reports. At the close of her experience, Louise thought, "Wow! I want to do that again."

Although Diane and Louise are extreme (though true) cases, their contrasting experiences were related to their pre-field relationship building with people in their local church.

Why Should I Work With My Church?

There are at least three good reasons to spend the time needed to build bridges to our local, sending church.

First, it's biblical. Jesus promises that the Church will prevail against the gates of hell (Matt. 16:18). The book of Acts shows the Church in action to fulfill the Great Commission through establishing churches. Missionaries are sent to establish churches, not to make solitary converts. If we ignore the local church in our own culture, what will we have to offer the local church in another?

Second, it's practical. Whether or not we want to admit it, our local church has plenty to offer in the sending process. Financial and prayer support are the most basic means of involvement. But who know us - even those who have known us since we were young - are crucial too. They can advise us on what we need to do to prepare ourselves for all of the stresses related to cross-cultural ministry.

Finally, it multiplies vision to others. Our cross-cultural calling can be a tremendous mission catalyst to the sending church. Most churches (which we might admit are weak in missions commitment) will get very excited about the thought of sending one of "Our Own." If we can get involved and build bridges to the church, we can multiply our mission vision to others.

Ways to Work With Your Church

Churches are different and churches change, so the starting point is to know the church. We can miss out on great opportunities to base our efforts in our home churches if we fail to explore all the opportunities. Here are three ways to work with the church:

1) Local church-based programs. Some churches now develop their own programs for short-term missions. When first exploring a calling to cross-cultural ministry, most of us start with a short-term assignment. Consider this: instead of going through an independent group, consider the church program. In so doing, we can establish a partnership with our sending body.

Jeff and Judy sensed God's direction towards linguistic ministry in Africa, but early in the process, they built a bridge to their home church by assisting in the leadership of a short-term ministry trip to their anticipated field. Now they serve full time in Chad with SIL (Wycliffe Bible Translators), but their choice to assist with the church's short-term program built a bridge that has made them one of their church's most beloved missionaries.

2) Consider Denominational Programs. Before launching out, explore the possibilities for service in the denomination. In most cases, a local church will relax and more eagerly support us if we can link ourselves into cross-cultural service with established denominational programs that they already know and trust.

3) Work With The Senders. If our best option for service means going with an independent mission agency, we can still build solid church backing through the pastor, the missions committee or whatever structure we discover in our churches that serves as the "launching pad" group. Building rapport with the people who will "officially" send us out will provide avenues for counsel, training, prayer and financial support.

PRACTICAL BRIDGE BUILDERS TO THE CHURCH

How can we rise to the challenge of involving our churches in our desire and plans for cross-cultural service - either through short-term or long-term missions?

Consider these eight bridge builders.

Bridge-builder One: Communicate. A true partnership with our church will mean involving people in the church from the outset - not just after we choose a location, task or ministry. Get people praying as the ministry task and agency are selected. Ask for advice (and listen to it). If we're communicating with our church and pastor months and years before we go out, everyone will have a greater sense of being involved in our sending (and, correspondingly, in our financial and prayer support).

Bridge-builder Two: Be a Giver, Not Just a Taker. Too often we contact our home church leadership only when we need something - especially money. Bridge building means that we look for ways to give and serve long before we leave as cross-cultural missionaries. Being a giver means volunteering to serve where the church needs it - not just volunteering to teach the "Missions" class. Being a giver also means giving financially. Our local church is not a religious "ATM" to be used only for withdrawals! We demonstrate our partnership with our local churches by our financial commitment to their ministries.

Bridge-builder Three: Learn the Church's Channels. Become familiar with the faithful prayer partners. Discovering the ways to apply for financial support. Get to know the church leadership and the church's history. If there is a mission leadership team, get to know their strategy so that we can discover where our God-given direction might fit in that strategy. Knowing how the church operates can save frustration in future communications.

Bridge-builder Four: Submit. After reading Acts 13:1-3 and Michael Griffith's book, Who Really Sends the Missionary? (Moody Press, 1974), I became convinced that I should work through our elders and submit a decision I was facing to them. While a seminary student, I had been invited to teach in Hong Kong with Chinese Church leaders. I submitted the decision to them and asked for their blessing. I assumed that they would give it.

To my surprise, they unanimously opposed the decision and recommended that I shouldn't go. They knew I was an impulsive person, and they strongly recommended that I needed to finish school first. I was crushed, angry, and amazed - after all I was one of only a few even willing to go out! But for the first time in my Christian life, I had to learn what it was to live under authority. And I had to learn that God speaks through others in giving guidance.

Perhaps submission is the hardest of the bridge-builders, but whether it's easy or hard isn't the issue. The issue is whether we want to be sent out under the authority that God has ordained, even when that authority disagrees with what we think. There are, regretfully, those rare times when church leaders aren't faithful to scriptural priorities. Church leaders who hold convictions unfavorable to biblical mission have sometimes restrained would-be missionaries. If we find ourselves in this situation, we still need to seek out several senior advisers who understand the biblical teaching on mission and follow their counsel.

Bridge-builder Five: Recruit Prayer. We can't just sit back in the hope that people will come to us; we need to go after them. We can ask the pastor to include us in the pastoral prayer. We can get interviewed in church services or other, smaller meetings. And we can write letters - all in an effort to recruit people to pray.

Bridge-builder Six: Involve People Financially. Prayer support, letters, and a sense of teamwork all benefit when many people are involved financially. Communicate clearly what the needs are, and invite people to join as partners. Rather than asking people to support OUR ministry, make it a team effort. People enjoy expanding their ministries through giving to ours if we ask them to join our team. The books Friend-Raising (Betty Barnett, YWAM Publishing, 1991) and The Support-Raising Handbook (Brian Rust and Barry McLeish, InterVarsity Press, 1984) can be a great help.

Bridge-builder Seven: Ask the Church for a Commissioning. The prayer witness of the Holy Spirit in Acts 13 helped give Paul and Barnabas the spiritual energy they needed to go out as missionaries. We need the same. An all-congregation church service can provide us the opportunity to get commissioned for our assignment by the church leadership. Prayer - with the laying on of hands - provides a strong sense of spiritual identification between our sending churches and us.

Bridge-builder Eight: Report Back Often. One short-term worker at a Boston church reported back to the congregation every week for a year by emailing a "Power-Point" slide show of about 5-10 slides sent with narration. That church followed their missionary in his work with street kids every week!

We cannot afford to wait until we return to stay in touch with the church that sends us. It takes careful planning, but correspondence and communication with our church will bond us with our senders. People want to know how their prayers are being answered, and it's our responsibility to tell them. They need specifics for their intercession, and we can relay these needs by email, letter, postcard, telegram, or phone call.

We have a great privilege and responsibility to build bridges to our home churches. It will help us better understand God's strategy for missions and help our churches fulfill their God-given purposes as senders.

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Bridge Building To Our Local Church

God's Word

Urbana Stories

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December 27-31, 2009