EMQ » January–March 2018 » Vol. 54 Issue 1
by Craig Ott
Today there are many contrasting and often conflicting descriptions of what the role of expatriate missionaries, and in particular Western missionaries, should be in the current world of global missions. Advocates of frontier missions emphasize the priority of pioneer efforts to bring the gospel to ethnic groups and subcultures that are yet unreached. Yet others argue that local national workers and Majority World missionaries are more effective in pioneer evangelism, and that expatriate missionaries should focus their efforts on mobilizing and training such workers. Still others maintain that the only role remaining for Western missionaries is that of consultants or short-term workers who are involved in specialized projects. Local churches are often bewildered by the range of seemingly mutually exclusive mission strategies that they should adopt and support for maximum advancement of the Great Commission. At a meeting of local church mission pastors that I recently attended as an observer, the confusion during table discussions was evident and disturbing.
I believe that part of the confusion arises by overlooking the various stages through which gospel movements develop, and the different needs each phase faces. The appropriate role of missionaries should not be determined by a one size fits all strategy, but rather by understanding the developmental phases of church planting movements, and by wisely contributing to the further maturity of these movements and their involvement in global mission.
In this article I will map out four phases of movement development and describe how missionaries can best contribute at each phase. The four phases are (1) pioneer indigenization, (2) local multiplication, (3) regional organization, and (4) global participation. These phases are more fluid than this typology suggests and they may not progress in a strictly linear manner. Yet these distinctions can serve as a helpful guide and as markers to discern the most strategic missionary involvement.
Pioneer Indigenization
Although the gospel has made remarkable progress and the church has been planted among the majority of ethnic groups of the world, there remain many that are still unreached or under-reached. There is still urgent need for pioneer evangelism and church planting among such peoples that will require a cross-cultural witness, that is, a missionary. Though estimates vary widely depending on how one defines if a people group is “reached,” best estimates are that a quarter to a third of the world’s population remain in need of pioneer mission work. The greatest needs are among Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist populations where traditional missionary work is prohibited or very difficult. There also remain large numbers of small, isolated ethnic groups without a gospel witness or Scripture available in their mother language. Indeed, Western missionaries may not be the best suited to reach some of these groups. But the Western church cannot simply excuse itself from participating in the difficult and often dangerous work of reaching such peoples with the Gospel. There remains a need to send Western missionaries as frontline, pioneer workers.
During the pioneer phase of launching a movement the goal is to undertake initial evangelistic efforts and plant the first churches. Missionaries serve not only as evangelists, disciple-makers, and church planters, but will seek to quickly transition to equipping and empowering local believers to take responsibility for reaching their own people and leading their own churches. Although the concept of planting “three-self” indigenous churches (self-propagating, self-governing, self-supporting) has been criticized and alone is inadequate, missionaries will nevertheless want to plant churches that are contextualized, take root, and reproduce in the local culture. The shape of the first churches planted typically become the model for those that follow. Thus establishing a missional-ecclesial DNA that is easily reproduced, under local leadership, and with minimal outside dependence will be a key to longer-term growth, reproduction, and health. This often requires employing methods that initially are slower, but have greater potential for long- term multiplication. The dangers facing this phase include discouragement due to slow progress, foreign dominance, and use of methods that cannot be sustained and reproduced by local believers with local resources. Attention must also be given to contextualize churches that are able to adequately communicate and live out the gospel in culturally relevant ways.
Local Multiplication
Once the first churches have been planted, the goal during this phase is to reproduce, and indeed to multiply these churches. At least two conditions are critical at this phase. First, churches must develop in a healthy manner with spiritual vitality, sound theology, and strong spiritual leaders. Second, local believers must take the lead in facilitating churches planting churches with minimal dependence on outside resources. This is why during the pioneer phase methods need to be employed that are not heavily dependent upon foreign resources or personnel, but rather methods that are easily replicated by local people using local resources. Unfortunately, not a few movements have been started whereby local believers pastor the churches, but the responsibility for evangelism and church planting is left to foreigners. This will not lead to church multiplication and will hinder healthy movement development.
Local leadership, not only in pastoral care, but also in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting, is essential to a self-reproducing movement. Thus at this stage the missionary role transitions from being a frontline worker to an equipper and partner with national workers. Missionaries who have gained firsthand experience in the local culture and earned ministry credibility can become the mentors, coaches, and cheerleaders of national workers. Especially where churches grow rapidly, the need for discipleship and leadership development will increase proportionately. There will be growing need for missionary assistance in developing leaders who will serve the church well and in developing contextual theologies that will address cultural issues and concerns.
There is some debate whether during this phase more emphasis should be placed upon rapid church multiplication, or upon strengthening the churches. Is quality or quantity more important? However, it is a mistake to play one priority off against the other. Rapidly reproducing churches can also be healthy churches if they emphasize discipleship, spiritual vitality, and biblical instruction. The dangers during this phase are twofold: on the one hand churches can stagnate and cease to grow by becoming ingrown and overemphasizing quality. On the other hand churches can become unhealthy or syncretistic if they overemphasize quantity, multiplication being emphasized at the cost of church health. Developing healthy, missional leaders is perhaps the most important key to healthy movements that are also growing movements. This can be a strategic role for missionary involvement.
Regional Organization
As the number of churches increases, the need for cooperation and organization also increases. There are many needs that can best be met by churches working together on projects such as training workers. This can be done regionally thus increasing the quality of the training and creating a sense of fellowship and mutual commitment among the churches. Churches may need formal representation and the ability to speak with a single voice to the government. A common legal status may be necessary to own property or to obtain permission for public events or services. Shared conferences and publications can create a sense of unity among churches. Charitable efforts and social projects can be coordinated for greater impact and efficiency. Local leaders may come together to decide upon a biblical approach local traditions, ethical matters or theological questions. We see this happening among the churches of the first century in cooperative efforts such as the offering of the Gentile churches for the poor in Jerusalem and in the decisions of the Jerusalem conference described in Acts 15.
At this phase, missionary assistance is often appreciated to provide counsel and to help create infrastructure. Missionaries may bring specialized expertise in such areas as economic development, ministry to special needs groups (such as addictions treatment or serving the disabled), organizational management, or legal and financial counsel. Particularly in the area of theological education, missionaries may be needed until local believers have attained higher levels of education.
One of the pitfalls at this phase is for missionaries to import denominational structures and ministries that are unsuited to the local needs and context. Such structures may have served their sending churches well. But these have usually developed over many years in response to clearly felt needs. I recall one emerging movement that created a denominational office complete with a fully salaried president, although there were only a handful of churches. The churches neither felt the need for such bureaucracy, nor were they convinced that the person appointed as president was the right person. Some groups have formed a plethora of committees, working groups, and projects that may appear mature, advanced, and even prestigious, but end up being a hindrance like Saul’s armor upon David. Schools, seminaries, hospitals, publishing houses and the like can serve the church well. But they can also be costly prestige objects. They should only be created at the initiative of the local churches and when those churches are adequately committed to bearing the lion’s share of the financial responsibility and organizational leadership. Missionary enthusiasm should not push such projects ahead of the local churches’ ownership and commitment.
Global Participation
One of the most exciting developments in recent decades has been the increase of cross-cultural missionaries being sent from the churches of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Of course, national workers have long been responsible for evangelism and mission efforts within their own country, but by some estimates the number of international missionaries being sent by Majority World churches now surpasses those sent from Western nations. As emerging movements grow and organize, participation in global missions through sending cross-cultural missionaries is the next step of development. This marks the full coming of age of any church planting movement. It is the very nature of the Holy Spirit to glorify Christ and convince the world of its spiritual need (John 16:8-11, 14). The mark of a Spirit filled church is that its members become witnesses not only in their “Jerusalem,” but also to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Emerging movements often struggle in two ways as they seek to send cross-cultural missionaries. The first is creating adequate sending and support structures, and the second is providing adequate preparation for cross-cultural ministry. For example, churches of China have not only experienced the most dramatic growth in the history of Christianity, but have developed a vision to send many thousands of international missionaries. Yet until now the actual numbers sent have been relatively low, and the attrition rate of missionaries sent exceedingly high. Some have been sent directly by their home church with little preparation, support or infrastructure. Others have cooperated with existing mission agencies outside of China, but with mixed and frustrating results. Emerging movements typically have little experience at cross-cultural ministry and lack missionary training opportunities. Sometimes it is assumed that the “missionary call” is preparation enough. But zeal without wisdom can result in harmful practices, repeating mistakes of the past, unnecessary failures, and a squandering of human and financial resources.
This fourth phase of movement development presents strategic opportunities for expatriate missionaries to leverage their impact for world missions. The Protestant church of the West has over two centuries of history and experience in missionary sending. Western missionaries can be valuable consultants and partners with emerging missionary movements. Here again, contextual approaches to missionary sending will need to be developed that do not merely replicate the historic sending structures of the Western church. In some cases, internationalization of mission agencies can be a healthy way forward as evidenced in the internationalization of agencies such as OMF, SIM, Pioneers, and others. However, in other cases, such partnerships may not be suitable or workable, and creative approaches will need to be developed.
International studies, such as those conducted by the World Evangelical Alliance, have found that thorough pre-field missionary orientation and formal missiological training correspond to a reduction of avoidable missionary attrition. Until missionaries sent by emerging movements have gained more experience, assistance from experienced expatriate missionaries and missiologists will be necessary to develop cross-cultural missionary training programs. Western missionaries can offer valuable expertise and experience, teaching subjects such as intercultural communication, theology of mission, contextualization, mission history, language acquisition, and world religions – to name only a few.
Conclusion
A comprehensive approach to world mission requires an understanding of how movements develop and of the most strategic mission efforts at each of the four phases described here. Missionaries must partner with movements in ways appropriate to their level of development and need. In this sense it is not so much a matter of choosing between competing mission strategies, but of discerning which missionary role best fits a given local situation as part of the larger progress of emerging movements and world evangelization.
Of course each individual missionary has particular gifts, talents, and experience, and is thus better suited for the needs of some developmental phases than for others. As mission agencies and local churches discern how to best deploy personnel, they will need to consider the particular missionary’s profile, and then discern the developmental needs of the various locations of ministry. Matching missionary profile with local need will be a key to effectiveness in advancing movements.
Craig Ott is professor of mission and intercultural studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he also directs the PhD program in intercultural studies. He has authored and edited numerous books and ministered in over forty countries.
