A Fresh Reminder

Having just returned from Liberia, I have once again a refreshed perspective about missions being done through the local church.  Several times during the week I spent with the nearly seventy native pastors I talked with them about the best ways to reach their country for Christ.  Without any exception they believe that the keys to reaching their families, neighbors, and friends resides in trained Liberian servants of God who already know the language, understand the culture, and love the people.  

For many of us who either labor for Global Baptist Training Foundation or support it, it comes as no surprise that this is the sentiment of locals all over the globe who know Jesus Christ and desire to reach their populaces through the building up of Scriptural churches and pastors, that nationals want to take full responsibility for the evangelism of their nations.  I noticed this week when interacting with these pastors that they deeply sense the need for training and support to do the Lord's work.

But what does this all mean for the traditional missions model of sending westerners?  Let me qaulify that question.  Does the training of nationals on present mission fields replace the need for westerners at all to go?  That is a legitimate question and deserves a clear answer.  In short the answer is no.  However, the longer answer needs some explanation.  First of all, what is goal of missions?  Without hesitation, we can say that regardless of whether it is a westerner who pioneers the gospel or a national who spreads the message, the goal is the same.  Train the nationals to do the work of the ministry in their own country!  That is both a biblical and essential goal!

Secondly, there would not be national pastors in need of training on many of our global mission fields had it not been for pioneer missionaries who left families, friends, and homes to pour out their lives in reaching virgin territories where the gospel did not exist!  Thank God for the incredible service of those who have blazed the trails for the gospel all over the world.  The present situation of Christian nationals on the continent of Africa alone is testament to the fact that we owe a great debt of gratitude and honor to those who have gone before us.   That fact is not arguable.

So where is the balance of these two models?  I believe that the balance is a fairly simple one.  If present statistics are accurate, and I think they are, American Evangelicals spend anywhere from 75% to 90-% of their mission resources on those who do only 10 % of the actual work of evangelizing and church planting.  At the same time, they spend 10% to 25% of their mission's resources on those who are doing 90% of the actual work of evangelizing and church planting.  That means that we must work towards bringing balance to this model!  Everywhere I go for GBTF, and I mean everywhere, I hear the same thing from the nationals.  Train us, help equip us, and let us do the work!  

Finally, let me remind us that there is still room for pioneer missionaries, but there is now a growing need to empower the nationals who already exist on many mission fields of the world.  Let's pray for balance!