by James G. Smith
“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”
Every church should aspire to send out missionaries, following the example of the church at Antioch in Acts 13. It doesn’t happen coincidentally. A church must be actively teaching God’s plan for the nations. When fulfilling the Great Commission is understood as the ultimate goal, sending “one of our own” will come as a natural result.
Once missionaries have confirmed their call to serve the Lord, and have completed their preparation academically, practically, and financially, the sending church has the joyful responsibility of commissioning them to the country and people to whom God is leading them.
A sending church generally supports their own missionary at a substantially higher rate than other supported missionaries. The church keeps their names and faces before the congregation on a regular basis and encourages them with frequent communication. The church honors them when they return on furlough. People from the church visit them in their country of ministry.
We asked the pastors of the sending churches of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International to tell us how sending a missionary had impacted the church and to identify areas of possible improvement in the relationship.
At the same time, we asked missionaries sent by churches affiliated with the BBFI about their relationships with those churches. Thinking it would only be fair, we asked them what they thought could be improved as well.
The response from both pastors and missionaries was great. We have done far more editing than usual, trying to get everything to fit into this issue. However, not everything could be included in these pages, so readers can check out participating pastors’ and missionaries’ replies in their entirety on our website.
It is exciting to be involved in doing missionary work, following the example of the church at Antioch. It is comforting to know the system works.
We at the BBFI World Mission Service Center stand ready to help in any way we can so that our churches can send our missionaries with the gospel to the whole world.
To read the entire September 2012 Global Partners click here.