Why Your Church Should Prioritize Missions Partnerships and Sending Members to Serve (part 3)

3. Developing a culture of mission partnerships and sending members on mission from your Jerusalem (community) to the uttermost parts of the world (Acts 1:8) increases both the health and reach of your church. The healthiest churches, of whatever size, are those who selflessly send their members to further the gospel. I’ve seen a spiritual principle proven true time after time, both individually and in the church: you can’t outgive God. Generous, mission-minded sending churches are always growing churches; if there is an exception to that rule, I don’t know of any. In every church I have ever pastored, there was always someone who would criticize our gospel partnerships that were beyond our own community. The verbiage was nearly always the same; “We have plenty of need and lost people right here in our own community, so why do we need to be taking these trips to far-off places?” My answer was always the same: “Because Jesus told us to.” We are to be His witnesses in our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world. Sharing the gospel near and far is not a mutually exclusive proposition; we can and must do both. Jesus taught and built into His Church the practice of multiplication. Healthy churches work to multiply small groups (discipleship) within the church and to multiply themselves through church planting, replanting, and strategic Kingdom partnerships far from home on underserved mission fields. Churches that are not forming gospel partnerships can soon become siloed and inwardly focused. A church that is not proactively working to partner, plant, and multiply has missed the biblical, core purpose for which Christ established His Church. Your church needs to be on mission, not only for church health, but to be obedient. When you send people on mission far from home, it never fails that many return and suddenly have a new burden and boldness for sharing in their own community. As we’ve all heard the saying, “The lighthouse that shines the furthest shines the brightest at home.”

If you need help locating some potential partnerships or if you want to discuss how your church could begin to develop a culture of multiplying and sending, please contact Brian or me. This isn’t hard, and a church of any size can do this.