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The Church and Missions · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking, the deep Dive.
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This is where we take materials you've shared, articles, notes,
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maybe even your own research and really dig into them.
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We try to pull out the key ideas, give you a focused
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discussion, sort of a quick path to understanding the core
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concepts clearly. And today, well, we're diving
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into what it really means for churches, for us to carry out
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God's plan, spreading the gospel, establishing his Kingdom
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right here, right now. We've got some great sources
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here, perspectives on mission, strategy, what God's Kingdom
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actually is, and critically, the local church's role in it all.
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Yeah. And as we get started, it's
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maybe helpful to think about a foundational truth.
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It shapes how we approach, well, everything in the Christian
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life, including service and missions, and it has to do with
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how we understand trials. Trials usually, we think,
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suffering hardship. Exactly.
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Our minds go straight there. And of course, suffering is a
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trial, a tough one. Scripture is clear on that.
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But there's another kind of test mentioned, one that might reveal
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even more about our hearts. It's Proverbs 27.21.
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It says the crucibles is for silver and the furnace is for
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gold, and a man is tested by his praise.
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Tested by praise, that's unexpected.
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Not adversity, but affirmation. It hits different, doesn't it?
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The idea is that handling godly encouragement or seeing some
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visible success without getting puffed up or sidetracked, that's
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actually a really advanced test. You know, think about it.
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Someone might labor faithfully for years, get very little
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recognition down here, but they'll shine on the last day
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because they weren't distracted. But for those who do get praise
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from family, the aggregation, maybe wider circles, it's a real
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temptation, a lure almost. OK, so how does that connect
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directly to missions? Where's the danger there?
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Well, in missions, there's this natural pull towards valuing
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what looks successful right away.
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Big numbers, fast growth, things that get noticed things.
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You can put in a newsletter that sound impressive.
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Precisely reports of mass conversions.
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A church plant that explodes overnight.
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That stuff draws attention, commendation, often more
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funding. But the Proverbs insight forces
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us to ask, does that praise make us complacent?
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Does it make a subtly shift our focus from?
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What God values to what gets applause.
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Do we start prioritizing, say, quick decisions over deep
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discipleship or impressive buildings over spiritually
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mature local leaders? The very success we celebrate
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can kind of pull us off course from God's long term plan and
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His specific ways of working. It's a test of humility really.
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Are we seeking His glory or ours?
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Now the good news, the absolute bedrock, is that God's plan will
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succeed. Revelation 5 and seven make that
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crystal clear. Jesus's Commission power by the
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Spirit will bear fruit. Isaiah 55 guarantees His word
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won't return empty. So the outcome isn't in doubt.
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Not at all. The real question for us, then,
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is how do we participate faithfully in that guaranteed
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victory? How do we align our efforts with
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his ways, even when they seem slow or small by worldly
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standards? That really sets the stage well,
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thinking about faithfulness over flashiness, which leads us into
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the first big piece of counsel from our sources.
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For churches wanting to be faithful stewards, we need to
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patiently question the norms, the popular ways of doing
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things. This isn't about being negative
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or cynical, is it? No, not at all.
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It's about discernment, Careful, prayerful thinking.
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There's that saying, you know, that half truths presented as
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the whole truth can actually be harder to deal with than
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outright lies. Right, because a blatant
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falsehood is easy to reject, but something that's partly true.
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Exactly. It sounds plausible.
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It has that ring of truth. John Owen, the Puritan
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theologian, had the striking way of putting it.
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He said something like I would rather meet 100 devils roaring
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than one smiling in. Wow, so the subtle danger is
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greater than the obvious attack? Owen understood that the most
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dangerous opposition might not look like opposition at all.
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It might look agreeable, even helpful, in missions.
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This means we need to look closely at strategies that sound
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good, maybe focus on, say, social action or community
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development, which are good things in themselves.
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But do they subtly shift the focus away from clear gospel
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proclamation or away from the primary goal of planting healthy
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local churches? It's not that the humanitarian
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work is wrong, but it becomes a kind of smiling devil if it
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quietly pushes aside the core mission.
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OK. Can you give a specific example
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of this kind of half truth we might see in missions talk
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today? Sure.
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A really common one is the phrase making disciples.
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It's biblical, obviously, central to the Great Commission,
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no question. But sometimes you hear it used
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in a way that seems to separate it from, or maybe even pitted
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against, the goal of planting solid churches.
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How so? Aren't they connected?
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They absolutely should be, but look at the New Testament
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pattern. What did the apostles do after
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they heard the Great Commission? They went out and planted
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churches. Axe is full of it.
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Their letters assume it. They weren't just aiming for
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individual decisions. You know, scattered believers.
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They were building identifiable local communities of faith.
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Places where these new believers could actually belong, grow, be
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taught. Exactly.
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They need that structure, that fellowship, accountability,
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worship together. Paul's work shows this pattern
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clearly. Yes, he preached where Christ
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wasn't named, like in Romans 15. Breaking new ground.
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But he also made a point of going back to check on the
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church, as he'd already planted. Remember Acts 15, he says to
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Barnabas. Essentially, let's go back and
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see how the brothers are doing in all those towns where we
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preached. So ensuring they were healthy
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and enduring, yes. He longed to see lasting
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witnesses, established churches that would survive, thrive and
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keep the gospel going. The church itself functioning
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biblically, is the long term plan, not just a temporary
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project. That focus on the local church
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as the enduring structure ties right into the next point, the
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need to define our terms clearly.
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This sounds basic Maybe, but it seems crucial if we're going to
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work together effectively. Oh, it's huge and often
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overlooked. We throw around words like
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gospel, Christian Church, missions, conversion, even
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elder. Assuming we all mean the same
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thing. Right.
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And often we don't. There's that story, maybe
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apocryphal, but it makes the point about a group of really
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prominent Christian leaders, seminary presidents, pastors,
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heads of denominations. Someone challenged them just
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define the gospel and apparently they struggle for a good 5
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minutes to agree on a simple definition.
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Wow. Really.
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Yeah. One account said it felt like
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the Tower of Babel, everyone using the same word but not
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speaking the same language. Was the gospel social justice,
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personal blessing, moral rules? Or was it Christ, death and
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resurrection for sin? If leaders struggle, imagine the
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confusion elsewhere. So taking the time to define
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terms isn't just academic. What's the practical payoff?
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It prevents massive confusion, for one.
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It helps us actually collaborate instead of talking past each
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other. Yeah, it foes hidden
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disagreements out into the open where they can be dealt with.
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And it pushes back against this idea, sometimes called
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essentialism. Essentialism.
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What's that? It's the idea that basically all
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that matters is what's absolutely essential for
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salvation, and everything else is kind of negotiable.
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Charles Van Engen wrote something reflecting this view
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back in 96. Saying something like confessing
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Jesus is Lord is all there is. Nothing else really matters.
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Everything else is negotiable. That sounds potentially
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dangerous, like it could minimize a lot of biblical
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teaching. That's exactly the risk.
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It shrinks the scope of God's revealed truth.
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Things like how we understand baptism or the Lord's Supper,
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church discipline, who should lead the church, how churches
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should relate to each other. These might not be a essential
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for salvation in the narrowest sense, but are they really
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negotiable if we want healthy biblical churches?
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Probably not. They have real consequences for
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how we function together. Absolutely.
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Think about Paul and Barnabas disagreeing over John Mark.
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That wasn't about Mark's salvation, but it was serious
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enough for them to split ways over mission strategy and
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character assessment. It mattered.
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This kind of narrow essentialism.
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It's like trying to live on an island that keeps getting
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smaller and smaller until there's nothing left.
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We need to embrace all that God has revealed, understanding that
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even if something isn't required for a person to be saved, it
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might be absolutely required for us to have functioning church
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together or to run a mission faithfully.
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These things aren't trivial matters.
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That clarity is so important for working together.
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Well, OK, moving on to the third council, making a clear
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distinction between long term and short term mission work.
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Now our church does short term trips, like a recent one to
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Brazil. They seem valuable.
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People get exposed, encourage specific tasks get done.
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And they absolutely can be valuable.
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Short term trips can encourage long term workers, bring needed
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skills for a project, give people a taste of cross cultural
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work, maybe even spark emissions calling.
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They have a place. But we need to be clear, efforts
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that don't have the ultimate aim, the structure to result in
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sound, healthy, reproducing churches, those are generally
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supplementary. They're helpful, but they aren't
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the main event, so to speak. The work that truly leads to
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healthy multiplying churches that needs to be understood as
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the primary foundational mission goal.
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The key difference is permanence, self-sustaining
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life. So short term supports the long
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term goal ideally. Ideally, yes.
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The ultimate aim based on the New Testament isn't just
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projects or visits. It's establishing local bodies
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of believers, churches that will carry on the work themselves
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long after the initial team leaves.
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Because fundamentally, God's plan for evangelism is the local
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church. That's his chosen instrument.
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Our hope, our aim should be to see churches planted that are so
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biblically grounded, so spiritually alive, they'll
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endure right up until Christ returns.
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Not just temporary structures. Exactly.
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Human strategies often feel like fads.
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You know they come and go. But the local church built
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faithfully on God's Word is his enduring plan, and resources are
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emerging to help us think this through.
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That 9 Mark series on Church Centered missions, for example,
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books like Church Centered Missions Itself or The Church
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Among the Unreached. They're pushing us to keep the
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church central in our mission thinking.
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That focus on the enduring nature of the church, the local
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church, leads us to the fourth point, really listening to the
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full scope of the Great Commission.
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We often focus on go make disciples of all nations, which
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is vital obviously, but Matthew 28 has other alls doesn't.
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It it certainly does, and they're just as crucial.
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First, Jesus starts by saying all authority in heaven and on
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earth has been given to me. Right, the basis for the whole
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command. Exactly.
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We don't go in our own strength or wisdom.
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We go under His authority, empowered by Him.
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Our mission depends entirely on His sovereign rule.
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Then there's the command teaching them to observe all
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that I have commanded you observe.
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All not just know about it, but actually do it.
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Yes, that's a much higher bar than just intellectual agreement
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or even initial conversion. It implies comprehensive
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obedience, putting Christ's teachings into practice in every
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part of life. It means discipleship isn't just
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a six week course. It's a lifelong process within
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the church, learning to live out everything Christ taught.
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So our mission work needs to aim for that kind of deep, practical
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obedience, not just decisions. That's the goal, building up
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believers and sound doctrine and godly living, forming
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communities that actually strive to obey Christ together, that
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leads to resilience, to maturity.
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And then there's the final all the promise.
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And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
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Always to the end of the age that speaks to permanence again.
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It really does. It implies the work isn't meant
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to be temporary. We should be aiming to establish
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churches that will last, that will endure until Jesus returns.
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The quality of the work matters. Are we building something solid,
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well built, designed to stand, or just a temporary structure
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that might look impressive for a bit but won't last?
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Compared to human strategies that are often fads.
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Right, those come and go. God's plan is the local church.
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And remember what Jesus said in John 13, that the world will
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know we are his disciples by our love for one another.
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The internal life of the Church as a witness.
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Yes, that unity, that care, that mutual forgiveness within the
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church community. That's God's chosen method for
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showing Christ to the world. Our distinct community life is
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meant to be inherently evangelistic.
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Which brings us right to the next key idea.
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The church must be a distinct witness.
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Its health depends on keeping the line clear between Christian
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and non Christian. It's absolutely critical.
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The sources emphasize this strongly.
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The church's health is tied to how clearly it teaches and
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maintains the difference between those who are in Christ and
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those were not. Now does that mean non
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Christians aren't welcome? Not at all.
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We absolutely want non Christians to come to hear the
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gospel. There's no better place for
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them. But they need to understand they
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don't truly belong to the church fellowship in the full sense
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unless they repent and trust in Christ.
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If someone can attend regularly, maybe even get involved in
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activities, and feel completely comfortable and included without
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that fundamental change of heart, well, the Church has
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failed in a basic way. Failed to show the necessity of
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conversion. Yes, and failed to uphold the
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churches unique identity. It's not just a social club or a
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group for nice moral people. Its purpose is higher.
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Much higher. It's about seeing people
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reconciled to God, forgiven, restored to his image.
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That's the core mission. So anything we do, even with
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good intentions, that blurs that line, that lessens the
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distinction between the church and the world.
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He's sexually dangerous to the mission itself.
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How might that happen practically?
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Oh, various ways. Lowering membership standards so
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anyone can join easily. Putting unconverted people in
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leadership positions. Shying away from hard truths and
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preaching to avoid offense. Making the church look and feel
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just like any other secular organization.
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One writer put it very strongly, calling the recognition of
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unconverted persons as members of a Christian Church an evil of
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no ordinary magnitude. Strong words.
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Because, he argued, it obliterates the distinction
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between the church and the world.
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It acts like a Trojan horse, undermining the church from
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within. A church filled with
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unregenerate members will inevitably compromise its
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beliefs, its mission, its standards.
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This is why there's also concern about things like mass
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spontaneous baptisms. If they happen without careful
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discipleship or ensuring people truly understand repentance and
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faith, it risks blurring that vital distinction at undermining
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the church's clear witness. We need to distinguish God's
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unique works like Pentecost for the regular, thoughtful patterns
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he gives the church to follow. Maintaining that distinction is
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clearly vital. Yeah, let's talk practical
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stewardship. The 5th Council effectively
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funding and leading missions summed up as funding the good
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stuff. This seems like a call for
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pastors and elders to get really hands on with missions giving.
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Absolutely. It's urging them not to just
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delegate missions to a committee and forget about it.
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They need to bring the same theological rigor, the same
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careful discernment they use for sermon prep, to evaluating the
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mission work the church supports.
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So not just accepting reports at face value.
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It means really digging in, asking questions, weighing
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what's actually being done on the ground, what the specific
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activities and outcomes are. Is it biblically sound?
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Is it strategically wise? It's not enough to just say, oh,
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they're making great sacrifices or they seem like lovely people.
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Though those things might be true.
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There needs to be careful vetting church leaders.
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The elders should be proactively searching out missions that
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align with biblical priorities like church planting among the
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unreached and then leading the church to support them
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generously with money, prayer, focus, and even sending people.
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It's about intentional investment then.
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Yes, and the principle is stark. If we want to send, we have to
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spend. Our budget reflects our
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priorities. Sending pastors to visit
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missionaries on the field is also incredibly useful.
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It's like Paul wanted to go see how the brothers were doing in
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Acts 15. What does that achieve?
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It builds relationships, provides encouragement, allows
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for first hand assessment, gives the pastor concrete things to
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pray about and share back home. It fosters real partnership.
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But let's be honest, the bigger challenge for many of us, maybe
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especially in established churches in the West, is
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actually spending significant money to send people,
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particularly to those whole languages that have never heard
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the gospel. Romans 10 asks those sharp
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questions. How will they hear without a
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preacher? How will they preach unless they
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are sent? A challenging thought.
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It is. One speaker mentioned his own
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church, despite being missions minded for 30 years, hadn't
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directly sent someone for that kind of frontier, unreached
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people's work. It highlights a gap many
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churches need to consider. Thankfully, there are
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organizations like Radius International specifically
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focused on training people for that difficult long term work of
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language acquisition, cultural understanding, and church
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planting among those who have 0 access to the gospel.
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They help churches bridge that gap.
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That leads us toward the end to the 6th and final council,
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teaching our congregations to value, even treasure, personal
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obedience, especially the small, seemingly insignificant acts.
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And this connects to Jesus's parable of the mustard seed.
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Beautifully, yes, Mark 4. The whole point of that parable
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is the stunning contrast. Jesus starts with his tiny seed,
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the smallest of all the seeds on earth, he says, almost
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invisible, easily overlooked. Insignificant beginnings.
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Right. But then this tiny seed grows
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into the largest of all the garden plants, huge branches big
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enough for birds to nest in. Some ancient writers said it
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could grow as tall as a man on horseback.
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The shock wasn't that God's Kingdom would be great.
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Everyone expected that. The shock was that it could
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start so small, so apparently unimpressive, like Jesus himself
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with his small band of followers.
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So it cuts against our tendency to want big, flashy, immediate
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results. Exactly.
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We tend to idolize the big stuff.
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Mass media impact, political power, academic influence, huge
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movement. We think God's Kingdom must
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advance through those channels. But Jesus rejected Satan's offer
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of immediate world domination, didn't he?
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He chose the path of sewing the Word, investing in a few
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disciples, quiet faithfulness. The Kingdom starts small, often
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hidden, but grows mysteriously and powerfully according to
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God's plans. So how should that shape our
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perspective now? It means we're called to hear
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the future before we see it, to trust God's promises about the
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kingdom's ultimate triumph even when the present looks messy or
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slow. And that trust allows us to
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reinterpret the present in light of the future.
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We see our current struggles are small acts of obedience, not as
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futile, but it's part of that mustard seed growth.
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Every act of faithfulness matters.
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That reminds me of the story you mentioned about the Gordon
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family missionaries on Aramongo. Yes, a powerful illustration.
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George and Ellen Gordon, martyred in 1861, trying to
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translate the Bible and share the Gospel.
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A terrible loss. But then George's younger
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brother James hears the news while studying for ministry.
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And what does he do? He volunteers to take his
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brother's place. Immediately he saw it not as an
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end, but as part of the sewing. And tragically, James was also
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martyred on Aramongo years later.
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But the most striking part is their mother's response when she
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heard about James, her second son, being killed on the same
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island. What did she say?
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She quietly said, I wish that I had another boy to send, that
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the heathen may receive salvation.
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Wow. That's incredible resolve.
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It's profound gospel conviction, A willingness to give
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everything, mirroring her son's willingness to go even to death.
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That story just perfectly captures it.
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Small, specific, costly acts of obedience, trusting God's bigger
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plan and His different timetable, knowing that the seed
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planted even in suffering will bear fruit for His Kingdom.
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What a powerful way to think about our own small
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contributions. As we wrap up this deep dive,
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maybe take a moment to consider what all this means for you
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personally. How you participate in God's
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mission right where you are. Yeah, maybe ask yourself, what
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might it look like today, this week, for you to truly treasure
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those small, specific acts of obedience God is calling you to,
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knowing that each one offered in faith contributes somehow to his
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vast, unstoppable plan for His Kingdom to fill the earth?
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We really hope this discussion has brought some clarity and
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maybe some fresh perspective. Thanks for joining us on
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Reformed Thinking the Deep Dive. Keep seeking that biblical
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understanding in every part of your life.