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Indigenous Missions in Scripture and in Practice · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
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  It is really good to have you with us.
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  Today we are opening up a stack of documents that, frankly,
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  might completely dismantle the picture you have in your head
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  when you hear the word missions. We are doing a deep dive into a
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  collection of articles, case studies, and theological essays
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  that center on a specific concept.
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  Indigenous Missions. Yeah, well, it is a term that
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  gets thrown around quite a bit, but today we are going to define
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  it with some real precision. We aren't just talking about
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  missions in the general sense of crossing a border.
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  We are looking specifically at the biblical mandate to raise up
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  local leaders. Right.
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  And you know, before we go any further, I want to set the table
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  for everyone listening. You and I are approaching this
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  from a very specific vantage point.
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  We are standing on the Westminster Confession of faith
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  we hold to Reformed theology. And that matters.
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  It matters a lot. Because when we talk about
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  missions, we aren't just talking about humanitarian aid or
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  digging wells or even just sharing your story.
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  We are talking about the advance of the gospel, the planting of
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  biblical churches, and the absolute sovereignty of God in
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  salvation. Precisely our theological
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  framework dictates our methodology.
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  If we believe that God is sovereign, that his Word is
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  sufficient, and that the local church is his primary
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  instrument, that changes how we actually do missions.
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  It moves us away from pragmatism, doing what gets the
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  most numbers, and forces us to look for a biblical model.
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  So let us define our subject Indigenous missions.
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  When most people hear the word missions, what pops into their
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  head? Probably a family from the
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  Midwest packing up crates, learning a new language, and
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  flying off to a jungle or a desert to preach the gospel.
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  Which is a beautiful thing. But that is cross cultural
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  missions. What we are looking at today,
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  based on this huge stack of articles by Mark Tatlock, Chris
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  Burnett, Paul Washer and several others, is something distinctly
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  different. It is distinct, but they are
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  connected. The core idea of indigenous
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  missions is the recognition of men who are already native to a
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  country, men who are qualified to preach and shepherd, and then
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  equipping them to do the work. The main goal of this deep dive
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  is to understand the biblical mandate.
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  For this, we want to see why raising up local leaders is
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  actually the target of the Great Commission, rather than
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  maintaining A perpetual dependence on foreign
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  missionaries. And we have some heavy hitters
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  in the source material today. We're looking at Biblical
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  missions by Tatlock and Burnett, which includes a very strong
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  section by Paul Washer. We also have case studies from
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  Brazil, South Africa and Ecuador, and a breakdown of the
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  finances by William Barrick. It is a comprehensive stack.
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  We have the theology, the methodology in the practical
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  application. OK, let us unpack this.
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  We need to start with the definition.
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  Paul Washer makes a very helpful distinction right out of the
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  gate. In the primary text.
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  He says most people think cross cultural sending a man from
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  country A to country B, but Indigenous Missions is about
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  recognizing the men already living in country B.
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  And Washer is careful to point out that the sending element is
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  still there. That is why we still call it
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  missions. It isn't just general pastoral
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  training. Often these indigenous men are
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  sent to a training center, sometimes even abroad, to be
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  equipped. But the key difference is the
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  return trip. They are sent back to their own
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  people. It is essentially pastoral
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  training abroad for the sake of the home field.
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  And pragmatically, the benefits seem obvious.
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  I mean, think about the language barrier alone.
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  If I go to Thailand tomorrow, how long until I can preach A
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  sermon that actually conveys theological nuance?
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  Years, maybe decades. To truly get the idioms right, a
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  native missionary does not need to spend two to four years in
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  language school. They know the cultural faux pas
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  to avoid. They understand the humor.
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  They understand the silence. And Washer brings up a point
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  that I think we have all seen. I may be comfortably ignored,
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  but it is real. The wealthy American factor.
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  When a westerner lands in a developing nation, he brings in
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  immense amount of economic baggage with him, doesn't he?
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  He does. It is unavoidable.
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  If a westerner goes to a developing nation, there is
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  often a massive economic disparity.
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  You run the risk of locals attending church not because
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  they're convicted by the Holy Spirit, but because there is a
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  perception of wealth or material benefit attached to the
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  foreigner. It is the rice Christian
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  phenomena. It creates a superficiality in
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  the pews. It does.
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  It really does. But when the preacher is a local
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  man living on a local wage, facing the same local struggles,
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  inflation, corruption, political instability, that dynamic
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  completely evaporates. If they're coming to hear him
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  preach, they're likely coming for the Word, not the handouts.
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  That solves the problem of Christianity being viewed as a
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  foreign import, doesn't it? It is not the white man's
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  religion or the American religion anymore.
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  It is the truth of God taking root in their own soil.
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  That is the pragmatic argument, and it is a strong one.
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  But we have to be careful here. As reformed thinkers, we cannot
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  build our strategy on pragmatism alone.
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  Just because it works better or is more efficient doesn't mean
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  it is right. We need a biblical warrant.
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  So what does this all mean biblically?
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  Because you mentioned earlier that this is a mandate, not just
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  a good idea. Where do we see this in
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  Scripture? If we look at the Great
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  Commission in Matthew 28, the command is to make disciples.
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  Implicit in that command is reproduction.
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  You are not just making converts who sit in rows, you're making
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  disciples who can in turn make disciples.
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  The command implies its own continuity.
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  So if a missionary goes to a field and stays there for 40
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  years, baptizing people but never raising up a leader who
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  can take his place, has he actually fulfilled the
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  Commission? I would argue he has fulfilled
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  only part of it. He is evangelized, certainly,
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  but the New Testament model is about establishing a
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  self-sustaining church. If the church collapses the
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  moment the missionary gets on a plane or retires, was it ever
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  really a church or was it just a mission station dependent on a
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  personality? That is a tough question, but
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  necessary. Let us look at the how the
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  sources point us to the book of Acts, specifically Acts 14.
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  This is the pattern of Paul and Barnabas.
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  Walk us through what happens there.
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  This is fascinating. Paul and Barnabas go on their
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  first missionary trip. They preach, they make disciples
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  in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. But look at what they do on the
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  return trip, Acts 14.23 says. And when they had appointed
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  elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they
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  commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
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  And then they left. They left.
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  That seems terrifying. I mean, let us be real.
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  These are baby Christians. They have been believers for
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  what, months, A year or Max? They are surrounded by paganism
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  and Paul just appoints elders and walks away.
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  It does seem terrifying to our modern sensibilities where we we
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  want to control the outcome, manage the brand and ensure
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  quality control. But notice who they commended
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  them to. They did not commend them to the
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  First Baptist Church of Jerusalem for oversight.
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  They committed them to the Lord. They trusted the Chief Shepherd.
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  Precisely. Paul understood a fundamental
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  theological truth. Jesus cares about his church
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  infinitely more than Paul does. There is a massive theological
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  weight to that decision. By leaving, Paul was declaring
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  that the Holy Spirit is sufficient to guide these men.
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  The Word is sufficient to build them up.
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  It was a handover with no strings attached.
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  And we see this ripple effect continue with Timothy and Titus.
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  It wasn't a one off event. We do.
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  Timothy himself was a product of this.
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  He was a local disciple Paul picked up in Lystra.
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  And then Paul gives Timothy the blueprint in Second Timothy 2.2.
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  This is the verse that every missionary should have
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  memorized. The things which you have heard
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  from me in a presence of many witnesses, entrust these to
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  faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
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  That is 4 generations in one verse.
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  Paul to Timothy to faithful men to others.
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  It is a relay race. It is a baton pass and notice
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  the qualification not entrust these to charismatic men or
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  influential men, faithful men. And Titus?
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  Titus was left in Crete for a specific job set in order what
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  remains and appoint elders in every city.
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  The job wasn't done until local leadership was established.
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  So the target of any cross cultural mission should be to
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  work oneself out of a job. That is the definition of
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  success. If you are still essential to
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  the daily operation of the church after 20 years, something
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  has gone wrong with the discipleship process.
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  You have built a dependency on yourself rather than on Christ
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  and His Word. OK, let us shift gears.
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  We have established the what and the how.
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  Now we need to talk about The Who, because if the goal is to
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  train pastors, you can't just send anyone to do that training.
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  The source material calls this person the trainer.
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  This is a high bar. We are not talking about a fresh
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  seminary graduate who wants to see the world.
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  We are talking about someone who is going to equip other pastors.
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  You cannot impart what you do not possess.
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  The text mentions 3 characteristics of this trainer.
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  The 1st is dedicated men. And by dedicated, the authors
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  mean men who are willing to engage in the hard, unglamorous
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  labor of whole life discipleship.
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  Not an ivory tower position. Far from it.
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  This isn't sitting in a study writing systematic theologies
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  all day. This is in the trenches.
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  It involves administration, grading papers, dealing with
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  facility issues and fundraising. It is mundane.
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  It requires A compelling love because the rewards are not
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  immediate. You are pouring your life into a
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  handful of men for years. It makes me think of parenting.
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  You don't see the fruit in a day, you see it in a decade.
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  That is a perfect analogy, and just like parenting, it requires
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  you to be there. You cannot fulfill the Great
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  Commission via screen or video call.
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  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
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  We have to dwell among the people we are training.
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  The second characteristic is scriptural men, and here's where
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  it gets really interesting for us as Reformed thinkers.
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  There is a bit of a trend in modern missions to strip
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  everything down to the bare minimums.
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  You know just Jesus and don't worry about the rigorous
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  doctrines. Right the minimalist approach
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  the argument is that doctrine divide so let us just preach the
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  simple gospel and let them figure out the rest Washer and
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  the other authors push back against this vehemently they.
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  Bring up the Pastoral Epistles again to make this point.
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  They do in first and second Timothy and Titus.
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  The Greek words D Dake teaching and Dieter Scalia doctrine
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  appear 17 * 17 times in three short letters.
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  Paul isn't telling Timothy to keep it simple.
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  He is telling him to watch his life and his doctrine closely.
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  Because you cannot raise up leaders on fluff.
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  You cannot. If these indigenous pastors are
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  going to face syncretism, false teaching, persecution and
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  cultural pressure. They need to be mighty in the
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  Scriptures, like Apollo's. They need a robust systematic
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  theology. They need to understand
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  soteriology, Christology, and pneumatology.
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  If you send the missionary who only knows the basics, he can
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  only reproduce the basics, and a church built on basic
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  generalities will crumble under pressure.
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  That leads right into the third characteristic churchmen.
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  This is about ecclesiology, the doctrine of the Church.
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  This is often the most neglected part of missions.
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  We focus on soteriology, getting people saved, but we ignore
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  ecclesiology, how they are gathered and ordered.
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  But the source makes a doxological argument here that
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  is just brilliant. Break that down for us.
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  Doxological means relating to the glory of God.
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  The Church is described as the pillar and support of the truth.
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  It is the primary means by which God reveals His glory to the
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  principalities and powers. Therefore, a weak church, one
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  with sloppy membership, no discipline, undefined offices,
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  reflects poorly on God's glory. So details matter.
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  Details matter immensely. How we worship, how we govern,
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  Who is qualified to be an elder? These aren't optional add-ons,
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  they are the structure that holds the truth up.
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  If a missionary doesn't have a high view of the local church,
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  he will plant social clubs, embassies of the Kingdom of
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  heaven. I love that.
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  Phrase embassies of the Kingdom. That really clarifies the
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  stakes. It does and.
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  It segues perfectly into our first case study, because this
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  is exactly what happened in Brazil.
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  Yes, let us. Talk about Brazil.
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  This comes from genuine Lira. The title of his section is
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  Brazilians Sending Brazilians the Context.
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  Here is fascinating. For a long time, the
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  conservative churches in Brazil had a we cannot mentality.
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  They felt poor. They felt they lacked expertise.
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  They looked at missions as something the wealthy W did, but
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  something. Shifted a shift from.
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  We cannot to We must. They realized that biblical
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  obedience isn't conditional on your national economy.
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  If Christ commanded go, then Brazil must go, and they formed.
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  A partnership with ABWE, the Association of Baptists for
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  World Evangelism. But this wasn't the typical
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  American comes in and runs the show partnership, No.
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  And that is why it worked. ABWE acted as a facilitator, not
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  a dictator. They recognized a geopolitical
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  reality. Americans are not welcome
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  everywhere but Brazilians. Everyone likes Brazilians.
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  They have a diplomatic. Advantage massive.
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  Advantage A Brazilian passport opens doors in the Middle East
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  and Africa. That AUS passport closes tight,
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  so ABWE said. We have the logistics
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  experience, you have the access and the manpower.
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  Let us work together. But.
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  And this is crucial. Lira mentions that they refused
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  to partner with agencies that didn't align with them.
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  Theologically, this goes. Back to our point about
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  doctrine, the Brazilian conservative churches held to
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  the sufficiency of Scripture. They were wary of partnering
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  with groups that had a charismatic or Pentecostal view
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  of pneumatology, specifically regarding new revelations or the
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  way the Spirit works. They knew that if the core
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  beliefs weren't the same, the house wouldn't stand.
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  It is a. Principled stance.
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  They were willing to walk away from resources if it meant
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  compromising their convictions and God.
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  Honored that Meredith of Multicultural Ministries was
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  born. Despite the poverty in northeast
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  Brazil, they are now sending dozens of missionaries to
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  multiple continents. It proves that resourcefulness
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  and faithfulness trump mere wealth.
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  That is an. Inspiring story from receiving
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  to sending. Now let us fly across the ocean
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  to South Africa. We have a case study from Mark
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  Christopher. This one hits.
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  Home for a lot of people in the reformed world because it deals
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  with the clergy laity distinction.
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  Christopher. Describes it as a hangover from
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  the high church traditions and the apartheid era.
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  To be clear, he is describing the objective historical reality
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  there where the highly stratified social system
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  influenced the way church hierarchy was viewed.
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  The idea formed that the pastor is the paid professional or the
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  holy man and the congregation are just Pew sitters.
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  It is a. Paralyzing mindset If the pastor
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  is the only one qualified to do ministry, then the ministry is
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  bottlenecked by one man's energy and hours.
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  Christopher argues we need to recover the Ephesians 4 model
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  and he. Gave some as a possible, and
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  some is prophets and some is evangelists, and some is pastors
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  and teachers for the equipping of the Saints, for the work of
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  ministry precisely. The pastor's job isn't to do all
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  the ministry, it is to equip the Saints to do the ministry.
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  Mark Christopher outlines 3 principles to break this cycle.
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  First communicate biblical vision.
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  You have to teach the people that they are not customers,
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  they are Co laborers. Second is.
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  Recruit able believers and this is practical.
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  You have to look for the faithful men and women for other
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  roles and ask them to step up. It is the follow me principle
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  and the. 3rd, which I think is the hardest for many pastors, is
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  delegate Oh it. Is incredibly hard, Christopher
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  mentions pastors who cling to duties like setting up chairs
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  for worship. They think if I want it done
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  right, I have to do it myself. That is a.
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  Pride issue isn't it is pride. And it is theft.
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  Theft. That is strong language you are.
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  Stealing the opportunity for someone else to grow and labor
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  for the church. If you do everything, you are
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  stunting the growth of your body.
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  You have to be willing to let things be done imperfectly by
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  someone else so that they can learn.
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  That is how you mobilize the laity.
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  That is a. Challenging word Letting go is a
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  form of discipleship. It is.
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  And it applies to the mission field just as much as the home
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  church. If the missionary does
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  everything, the local church never learns to walk.
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  Let us move. To our third case study, Latin
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  America, specifically Ecuador, Juan Mankaya writes about the
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  sufficiency of scripture and counseling the context.
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  Here is heavy Mankaya objectively lists the cultural
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  challenges on the ground, machismo, culture, corruption,
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  political instability, and a very strong presence of
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  syncretism, which is mixing Catholicism with indigenous
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  shamanism in that. Environment you can see why
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  people are desperate for help and often the church outsources
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  that help to psychology right and.
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  Munkeo argues that psychological models often fail here because
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  they are man centered. They don't address the root
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  issue, which is sin and separation from God.
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  He takes us back to the Great Commission's opening clause.
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  All authority has been given to me, Jesus.
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  Claims jurisdiction over broken cultures.
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  He does. He claims jurisdiction over
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  machismo, over anxiety, over corruption on.
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  Ko argues for biblical counseling not just as a therapy
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  technique but as a comprehensive discipleship model.
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  There is a. Story he tells that actually
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  made me stop and think. It is about a translator, yes.
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  They were translating biblical counseling videos into Spanish,
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  and the translator, a woman who was theologically trained, had
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  to stop working. She broke down weeping.
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  She said, as I try to translate, the Lord brings conviction to my
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  heart. She realized that she had
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  treated theology as an academic exercise, but this material was
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  demanding that she actually change.
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  That is the. Difference between head
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  knowledge and heart obedience and that.
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  Is the crux of the Great Commission, Jesus said.
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  Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, not just
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  teaching them to know what I commanded.
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  The Greek word implies guarding, keeping, obeying, so.
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  Indigenous missions isn't just transferring intellectual data,
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  it is about teaching them to observe.
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  It connects the head, the heart and the hands, right?
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  If we export a Christianity that is all head and no heart, we are
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  exporting a dead religion. But if we can train indigenous
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  leaders who know how to apply the scripture to the grit and
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  grime of their daily lives, to the corruption, to the family
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  struggles, then we were planting something that will last.
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  This brings. Us to the final piece of the
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  puzzle. We've talked about the men, the
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  methods and the training. Now we have to talk about the
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  resources, the money, the elephant.
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  In the room, William. Barrett gives us a framework for
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  this. He refers to the Three Self
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  formula, which was developed by Henry Venn and Rufus Anderson
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  back in the 19th century. It is a.
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  Classic mythological framework. A mature church should be self
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  governing, led by local leaders, self propagating, spreading the
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  gospel themselves and self supporting paying their own
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  bills and that third. One self support is usually the
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  sticking point. People will say, but these
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  people are poor, how can they support a Pastor Barrick?
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  Tackles this head on with scripture.
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  He points to the widow's mite. He points to the Macedonian
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  churches in 2nd Corinthians 8 who gave out of their deep
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  poverty. So.
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  Poverty is not an exemption from the command to give, in fact.
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  Barrick argues that denying them the opportunity to give is
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  denying them a means of worship. It creates A beggar mentality
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  instead of a dignified, Worshipful reliance on God.
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  But he also. Warns about buildings.
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  This is a. Huge trap.
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  Western missionaries often come in and build a massive western
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  style church building that requires western money to
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  maintain like electricity, air conditioning and repairs.
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  Then they leave and the local congregation is crushed under
• 19:06
  the overhead, so the. Building becomes a hindrance to
• 19:09
  the gospel spot. On the early church met in
• 19:12
  homes, in synagogues, by rivers. The structure must fit the
• 19:16
  economy of the people. Barrick.
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  Gives some incredibly creative examples of how churches can
• 19:21
  generate revenue without relying on foreign funds.
• 19:24
  I love. These One example was planting
• 19:26
  coconut palms or mango trees on the church property.
• 19:29
  The fruit supports the pastor. Another was.
• 19:31
  Building a baptismal pond that double S as a fish farm for
• 19:34
  revenue. It is.
• 19:35
  Brilliant. It is the Protestant work ethic
• 19:37
  applied. Instead of writing a prayer
• 19:39
  letter to America asking for $500 a month, they're farming
• 19:43
  fish. It dignifies the labor.
• 19:45
  It makes the church an integrated part of the local
• 19:47
  economy, and it ensures that if the West were to disappear
• 19:50
  tomorrow, that church would keep swimming, pun intended.
• 19:53
  It really. Illustrates the Reformed
• 19:55
  worldview. We believe in the dignity of
• 19:56
  work and the stewardship of creation, and it solidifies.
• 19:59
  The independence of that church. A church that pays its own bills
• 20:02
  can preach its own convictions. A church that is dependent on
• 20:06
  foreign money is always tempted to dance to the tune of the
• 20:09
  donor. That is a sobering thought.
• 20:12
  He who pays the piper calls the tune.
• 20:15
  We want them listening to the tune of Scripture, not the tune
• 20:18
  of the American donor base, right?
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  So let us synthesize all of this.
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  We have covered a lot of ground today.
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  We have. We started with a biblical
• 20:27
  definition. Indigenous missions is
• 20:29
  recognizing and sending local man.
• 20:31
  We looked at the New Testament model in Acts.
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  Appoint elders and entrust them to God.
• 20:36
  We saw the profile of the trainer.
• 20:38
  Dedicated scriptural churchmen. We saw the.
• 20:40
  Case studies, the theological rigor of Brazil, the
• 20:43
  mobilization of the lady in South Africa, the sufficiency of
• 20:46
  scripture in Ecuador, and finally the logistics of self
• 20:49
  support. It is a.
• 20:50
  Complete ecosystem and it all circles back to 1 core truth.
• 20:55
  God uses means, He uses the local church, He uses his
• 20:59
  sufficient word, and he uses qualified men to accomplish his
• 21:02
  ends. Our job is not to invent new
• 21:05
  strategies, but to be faithful to the one he gave us.
• 21:08
  You know as. We wrap up.
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  I'm struck by a thought. It seems like the true
• 21:12
  missionary is on a sort of suicide mission in a.
• 21:15
  Professional sense, yes. The missionary's success is
• 21:18
  defined by how well he makes himself unnecessary.
• 21:21
  He is working to fire himself, that is.
• 21:24
  Counterintuitive to everything our culture tells us about
• 21:26
  career advancement, it is. But it is the way of the cross.
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  He must increase, but I must decrease.
• 21:32
  The missionary fades into the background so that the
• 21:34
  indigenous church can step into the foreground.
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  So. Here's a final thought for you,
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  the listener, to Mull over on your own this week.
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  We have talked a lot about overseas missions, but this
• 21:43
  principle applies right where you live.
• 21:45
  Think about your workplace, your family, or the ministry you
• 21:48
  lead. Are you functioning as the
• 21:50
  indispensable hero who holds it all together?
• 21:52
  Are you hoarding? The responsibility so that
• 21:54
  everything falls apart the minute you take a vacation if
• 21:57
  the. Success of your family or your
• 21:59
  department relies entirely on your constant management.
• 22:02
  You are not really leading them, you are just managing a
• 22:05
  dependency. True leadership, like true
• 22:09
  missions, means you are actively equipping those around you to
• 22:12
  thrive and carry the weight when you are no longer in the room
• 22:15
  you have to. Entrust the work to faithful
• 22:17
  people who can take it further than you ever could, that is.
• 22:20
  The challenge of Indigenous missions, and it is the
• 22:22
  challenge of everyday discipleship.
• 22:25
  Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into Reformed
• 22:27
  thinking. We hope the stack of sources has
• 22:29
  sharpened your understanding. Until next.
• 22:31
  Time.