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Building to Release: Preparing a Church to Stand Without You · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. I am your host and I'm very glad
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you have tuned in today. Yes, thank you for being here
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with us. I am really looking forward to
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this. We are here to do what we strive
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to do every single time. We take a stack of serious
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theological and mythological sources, we read them,
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internalize them, and then we sit down to talk about the
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things that really matter. And for you, the learner, you
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know, we like to bring you right into the room with us.
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Today we are turning our attention to the mission field.
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Yes, but we are not talking about the exciting beginning of
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a missionary's career. No, we are not.
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We aren't discussing the fundraising, the plane rides,
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or, you know, the first time they taste the local food.
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We are not talking about that initial rush of adrenaline.
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We are talking about the end. Precisely, specifically, the
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most difficult, dangerous, and absolutely necessary part of
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missionary work leaving. It is good to be here.
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You are right. The leaving is rarely the part
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that makes it into the highlight reels or the newsletter sent
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back home. Yeah, nobody writes a prayer
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letter about packing up and walking away.
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They do not, but if we look at the source material we have in
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front of us today, specifically the work by Tatlock and Burnett
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and Biblical missions, the argument is that the departure
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is the proof of the work. That is a bold claim.
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It is if you cannot leave, you have not finished the job.
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That brings us right to the core metaphor that anchors this
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entire deep dive. The authors use an image that is
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so mundane, yet it just works perfectly for this.
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Scaffolding. Scaffolding.
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Picture a building in a city. It is under construction.
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It is covered in metal poles, wooden planks, maybe some of
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that orange safety netting. Right, you see it all the time.
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That is the scaffolding. It is necessary for the
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construction. You cannot build the walls or
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install the windows without. It you needed to get the work
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done but. And here's the hook for you, the
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learner. If you walk past that same
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building 10 years later and the scaffolding is still there, what
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do you think? You assume something has gone
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wrong. 100%. You assume the project has
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stalled, or maybe there is a structural failure, or simply
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neglect. A building covered in
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scaffolding is not a finished building.
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No, it is not. It is a work in progress that is
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obscured by the very tools used to build it.
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And the source material connects this directly to the missionary.
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There is a quote here from Hudson Taylor, the great
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missionary to China. I love this quote.
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He said I look on foreign missionaries as the scaffolding
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round a rising building. The sooner it can be dispensed
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with, the better. The sooner it can be dispensed
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with, the better. That is a hard pill to swallow
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for many people in ministry. It really is.
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It almost sounds dismissive. It does.
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I mean, if I were a missionary and I spent years learning a
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language, risking malaria, raising funds and moving my
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family across the ocean, and then someone told me I was just
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temporary equipment that needed to be dispensed with, I might
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feel insulted. It is natural to feel that way.
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We put so much blood, sweat and tears into the work.
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But we have to look at this through a biblical lens rather
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than a sentimental. One which is what we are all
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about here on Reformed thinking. Exact wait.
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I mean that is spot on. The thesis we are unpacking
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today is that the missionaries role must be transitional.
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If the scaffolding stays up forever, the building is hidden.
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And the building is the local church.
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Yes, the local church cannot function as it was designed if
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the metal poles are doing the work that the walls should be
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doing. The goal of construction is a
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building that stands on its own foundation, not one that is
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propped up by external supports. So the building in this analogy
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is the local indigenous church and the scaffolding is the cross
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cultural missionary. This is not just a practical
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strategy, though. The authors make it clear that
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this is a theological necessity. It is because if the Church
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relies on the missionary to exist, it is not relying on
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Christ and the structure he ordained.
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Let's unpack the biblical mandate for this, because I
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think a lot of people view missions primarily as saving
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individual souls. That is very common view.
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You go over there, you tell people about Jesus, they get
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saved, and that is the win. But our sources are arguing that
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is not the whole picture. No, it is a truncated view of
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the Great Commission. Why is the local church the
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goal? Why not just make individual
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disciples and let them hang out in coffee shops or living rooms
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without any formal structure? That is a popular modern idea,
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especially in the West, but it falls apart when you look at
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Matthew 28. Jesus commands the apostles to
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make disciples, but how does he say to do that?
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By baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that I have
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commanded. Right.
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Think about what baptism is in our Reformed understanding.
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It is the sign and seal of the covenant.
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Yes, and it is the entry right into the visible covenant
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community. You are baptized into the body
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of Christ. It is a corporate reality, not
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just a private spiritual feeling.
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And then you have the instruction to teach obedience.
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Where does sanctification happen?
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The New Testament is clear on this.
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You look at Hebrews 10.24 and 25 or Colossians 4.
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It happens within the active fellowship of believers.
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You cannot fulfill the Great Commission without planting
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local churches. You simply cannot.
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The local church is the context where baptism and discipleship
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actually happen. So you can't just have free
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range Christians wandering around.
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The Great Commission requires structure.
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It requires the Church, and because we are approaching this
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from a Protestant Reformed perspective, relying on
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Scripture as our rule of faith in life, we have to ask a
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specific question. How does the Bible say these
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churches should run? Right, They aren't run by a
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permanent, distinct class of super apostles who hover over
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them forever. They are led by elders.
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Elders, this is a massive point in the text.
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It is the biblical pattern. Acts 14 Titus one.
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God designed the church to be shepherded by a plurality of
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qualified men from within the congregation.
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And here's where the scaffolding concept becomes historical fact.
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Look at the Apostle Paul the. Ultimate Missionary.
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Indeed, Paul went to a city, he evangelized, he gathered the
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believers, and then what did he do?
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We see it clearly in Acts 14.23, when they had appointed elders
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for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they
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commended them to the Lord. And then he left.
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He left. He did not stay to be their
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senior pastor. He had what we might call a
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planned retirement from every single church he started.
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He appointed local leaders and then he moved on to the next
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unreached area. In fact, the source this
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material points out a fascinating timeline detail.
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If you look at the chronology of acts, Paul never stayed more
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than three years in any single city.
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Ephesus was his longest stay. And that was only three years.
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That is incredibly short by modern standards.
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I mean, we both know missionaries who've been in the
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same city for 30. Years we do, and there may be
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valid reasons for longer stays today.
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Language acquisition takes time. Cross cultural barriers are
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steep. Sure, Paul was operating within
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the Greco Roman world, where Greek was a common trade
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language. Right, but the trajectory must
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be the same. Paul's goal was never to be the
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permanent leader. He knew that for the church to
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be the church, it had to be led by its own elders, not by him.
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That distinction really struck me in the reading The Difference
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between a missionary and a Pastor.
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It is a vital distinction. The text says a missionary is
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not just a pastor with a passport.
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I appreciate that phrasing. A pastor shepherds a specific
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flock for the long haul. A missionary is an Apostolic
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function. Little Apostolic, of course.
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Right church planting. They are sent to break ground,
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lay the foundation, raise the structure and then move to the
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next site. Their job is to make themselves
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obsolete. Making yourself obsolete.
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That is a tough goal for anyone's ego.
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It goes against our human nature.
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We want to be needed. Which leads us perfectly into
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the second part of our discussion, the danger of
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staying. Because it is not just that
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staying is inefficient, the sources suggest it is actually
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dangerous. It is dangerous for the
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spiritual health of the new believers.
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We need to introduce a couple of historical figures here to set
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the stage for the learner. Rufus Anderson and Henry Van.
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Yes, they were missiologists in the 19th century who came up
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with the Three Self formula. The three selves.
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I have heard this before in missiology circles.
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A healthy church must be self governing, self supporting and
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self propagating. Those are the three pillars.
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OK, so it runs itself, pays for itself and multiplies itself.
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Correct. And later a man named Roland
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Allen, who was a missionary to China, took this concept and
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sharpened it. He wrote some very provocative
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things about why missionaries struggle to let go, didn't he?
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He did. He argued that when missionaries
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remain as the leaders of a church they planted, it is often
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not out of necessity. What is it out of them?
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He said it is out of sinful pride and a failure to trust the
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Lord. Wow, sinful pride that is not
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pulling any punches. Roland Allen was very direct.
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He believed that if the missionary stays, the local
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believers learn to rely on the missionary rather than on the
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Holy Spirit. They look to the foreigner for
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the answers. Yes, they think, Well, the
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missionary knows the Bible better.
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The missionary has the money. The missionary knows how to
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pray. And so they remain spiritual
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infants. It creates a severe dependency.
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Going back to our building analogy, if the scaffolding
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stays up, the building relies on those steel poles to stand.
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If you took them away after 20 years of dependency, the walls
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might actually collapse. Because they never settled onto
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their own foundation. That is the fear, Allen said.
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The missionary is the least permanent element.
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The native Christians are the permanent element.
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If the missionary creates a system where he is essential, he
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has built a House of Cards. He has to be willing to remove
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the support structure, even if it feels risky, so that the
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church learns to lean on Christ. It is like teaching a kid to
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ride a bike. That is a great comparison.
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You have to let go of the seat. They might wobble, they might
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fall, but if you never let go, they never actually ride the
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bike. You were just pushing them
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around the neighborhood. Imagine pushing them around the
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neighborhood when they were 20 years old.
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That is what a church looks like when a missionary refuses to
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leave. It is stunted growth.
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OK, so we agree on the principle the scaffold must go.
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But how? This brings us to the practical
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how to section of the source material.
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Rodney Anderson wrote a charter on this outlining specific
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steps. This is where the theology hits
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the road for us. You cannot just disappear
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overnight. There has to be a process.
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And the first step Anderson lists is plan for the future.
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Start with the end in mind. Precisely from day one, the
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missionary should be thinking, how do I leave?
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This influences absolutely everything they do.
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For example, the second step is build for independence.
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This is huge. It means you do not create
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complex programs that require Western funding or Western
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management skills to run. The rule of thumb mentioned in
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the text was very clear. If the local can't lead it or
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pay for it, don't build it. That is a very hard rule to
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follow. As Westerners, we love programs.
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We love big youth centers, complicated curriculums,
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distinct ministries for every age group.
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We like efficiency and scale. We do, but if a church in a
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rural village cannot sustain that machinery without the
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missionaries help, that machinery becomes a trap.
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It is the scaffolding becoming the structure again.
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The third step is perhaps the most critical theologically
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teach reliance on God. The text focuses specifically on
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hermeneutics here. Hermeneutics, the science of how
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we interpret the Bible. Yes, the missionary must teach
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the locals how to find answers in the Bible, not just give them
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the answers. Why is that distinction so
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crucial? Because when the missionary
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leaves, heresy will come. It always does.
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Wolves will enter the flock. Paul warned the Ephesian elders
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about that very thing in Acts 20.
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If the people only know what to believe because Missionary Bob
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said so, they will be defenseless when False teacher
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Steve shows up with a new idea. But if they know how to read the
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text. If they have a consistent,
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literal, grammatical, historical method of reading scripture,
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they can open their Bibles and say, wait a minute, that is not
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what this text says. They are anchored in the word,
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not the personality of the founder.
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You are giving them the tools to feed themselves and protect
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themselves. Now Step 4 is train elders.
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This seems obvious based on what we said earlier, but the text
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adds A nuance. You have to let them fail.
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You have to identify men who are diligent and then give them the
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pulpit. And here's the hard part for the
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missionary. You have to sit there and watch
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them struggle. Maybe their sermon is not as
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polished as yours. Maybe they miss a sub point.
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But you have to let them do it while you were still there to
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help correct them gently rather than waiting until they are
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perfect. Because they never will be
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perfect. It reminds me of the parenting
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analogy again. You let them make small mistakes
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while they live in your house so they don't make catastrophic
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ones later. That is a very good way to frame
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it. Step 5 flows right from that
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work toward departure. The missionary must stop making
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decisions. This is the lame duck phase.
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Even if the missionary has 30 years of experience and knows
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what to do, he has to dip his lip.
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He has to let the local men decide.
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If he overrules them, he undermines their authority and
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proves to the congregation that he is still the real boss.
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That requires so much humility to know you have the right
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answer, but to keep quiet so someone else can learn to lead.
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It goes against every instinct of a capable leader.
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And the final practical step mentioned is aimed towards self
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support. This is the money question.
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The text was pretty strong on this.
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If the lights only stay on because of American dollars, the
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church is crippled. It creates a welfare state
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within the church. It destroys the dignity of the
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local believers. The source material argues.
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It is far better for the church to meet in a humble location, a
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living room, a rented garage that they pay for themselves,
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than to meet in a fancy building that the missionary pays for.
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Because the garage belongs to them, it is theirs to steward.
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The fancy building is just foreign territory.
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It is borrowed reality. It is about ownership, spiritual
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and physical ownership, yes. And getting to that point of
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ownership is messy. Very messy.
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We have some case studies in the text that illustrate just how
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difficult it can be. Let's look into those.
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We have two men highlighted in the reading, Bill and Anthony.
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Real missionaries names changed I assume, but real situations.
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Bill was in sub-Saharan Africa for 18 years, Anthony in Latin
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America for 15 years. Both of them successfully handed
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over their ministries to national leaders.
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But it wasn't a straight line. No, it wasn't, and I appreciate
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that the text shares their struggle so openly.
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Both men dealt with significant doubt.
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They look at the locals they were training, men they loved
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and thought they get ready. They thought they were too
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immature or that they lacked character.
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And they had reason to think that the text mentions that some
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of the guys Bill thought would be the leaders actually failed.
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There was one man who started well, looked like the obvious
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choice, and then left his wife and had to be disciplined out of
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the church. That must have been
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heartbreaking for Bill. It shows the unpredictability of
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ministry. You pour your life into someone
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and they can still walk away. But there is a flip side.
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The text also mentions surprise leaders.
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Men who seemed incapable. Maybe they were poor or
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uneducated or just didn't seem interested at first.
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But suddenly God got a hold of their hearts.
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I love that detail. It is a reminder that God
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chooses the leadership, not the missionary's intuition.
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We look at the outward appearance, God looks at the
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heart. And this reinforces our Reformed
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understanding of God's sovereignty.
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The church is Christ's church. He will raise up shepherds for
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his sheep. The missionary's job is to be
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faithful in training, but the results are entirely in God's
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hands. So how do they actually do the
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transition? The text says they used a
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technique called shadowing. Formal classroom training wasn't
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enough. You can't learn to be a pastor
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just from a book or a whiteboard.
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These men needed to see the life of the missionary up close.
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They tagged along. They watched how Bill handled a
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conflict in the church. They saw how Anthony prayed for
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the sick. It was life on life,
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discipleship, walking the road together.
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But then came the hard part, the separation.
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The text talks about the emotional toll this took on
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everyone involved. Bill felt like he was abandoning
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people he loved. Think about it from his
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perspective. You have spent 18 years with
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these people. You have buried their parents.
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You have dedicated their children.
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You have eaten at their tables. And now you have to say I am
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leaving and I am not coming back to run things it.
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Feels like betrayal. Anthony realized his
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relationship with the people had to fundamentally change.
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He could no no longer be their father in the faith he had to
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become a distant brother. And the analysis in the text
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highlights a specific tactic they use to make this break
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real. They had to stop.
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Attending the clean break, it's crucial both Bill and Anthony
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eventually had to stop going to the leadership meetings.
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They had to physically remove themselves from the room.
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Why? Why couldn't they just sit in
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the back and observe quietly? Because of the gravity of their
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presence. If the founding father is in the
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room, everyone looks at him before they make a decision.
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They think, what does Bill think?
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Even if Bill doesn't say a single word, his body language
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speaks volumes. If he frowns, the vote changes.
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If he nods, the vote passes. As long as he's in the room, the
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new elders are not truly free to lead.
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The scaffolding has to be taken down, dismantled and trucked
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away so the building can stand. That is a striking reality.
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It is a death of self for the missionary.
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You have to decrease so they can increase.
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Which brings us to another context entirely.
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We have talked about Africa and Latin America, where the Church
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is often growing rapidly. But the source material shifts
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gears to a much harder, harder context.
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Europe. Specifically, minority faith
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contexts like Croatia. This was fascinating.
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In places like Croatia, evangelical Christianity is less
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than 1% of the population. It is tiny.
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It is what missiologists call hard soil.
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In Africa, you might preach and have 100 people respond.
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In Croatia, you might labor for 10 years and have a Church of 20
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people. And the text makes the point
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that American metrics just do not work here.
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Right. We Americans love our numbers.
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We want to know how many baptisms, How big is the
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building? How many programs do you have
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running on a Wednesday night? If you apply those metrics to a
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missionary in Croatia, they look like a failure.
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It is one step forward, 2 steps back.
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So Christian Brackett, the author of this section, argues
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for new metrics, biblical metrics.
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He proposes 3 metrics that are incredibly probably helpful.
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The 1st is the metric of discipleship.
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It is not about how many people come to class.
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No, it is about transmission. Are the students pursuing
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others? He references a Timothy 2.2,
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entrusting the gospel to faithful men who will be able to
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teach others also. If you have one guy, but that
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one guy is actively disciple in another guy, that is success.
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It is about depth, not width. The second is the metric of
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local church commitment. Are they moving from mere
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attendance to actual participation?
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In these cultures, showing up is one thing.
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Actually contributing, giving money, serving your brothers and
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sisters, that is a massive leap. And the third one was my
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absolute favorite, the metric of maturity and backbone.
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Backbone. I love that word in this
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context. In a hostile culture where being
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an evangelical Christian makes you a weirdo or an outcast,
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success isn't popularity. It is the character to withstand
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opposition. Can this leader survive pastoral
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isolation? That phrase pastoral isolation
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really hit me. It is a heavy reality.
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In the USA, pastor can go to a conference, meet 100 other
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pastors, have lunch, feel supported.
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In Croatia, a pastor might be the only evangelical leader in
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his entire city. He is completely alone.
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And he is likely poor. The text highlights the reality
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of poverty in these contexts. These pastors must be bi
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vocational. They have to work a secular job
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just to feed their. Families because the church is
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too small to pay them a salary. Which means the training centers
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can't be these academic ivory towers.
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The training has to be simple, it has to be accessible and the
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students coming in often have 0 theological background.
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In the West, a seminary student might have grown up in Sunday
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school. They know the stories.
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In Croatia, the student might have been saved six months ago
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and has never seen a healthy Christian marriage or a
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functional church. You are starting from Ground
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Zero. So the work is slower, it is
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quieter, but the argument the author makes is that it is real.
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It is indigenous. If you build a small by
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vocational struggling church that is led by Croatian men who
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love the Bible and have backbone, that is a massive
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victory. That is a building that will
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stand. It might be a small building,
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but it doesn't need scaffolding anymore.
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This whole discussion really flips the script on what we
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consider success in ministry. We usually think of success as
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more more people, more money, more influence.
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But this entire deep dive has been about less the missionary
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doing less so the local church can do more.
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It is the paradox of the Kingdom.
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Death brings life, letting go brings possession.
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Let's summarize what we have covered today for the learner.
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We started with the scaffolding analogy.
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The missionary is temporary equipment, essential for
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construction but disastrous if left permanently.
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We looked at the biblical mandate.
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The goal is a local church led by local elders, following the
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pattern of Paul. We talked about the danger of
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staying the three self principal and the risk of creating
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dependency and pride among the workers.
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We walked through the practical steps, planning for an exit from
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day one, keeping Western money out of the way, teaching sound
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hermeneutics and the painful process of the clean break.
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And finally, we looked at the hard soil of Europe, where
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success is measured by backbone and faithfulness, not just
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attendance numbers. Is a comprehensive picture of
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what it means to truly pursue the Great Commission.
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So as we wrap up, I want to leave our listeners with a final
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thought. We have been talking about
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missionaries and foreign lands this whole time, but I have a
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feeling this applies much closer to home.
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I believe it does, if I can offer a closing provocation to
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everyone listening. Whether you are a pastor, a
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Sunday school teacher, a small group leader, or just a parent,
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please do. We often view success in our
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personal ministries as the expansion of our own influence.
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We want to be the one people call when things go wrong.
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We want to be the one with the answers.
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It makes us feel needed. It makes us feel vital.
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It feeds the ego. It does, but true biblical
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success, taking the spirit of John the Baptist, is saying he
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must increase, but I must decrease.
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Ask yourself this are you building people to need you, or
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are you building them to need God?
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If you stepped away from your ministry tomorrow, if you moved
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away to another state, would it collapse?
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Would your small group fall apart?
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Would your children not know how to read the Bible for
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themselves? If your departure causes a
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collapse, it means you were building on yourself.
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You are the structure, not the scaffolding.
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But if you are building correctly, your greatest success
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is the day you were no longer needed.
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Because they are standing on the solid foundation of Christ.
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That is a weighty place to end. The goal is to make ourselves
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unnecessary because Christ is all sufficient.
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Thank you for walking us through this source material.
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He was a privilege. And to our listener, the
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learner, thank you for joining us on this deep dive.
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We hope this challenges you to look at your own work, your own
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ministry, and your own church with fresh eyes.
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Until next time, keep thinking and keep digging deeper.