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The Heart of Biblical Missions · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we look at global logistics or
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international relations, there is this immediate expectation of
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massive overwhelming intricacy. You look at a shipping manifest
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or like a a diplomatic treaty, and it is just a tangled web of
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customs, regulations, cultural barriers, linguistic hurdles and
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endless red tape. Right, you need a whole team of
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specialists just to ship a crate of apples across 3 international
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borders without them rotting in a warehouse somewhere.
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Yeah, and we naturally assume that taking a philosophical or
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theological message across those same borders requires, well, a
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similar level of bureaucratic and sociocultural maneuvering.
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We really do. We assume we need sociology
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degrees and massive demographic studies to even begin talking to
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someone in a different culture. But then you open up the
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conclusion of Mark Tadlock in Christ Burnett's book Biblical
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Missions, Principles, Priorities, and Practices, and
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suddenly that massive web gets cut right down the middle.
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It does, they argue, for a mandate that is remarkably
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simple. Yeah, accessible and achievable.
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Welcome to Reform Thinking, where today we are taking a deep
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dive into that very conclusion. Thanks for having me.
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The core tension we are looking at is this missions can feel
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intensely complicated in a globalized world filled with
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shifting socio cultural dynamics.
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But Christ's Great Commission cuts through all of that noise.
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It really does, and the reason the authors can argue for such
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simplicity is because they base their entire methodology on a
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very specific theological baseline.
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Right. And before we jump into that, I
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just want to set the rules for today.
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We're going to steer through three main parts of the author's
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summary and then we are going to look at a rigorous 10 question
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diagnostic test they give for the listener.
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That sounds like a solid plan. So getting back to that
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theological baseline you mentioned.
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Yeah, so from a Reformed theological perspective, True
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Missions relies entirely on the authoritative and sufficient
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Word of God and the sovereign will of the Lord.
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It does not rely on our ability to outsmart cultural barriers.
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Precisely, if you look at the Westminster Confession of Faith,
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it makes a very clear claim about the sufficiency of of
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Scripture. Which is such a crucial concept
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for us to grasp here. It is the confession states,
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that the whole council of God concerning all things necessary
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for His own glory and man's salvation is either expressly
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set down in Scripture or can be deduced from it.
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So when you operate from that premise, the pressure to invent
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new, culturally accommodating methods just evaporates.
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Spot on. You do not have to assemble a
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think tank to figure out how to reach a new demographic.
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The method is already given to us.
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And the authors point out a really interesting dynamic
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between the Old and New Testaments regarding this
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method. They do, yeah.
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They note that the Old Testament shows God's heart for the
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nations. I mean it is prevalent
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throughout those ancient texts, like God telling Abraham that
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through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
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Right, but it was largely a come and see model.
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Yes, the nations were supposed to look at Israel, see the
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Temple, see the law, and recognize the one true God.
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But the New Testament provides the actual outward strategy via
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the Great Commission. It shifts to a go and tell
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model. It does, and the specific method
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they highlight is the verbal delivery of the contact of
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Scripture. They argue this has always been
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God's effective means of redeeming people from every
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tribe and tongue. If we connect this to the bigger
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picture of Reformed soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, this
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verbal proclamation makes total logical sense.
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It absolutely does. We believe that the Holy Spirit
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works directly through the Word to bring about spiritual
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renewal. The Spirit is the active agent
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who regenerates the human heart. Taking out a heart of stone and
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giving a heart of flesh. Right, but the instrument the
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Spirit uses to accomplish that regeneration is the proclaimed
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gospel. And that is why the authors
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issue such a strong warning. They note that over the last
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half century, many cross cultural ministries have yielded
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to unbiblical worldviews, risking the synchronization of
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truth with error. Syncretism happening when you
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try to blend the exclusive claims of Christianity with the
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dominant philosophies of the host culture to make the message
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less abrasive. Yes, and when you do that you
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are essentially tampering with the instrument the Holy Spirit
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uses. Well, let me push back on that
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idea a little bit. If the verbal delivery of
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Scripture has always been God's method, and we have centuries of
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evidence showing that it works, why have the last 50 years seen
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such a massive drift toward unbiblical worldviews?
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That is a great question. Is it because we panic when
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facing opposition and assume the ancient method is broken?
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It's like looking at a classic life saving medical treatment
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and deciding to mix in unproven local remedies just to make the
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medicine taste better to the patient.
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That is a perfect way to look at.
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It you risk neutralizing the cure entirely.
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The medical analogy highlights the mechanism of the failure
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perfectly. The urge to mix in those local
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remedies usually stems from a desire to see faster numerical
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results or to avoid the social friction that always accompanies
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the genuine gospel. Because the Gospel tells
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humanity that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.
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Right that we are under the wrath of a holy God and that we
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are utterly incapable of saving ourselves.
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That message is deeply offensive to every culture on earth.
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Whether you are in a postmodern western city or a rural
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animistic village. Yes, when missionaries face the
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reality of that offense and they see doors slamming in their
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faces, the temptation is to soften the edges.
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They might stop talking about sin and wrath and start talking
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exclusively about Jesus as like a life coach or a source of
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physical blessing. But when you neutralize the cure
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to make it palatable, it ceases to be a cure.
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A medicine that only tastes good but fails to eradicate the
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disease is worthless. Wow.
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Yeah, The authors assert that faithful ministry in new
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locations is always costly. There is no version of this
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where the host culture immediately applauds the message
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without any friction. And they pair that costliness
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with a really striking phrase. They say the end is near.
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Which brings in a whole new layer of priority.
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It really does. They argue that knowing God's
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future plans for His Kingdom should instill a blessed hope
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and a sense of extreme urgency. And this feels like something
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that applies directly to you, the listener, right now.
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This is not just a mandate for a professional full time
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missionary living six time zones away.
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If the end is near and the method is established, that
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urgency applies to every single believer.
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The eschatological reality, the understanding of where human
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history is heading under God's sovereign direction, dictates
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our daily action. If you believe that Christ will
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return to consummate his Kingdom and that eternal destinies hang
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on the hearing of the gospel, complacency becomes an
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impossibility. It shifts your entire
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perspective from building a comfortable, isolated life here
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to participating, active in God's redemptive work.
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You begin to view your resources, your time, and your
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conversations through the lens of that impending return.
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But recognizing the urgency of this message creates a massive
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logistical problem. An individual believer cannot
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sustain a global, uncompromised ministry alone.
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You cannot just have individuals running around like lone Rangers
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trying to fulfill the Great Commission.
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No, they need a base of operations.
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Which is why the authors place the entire weight of this
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mandate on to the local church. This transitions us into looking
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at Part 2 of the text, focusing on the multifaceted role of the
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local sending church. The text outlines that the local
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church provides spiritual oversight, practical help,
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encouraging communication and intercessory prayer.
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And the ultimate priority they identify the main goal of all
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this effort is indigenous church planting.
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I want to zero in on a very specific phrase the authors use
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in the section because it is the linchpin of their argument
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regarding how these indigenous churches are formed.
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OK, what is the phrase? They write that only the
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Sovereign Lord can raise up qualified local men to preach,
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teach and shepherd's souls under the authority of Scripture.
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That ties directly back to a high view of God's sovereignty.
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Precisely. A missionary cannot manufacture
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leaders. You can teach a curriculum, you
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can host pastoral seminars, you can build a seminary building.
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But you cannot regenerate a human heart.
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Or bestow the specific spiritual gifts required for pastoral
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ministry. Only God does that.
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The missionaries job is to faithfully preach the word and
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then wait to see who the Holy Spirit raises up from within
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that new congregation. Furthermore, the text insists
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that missionaries must expect to transition leadership roles to
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these local men. Which is often the hardest part
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for people to actually execute. That transition phase sounds
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like it could be incredibly difficult.
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The text describes this as an arduous missionary task
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requiring believers to actively trust God amid sins disruptions.
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It requires an immense amount of faith.
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So what happens when a missionary tries to force the
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timeline rather than waiting on the Sovereign Lord?
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It feels like the missionary is the scaffolding on a new
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building. I like that imagery.
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The scaffolding is crucial for construction.
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You literally cannot build without it.
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But if you never take it down, the building isn't truly
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standing on its own, and you cannot move that scaffolding to
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the next site. When that scaffolding becomes a
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permanent fixture, you have accidentally created an
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institution that relies entirely on foreign funding and foreign
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decision making. That is the danger of
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paternalism in missions. Spot on.
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When a missionary forces the timeline because they are
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impatient, they might install leaders who are not spiritually
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qualified. Or they might just refuse to
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hand over the reins at all. Trusting the Sovereign Lord
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means accepting that local believers will make mistakes.
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It means accepting that there will be sin, conflict and
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disruption in the newly planted church.
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And trusting that God is fully capable of sanctifying His
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people without the foreign missionary micromanaging every
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single detail. The Westminster Confession
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teaches that God's Providence extends to all things, directing
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and disposing them to His own holy ends.
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Trusting that Providence allows the missionary to step back,
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take the scaffolding down and let the Indigenous leaders lead.
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Let's bring this right to the listeners doorstep.
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Yes. Think about your own local
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congregation. Are you acting as a robust
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sending church? When you gather for prayer, are
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you actively praying for the indigenous leaders being raised
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up overseas? Or are you just praying for your
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own exported missionaries to have a comfortable week?
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The authors are making a compelling case that the goal is
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an independent indigenous church standing on its own 2 feet.
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Since that scaffolding comes down, those local leaders are
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suddenly standing alone in a culture that likely hates their
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message. They cannot survive on verbal
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tradition or memory alone, especially in a world filled
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with competing ideologies. They need objective tools to
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sustain their witness. Which brings us to the mechanics
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of faithful ministry discussed in the text.
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The authors list specific requirements for equipping local
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men biblically, theologically, and pastorally.
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They argue this requires accuracy in Bible translation
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and the publishing of theologically robust supportive
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literature to increase biblical literacy.
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A Bible. Translation is the absolute
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baseline. But supportive literature,
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commentaries, systematic theologies, historical creeds
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that helps the newly established church interpret that
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translation accurately. And defend against heresy.
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But let me play devil's advocate for a second.
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OK, go for. It translating a Bible is a
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monumental task. You were talking about languages
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that might not even have a written alphabet, let alone a
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vocabulary for complex theological concepts like
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justification or propitiation. It is an incredibly heavy lift.
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So if a culture is completely oral, shouldn't we ditch the
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printed page and just tell stories?
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Why do the author's place such a massive burden on providing
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written supportive literature? Well, the reliance on the
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written word is not a Western cultural preference.
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It is a biblical mandate based on how God chose to reveal
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himself through a book. Yes.
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Well, oral storytelling is a fantastic stick starting point
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for evangelism. An oral tradition is highly
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susceptible to mutation over time.
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Without a written objective standard, theological drift is
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inevitable. As for the difficulty of
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translation, you head on the exact reason why supportive
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literature is mandatory. How so?
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Imagine trying to translate the concept of grace unmerited favor
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into a language belonging to a culture that operates strictly
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on a karma system. Where every action must be
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balanced by an equal reaction. Right.
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Or a culture based entirely on transactional debt.
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You might have to use a local word that carries a ton of
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baggage. So supportive literature, like a
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solid commentary, acts as a fence around that translated
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word. Precisely, it explains, when we
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use this local word for grace, we do not mean a debt you have
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to repay, we mean a free gift from Christ.
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Without that literature, the local leaders have no reference
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point to correct misunderstandings that.
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Makes a lot of sense. The literature protects the
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translation now. Here's a fascinating detail from
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the text. We usually think of Bible
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translation as the finish line. Like once they have the book,
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the job is done, yeah. But the authors specifically
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call out equipping national worship leaders alongside those
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translation efforts. Which is such an interesting
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inclusion. Why would the authors play such
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a high premium on songs in a textbook about missions?
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This brings up a vital concept in Reformed thought regarding
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the regulation of worship. The theology of congregation
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things is just as vital as the theology they hear preached from
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the pulpit. Historically, the church has
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recognized that music bypasses our intellectual defenses.
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It embeds truth or error straight into our affections.
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The authors note that equipping national worship leaders aims at
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bringing biblical fidelity to both sermon and song.
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Because if a missionary preaches a solid, biblically sound sermon
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for 45 minutes. But the congregation spends 30
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minutes singing catchy but theologically inaccurate songs.
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The songs will often win the battle for the congregation's
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mind. The songs are what they hum
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while working in the fields or walk into the market all week
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long. I have absolutely seen that
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happen. A song with a great melody but
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terrible theology can function like a Trojan horse for bad
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doctrine. It sneaks past the gates because
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it sounds so good. So there is a massive risk here
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of either exporting western cultural musical styles
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directly, which might feel entirely alien to the local
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congregation. 1st is encouraging indigenous musical expressions.
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The key, according to the text, is that whatever the musical
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expression is, it must maintain strict biblical fidelity.
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The goal is not to make an indigenous church in a rural
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village look and sound like a suburban church in the West.
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That is cultural imperialism, not biblical missions.
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The goal is for them to sing the objective truths of Scripture in
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a musical idiom that makes sense to their culture.
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While rigorously filtering those lyrics through the lens of sound
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doctrine. When a church has an accurate
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Bible translation, solid supportive literature, and
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doctrinally rich worship music, it has a fortified bass.
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It can withstand internal heresy and external pressure.
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O we have this fortified bass. The church is planted, leaders
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are trained, the translations are accurate and the songs are
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sound. But a church isn't meant to be a
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fortress that locks its doors. No, it has to interact with the
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rapidly shifting globalized world outside, and the authors
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identify vast spheres of influence for cross cultural
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engagement. They mentioned the workplace,
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neighborhoods, education, business, university campuses
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and among the vulnerable and suffering.
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They frame the workplace, for example as an integrity driven
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platform. This raises a significant point
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about how we view vocation. The Reformers recovered the
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biblical idea that all legitimate work is honorable
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before God. When a believer operates a
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business with integrity, or teaches at a university with
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excellence, or works in a medical clinic, they are
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creating a platform for a gospel witness.
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However, the authors issue a stern warning here.
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Let's hear it. They state that when local and
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international ministries are conducted apart from sound
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doctrine, they distort the gospel.
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They specifically note that the message of hope must be
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accompanied by compassionate, skillful help, but the exclusive
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gospel must remain central. If you provide compassionate
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medical help or agricultural training without the verbal
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proclamation of Christ's atoning work, you are engaging in
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philanthropy, not biblical missions.
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Well, let me push back on that because I know people listening
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might feel some friction there. I'm sure they do.
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If a village has no clean water and children are suffering from
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waterborne diseases, isn't it incredibly tone deaf to show up
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with a Bible translation and a systematic theology textbook?
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I can definitely. Feel that way?
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Shouldn't the whale come first? Why do the authors insist the
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verbal gospel must remain central even in the face of
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severe physical suffering? It is a totally valid human
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reaction to prioritize the immediate physical need.
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And the authors are not dismissing compassion.
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They explicitly call for skillful help.
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The well should be dug. The medical clinic should be
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built. But from a biblical perspective,
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physical suffering, as terrible as it is, is a temporary symptom
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of a much larger eternal problem.
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Humanity's alienation from God due to sin, right?
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If you dig a well and provide clean water, you have extended
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that person's physical life, which is a good and noble thing.
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But if you fail to share the gospel, they will still face
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eternal separation from God. Philanthropy addresses the
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temporary symptom. The Gospel addresses the eternal
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root cause. The authors are warning that
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doing the former while neglecting the latter is a
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distortion of Christ's command. I want to focus intensely on
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their critique of short term ministries because this is
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something so many listeners have probably participated.
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In OH for sure, short term trips are hugely popular.
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The authors state that short term trips must focus on
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proclaiming Christ and supporting long term workers.
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They explicitly warn against self focused trips that leave
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little lasting benefit to the field.
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That is a tough pill to swallow for some youth groups.
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It's like showing up to a disaster relief zone, taking a
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selfie with a shovel to post online, and flying home while
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the actual trained relief workers have to pause their
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crucial labor just to babysit you and make sure you do not get
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hurt. That analogy is unfortunately
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very accurate. How can a listener distinguish
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between a biblically grounded partnership and a self focused
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endeavor? To distinguish between the two,
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you have to ruthlessly examine the motivation and the alignment
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with the local church on the ground.
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A biblically grounded partnership asks the long term
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missionary or the indigenous church leadership, what do you
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actually need us to do to support your ongoing work?
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Do you need us to run a theological training camp for
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your leaders? Do you need us to handle
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logistics so you can rest? A self focused endeavor
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approaches the field and says here is what our youth group
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wants to experience this summer. Can you accommodate us?
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The text is clear that the goal is lasting benefit to the field
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advancing the Great Commission. If a group shows up to paint a
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wall that the locals could have painted themselves, or worse, a
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wall the locals have to secretly repaint after the team leaves.
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That is not a helpful partnership.
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It drains resources from the long term workers who have to
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organize the logistics for the visiting team.
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This speaks directly to you, the listener, whether you are
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planning a trip over overseas or just walking into your own
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workplace or university campus tomorrow morning.
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The text insists that cross cultural proclamation isn't just
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an overseas activity. It applies wherever God has
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placed believers. But because the line between a
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faithful, integrity driven ministry and a self focused,
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culturally compromised trip can be incredibly thin, believers
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need a way to regularly test their own alignment.
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You need an audit. And the authors provide
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precisely that in their conclusion.
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They offer a final challenge consisting of 10 reflection
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questions designed to evaluate adherence to biblical missions.
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These are not soft rhetorical questions.
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They require rigorous self examination.
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Let's walk through these concepts systematically as they
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form a comprehensive diagnostic tool for any church or
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individual believer. Sounds good.
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Let's start with the first one. Question one deals with our
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source of authority. Yeah, Based on everything we
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just discussed about the Old Testament heart in the New
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Testament strategy, the question essentially asks are we relying
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on scripture alone to define our mission or are we looking to
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sociology and business models to dictate our strategy?
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This is the baseline. If a church adopts a corporate
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business model to measure its success and missions, focusing
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purely on metrics, rapid expansion and brand visibility,
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they have abandoned the biblical model.
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The Spirit breathes life where He wills.
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We cannot manufacture A revival using marketing tactics.
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Relying on Scripture alone comes accepting that the growth of the
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church might be slow, painful, and numerically unimpressive to
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the outside world, but it will be spiritually genuine.
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That flows right into Question 2.
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The authors ask. Overall, do these practices you
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implement seem to flow from and support the earlier principles
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and priorities grounded in God's Word, or do they subordinate
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scriptural authority to contemporary cultural values?
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This question strikes at the very heart of the Reformed
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belief in scriptural authority over cultural pragmatism.
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We live in an era where cultural values shift rapidly, often
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driven by emotional narratives rather than objective truth.
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The temptation for the church is to look at the culture, see what
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is currently popular or acceptable, and then try to
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retrofit our ministry practices to match those values so we do
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not appear outdated or bigoted. But subordinating Scripture to
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culture is a fatal error. The authority of God's Word
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means that the text judges the culture.
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The culture does not judge the text.
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If your ministry practices are designed primarily to win
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cultural approval rather than to faithfully execute the commands
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of Christ, you have lost your moorings.
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Question 3 focuses on the role of the local church.
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We discussed the scaffolding analogy earlier.
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This question forces us to ask, is the local sending church the
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central engine of our missionary effort, or have we outsourced
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the Great Commission entirely to independent para church
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organizations? Para church organizations can be
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incredibly helpful for specialized tasks like aviation
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or complex medical support. But the biblical mandate for
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sending disciple and overseeing missionaries belongs to the
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local church. When a local church simply
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writes a check to a massive agency and washes its hands of
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the responsibility of knowing, shepherding and praying for the
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missionary, they are neglecting their duty.
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The local church is God's ordained institution for the
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spread of the gospel. And that leads right into
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Question 4, which is a massive challenge for anyone who gives
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financially to missions. The authors ask, do your top
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priorities in missions include church planting, local church
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strengthening, and the training of indigenous pastors and church
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leaders? If not, which of your priorities
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need reordering and how might you do that practically?
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Think about that for a second if your.
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Current missions support your budget.
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Your donations goes entirely to humanitarian aid, digging wells
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or Building Schools. Without these core elements of
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church planting and pastoral training, how might you
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practically reorder your priorities based on this text?
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That is a tremendously difficult evaluation for many believers
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because humanitarian aid is highly visible and emotionally
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rewarding. You can take a picture of a new
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well. You can show a video of a new
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school building. It is much harder to photograph
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the slow, painstaking work of teaching a local man how to
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faithfully exposite the book of Romans over the course of five
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years. But if we truly believe that
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humanity's greatest problem is not physical thirst but
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spiritual death and alienation from a holy God, then our
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funding must reflect that priority.
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We are not saying humanitarian aid is wrong.
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The authors clearly stated earlier that doors open among
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the vulnerable where hope is accompanied by compassionate
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help. But the aid must be tethered to
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the local church and the proclamation of the Gospel.
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If you realize your giving is entirely disconnected from
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church planting, practical reordering means finding and
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supporting agencies or individuals who are explicitly
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committed to establishing healthy Indigenous
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congregations. Question 5 builds on on that by
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focusing on leadership. It asks us to evaluate if we are
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genuinely transitioning leadership to Indigenous men or
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if we are holding on to control. If a missionary has been in a
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location for 30 years and still preaches every Sunday, handles
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all the finances and makes all the decisions, what does that
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say about their adherence to biblical missions?
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It says they have failed to execute the second-half of the
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Great Commission, which is teaching them to observe all
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that I have commanded you. A core command is the
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establishment of elders in every town, as Paul instructed Titus.
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If a missionary refuses to hand over control, it often reveals a
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lack of trust in the Holy Spirit's ability to guide the
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local believers. It treats the indigenous church
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as permanent children rather than maturing brothers and
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sisters in Christ. Question 6 requires us to look
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at the tools we are providing. Are we prioritizing doctrinal
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fidelity in the literature we translate and distribute?
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Are we giving them the resources to spot heresy?
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A Bible without sound teaching to accompany it can easily be
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twisted by false teachers. The cults frequently use the
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Bible, but they twist its meaning.
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Providing solid theological frameworks like the historic
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creeds and confessions gives the new church a map to steer
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through difficult doctrines and defend themselves against wolves
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who might try to lead the flock astray.
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That brings us perfectly to question 7, which asks in
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practice, how do you prioritize proclaiming an exclusive gospel
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that calls for repentance and belief in Christ's atoning work?
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That word exclusive stands out so sharply against modern
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inclusive cultural trends. It does, and it highlights a
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core tenet of historic Christian orthodoxy clearly articulated in
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the Westminster Confession regarding Christ the Mediator.
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The confession states that the Lord Jesus, by his perfect
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obedience and sacrifice of Himself, fully satisfied the
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justice of His Father, and purchased reconciliation for all
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those whom the Father had given unto him.
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This is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement.
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Christ stood in our place, took the wrath we deserved, and
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imputed His righteousness to us. There is no other mechanism for
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salvation. An exclusive gospel means
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declaring that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no
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one comes to the Father except through him.
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Calling for repentance means telling people that their
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current path leads to destruction that is entirely out
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of step with a culture that believes all spiritual paths are
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equally valid. But it is the only message that
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actually saves. So if we know the message is
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exclusive and offensive, how do we keep ourselves on track?
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Let's look at question 8. What steps can you take to
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regularly assess your adherence to biblical missions and correct
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for any subtle drift over time? The authors call it a subtle
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drift. It's like a boat that slips its
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moorings in the middle of the night.
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You do not realize you are moving at all.
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The water is calm, you are asleep in the cabin and.
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Then the sun comes up and the shoreline looks completely
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unfamiliar. You didn't steer the boat away,
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you just stopped checking your anchor.
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Drift happens passively. It requires 0 effort to drift
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away from the truth. To correct for subtle drift, you
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need fixed points of reference. In maritime navigation you use
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the stars or a compass. In biblical missions, your fixed
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point is the written word of God.
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Regularly assessing your adherence means constantly
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asking why are we doing this specific program?
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Is it explicitly commanded or modeled in Scripture?
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Or did it just become a tradition because it was popular
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20 years ago? It requires church leadership to
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have the courage to shut down ministries that have drifted
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from the primary goal of making disciples and planting churches.
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Even if those ministries are popular or well funded.
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Question 9. Challenges are evaluation of
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those short term trips we discussed earlier.
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Are we measuring the success of a short term trip by the
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emotional high of the participants, or by the biblical
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fidelity and lasting benefit to the local church on the field?
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If the post trip report consists entirely of testimonies about
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how the trip made the youth group feel without any mention
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of how the local church was strengthened or how the gospel
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was proclaimed, the metric for success is broken.
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True success is measured by obedience to the Great
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Commission, not by the emotional experience of the traveler.
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Finally, Question 10 brings us back to that striking phrase
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about the end being near. It asks, Does your daily
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vocation reflect an eschatological urgency?
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Does your life look like you believe Christ is returning?
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If we truly believe the end is near, it alters how we spend our
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money, how we raise our children, and how we speak to
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our neighbors. It.
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Removes the illusion that we have unlimited time to share the
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gospel. It forces us to live
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purposefully, recognizing that every interaction is an
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opportunity to point someone toward the exclusive hope found
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in Christ. Having thoroughly audited the
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text and provided you with these stringent diagnostic questions,
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it is time to look at the immediate next steps available
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to the reader. The authors do not just leave
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you with a list of hard questions, they offer a
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practical way forward. They mentioned transitioning
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from a reader of missions to a student by using the Biblical
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Missions Principles, Priorities, and Practices Workbook.
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This companion volume features 24 lessons designed to translate
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maturing biblical convictions into scripturally aligned
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conduct. If we synthesize everything we
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have discussed today, the overarching theme is really
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encouraging. The biblical model of missions
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is understandable and achievable.
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It is not an esoteric mystery reserved for a spiritual elite.
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It is led by the Holy Spirit working through His Word and
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executed by the local church. Success in missions is defined
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simply by faithfulness to this biblical definition.
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You are not responsible for the numerical outcome.
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You are resting entirely in Christ's promise that He will
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build His church and that the harvest is plentiful.
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The pressure is off you to be the savior of the world.
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You were simply called to be a faithful messenger.
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I love that the pressure is off you.
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That completely shifts the paradigm from anxiety to joyful
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obedience. As we wrap up this deep dive, I
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want to leave you with a final thought to Mull over, building
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upon the texts points about the maturing global church and
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Indigenous leadership. The authors noted that the
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maturing global church is participating even more and
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sending missionaries out from their own local churches.
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Consider this, as Western cultures continue to drift
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further and further towards secularism, the indigenous
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churches we are planting and equipping today in Africa, Asia
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and South America may very well be the one sending missionaries
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back to our own neighborhoods tomorrow.
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That is an incredible thought. Are we ready to receive the very
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gospel we once sent out? Will we be humble enough to sit
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under the teaching of the global church when they arrive to point
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out the simple, uncompromised cure we once knew so well?
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Thank you for joining us on this deep dive.
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As the authors conclude, we encourage you to pray earnestly
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to the Lord of the harvest.