“Is there one key conviction or one fundamental ingredient that local churches who send well have in common?”

Due to the scope of the ministry the Lord has bestowed on me and the number of relationships I have with leaders of local churches and many of the missionaries from those churches, I’ve been asked that question in one form or another dozens of times over the past few years.

Yes, there is one key ingredient: conviction or mindset that I’ve observed is almost always present in every church I know that sends and actively cares for their own members that God calls to be missionaries.

Although I’ve answered the question in a variety of ways over the years, these days my default answer makes use of an illustration that I first heard many years ago from a friend whose heart beats in unison with mine for God’s glory among the nations.

AN EIGHT-SLICE PIE OF MINISTRY

Think of a local church as an uneaten pie cut into eight equal slices, sitting snugly in the pan it was baked in. The leaders of the church have determined how many slices there are and what ministries each slice represents.

In most churches, the eight-slice pie of ministries looks something like this:

Slice one: Nursery, toddler and children’s ministry through the fifth or sixth grade

Slice two: Junior and senior high school ministry

Slice three: College/young adult ministry

Slice four: Women’s and men’s ministry

Slice five: Small group ministry

Slice six: Outreach (local, domestic, international)

SUNDAY MORNING ADULT SERVICES-TWO OF THE SLICES

Slices seven and eight: Two slices are dedicated to the Sunday morning ministry to adults because the energy and resources committed to make it the best experience possible is substantial.

. From the thoroughly studied and powerfully presented message by the pastor

. To the diligently prayed through song selection and the prepared and rehearsed worship team

. To the faithful, behind the scenes efforts of the audio and visual crew

. To the greeters, ushers and parking lot attendants

The reason why this is true is easy to understand; the Sunday morning adult services receive much more attention than the other ministries because they are usually the first slice of the church’s ministry pie that most visitors will taste.

This reality, coupled with the fact that each of the single-slice ministries are promoted a few times each year from the pulpit during the Sunday morning services, provides a fairly clear declaration that Sunday morning is actually two slices of the church’s ministry pie.

WHEN GLOBAL MISSIONS IS A PART OF ONE OF THE SLICES

In a church where the leaders view the ministry pie in this way, global missions is viewed as part of the “outreach” ministry slice-not significant enough to warrant having a whole slice dedicated to it. And the frequency and number of references to global missions during the Sunday morning adult services reflects the importance the leaders have assigned to it.

Although there are always exceptions, when a local church views global missions as just one part of one of its ministry slices-or even if one whole slice is dedicated to it, the odds are that the missionaries that go to the mission field from that church will be sent, but usually not cared for in a manner worthy of God.

WHEN GLOBAL MISSIONS ISN’T A SLICE, BUT THE PAN THE PIE SITS IN

Keeping the pie illustration in mind, the key conviction or ingredient that churches that send well have in common, isn’t a larger slice or even more slices of the ministry pie dedicated to global missions.

Instead, it’s their view that global missions isn’t a slice of the ministry pie at all; it’s actually the pan the whole ministry pie sits in.

These church leaders and all the members of the church are convinced that participation in God’s global purposes is a foundational reason for their existence and should therefore permeate and give meaning to all of the slices that make up their ministry pie.

All slices of the ministry pie in this kind of church are continually reminded that the church as a whole and their specific ministry serves an important role in what God is doing around the world, and they are also kept aware of the progress God’s kingdom is making among the variety of ethnicities and languages He’s created.

Every ministry slice, including the children’s ministry, knows who the missionaries are that the church supports, especially the church’s own members that have been sent to the field; they are kept updated regularly, and they are praying for them.

When God’s heart for the nations is in the DNA of a local church and global missions isn’t a slice of the ministry pie, but the pan that holds the whole ministry pie together and that every slice rests upon, missionaries will be sent well.

Esther needed a Mordecai moment and message–and so do many local churches today.

“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

In the first two posts in this series, I laid out the reasons for why I believe God has commanded every local church and every one of His followers down through history to participate at some level in making disciples from among every ethnic group that He Himself created. Yet despite that goal-embedded command, the guaranteed end game outcome He has already revealed, and the unique ability we have to know how much progress has been made in obedience to the command, only a small percentage of local churches in the United States actually participate in one of the fundamental purposes for their very existence.

To be totally honest, this reality is both confusing and frustrating to me.

Not long ago, I pleaded with the Lord once again for His wisdom to understand how it’s possible for Bible-teaching churches to be apathetic about participating in global missions. And I also asked Him to show me what I can do to help local church leaders to begin taking the Great Commission as seriously as our missionary God does. As I cried out to Him, He directed me to the verse listed above. Not just the easily applicable portion of the verse that has helped many Christians view their circumstances through a sovereignty of God lens, but the whole verse.

I plunged more deeply than ever before into thinking about the situation Esther found herself in at that moment in time, and Mordecai’s bold and prophetic declaration to her. From there, I began thinking about the situation local churches find themselves in, especially in the United States, and my mental and spiritual alarm bells went off.

I saw the following similarities between many of the specifics of Esther’s situation and those of a local church in America, and they are too much alike to be coincidental.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ESTHER AND LOCAL CHURCHES

1. By God’s design and plan from eternity, Esther was the bride of a king at a specific moment in time, and every local church is the bride of the King of Kings at a specific moment in time.

2. Through God’s orchestration of events beyond their control, like Esther in her days, every local church in the United States today lives in a position of privilege with a standard of living that places them in the top one percent of the people on the planet. This includes a level of comfort and safety that few others on the earth enjoy.

3. Both have access to unrivaled resources, rights and power that few others have, and relationships with people that have some level of influence.

4. Both live in a comparatively cozy bubble, insulated from the awareness of, or exposure to the day to day rigors that are a part of the lives of the masses outside the cocoon.

5. Because of all of the above and more, both are in need of a jolt of reality from God about the responsibility that comes along with receiving the level of grace He bestows upon them.

ONE MAN, ONE MESSAGE–FOR TWO VERY DISTANT MOMENTS IN TIME

I’m now convinced that God didn’t just send Mordecai to wake up Esther with a sobering message at her moment in time; He used Mordecai and a shockingly similar message to wake up each local church at this moment in time.

Because he knew God’s already revealed end game plan for the distinct ethnic group of people that we know as the Jews, Mordecai knew that the decree to commit genocide on them would not be successful. He knew God was going to rescue those called by His name, but he didn’t know how the rescue would be accomplished.

Mordecai had already challenged Esther to go to the king and intervene on behalf of her people. He had also heard her fear-laden description of what happens to those who approach the king without previously being summoned by him.

In response to Esther’s explanation for why she was reluctant to do what he had exhorted her to do, Mordecai’s proclamation contained these five God-generated truths that are exactly the things Jesus knows each local church, especially those in America, need to hear.

FIVE TRUTHS ESTHER HEARD THAT APPLY TO EVERY LOCAL CHURCH TODAY

1. God has already revealed His future plans to rescue people from a specific ethnic group. In Esther’s case, it was the Jews, in our case–He is going to rescue the people called by His name that come from within every ethnic group that He has created (Acts 15:17).

2. God has placed your church in the privileged position you currently find yourself in, and it is for a purpose larger than your own interests.

3. God invites your church to be an active participant in bringing about the guaranteed outcome that He has already revealed in His word.

4. To accept the invitation to participate could require putting your church’s current status/way of life at risk, with no guarantee that it will continue as it is. For Esther, it was literally her life that she had to be willing to risk. For a local church today, it could be the death of doing church the way that we do.

5. Recognize that although your church can choose to ignore the opportunity to bring about God’s guaranteed outcome, not participating will bring severe consequences. For Esther, it would have been her and her family. For local churches today, it could be their very existence as His true bride in their local community.

Esther heeded Mordecai’s message, invited others to join her in prayer and fasting, accepted the risk and by faith stepped into participation in what God was already going to do.

May the leaders of every local church heed Mordecai and his message and follow Esther’s lead!

How would you like to see your church’s leadership triple in a year?

Can you imagine the leverage that could be created to advance the kingdom if the local church multiplied leaders? Not only is this a glorious future, but it is also Christ’s mission mandate. The church is called to reach the lost, make disciples, and develop leaders for the glory of Christ (Mt. 28:18-20, Eph. 4:11-16). The hope of the world is the local church, and the hope of the local church is leadership. Develop spiritual leaders and you’ll change the world for Christ. Leaders need to be developing leaders and prospective leaders need to be developed.

Dashboard indicators provide essential information about your car. The most important pieces of information are highlighted to alert a driver about a vehicle’s condition. In regard to a church leadership development culture, two of the most important indicators are:

1. The percentage of staff that have been hired from within the local church, and
2. The percentage of staff and leaders that have an apprentice (an assistant whom they are training). The higher the percentage, the more likely there is a healthy leadership development culture.

How can you create a healthy leadership culture in the local church?

Paul provides a snapshot in his swansong address to Timothy, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). Here is a blueprint that helps to explain the influence and success of the church at Ephesus, and provides the essence of creating a leadership development culture. There are four links in a leadership chain described here: Paul, Timothy, faithful leaders, and others who will receive. Thus, a leadership model could be detailed from Paul’s exhortation to the church.

Each leader should develop an apprentice (an assistant whom they are training). The apprentice should be equipped and empowered to identify, recruit, and train a prospective leader who has the capacity to do the same with others. This will result in exponential leadership development in the church and advancement of the kingdom.

To whom does the term “leader” apply?

Leadership simply relates to influence and can therefore be described broadly. The term “leader” would certainly be applied to pastors, elders and deacons. In addition, anyone who has the title “leader” in their role such as an usher, greeter, children’s ministry, women’s, men’s, prayer, hospitality, or youth leader should be included. Furthermore, community group (small group) leaders should be included as leaders for this purpose.

How do leaders train an apprentice? Paul chose to take Timothy along on his second missionary trip. “Paul wanted him (Timothy) to join them on their journey” (Acts 16:3). The process assumes that the leader will mentor the apprentice(s) to develop biblical knowledge and character, to share their faith, and perform ministry task(s). Along the journey, the mentorship training could be distilled to five (5) reproducible steps:

1. I do, you watch, and we talk.
2. I do, you help, and we talk.
3. You do, I help, and we talk.
4. You do, I watch, and we talk.
5. You do and someone else watches.

In the first step, the mentor leader models a behavior such as personal evangelism, prayer, Bible reading, or greeting visitors, which the apprentice observes. They later discuss the training and provide opportunity to discuss questions, challenges, and ideas. The second step involves the apprentice in an assisting role. For example, if the apprentice is learning how to greet visitors for a weekend gathering, the leader and apprentice both participate in welcoming the guests. Or if the apprentice is learning to teach the Bible, the leader can model teaching and then have the assistant teach a short devotional study. Again there should be a debriefing time afterwards. In the third step, the apprentice takes the lead, and the leader assists. In the fourth phase, the leader is simply an observer as the apprentice performs the tasks. Nevertheless, the mentor and apprentice engage in feedback and discuss the process after steps three and four. In the fifth step, the apprentice has been sufficiently equipped that he or she is empowered to identify, recruit, and begin the same process with a prospective leader.

Within a year, leadership in the local church would likely triple. This expanded base of leadership creates an infrastructure for reaching the lost, making disciples, and developing more leaders for the glory of Christ. So let our leadership development thrive in this season of ministry.