Hey Pastor! Don’t forget about Home Missions!
As a child, I remember enjoying every single year in October when our church would host a Missions Conference. My eyes and mind would be filled with these awesome displays with the currency, food, and toys of so many different countries. I remember being so excited to get to church early so we could go and watch the missionaries' presentation videos in the various rooms around our campus. I remember thinking these people were like the Superheroes of Christendom. I remember wishing to one day be like these people.
Fast forward a couple of years, and now I am three years out of Bible college and serving in a local church here in Ohio. With only a small sample of 2+ years on church staff, I am beginning to realize so many areas to still grow in. One of those areas, in particular, is that of Home Missions. As illustrated above, my previous view of missions was one-dimensional: foreign missions. Now, don’t misunderstand me here, I am not attempting to say that foreign missions are not important. Rather, I am seeking to lift the importance of missions by asking us to flesh missions out to more than just an overseas venture.
As I consider missions within Scripture, the first two spots to stop are Matt 28 and then Acts 1. No doubt you are familiar with these particular texts. If you just search on google “best missions verses” it is the first verse mentioned in the very first result. All of us in our circles are familiar with Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8. In Matthew 28:19-20 the Bible states, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
This particular passage is Jesus’ personal instructions to His disciples to help direct them on their course of actions after Christ’s ascension. He is instructing them with a roadmap to help guide them for their purpose, as well as the purpose of the church and consequently, the believer. The call to action is to take the Gospel to everyone. Jesus’ instructions were for the Gospel to be carried by the Apostles and the church to every single part of the world. This is a well-known, well-taught passage within the church. Or is it?
According to the Barna Group in 2018, the amount of people within the church familiar with the Great Commission is frighteningly low. Here are a few of the concerning statements from this article:
“When asked if they had previously “heard of the Great Commission,” half of U.S. churchgoers (51%) say they do not know this term.”
“Meanwhile, ‘the Great Commission’ does ring a bell for one in four (25%), though they can’t remember what it is."
Only a mere fraction (17%) of those interviewed knew what the Great Commission was and the passage it refers to.
Consider for a moment the ramifications of these finds. Overall, the focus of missions within the church is woefully limited in its understanding. Many people, undoubtedly familiar with the idea of missions, are not even familiar with one of the most famous and important passages around the idea of evangelism. The problem extends far deeper as you consider the results of the survey when broken down into the age brackets of those involved. The amount of people who are familiar with the message and meaning of the Great Commission steadily declines the younger the generation is. Here is a chart included from the aforementioned survey.
These findings should cause you to pause. No doubt many of you have emphasized the Great Commission and how it is a foundation for our church and personal evangelism, but as a whole, American Christianity is wholly underachieving especially in the younger generations. The younger generations are the future leaders of the church and therefore should be a priority in developing a well-understood view of evangelism. Let us see another important passage though.
Acts 1:8 communicates in a more focused way the areas that need evangelism. In this particular passage, we can see Jesus instruct the disciples to spread the Gospel in four unique areas: locally, nationally, regionally, and then globally. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” In this passage, Christ is giving instructions to His apostle on where to spread the Gospel, but at large instructs us to have the same heart and evangelism as His followers.
Notice how effective this strategy was: you and I have received the Gospel. The Gospel mentioned here in this passage has reached the uttermost parts of the earth! We should rejoice in that, but we should not become content with it. We should have Scripture motivate us to continue in the legacy of the apostles and early church, in obedience to the Words of Christ, and take the Gospel everywhere. The whole point of these two passages is that the Gospel evangelism commissioned should be happening everywhere at the same time. It was not a linear, sequential outward expansion of the Gospel that grew slowly outward, but that of purposeful spreading of the Gospel.
This spreading of the Gospel is not just needed overseas. We know the need is great. The Great Commission includes overseas missions, but it also contains home missions. It contains both the local and the global; both need our evangelism of the Gospel. So, how do we practically live that out? Allow me to give a few practical thoughts.
When emphasizing evangelism within your church, emphasize the importance of all forms of missions outreach: local, regional, and global. This will help our churches and congregations not only give in support of global missions but will stir in their desire for assisting church plants as well as their own Gospel outreach in their community
When hosting a missions emphasis month, bring in someone who is seeking to plant a church here in the States, or have a specific session on the importance of local and regional missions. The US is a mission field that we often overlook because of the saturation of churches. All of us understand the decline of American society in their religious understanding and desire
Find a local missionary (church plant) to partner with as a church to visit and assist on a home missions trip if possible. This is an easy way for you to encourage your church to flesh out and live out the heart of the Great Commission while also greatly encouraging a church plant that is needed to be a Gospel light to its community.
Missions and evangelism are the heartbeats of why we exist as churches. Look to emphasize that through local missions so the Gospel will go forward and we can answer the call to action by Paul himself in Romans 10: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?”
Derek Whitman
Youth Pastor | Faith Baptist Church, Beavercreek