The panel retold as a book chapter, each answer in the speaker's own voice. Questions from the floor are summarized. Speaker names come from the voices in the recording and the introductions; it keeps the substance and wording where possible, but it is an edited retelling, not a transcript. Tap a time in the margin to hear that moment.
The panel
ModeratorIt's 1:30, and we want to respect your time. Thank you for coming, and thank you, brothers, for being here. Our topic is how to build a missions culture. I'll ask our panel some questions first, and we'll save twenty to twenty-five minutes for your questions at the microphone. Father, thank you for this time to reflect together on the mission you have so kindly given your church, with the authority and power to carry it out by your Spirit. Give us faithfulness to carry it out too. Thank you for how you have blessed these brothers' ministries; make them helpful to us, and be honored in this hour. In Jesus' name, amen. Brothers, briefly: who are you, where do you serve, and how did you get involved in missions?
Mark DeverI grew up in a Southern Baptist church and was in InterVarsity as an undergraduate, went to Urbana several times and heard John Stott lecture on Romans and Genesis. When I helped start a church up in New England at twenty-four, I immediately tried to make sure a percentage of our income went to gospel work overseas.
Eric BurnsI'm Eric Burns, lead pastor in Bakersfield for ten years. I grew up going on trips and always had a heart to see people in other countries come to Christ, and that sharpened in college. In Bakersfield I heard Brad preach and challenge us, and I thought, that sounds biblical, more in line with what I see in Scripture and what we need to do. Over the years, through Chad Vegas, these men and Brooks, my thinking became more directed and specific. I'm now on the Radius board and get to see God move in great ways around the world.
Dale Van DykeI'm Dale Van Dyke from Grand Rapids, Michigan, pastor of Harvest Church since 1994. I've been involved denominationally and traveled to different parts of the world from time to time, but in the last five years I've been burdened that Harvest as a congregation needs to be plugged in, not just leaving it to the denomination to carry the water. So we're in the process of figuring out how to become a raising, sending and supporting church.
Brad BuserI'm Brad Buser. I came to faith at seventeen through an incredibly dynamic youth pastor and went into missionary training at eighteen. My wife was twenty-two and I was twenty-three when we arrived among the Iteri people in Papua New Guinea. We served there twenty years, with our sons, including Brooks, and came back in 1999 after planting a church and translating the Scriptures. I became missions pastor at my church in San Diego and traveled a lot. In 2005 (this whole thing is Francis Chan's idea, like it or not, and he's proud of it) we began dreaming about a training program after seeing what was happening in missions, even at his own Bible college. It took about seven years, and in 2012 a group of us founded Radius International. I still teach down in Tijuana.
What is a missions culture?
ModeratorHow do you define a missions culture? It's important to define our terms.
Eric BurnsFor us it isn't a program you do once a year. It reaches every age and stage. The children are learning about it, the youth, the older people. It comes consistently from the pulpit, as you draw out the theme of the nations in Scripture without forcing it. It's not a box you check. You're always aware of it and reaching toward it, in every part of the calendar year.
Mark DeverI'd ask two questions to start: Do people think about it? And what do they think about it?
Dale Van DykeFunctionally, I look at our many children, and I want them to grow up where missions is a robust category in their minds and they understand they have a part to play. In a healthy missions culture people realize missions isn't an appendage. We are a missionary society, and every member is a member of that society. That's simply what it means to be a Christian and the church of Jesus Christ.
Brad BuserWhen I became missions pastor, our church had a great legacy, but things were beginning to change, and I was encouraged to help the church understand what missions is. By our church's definition it is accomplishing the Great Commission. So I wrote policies: this is what we do as a church, and if something doesn't extend the Great Commission, it may be a fine ministry of the church, but it isn't missions. It took a year and a half to write them and another year and a half to get them through our board of overseers, and they've guided us ever since. If you buy into that, we'll support you; if you just want to do something great overseas, we're probably not your people. The guidelines also lay out very clearly what kind of person we support. (Nathan, our missions pastor, is here; stand up. They're available on our church's website.)
The pulpit
ModeratorWhat role does the pulpit play in promoting a missions culture?
Eric BurnsIt can't be something only guest speakers talk about, as if you're pawning it off on someone else. The lead pastor has to be bought in, and every pastor on staff too, so that when they preach it isn't foreign and everyone is on the same page: we care about this because it is in the Bible. Not because the lead pastor happens to like it or an associate pastor has a cousin who's a missionary. It's a conviction and a passion the leadership sees as biblical, not optional.
Dale Van DykePreaching anchors it and inspires it. It anchors it because we can point to what Jesus said and what the word says, so it's not the pastor's hobby or something the elders thought would be nice; it's what Christ commands. And it inspires it. We heard in one session: how do you get people to grow and fight for obedience? Show them the glory of Jesus. How do you inspire people to make sacrificial choices they otherwise wouldn't? With the beauty and glory of Jesus and his cause.
Brad BuserIt's almost impossible to create a missions culture if the senior pastor isn't voicing it and bought in. But honestly, the high school and college pastors are just as important. If they're threatened by missions (“I didn't do it, so how can I encourage you to?”), you'll rarely see anyone get past them.
Caring for those we send
ModeratorHow do we build better relationships with our missionaries, whether they're just starting your church's process or already on the field? They can feel a million miles away.
Mark DeverTime with them here, and time with them there. Those are different, and both are important.
Eric BurnsA ton of communication, especially in the little things. They left your church under one set of circumstances, but staff and culture change. We have a couple in Tajikistan who were there during COVID, and our church looked different afterward; we kept them informed so they wouldn't feel alienated coming back. When they're home on furlough we put them to work: small groups, youth, children's ministry, the older ladies' ministry (officially called “Heart to Heart”). And in membership classes, as Chad mentioned yesterday, we go through what we believe about missions and introduce our missionaries: here's a couple, here's where they are, pray for them. We pray for them at members' meetings, and when they're home we arrange smaller settings, even between services, so people can ask questions. You go out of your way so they feel connected, and the church stays connected to them.
Brad BuserBefore a missionary goes, during vetting, the church really needs to know the person's character. Churches are often ambivalent about the people they send to Radius because he's not the apostle Paul and she's not the Virgin Mary. You won't find those candidates; they're gone. Know your people, warts and all. Do they have potential? Then vet them; we vet them at Radius too. But I'll say this: some of the member care happening now is actually harmful. For their first couple of years on the field, missionaries should get good and lonely. It drives them into the fabric of the people they're going to. Too much Skyping with a caring church or with mom and dad, and they never really become part of the people. If things go south, they can send up a flare.
Mark DeverWait, I want to make sure I learn from Brad how to be unloving enough. Showing care by not calling isn't everyone's first instinct. So do we need to teach people before they go: “You're going to notice a distinct apparent lack of concern. It's part of our amazing strategy of concern. In fact, anything you don't like about what we're doing is part of our strategy”? How much of that do we need?
Brad BuserYes, of course. When students come to Radius their parents are not in contact with them; no phone calls. We prepare the parents too for the loneliness that will help their son or daughter. The language-learning years are so brutal, and if you're distracted by a Skype call with Grandma, it shows.
Mark DeverI'm not disagreeing; it sounds like hard-won wisdom. As a pastor I'm trying to understand real life. If I agree with you 100 percent, do I need to tell people this deliberately before they go, to prepare them?
Eric BurnsYes. We had to. Their training told them it was some of the most important training they'd get, because if they can't do this, they can't stay in the country and get to the second language. And you feel really guilty: I should be checking on them, but Brad's voice in my head says don't. When they come home you're apologizing, and they say, “No, we're doing great. We were trained for this.” When they get their certification in adult-level language, the guilt goes away.
Mark DeverThat alone makes the price of the conference worth it. If we change our church's missions strategy because of one comment Brad made on an afternoon panel, we may have more people staying on the field. Brad's talented.
Brad BuserWhen pastors come to Radius days (usually forty or fifty of them) this is one thing we tell them: we're training your students not to Skype all the time, so please back us up. A pastor's heart says, “Let me get you a car,” and we're telling students, “Don't buy a car; use public transportation.” So many counterintuitive things help you get into the fabric of the people, and if they miss that in their first year, they'll probably never really acclimate.
ModeratorWe have so many rich missionary biographies showing what it looks like to really learn the culture and the language, and reading them beforehand helps.
Mark DeverYou couldn't Skype with William Carey, or take a weekend flight to see Adoniram Judson. That kind of self-discipline is hugely helpful.
Brad BuserWe saw it on the field. We had no options either (we're not Judson, but the technology didn't exist). When it arrived, we saw people who never fully made the transition into the fabric of the people, and we didn't see it clearly enough to say, “Don't talk to San Antonio every week.” The emotional ties back home become so vivid, because the people around you are so different and, at first, so unsatisfying, and the friendships are right there on your device.
Fourth-lane missions in the local church
ModeratorHow have your churches gotten involved in fourth-lane missions? What have the challenges been, and how have you been encouraged?
Dale Van DykeWe're just getting our toe in the water. Our denomination hasn't really done fourth-lane ministry, so the category didn't exist for us. A couple of years ago I got to know Radius, and Paige Vanderwey has been hugely helpful in leading us. It's a whole new world. Every Sunday evening we pray for missionaries, our denominational ones, and now we put an unreached language group on the screen each week: photos, where they live, a map, who they are. In that small way we're starting to create a category in people's minds: there's a whole world of people who don't have a Bible, maybe not even a written language, who have never heard the name of Jesus.
Eric BurnsFor us it was really hard. When I became lead pastor we had something like thirty “missionary units,” and we were giving money to people making cookies in Iowa and running basketball camps in Colorado. I'd been a high school pastor and didn't know any of this. Then a mobilizer came, dropped a grenade and left, and I had to pick up the pieces: “You want us to do what, and go where, and why? What's wrong with what we're doing?” Over time we categorized things. Brad came and spoke and people flinched less; Brooks came and they flinched less still. The key for us was not demonizing what had been done, but saying: here is something Scripture shows us that we're not doing, and we want to start. Then God gave us a couple who wanted to go, and the church got to take part from the beginning. They've finished language acquisition and we're now praying and researching toward a people group. It was hard at first because it came across like a rival competition, which was never our intent. Once we got through that, it became amazing. People show up when they're home and want to hear about their progress. It's part of the culture now.
Mark DeverLike Dale, I had taught very little on fourth-lane missions, apart from a comment when preaching Romans 10 or the Great Commission. Interacting with Brooks, especially his 9Marks article two years ago laying out fourth-lane missions as a category, I realized that in preaching through the Bible I had not emphasized it; I'd probably never preached a single sermon on it. I don't think I should teach the church to ignore other kinds of missions. But our church hadn't done anything like it since members went out with Wycliffe from the 1970s to the 90s, and they've been off the field since the 90s. So as pastor I feel it's incumbent on me to teach clearly this implication of Romans 10 and Romans 15, and we've tried to do that.
Brad BuserIn our church I walked into a situation with a youth pastor who wasn't especially missiologically sound; he just had a lot of young, healthy people who could go to hard places, so that's where he pushed. The theology of missions has grown up around our church since then, and it's a very different program now. But when a church regularly sees translations dedicated overseas and people commissioned to go long-term, it energizes the church. We have a bookcase at the back of our church with twelve translations done by kids from that youth group who served long-term, and we have many families overseas now, all in fourth-lane missions. We're dedicated to it because so many churches don't think about it. “Missions” is a big umbrella with a lot of good under it, and most of that is valid ministry that we support too. But missions, for us, is taking the gospel where, as Paul says, no one has laid a foundation.
Reforming a church's missions
ModeratorWhat I hear you saying pastorally is that building a missions culture takes patience. The temptation is to leave a conference like this fired up and try to make it happen immediately, and you're modeling the opposite: taking your time, because it's worth building.
ModeratorMark, what are the pastoral landmines as you help a church reform its missions, especially a historic church supporting missionaries the elders now believe should be released? How do you make those decisions without unnecessarily compromising important biblical commitments?
Mark DeverJason, as best I can tell, the answer was in your question: it's difficult, you go case by case, you explain, you're patient. I agree.
Mark DeverI went to a Southern Baptist church where the average age was probably eighty, about 130 people, most of whom had joined during World War II or earlier; I'm not exaggerating. They supported much younger missionaries who'd come on between the 1940s and 70s, and this was the mid-90s. Some had done good work, some hadn't, some currently weren't, and all three kinds you'd want to move on. There were very few we wanted to keep supporting. I took a year or two to figure that out, praying and quietly noting: not that one. I began using a phrase to get people's attention: “We need to support fewer missionaries, to the glory of God.” Instead of giving twenty couples $500 each, give three couples $30,000 each, help their time go better and hold them more accountable, and network with their other supporting churches so that if they have needs, we'll handle it on the U.S. side, or they're not worth supporting. I tried to move the missions committee, and then the congregation, toward high-value missions.
Mark DeverWhat undermined it was the missions-Sunday practice of dressing in national costumes with a flag for every country, and the map in the entryway, where covering more countries makes you think you're doing a better job, when actually the number of countries tells me you're doing a terrible job. The Great Commission will never get done that way. So I got rid of the map, which, it turned out, one older woman had just paid for, and the flags, which she had also paid for. So I showed real pastoral wisdom at the beginning. Some of what I did you shouldn't do. But the issues were the right ones to be thinking about.
Beyond Sunday
ModeratorDale, outside Sunday worship, how should churches encourage a heart for missions?
Dale Van DykeWe're just starting, but it catches on quickly, and we're targeting the young ones. Steve Vanderwey teaches our fifth-grade catechism class and talks to the kids about being missionaries, creating the category. In high school we help them grow in evangelism and go on short-term trips. In college we press more: you personally need to think about this. Programs like Cross are great to send young people to, and we're encouraging what we call midterm trips, not two weeks but maybe six months somewhere, so they're really exposed. We hope that bears fruit.
Dale Van DykeThe other side is how we preach and pray so that the Spirit of God wakes us up; it really does feel like waking up. J. D. Greear, in Gaining by Losing, compares evangelism and missions to birthday balloons blown up by mouth: you have an evangelism class, then a missions conference, and the balloons keep drifting back down, and you keep batting them up. How do you get helium balloons that rise on their own? Fill them with the glory of Jesus Christ and the love of Christ for the nations, and they'll lift by themselves. So we're trying to pray that in, because I don't think there's any other way than the Spirit moving people's hearts until they say, “I want to go.” Practical teaching, yes, but above all a church praying deliberately for the Spirit of Christ to wake us up to the glory of Jesus and the power of the gospel. That's where the fruit will come from.
Send your best
ModeratorBrad, what does it mean to send your best? What kind of people should churches plan to send to the field, and why?
Brad BuserWhen I read that question two weeks ago, I thought, I would never have qualified as our church's best. We had no missions committee, just a vibrant youth pastor. About forty of us young guys went into missionary training over two years to learn the Scriptures, with lots of washouts, all on our own nickel; the church wasn't supporting us at all. We have a highly developed missions program now. God is sovereign. But missions committees are so critical. Please don't take this personally, but I've been to many churches, and when older retired missionaries lead the missions committee, it's often a recipe for disaster. They love the Lord, but they frequently bring in outdated methods. If they aren't willing to read about what's happening in missions today, they shouldn't be on the committee. You want people that twenty- and thirty-somethings can talk to without crossing a Grand Canyon of a generation gap, and not just people with lots of time on their hands. Your committee should have a dynamic that attracts the kind of people you want to send. (I was missions chairman for years, but I'm too old now. We have a great committee and a great missions pastor; I just steal from them.)
Eric BurnsI've heard you say, Brad: if you wouldn't want them as a greeter at your church, why would you send them as a missionary to someone else's?
Brad BuserIf they're odd in your church, they'll be odd overseas. We vet for that specifically. When something in a student's answers looks off, we call the pastor: “Is he odd?” They usually won't say so outright, but you find out.
Mark DeverIf you're feeling really discouraged right now because you're pretty odd, the pastorate is open to you.
What hinders a missions culture
ModeratorEric, what characteristics in an individual or a church hinder the growth of a missions culture?
Eric BurnsA big one is lack of clarity, and we were very guilty of it. When you say, “We care about unreached language groups and want to go,” people say, “Why? We already do missions.” It doesn't help when your parking lot sign says, “Now entering your mission field,” so people sharing the gospel at Starbucks think they're missionaries and ask why anyone needs to go to the jungle. So you define terms. Going to Uganda to support a local pastor who doesn't need to be American but needs financial help and people: that's a church helping a church, lane one. Helping an orphanage: that's mercy ministry, pure religion according to James, caring for orphans and widows, but it isn't missions. Once you bring clarity, the competition stops. When you say it's expensive to send and support someone for twenty years, you're not saying stop doing the other things; we do care about the homeless in our city. But looking at the whole pie, a piece was missing, and we want to add it. Clarity also means you don't feel you're fulfilling the Great Commission by going to Starbucks; that's being a Christian, and Christians evangelize. That's different from going to an unreached language group. With that clarity, people say, “Oh, we don't do that,” and it's no longer competition. It's doing all that Jesus commanded, and he commanded us to go to the nations.
Dale Van DykeOn clarity: again, Paige Vanderwey has helped us enormously. We now have a twenty-three-page document defining terms and laying out the process, the roadmap, so we can sit down with anyone thinking about missions and walk them through it. Clarity is critical.
Mark DeverHere are two sermons I'd encourage your missions committee and elders to read, both by Jonathan Edwards. The first is “The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners.” Our world erodes the legitimacy of the Christian gospel by eroding what we say the problem is, and I want those in my church who lead against the world's metanarrative to have thought that through well. The second is “The Eternity of Hell Torments,” on the nature of hell, because more and more people in our churches quietly assume that the beginning of The Pilgrim's Progress isn't “Flee from the wrath to come; leave the City of Destruction,” but “There's some better real estate over here; your life could be better with Christ.” That's not the New Testament gospel at all. It isn't an analysis of the sinner's situation without Christ. We need to be unsparingly biblical in an age opposed to that. And if you read either sermon and don't like it, I'd encourage you to talk to your pastor about whether you're a Christian. I'm not joking.
Questions from the floor
ModeratorWe promised you could ask questions, so line up at the mic. For everyone's sake: one question, no follow-ups (with a little slack here and there).
I'm Ricky from Church at Lake Park in Charleston, South Carolina, a plant of First Baptist Church of Mount Pleasant, and I'm preparing for the field. People are being swept into hell every day. As a missionary, how do I yield more and more to the Spirit, sexually, financially and doctrinally?
Mark DeverWhat I hear you asking is how to grow as a Christian. Be a member of a local church where the word is well preached, where there's a culture of love and discipling, and where you have some evidence that you're a Christian, confirmed by that congregation. It's natural for them to help people grow in Christ. You grow in Christ, and you keep following him. It may not have been a satisfying answer, but I'm pretty sure it's an excellent one, for that question.
I'm Caleb, youth minister at Faith Baptist Church in Wichita Falls. You've talked about building a missions culture from the top down. How does it work the other way? How can a staff member influence a senior pastor or elders who see missions as one of many important ministries but not all-encompassing?
Eric BurnsThat's tough. I call it leading from the back of the bus. From the back of the bus you don't speak authoritatively; you offer ideas and ask questions: “I was at a conference where they talked about fourth-lane missions. It seems very biblical. What do you think?” You keep planting seeds to lessen resistance to change. It's fine to say, “My heart's desire is that we'd do this.” Be humble and gracious. Don't expect everyone to start thinking like you because you heard Mark Dever's sermon and it changed your life; they weren't there. Be patient, be humble, don't give up. But at some point, if the leadership won't do it, you may have to ask whether you want to remain part of that church.
Mark DeverIf you're not the senior pastor and you act like that, you're getting off my bus. What I want is what Eric was encouraging: come and talk to me directly, honestly and transparently. Don't plan around me. If you're working around something I don't think is a good idea, you're opposing the charge I understand I have from the Lord. So the first step is to go honestly to the senior pastor and say, “I love all this. I think this is missing, and I think we should do it. I don't know how, and I'm happy to be led by you. But do you see this?” And if the answer is no, then, nicely, I'd be out of there.
I'm Bibi, a missionary from South Asia. The gospel unites believers from every tribe, tongue and nation. How can our missions culture reflect that, and how can pastors examine whether their priorities are shaped more by cultural familiarity and personal relationships than by the Bible's call to care for the global body of Christ? When missionaries share in churches, the churches often don't respond to the needs of the global body.
Brad BuserMissionaries speak in churches all the time, maybe less than thirty years ago. But whether a church gets behind it starts with the pastor. If there isn't already a heart for this, one message from a visiting missionary won't do much unless there's some catalyst, hopefully not in opposition to the pastor, that he can join. It may be that the senior pastor simply hasn't thought about it; God's heart for the nations and the need to get the gospel to every tongue, tribe and nation isn't part of many pastors' training. You may be the voice that wakes them up, or you may not.
Mark DeverOn our churches' involvement, we have to understand how unimportant our church is. The Lord God will get his gospel out even if you don't help. You're giving them an opportunity to be involved, but God is in no way hostage to their obedience. So never come across as a poor beggar with a cup out asking for a penny. When we talk about missions we are declaring, as Kevin did so marvelously today from Revelation, what God is doing. The Great Commission is not just a command; it's a promise. So watch your tone. We're not saying, “Oh all-powerful American congregation, you get to decide whether the Great Commission will be fulfilled.” They can't.
I'm a missionary in Nigeria, and my first two years on the field were really hard, so I'm a little sensitive to the comments about limiting communication. What's the biblical precedent, either for less communication with missionaries or for more? We can talk all day about opinions, but what does Scripture say?
Brad BuserI won't claim biblical authority for it; I've just seen it overseas. Unless missionaries are prepared before they go to become fully part of the fabric of the people, trying to develop that capacity once they're on the field is, I'm sorry to say, a ship that has sailed. That's why training matters so much, along with understanding what it takes to learn the first language to excellence and then the second. It's non-negotiable. If you're fuzzy on that and Skyping home, you'll get your emotional needs met from back home, and it will show in your language and your relationships. The only biblical example I'd point to is Paul and Barnabas going out. It is abnormal for Christians to be without body life around them; we hear that objection all the time as instructors, and it's true: body life is everywhere in Scripture. But pioneer missionaries go into an abnormal situation and will have a hiatus from it for a while. The pressures on a pioneer missionary and his family are unique, and without preparation for that, you won't function. People don't back-door into pioneer work.
Eric BurnsHere's a practical answer, which isn't what you asked. We inherited one couple who were very active online, arguing about social justice and presidential elections, and our supporters wondered, “Aren't they in another country? Why are they here?” It took them far longer to learn the first language than the couple we sent later, whom we told, “We love you, and the best thing you can do is immerse yourselves: learn to buy groceries, ask for help, ask for directions.” We eventually had to stop supporting the first couple, because after seven years they still didn't have adult fluency. That may sound cold, but it takes adult-level language to share your testimony, explain justification and sanctification, and walk people through marriage, divorce, abortion and other moral questions. Ministering with a fifth-grade grasp of the language, with one foot in American culture and one in the other, is very hard. Hearing Brad and Brooks explained why that had failed. With the second couple our hearts were the same: we absolutely love you, but you have to suffer through and get that first language. Once they did, it was beautiful, and neither of us regrets it.
Mark DeverWhen the New Testament tells husbands to live with their wives in an understanding way, it doesn't spell out the specifics. The idea that if prudence isn't spelled out it isn't biblical is a pernicious idea that leads to heresies. The Westminster Confession, chapter 1, paragraph 6, speaks of matters ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence. Prudence is a legitimate and significant part of rightly preserving and understanding the authority of Scripture.
I'm Zach Simmons from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Northwest Arkansas, here on behalf of our session. We've been particularized for about ten years and are trying to start a missions committee and think through a missions philosophy. What guidance would you give a church beginning missions work?
Brad BuserThere's a man two rows behind you, Nathan (wave your hand). Talk to him. The policies our church has developed are gleaned from many decades in missions; they'll give you a tremendous amount of help and save you a lot of time.
I'm Sam from Pillar Baptist Church in the San Francisco Bay Area; I help with our college ministry at UC Berkeley and with youth. Brad's story of twelve Bible translations from one youth group was kind of insane. How do you encourage young people to think about missions, and about giving their lives to the Great Commission, without sensationalizing it?
Mark DeverAs another pastor, I think it's insane too. It's amazing how the Lord has used that one local church again and again. Praise the Lord for his work through Clairemont Emmanuel Baptist Church.
Brad BuserI appreciated Ian talking yesterday about Thomas Chalmers and duty. Our youth pastor was from the World War II generation; my dad enlisted in the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. I was raised on duty. And that youth pastor hammered us with the Great Commission: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, Acts 1. I hated it. But he backed me into a corner until I tapped out: okay, I'll do it. I was a young man; the high and lofty wasn't going to catch my ear, but duty to my Savior did, and I had no good reason not to go except that I was afraid and didn't want to. I loved San Diego, surfing, the beach; there wasn't a bone in my body that wanted to leave. But he made us tap out with the word of God he preached to us. So don't be afraid. Reach young people where they are. If “All authority has been given to me; therefore go and make disciples of all nations” doesn't make every one of us feel a little guilty… Even when we came off the field at forty-four, we asked, “Are we really done?” I learned later that our youth pastor said the hardest step in missions is the first one: “This is the life I planned, and this is the life I'm now going to have.” You have no answers, just the big unknown. It's a huge decision. But oh, the joy, fulfillment and satisfaction of having made it.
I'm from Philadelphia, at The Master's Church of Bucks County. For over ten years I've had a strong desire for missions, but in fifteen years as a Christian I haven't seen churches build the kind of culture you describe. My church is small; I'm a woman who longs to be sent from my local church, and my pastor is open to talking. As a member and supporter, how can I communicate that, prepare to be someone worth sending, and help cultivate this culture until then?
Mark DeverYou can build a bullet or build a gun; both are good, but they're different. You can decide you're the bullet: find a church that will load you, get you ready and send you out. Or you can build a gun: say, “This church isn't doing this well, but I'll stay and commit at least the next decade to helping it become a church that sends the right people out.” Both are really good things for a Christian to do, and very different. I'd encourage you to choose one.
Brad BuserI'll disagree with Mark a little. I meet people all the time in their forties and fifties whose time for a pioneer situation is pretty much past; we don't even take students once they hit forty. We're not trying to send everyone overseas. Where do you fit best, given your season of life, age, skills and church? Is it a sending church or not? Leverage what you have for the Great Commission, and talk to someone on staff: “What can I do to help, or to kick-start our missions effort?”
I'm John from First Baptist Church of Walterboro, South Carolina, involved in missions since the 90s. You all seem to have consistent leadership on missions, through staff or teams. But of nearly a thousand Baptist churches in our state, fewer than half have even a part-time youth minister, let alone a full-time missions position. We can't expect the pastor to do it all; that sets pastors up to fall. How can lay people help their pastors give missions consistent focus without a full-time staff member?
Dale Van DykeLet me tell you what worked for me. I've been a pastor a long time, and we have a healthy church, but this was an area I simply wasn't awake to. What helped was when someone in our church invited me to visit Radius. It was like the first time I went snorkeling in the Pacific: my wife was on the beach, I put my head underwater, and there was a big blue fish staring me in the face. I'd never seen anything like it. I popped up and said, “You've got to see this!” Visiting Radius opened up a whole world of people engaged in a field I had no experience of, and I wanted to learn about it. So invite your pastor to conferences like this, or to visit Radius. Anything that helps him see there's a whole conversation going on out there could light a fire. It did for me.
ModeratorWe have about five minutes left, so my apologies to those who won't get to ask.
I'm Evan from Pathway Church in Redlands, California. I see the biblical mandate for missions clearly, and the need among unreached peoples, and I have a desire, even an eagerness, to go overseas, which my pastors have affirmed. But I'm also burdened by how few pastors today preach missions and mobilize well, and part of me would love to preach and send others well. How do I discern which path is best for me right now?
Brad BuserBrother, if you're young and healthy and you've seen it in Scripture, there will be enough pastors to fill the pulpits. This is your time. Go plant a church first, then come back with your scars and mobilize the next generation.
I'm Trey Mayfield, a missionary in Mexico. (Mark, you said you support three missionaries at $30,000; do you need a fourth? Just kidding.) How do you develop not just a culture of giving and praying for missions, but one where people from your own church volunteer to go?
Eric BurnsThat's a tougher one. In my experience (and maybe we're just doing it badly) ten people a year tell me they want to go into missions, and we start with, “Can you be a faithful church member?” And it goes from ten to zero, and we start again. People go on trips to help churches in Uganda or Kenya and come back wanting to be missionaries. “What do I need to do?” “We'll put you to work. Volunteer with the junior high. If you can't teach junior high, we're not sending you anywhere. Be a greeter.” And often the passion fades. But that's the standard: be an effective church member first, and then we progress. There are many ways to ignite passion and give opportunities, to let people see God worshiped in another language and setting, but it always comes back to faithful membership. And the ones we've sent, our best and brightest, it hurt to send them, because they would do any job, any time, and talk to anyone. That attitude was a blessing to be around, and losing it was painful.
Mark DeverI agree, and I'd add one specific thing: start a missions reading group. That's what we do with initial expressions of interest. It meets on a Sunday afternoon once a month for a year, reading major books and good biographies that fuel missions, and talking about them. It filters and forms that early interest. We don't have a missions pastor, but a pastor leads the group, and it helps the leadership understand these sixteen or so people, their stage of life, and how we can help them.
Brad BuserWhen I was missions pastor, we gave a little toward one short-term trip, and after that we wanted them working around the church in the summers: pulling weeds, painting buildings. Don't get addicted to travel; we don't care how many stamps are in your passport. Missions is really, really boring, and we want them used to working hard. “Our church is going to support you for a long time. Work your tail off while you're here.”
ModeratorOur apologies to everyone still in line. Dale, would you close us in prayer?
Dale Van DykeHeavenly Father, you are rich in mercy, and we thank you for your compassion toward those who justly deserve eternal condemnation. We confess our sin as Christians and as churches. We've been complacent, focused on our own comfort and security, without a burden for lost people or for the glory of Jesus Christ to be made known, for men and women made in your image to sing the song of the Lamb. We want to repent, grow, be faithful and bear fruit. Thank you, Jesus, for giving the Holy Spirit to empower and awaken your church; we need him at work in our lives. Thank you for the movement we see. Be merciful to us and to the churches represented here. Give us a burden for lost people in our communities and for those who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ, and a sense of your calling on our lives and churches to be ambassadors for Christ and to do the wonderful, glorious duty of living the one life we have for his glory. We are helpless, but we are convinced that you are the missionary God who sends. So, Lord, send us, and make us faithful churches. We give you the praise, in Jesus' name, amen.