For at least 10 years, I have been writing about the changing role of the U.S. church in missions. Dan Bouchelle, president of Missions Resource Network, echoed this reality in a summer 2012 newsletter, “…we have been convinced for some time that the era of American dominance of global kingdom work is drawing down, and it is time for the American church to reposition itself in global missions.”
The reality is this: it is quite unlikely that U.S. churches will continue to fund mission work at the levels seen during the last half-century of intense mission work. A partial list of some of the factors at work includes at least the following: (1) U.S. economic realities suggest that future generations might not be as well off financially as recent past generations, (2) future generations will have less ability and less willingness than recent past generations to fund missions at current levels, (3) increasing global equalization of wealth and lessened U.S. influence, (4) an inward turn in many U.S. churches so that money is spent “strengthening the base” rather than for missions, and (5) the development and maturing of mission churches in other parts of our world. This is not a new reality–this is a reality that has been developing for at least the last two decades, a reality that has been recognized in many religious groups since at least the 1990s.
In the face of this new reality, it is time to rethink how we do mission work. Is the day of sending missionary teams or individual missionaries over? Certainly some teams will continue to go forth, but sending a team of five U.S. families to a foreign mission field can easily cost up to $250,000 per year. With an initial year of training, preparation, and language school, plus transition costs both for going and returning, it is not difficult to invest $1,000,000 in a 4-5 year program, which may or may not result in a mature indigenous church when the missionaries withdraw. The cost of training and sending indigenous teams trained at schools in Africa or Latin America is less, but it is still easy to invest $500,000 in a 5-7 year missions effort, not counting the training costs which are usually paid by someone else.
The new reality is this. There are churches all over Latin America with mature, godly leaders who understand far more about how to evangelize their part of the world than do we in the United States. There are ministers, evangelists, and missionaries across Latin America with hearts set on the things of the kingdom, willing to serve for almost nothing in terms of this world’s goods. Our task is to mentor, support, encourage, teach, train, model, and strengthen.
This is the the work Jan and I have been developing for about 15 years, a work we eventually called “Esperanza Eterna.” Believing that “Christ is the hope of the world,” we have tried to understand how we can assist local churches and local Christians in accomplishing the work God is placing before them. Early on, much time was spent in research and study, and the research continues. What works? What doesn’t work? Why have some churches succeeded? Why have some churches failed to grow? What is the role of local, indigenous leaders? What factors help a church to become self-sustaining? What factors cause a church to become self-duplicating? We continue this work through the Main and Oklahoma congregation in McAlester, Oklahoma, with the financial support of various congregations and individuals.
This is also how I understand the work at Baxter Institute in Tegucigalpa, Honduras where I have served on the board of directors for almost 10 years. The results are evident in the ministries and work of multiplied graduates who go forth to train others for the work of the kingdom.
More recently, I have partnered with Roberto Miranda in EVO (Educacion Vocacional para Obreros, Vocational Education for Workers) because this is also the goal of that work, overseen by the Memorial church in Houston.
Finally, this is my motivation for my involvement with Quest for Truth to develop a Spanish version of basic Bible studies that can be used to share the gospel message. Both in the U.S. and in other nations, it is essential in the growth of the kingdom that every Christian become involved in evangelism. The church cannot mature and grow as long as evangelism remains the task of the few missionaries or ministers who may be present in the local church. The Bible study series, En Pos de la Verdad, is designed to provide a tool to encourage more Christians to share the gospel.
The role of the U.S. churches is to mentor, encourage, train and teach, model, and mature. The role of the U.S. churches is to send mature Christians who can assist the local church in the development of teachers and leaders, maturing the local congregation. This is very much like the New Testament model when Paul and others returned again and again to the churches they had established. In my case, the only need is for travel funds (which often includes helping local Christians travel to take advantage of the teaching and training).
The result of these efforts is that more and more churches have elders, that the churches become self-sustaining and develop the ability to reach out more effectively, and that the churches become self-duplicating. Continuing regular visits help the church become self-teaching as leaders develop the ability to apply the gospel in their own cultural context. This is the power of the gospel; this is the confidence we must have in the gospel.
[In future articles, I will share success stories that demonstrate how this changing role of the U.S. churches is already at work in advancing the work of the local churches.]