Apostolic Missiology: Part 2-What is It?

In the first post in this series, I began by raising several questions.  Keep thinking about these; we'll probably see them again.  I also noted that the main point I'm attempting to communicate in this series is:  in any context, the Church must operate from an apostolic missiology when it comes to missionary endeavors. 

For the most part, the Church in western contexts operates from what I refer to as a pastoral missiology, rather than an apostolic missiology.   The former typically develops in contexts whereby there is a mature Church that has existed over a lengthy period of time.  A pastoral missiology understands and engages the mission field from a pastoral perspective, rather than an apostolic perspective.  The pastoral perspective must be present in missional activity, but not to the exclusion or relegation of the apostolic perspective. 

And because this is a blog and not a tome, you'll have to stay tuned for my discussion of pastoral missiology. 

A Disclaimer

I have to note a few things at this point, before the nasty comments begin to fly. :)  First, I have over 13 years of pastoral experience serving churches in the U. S.  And as of three weeks ago, after having served for three years with a new church in Louisville as one of the elders, I stepped out of this position when we appointed a new elder.  So please note, I'm all for pastors, because I've been one of 'em for many years.  And I love and work with pastors on a regular basis.  So, please note, I'm not attempting to pit pastors against missionaries.   

Second, when I use the adjective "apostolic," I am not referring to a denomination or a church.  I am not referring to someone who is like The Twelve, and communicates extra-biblical revelation that is on par with the Scriptures.  And I promise I'm not going off the deep end and getting ready to start preaching on late-night television, while selling Holy Ghost annointed dish towels and Bless Jesus Holy Oil that promises you can drive your car for 200,000 miles before the next oil change. 

I'm simply using a derivative of the New Testament Greek word that I believe better communicates the New Testament truth, of the nature of those whom churches send with the message of the gospel to plant churches, than the Latin translation of mitto from which we obtain missionary, with all of its historical and contemporary connotations (But, I'll still use missionary--don't worry.).

Third, when missionaries function as pastors and pastors function as missionaries, frustration and problems arise in the Kingdom.  Why?  Simply because such blessings to the Church are functioning outside of their callings and giftings.  Missionaries and pastors are not the same creatures, only with different titles. 

Should missionaries be pastoral?  Absolutely!  Should pastors be apostolic?  Absolutely!  I think the Scriptures are clear on these matters. 

But if our missionary methods come from our missiology which comes from our theology, advocating pastors are missionaries and missionaries are pastors, then we have a problem.

What I find surprising is that as long as we are applying the aforementioned statement to non-western contexts, most Evangelicals would agree with me.  But attempt to make the application to a post-Christianized, western context, and such is not the case.   

Apostolic Missiology     

Here is a quick summary of my description of an apostolic missiology.  While contexts will differ, the Church in the western world needs to operate missionally from an apostolic missiology.

So, what it this missiology?  It is:            

• a missiology that treats societies and peoples as a mission field should be treated—lost without Jesus and in need for the rapid dissemination of the gospel resulting in the multiplication of disciples, leaders, and churches.

• a missiology that recognizes while the West has many local churches in existence some ten, twenty, fifty, or one hundred or more years in age, the structures and organizations of those churches (and denominations) took a long time to develop.

• a missiology that seeks to sow the gospel seed into the hearts of the people, with the expectation that the Holy Spirit will birth His church in His time.

• a missiology that allows for the development and application of simple, yet highly reproducible, methods that the new believers can be taught to use to preach the gospel and plant other churches. 

• a missiology that informs missionaries that once the “building” has been constructed (i.e., local body of believers), the scaffolding (i.e., church planting team) needs to come down, and be erected elsewhere to repeat the process.

• a missiology that desires to see contextualized churches, that are self-supporting, self-expressing, self-governing, self-identifying, self-teaching, self-theologizing, and self-propagating churches planted from the moment the Holy Spirit gives birth to those churches.
• a missiology that works hard to avoid falling into the trap of paternalism (i.e., new believers and new churches must depend on the church planters for everything because they can’t “do” church “right”), or the trap of pragmatism (i.e., that the goal is to get a church planted by any means that works to create the organization, rather than see the Kingdom expand).

•  a missiology that drives missionaries to reach, teach, empower, and release new churches to the power of the Lord and His Word (Acts 20:32), knowing that He is able to keep them from stumbling and to present them “blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24, ESV).
• a missiology that drives missionaries to follow after the example of the Apostle Paul who never abandoned new churches, but also made certain that the new churches were taught the whole council of God (Acts 20:27) and had their own elders (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5).

Stay tuned...