Missions on Point

This introduction to the biblical principle of the centrality of the Church and missions was actually published as Missions on Point. You can get it through Amazon.com. This is the fire in the engine and the main thrust of all of our teaching and ministry over the last 30 years. Please go back to the Missions on Point episodes and find the entire list, which this episode is just the beginning of. Please also let your friends and fellow Church leaders know that this biblical principle can change your church missions for the better in the long term. In fact, for eternity.

I love this topic. I've not found anyone else who talks about it. We've all met missions junkies. You probably have at least one in your church. They are people who love to talk about missions, love it when people pay for them to go "do" missions (but only short-term). They don't have the focus and intensity to become a long-term missionary. It's about THEIR experience, THEIR selfies, THEIR "calling" to be an encourager of missions and missionaries, but never a long-term do-er of missions. What can we do with missions junkies? Let's turn their direction into something really useful for the church.

Business As Missions (BAM) has been the darling and the bane of attempts to reach "closed" countries with the Gospel. As Greg Livingstone has said, "You are either a job taker, a job maker, or a job faker." Most BAM out in the wild is job faking. While there is good work to be done by sincere Christians creating God-honoring businesses, they are rarely aimed at the end goal of establishing and strengthening indigenous local churches. However, we all need to understand BAM to interact with it. We've got more in Missions on Point and Propempo.com on BAM.

Imagine you had to train someone from your church to become your associate pastor. Then add layers of training in church planting, cross-cultural exposure, leadership training, and becoming an elder. There you have it, in a simple form; that's how you train a church member to become a missionary. This episode will guide your thinking. Look for lots more on Propempo.com, SendForward.org, and the Missions on Point episodes' history.

This episode, featuring The Best of Missions on Point, looks at episode 79. The "Missiology You Need to Know" series continues with The Missionary Must Reproduce Himself. This seems as obvious as the nose on your face. However, missionaries tend to copy the forms of the churches in which they grew up and don't learn because of the absence of emphasizing this in ministry training schools. This principle is essential for achieving the desired result of indigenous local churches. BTW, a church plant is not indigenous if the missionary is the lead pastor. The fact that this principle is so little or poorly practiced is damning to our Western missiology.

The "Best of" series is one of my favorites. It deals with subjects that are almost never admitted to or discussed in public. The angst that those "left behind" by their missionary family member or good friend rivals the angst caused by them toward their dear one. Those feelings of loss or abandonment are real. Shortsighted, damaging perhaps, but real to the "sufferer." So, those around them need to step in with loving care, counseling, sympathy, and correction, pointing them to the Lord and His purposes.

Churches, including the missions ministries, tend to evaluate themselves based on metrics from previous years. The same metrics, without reference to an external objective benchmark. Sound familiar? The Church Missions Profile is your ticket to clearer standards. Visit SendForward.org and click on the Church Missions Profile link to learn more. The episode replays and overview of the first three categories (out of 12) in the CMP: church leaders, missions team, and indvidual participation.

This is a grand series from the best of Missions on Point. It begins a series on discovering missions through the Bible. This first episode in that series is the glory of God. What could be higher and grander and more noble than that? This episode begins to explore the biblical content, showing how it's easy to see, if you have eyes to see it, the great missions themes throughout the whole Bible. The glory of God is the pinnacle, but many other episodes follow in the Missions on Point history. A very interesting reference in this episode is the story of how John Piper from Bethlehem Baptist Church became aware of and turned to the story of the glory of God in missions in the Bible. A more detailed version of this story is on Propempo.com. Enjoy!

The "Best of" episode features the first of a short series on the most fundamental truths of missions from the Bible for today. This episode works through an overview of key Scriptures that establish the basis for the centrality of the local church in God's purposes. The local church is NOT the universal church. The universal church does not have the same call, commission, or consequence in God's plan for our day. This truth is so significant that it has the power to change our minds and actions, transforming our local churches and their missions to align more closely with God's. Listen well. Find more articles and resources on Propempo.com and the Missions on Point podcast. Tell your friends and church leaders!

Starting with validating the individual missionary candidate's missionary call through hands-on oversight and observation, the church equips him or her to be sent. Character, convictions, and proven competencies to do the work of a missionary are worked out in the laboratory of local church ministry. The local church helps identify the field, the missions agency partner, and other supporting churches and individuals. The local church leads in shepherding the missionary in every aspect of their life and ministry on the field. The church also helps re-entry and reintegration to life "back home" when the missionary returns from the field. Seven characteristics of a good sending church conclude this episode.

This is a truth that has long been missing in our Western missions mindset. Everyone has been so busy and so hyped on evangelism and humanitarian issues that the heart of the biblical goal of missions has been overlooked. It is right there in Scripture for those who seriously care about what the Bible has to say, without truncating or embellishing it for their own purposes. The interpretation and application are clear to the clear-minded! Have a listen to this "best of" episode.

Celebrating five years of the Missions on Point podcast prompts us to reflect on "the best of Missions on Point." This episode marks the first in a series that revisits and replays podcasts featuring key concepts for Propempo International and the biblical, local-church-centered missions philosophy. This first one is an explanation of the biblical word, from Greek, "propempo." It demonstrates how the biblical concept of the local church qualifying and sending missionaries evolved throughout the first century to become the standard, even today.