Mar 20, 2019
By Bethany Crandall
At first it seemed a little counterintuitive; to not just mention, but to spend generous amounts of time on the local church at a missions conference geared towards sending young people out into the world. But as the mentions of the local church grew in number and culminated in a sermon by Trip Lee, I realized that in my love, research, and experience with missions I had fundamentally skimmed over its key: the church. Over the course of the CROSS Conference, a young-adult missions conference that a group from Milton SDB attended in January, the Lord began to correct and refine my love for the local church and its role in the global mission. The church is not only important in spreading the gospel, but is inextricably connected to missions.
The church is not as popular today as it once was. Too often members walk away from their church bodies, not to walk away from the Lord, but due to division within the church. College students never find a home church, families hop churches every couple of months, members attend churches for years and never fully invest their time or talents. Music taste, relational disputes between members, and minor theological disagreements create division and lead to half-hearted service or giving up all together. Our churches are made up of broken people, and broken people coming together, even redeemed broken people, can be messy. But the body of Christ builds itself up together.
Ephesians 4: 13-16: “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
However messy, often difficult, and mundane the local church can be, she is the bride that Christ has chosen—the means given to keep us, grow us, and glorify God through us.
Since we can clearly see the importance of the local church, we must directly apply this to missions. Our goal in missions must be the establishment and growth of the church. In making disciples and discipling believers, the church must be the goal. If we are excited about going into the world to bring people to Jesus, but not excited about our local churches, then we are misinformed and misleading those to whom we preach. Likewise, if we are dedicated to the growth and vibrancy of our churches, but not concerned with bringing people to them and sending our members out, we are not fulfilling Christ’s mission for the church. The local church grows, trains, supports, and gives people to go. It is our duty as the church to teach the importance of missions. It is our duty to provide support and opportunities to members interested in global missions for whatever length of time. It is our duty to encourage the spread of the gospel in the local context as a body and as individual members.
Invest deeply in your church. Seek mentorship from older members, encourage younger members, give of your gifts and talents freely, and understand that in this you glorify God and honor Christ’s bride. Make it your mission to go out and make disciples, bringing them into the loving community of your church.