MISSION STRATEGY
Suppose you enter a country of ten million people where the church is not established. You have accepted the challenge of making disciples by taking the Gospel to all. What is your reaction? Are you fearful, overwhelmed, or confused? Where do you start? What will you do? Is it possible? What is your vision/plan? How does God fit into all of this?
The first decision is to seek the decision, revelation, vision, plan, purpose, and will of God. Without debate, God is not willing that any should perish. We adopt His will. He sent Jesus to die on the cross to rescue the perishing. Jesus states clearly in the Great Commission to take the Gospel to all, Mark 16:15,16. So the vision is clear. We do not have to generate a vision. It has already been given to us. Then, He promised to provide for all our needs, Phil. 4:19. God promised to give us power to accomplish our greatest dreams, Ephesians 3:20,21. Jesus said all things are possible to them that believe, Mark 9:23. We must believe that God wants us to take the Gospel to all, and we must believe that we can do it with God. Remember that God did not give us a spirit of fearfulness, but of power and love and discipline, (I Timothy 1:7). So the starting point is the vision, not the method.
It is imperative to understand that the method must be able to accomplish the vision/goal. Should we trust our ways or God’s ways? To ask is to answer. In the first century, the goal was accomplished, Col. 1:23. Wow! Amazing! They did it without building church buildings for the new churches, without sending support for local preachers in the mis-sion church, or anything to cause dependence on the sending church. It worked well and is worthy of duplication. With-out doubt, the Book of Acts is our history book and example to take the Gospel to all. Multiplying the number of disciples is a given and a must! See examples in Acts 2:41; 4:32; 5:14; 5:28; 6:7, etc. (multiplying exceedingly). Just adding a few here and there cannot meet God’s expectations or ours. Our method must demand multiplication. Should we expect less? God wants it to happen.
Since faith still comes by hearing the word (Romans 10:17), we must teach the word to the multitudes. But how? Paul explains to Timothy the secret in II Timothy 2:2. Don’t worry; it’s simple. Timothy was told to do what he had seen Paul do; that is, to teach others to teach others, etc. For example, in the first year one disciple teaches 3 others to teach others = 4 teachers. In the second year, the four each teach 3 more (12 new teachers) 4 + 12 = 16 teachers. Third year -- the sixteen each teach 3 more to teach the Gospel = 64 teachers (16 + 48). Fourth year--256. Fifth year--1,024. Sixth year--4,096. Seventh--16,384. It is simple, biblical, effective, and practical. It can be done anywhere in the world, even in the USA. All work is mission work.
For sure we do not expect a perfect pyramid, but if we get a 10% result, it will be awesome. Remember this only represents ONE graduate. Already, by God’s grace, we have reached thousandsCome, let us reason together. God’s mission demands it. See if the following makes good sense to you. Let’s look at some numbers as we compare two different approaches: (1) Traditional (2) Another way.
Suppose the local church wants to commit $70,000 a year for 12 years to teach the lost in a certain area. The traditional way would be to send a family from the USA to another country. Typically, culture and language study would be involved. Often private school for the children would be a need. Generally furniture and vehicles are shipped. Every year or two a trip to the USA would be customary for reporting and family visits. Surely the missions people of the church would visit the field, etc. If they convert 20 a year, at the end of 12 years you would have a church of 240 people. Perhaps the USA brethren spend an additional $100,000 for a building. Maybe a local person is put on USA support for years. Dependency kills! Often there is a leadership vacuum when the missionary returns to the USA. With the addition of 20 per year for 40 more years, the church will have 1,040 members in a total of 52 years. Not bad—not excellent.
Let’s look at another way. Let’s use the $70,000 differently. Let’s invest in building men who will be lifetime self-supported (not dependent) missionaries in their own culture. Suppose you support 15 students in BICA, a two-year school. If seven are graduated yearly, then in 12 years (10 graduating classes) 70 will have graduated. Since most are young, we project 40 years of service. Forty years times seventy graduates equals 2800 years of service. (That’s like one man working from the time of Christ until now, with 800 more years to work.) It is clear; for the same investment you get 2,800 years compared to 12. We estimate that they will baptize about 20 per year per graduate. Twenty per year times 2,800 years equals 56,000 baptisms. WOW! However, this is just a drop in the bucket when you consider the II Timothy 2:2 effect—teaching others to teach others. If they only teach one to teach one every year, there will be 2,800 teachers of the lost. The result is multiplication. The 70 will start many new churches. What do you think? What do you dream—70, 200, 500 new churches? Suppose 30 churches take up the challenge to support BICA with $70,000 per year ($70,000—that’s 14 students). The 56,000 baptisms times 30 equals 1,680,000 saved, not counting the tremendous II Timothy 2:2 effect. You see it. I know you do. As you work with BICA, your joy will be immeasurable. Together, you, BICA, and God will make it happen. All of our mission eggs are not in one basket.
While in the Biblical Institute of Central America for two years, the student becomes an excellent evangelist. Without passion for the vision, our work is in vain. Jesus displayed compassion for the people, Matthew 9:35-38. You can teach your lips off, but without passion nothing happens. The student will have studied every book of the Bible, evangelism, the church, homiletics, etc. The school is steady, hard, practical work. (We work seven days per week.) Monday—Friday is classroom work. Often at night, they teach the lost. On weekends, the students work with congregations to teach the lost and teach the members to teach the lost. Ten weeks per year they are on a week-long evangelistic campaign. In 2009, the students started 21 house churches. Drop them from a plane with a Bible and a parachute, and they will have a church meeting in two weeks. While in school, they will have had 600-700 Bible studies with the lost. They get some vocational help, sometimes in the form of tools of their trade. Others get schooling, while still others get material assistance.
Many people on missions committees are ready to bear witness to this work. Simply request references, and they will be supplied. Contact me, George Hall, Executive Director, at gwhall43@gmail.com. We seek your fellowship in this work.
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