Missions and the Local Church — William Yuille

The subject then for this afternoon is the admissions on the local church and it occurred to me that probably by Thursday here there would be different expectations identified. What did you expect to get out of this session?

Let me begin by telling you my understanding of the subject as it's been given to me and what I would hope to try and cover in the next hour or so. First of all I want to deal with the question of the local church and the basic characteristics of a local church with an interest in admissions.

I guess the question I want to deal with is what kind of church is interested in admissions and I think that's important. That's question number one. Question number two is how should a local church be involved in admissions and we want to take a look at some of the things that the U .S. has to say about that.

And then the third question we'll look at is what ways and what ways can we increase the interest in admissions in our own particular local fellowship. These are the three questions that I want to try and address.

The Local Church’s Spiritual Condition and the Advance of Missions

I want to begin with this question of what kind of church is interested in admissions. That's an important question. It may not be what you expected but I think it's fundamental and so I want to begin there and refer you to a verse in 2 Corinthians 10 and in verse 15.

You really should read the paragraph in verse 12 but I just want to break in in the middle of a sentence. In 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 15 Paul says that not boasting of things beyond measure that is in other men's labors but having hope and this is what I'm interested in.

Notice what he says at the end of this verse. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 15. As your faith is increased we shall be greatly enlarged in you in our sphere to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. I found that verse extremely interesting.

Notice what he says. As your faith is increased we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. I might have expected him to say that as our faith is increased.

But he doesn't say that. He says as your faith is increased that we may be enlarged that our sphere might be enlarged to preach the gospel in other places. And you might wonder well what do the Corinthians have to do with Paul preaching the gospel in other places?

He's making a point here is he not? He's saying that only as your faith is enlarged will I have opportunity to preach the gospel in other places. Notice that he doesn't say that he's looking for money from them.

That's not the issue. He's not saying as you are more generous in your giving then I'll be able to go elsewhere. He doesn't even say that as you pray more sincerely for the work of God then I'll be able to preach the gospel in the regions beyond.

But he says as your faith is increased. In other words he is reminding them that there is a very definite relationship between their spiritual condition in the church and the advance of the gospel through his servant such as the apostle himself.

There is a very definite relationship there. And he's saying to them that only as they are established, only as they mature, only as their faith is increased will he, Paul, messenger of God, servant of the Lord Jesus, will he be able to extend his field of ministry and preach the gospel in the regions beyond.

That's a fact which makes the point that I think is fundamental and that is that there is a definite relationship between the local church at home and the work that goes on in other places. I have a quotation there in the notes that I gave you.

It's from Alex Pulling. Alex Pulling was one of the editors of Actors of Service, which is a missionary service group in England. He wrote a book called Go Ye Thither on mission-related topics. This is what he said.

There is an infinite and undefinable connection between the spiritual condition of the families at home and the progress of the missionary enterprise in distant lands. The successful application of New Testament principles of missionary service depends at every point on the spirituality and zeal of believers in the home of families.

If there is a lowering of the spiritual standard in the missionaries, if the proportion of failures is on the increase, if the enemy seems increasingly victorious, let us not blame the missionaries or regard the principles as being ineffective, but let us rather examine ourselves.

Notice the first sentence there. He says there is an infinite and undefinable connection between the spiritual condition of the families at home. He doesn't even say between the missionary interest of the families at home.

He says between the spiritual condition of the families at home and the progress of the missionary enterprise in distant lands. Similarly, in the second sentence, at the third line there, missionary service depends at every point on not the missionary interest, but the spirituality and zeal of believers in the home of families.

He is affirming in very strong and very clear language that what is going on in our assemblies at home has a bearing on what is happening on the mission field. I want to think about that a little bit further because the question is then what kind of assembly contributes to the work of God overseas?

What kind of assembly has a missionary interest? I want to begin with that in mind for the book of Acts because we often do this when we think about missions. We often go to Acts 13 because Acts 13 tells us about the sending out of Paul and Barnabas from the church of Antioch, but the story doesn't really begin there.

The story begins in chapter 11. I want us to think for a few minutes about the church of Antioch. It had a missionary interest. They sent Paul and Barnabas. What contributed to that missionary interest?

What kind of church was the church at Antioch? That, I think, is a basic question which we should consider and which we should apply to our own situation and the assemblies that we have identified with.

Let me suggest that there were five factors. Maybe you can think of others as you read the passage, but I'm going to suggest that there were five factors which contributed to what they were. The first was what I call an evangelical factor.

Evangelical Witness in the Church at Antioch

In other words, we teach the gospel. Notice Acts 11. In verse 20, some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they came to Antioch, they spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus and the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

Again, in verse 24, at the end of the verse, a great many people were added to the Lord. That's the kind of church the church of Antioch was. They preached the gospel. And they not only preached the gospel, but they preached it where people had it and where people responded to it and people were added to the church.

The issue is not simply that we be faithful in preaching the gospel. There are many assemblies that preach the gospel faithfully, but the folks that need to hear it don't hear it. That's not what this church is about.

This church is reaching out into the community. People have the gospel. It has nothing to do necessarily with the frequency. It has nothing necessarily to do with the format or even with the location.

The point is they preached the gospel. They reached their community with the gospel. They were committed to that and people were being added to the church. The first factor in this missionary-oriented church was this, that they were evangelical.

They preached the gospel, people were being saved and added to the church. The second factor I would suggest is devotional. What I mean by that is that they taught the scriptures with purpose and that purpose was that there might be an increased devotion to the Lord Jesus.

Devotion to Christ Through the Teaching of Scripture

It's Acts 11 again. And if you look at verse 23, When he came, Donovan, When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.

And he goes, remember in verse 25, He gets Saul, or Paul as he's also known. Verse 26, And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Here's a church in which there was a commitment to the teaching of the word of God and the teaching of the word of God had a purpose that they might continue with the Lord. That they might be devoted to the Lord.

And that's clearly what happened because notice in verse 26 the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. It's often been pointed out that they did not call themselves Christians but they were called Christians.

Evidently, they were called Christians because that's what people saw. These are Christ's ones. These are Christ's followers. As people looked at these folks in Antioch and the church in Antioch, what they saw was a group of people who were committed to Christ.

Their lives revolved around the Lord Jesus. They were dedicated to Christ. They followed Him. They taught His word. After a while they were even like the Lord Jesus. And their whole lives revolved around Christ.

Such was the effect of the teaching of God's word in the church of Antioch that people's lives were transformed and they became like Christ and they were committed to Christ. And so there was a devotional fasting in this church in Antioch.

Cultural Bridges and Cross-Cultural Fellowship

First factor is cultural. And thinking about the Ishmaelites, they crossed cultural barriers and they did it in a couple of ways. Verse 20. Some of them, verse 19 actually says that some people came to Antioch and ministers including slaves in verse 19 preaching the word to no one but the Jews.

Verse 20. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Thessalonians and when they come to Antioch they sought to the Hellenists teaching to teaching the Lord Jesus. Here was a church that was reaching out beyond their own particular cultural group.

And in fact if you are familiar with the subsequent history of the church of Antioch you will remember that clearly there were Gentiles in the church of Antioch. Not mentioned here. The Hellenists were in verse 20, they were the Jewish people but not Hebrews of the Hebrews.

People who were exposed to Greek culture and who nevertheless were Jews but they had an awful lot of Greek influence in their life. That is who he is referring to I would judge in verse 20. But they did reach out to Gentiles.

Remember when Paul writes to the Galatians he calls on another issue in Antioch. He says there wasn't a problem, there were Jews and Gentiles and we were getting along fine and people were happy with that and we ate together and we fellowshiped together and then some Christians came down from Jerusalem and that sort of changed things.

But Jews and Gentiles were getting along just fine. These people, they crossed cultural barriers and they were reaching other people for the gospel. Not only so, they received people from other places as well.

Verse 20, they came from Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean. Cyrene, which is in North Africa. And then in verse 22 Dinabas came from Jerusalem and he evidently was received. Verse 25, Dinabas gets Paul and Tarshish and he brings him to Antioch.

And then when you get down to verse 27, Prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. So Antioch is in Syria. But people come there from other countries from Cyprus, from Cyrene, Paul, from Tarshish, from Jerusalem in the land of Israel and they are welcomed.

They are not only welcomed but not only welcomed but received into the fellowship they are given an opportunity to serve. Because Paul and Dinabas, they felt aware for a whole year. So here is a church which was not bound by cultural barriers but reached beyond that.

Welcomed people from different cultures and reached out to people in different cultures. I think it's a given that a church that is going to have a vision for the world is a church that first of all has a vision for its own community and that means directly groups in the community which may not fit with the majority of the folks in that fellowship.

Nevertheless, that's a mission field and there is a desire to reach out and to receive. That's what these folks did. There was a cultural factor in this church at Antioch. Secondly, there was a financial factor.

Financial Fellowship With Believers in Need

Verse 29, Then the disciples each according to his ability, I should read verse 28 at least the middle of it, was going to be a great famine throughout all the world. And then verse 29, Then the disciples each according to his ability determined to send relief to the Jaffna dwelling in Judea.

And this they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Dinabas and Saul. And so here was a church that understood that they had a responsibility to other believers in another culture and they ministered to them financially.

I think that's an important point. I read recently, someone had said that, and I quote, I come to believe that there is a direct connection between a person's faith and a person's generosity. What he's saying there, and I think it's true, that sometimes an accurate indicator as to our spirituality is the way we handle money.

That's true individually. It may be misleading how we participate in the local church and how we serve and how we are seen. That may not necessarily be an accurate indicator, but an accurate indicator is probably where I am spiritually and how I handle money.

And that's also true of a local church. How does a local church handle money? If the focus is on the building and the facilities, that says something. If the focus is on their own work and their own community, that says something.

But if there's a balanced understanding as to what their responsibilities are, then there will be a reaching out to other believers. Now, I think it's interesting, and it's worth thinking about, that in the Book of the Acts when we read about financial giving, we never read about financial giving for the Lord's servants, using that term, which is a bit of a misnomer because we're all the Lord's servants, but I'm thinking of those who are involved in service for the Lord in a full-time way.

We never read about that in the Book of the Acts. We often read about giving in the Book of the Acts. And all of it has to do with giving to the needs of the poor. All of it has to do with giving to poor believers.

That's something that is seen by this church as a responsibility. There are folks in Jerusalem that are in a different country that were believers in the Lord Jesus and their suffering, their famine, and the lethal financial understands that they are one with them in Christ, and they resolve to contribute to their needs.

And so, financially they give in order that other believers' pain and suffering might be alleviated. Now, just let me before I go on, say something in case you misunderstood what I just said. The Book of the Acts never talks about giving when it comes to workers.

The New Testament certainly does. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying we're not to give to workers. We're going to talk about that later. And since we're making the point in the Book of the Acts, we never read about that.

But we often read, and it is supported in some of the essentials as well, Galatians 6, Hebrews 13, we often read that we as Christians have to give to the needs of the poor who are believers even if they live in other cultures and in other countries.

That's what the Church of Antioch did. It was a financial element to this particular church. And then the great factor is spiritual. I suppose you might say all of these are spiritual in a sense, but I call this one spiritual.

Prayerful Dependence and the Sending of Workers

And I'm thinking of Acts chapter 15 and verse 1 where it says that in the church that was in Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers, Bonavus Simeon who was called Niagara, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been brought up as head of the tetrach himself, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted.

The Holy Spirit said, Now separate from me Bonavus himself, for the works of which I have called them, then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. Here was a church where there was prayer.

There was prayer among the leadership, and I would add there was prayer in a corporate sense as well. And that's already been alluded to and didn't Boyd Nicholson refer to that this morning in his opening message.

And it's something that we cannot overestimate or overemphasize. Back in Acts chapter 2, you remember the characteristics of the church of Jerusalem. It says that they continue steadfastly in four things in the Apostles doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking of bread and in church.

All four of those things were involved. And without being cynical, I hope, let me suggest to you that the sequence in which those four are found reflects where many, many churches are today. The Apostles doctrine, that's number one.

Everybody comes to the family divorce. Everybody's out for teaching prayer. Fellowship, maybe we could say that's number two, especially if there's food available. People are interested in that. Breaking of bread, not as well attended in the family but larger than it used to be.

And church? Church? These people are not a family who have never been to a corporate ceremony of their family. I say that to my shame and to their shame that we are not alone. A New Testament church with an interest in missions is a church for praise.

If we're going to be interested, involved in missions as New Testament churches here in North America, I suggest that we have to be like the church of Antioch. We have to be evangelical. We have to be reaching out to people and seeing people saved.

We have to be devotional, committed to the teaching of the work of God such that our lives are being changed and those of others in the fellowship, and we're becoming more like a world leader. We are crossing cultural barriers.

We're not just ministering to our own particular group, but we are interested in other ethnic groups around and we're receiving them and reaching out to them. There's a financial component. We see ourselves as part of the body of Christ and willing to contribute financially to the needs of others and we pray.

That's the kind of church that gets involved in missions. You see, in Acts 13, they stand out, Paul and Barnabas, but really Acts 13, in a sense, is the result. Acts 13 is not the start. Acts 13 is the result.

All of this has been going on. This is the kind of church they led in Antioch. And because of that, they stand out as Paul and Barnabas, the minister of the gospel in other places. That's the first question then.

Biblical Principles for Sending Missionaries

What kind of church gets involved in missions? Secondly, I want to talk about the subject of how should a local church get involved in missions and on your notes there, I summarized some stuff under the heading, Biblical Principles Relating to the Involvement of a Local Church in Missions.

We need to say a little bit about this because there have been changes over the years and there have been changes in the assembly. I can look back. I was raised, my parents were in an assembly fellowship in an assembly in Scotland, so I've been associated with assemblies to make some of the stuff.

I can look back to a time when missionary work in the assemblies meant a particular way of doing things where workers were called by the Lord, commanded by the local church, and they went out to serve in a particular sphere.

But things have changed in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. So one of the ways in which it has changed is that we now have a proliferation of private church organizations. And increasingly we find that there are folks from assemblies who are serving with private church organizations.

I'm associated with MSC in Canada, and for those of you from this side of the border we as someone who writes PMML do the same kind of thing on behalf of Canadian missionaries. And we publish this sort of booklet, Records Abroad, and our call has been doing this, and has been for years, is that we publish the names of anyone commended from a Canadian assembly who is serving overseas whether they are working in the, if I can put it this way, the traditional veteran way, or working with a private church organization.

We list all of them if we have a level of accommodation. There are about 300, I can't remember, 350 maybe is that about, names in this booklet, and about 20 of them are working with private church organizations.

I mention that just to illustrate the point I'm making here, that this is a change. 20 years ago there would have been 5%, 7 years ago there would have been 0%. One of the phenomena that we have to recognize is the increasing role of the private church organization.

The second issue is the ignorance in assemblies really, and I don't mean to be critical, but it's true and it has to be said and thought about, the ignorance in assemblies is the New Testament principles relating to mission.

I talked about the commendation of worship, what does that mean? I mentioned that I'm identified with MSP and we get all kinds of letters of commendation and some of them you wonder, what do these people think they're doing?

I'll give you an example, a letter of commendation from a church which says so and so asked that we write to you so that he could be supported through this. A letter of commendation. We get another letter from a church where an individual never fellowship there, fellowships in another church, the church overseas, the assembly at which he was part, self-serve, for whatever reason, not to commend, sometime after he's gone we get a letter from another church down the road and they commend him.

What does that mean? What is commendation? There is a lot of ignorance and misunderstanding in the assembly about what we refer to as New Testament principles with respect to missions and so it's something that we need to think about and talk about.

And then a third issue, frankly, is that in the situation that it pains among assemblies today where they pursue the thought that there really aren't any principles in the New Testament anyway when it comes to missions that you do what is expedient.

After all, what they did in the New Testament they did, some of them because they were apostles, but what they did doesn't necessarily apply to us. The culture was different, the circumstances were different, and if we read something in the Book of the Acts we're not to jump to the conclusion that what they did was intended to be non-existent and so it may or may not apply to us today.

That's been articulated among the assemblies, like Cardisto and there's written a book called One Lord One Faith in which he argues that an awful lot of what we do is traditional it may be good, it may be appropriate but you cannot defend it and say that it's biblical.

And so there's a mindset there on the part of many people which says when it comes to missions, you do what works. That there are no principles per se, or very few in the New Testament which apply to that particular subject.

Now these are some of the things that are floating around in the assemblies, and so I want to take a few minutes and affirm that I believe that the New Testament does have something to say about how we should be involved in missions.

And there are three broad areas. We can't deal with everything, and I'm not even sure we can deal with these three, but we are there in the north and we're at least going to deal with the first one. And the first issue is how well does it stand?

The second issue is how well does that have authority? And the third issue is how well is there a super boss? These are three basic issues that we need to have some understanding about when it comes to workers being commanded on assemblies today.

The Holy Spirit’s Call and the Local Church’s Commendation

How well does it stand? Now I read the verses in Acts chapter 13, what happened there? What happened was, in verse 2 of Acts 13, that the Holy Spirit communicated with these men in the church at Antioch and said, Separate from me Barnabas and Saul, for the works of which I have called them.

And they fasted, they prayed, they laid hands on them, and they sent them away. Over to chapter 14 of Acts. Chapter 14 of Acts in verse 26. Paul and Barnabas did a funeral message and it says in verse 26, From there they sailed to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the works which they had completely known.

So when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. So they stood there a long time with the disciples.

How are workers sent? Very simply, my understanding of the scripture is this, the Holy Spirit calls individuals to serve him and the local church responds to that call of God and commends them. That's what happened.

That's what happened in the church at Antioch. You'll notice that a prerequisite is that the record be called by the Lord for a particular service. In fact, everyone was saying that Paul and Barnabas did not come to the elders in the church at Antioch and say we have news for you, we are going off to serve the Lord and whatever.

They would not do that. But there was a communication by the Spirit of God, not only to Paul and Barnabas, but to the elders. And there was a recognition on the part of the elders in that local fellowship that indeed God was calling those individuals to serve him.

That's not always the way it is. I may sound again like I'm being cynical. I don't need to be. I need to be realistic. That is not the way it is oftentimes in our assemblies today. One gets the impression perhaps on occasion elders are almost presented with an ultimatum.

Or perhaps on other occasions there is a reluctance on their part to deal with a thing in an objective way because who knows who might be offended by whatever action we might take. That might not be popular.

Whatever. There are a variety of considerations. But the biblical teaching on this subject I think is clear that the call of God was recognized not only by the workers but by the assembly. And they responded, the elders, the fellowship, the pantheon responded to the call of God and sent forth Paul and Barnabas.

To me that is fundamental. And by the way, that is where I would have a problem with some of and I use the expression some of the parachurch organizations. The parachurch organization per se I have no problem with.

Exactly what a parachurch organization takes to itself what is rightfully the responsibility of the local church. When a parachurch organization ceases to recruit, to train, to send, to support it seems to me that it is taking to itself an authority for which it has no biblical lending.

The local church recognizes the call. And the local church commends the worker. And if that can be done, and it can in some cases, it can be done in cooperation with certain parachurch organizations well, that is another issue.

But a lot of them I would have concerns. We have an example in our own fellowship where someone wants to go or did with a parachurch organization. I wrote to the particular group with a list of questions and they gave me a very good answer four pages in length talking about the role of the local church.

But the fact of the matter is that as the process proceeded they never even communicated with the local church. They asked for references from individuals whose names were given by the people who were thinking of serving them.

But the local church was not involved. And I personally have no difficulty with that. The local church stands to commend workers who are called by the Lord. Now, the second point there is, and it is important, commendation is by the local church to which the individual belongs.

You would say that is obvious. That would be obvious. But that is not an answer. It is not an answer. And it is implicit even in the word commend. What does it mean to commend? We have the notion that...

Can I leave it up to you? I have got lots to say. And I would rather leave the questions that I made to the end. And if I don't get to the questions we can talk one on one. Can we? Okay. The question of the local church to which they belong is important.

And it seems to me comes over an understanding of what does it mean to commend? To commend is not to run the ladder. It is more of something. That is what it means to commend. Command means to hand over.

It means to deliver. It is the word that is used of the Lord Jesus a number of times over, especially in the gospel where it says they delivered him over to them to be crucified. It means to hand over.

The implication is that the individual is under certain control as you will. He is identified with someone or one and they transfer him from. They release the individual and they effectively hand the individual over to someone else.

That is what they did with the Lord Jesus. They thought, well, he is under their control. They delivered him over to them to be crucified. Well, how can I let the church deliver someone over if he doesn't belong?

If he doesn't belong to that fellow, then what are they doing when they commend him? Commend means to release. The purpose was to flout the law and to minister, to go forth and to reach out in that community.

When he was commended, what happened was not that he changed his work. What happened was that he changed his spirit of operation. What happened was that the Spirit of God said, Paul and Barnabas separate them to me for the work to which I have called them.

Not a work of a different nature, but a work in a different location, basically. The Spirit of God said, you let them go. They have been working here. They have been doing a job in your midst, but I have something else for them.

I want you to release them. I want you to let them go. I want you to hand them over to me for the work to which I have called them. Normally, commendation is for work in another sphere involving separation from the assembly which commands.

The fourth point is that commendation in the first instance is to the Lord. Who did they commend them to? Acts 14. Verse 26 says, From there they saw to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had committed.

Commendation was not to other people. Commendation was not to a place. Commendation, strictly speaking, was not to a work. Commendation was to the Lord, to the grace of God for the work for which God had called them.

Now you may say, well what about these letters of commendation? Well, we write letters of commendation. Indeed, there is a Biblical basis for that. We have it, for example, 2 Corinthians 3 verse 1 Paul says, Are we beginning to commend ourselves or do we, like some other people, need letters of commendation to you or from you?

And there are other examples of it through the New Testament. Numerous examples of letters of commendation. A letter of commendation is simply a way of introducing a believer to other believers who may not know about them.

Normally, a letter of commendation in the New Testament was a case of A is going from X to Y and the believer at X they give him an introduction so that when he goes to Y, those believers there would receive him.

That's normally what happens. In the case of a worker, a letter of commendation is not the end all and be all. A letter of commendation is something that a church might write having gone through the process that I've tried to describe, having recognized the call of God of a particular individual, having responded for that, having handed the individual over to the Lord that we might well write a letter which is a letter of introduction.

It is a way of if you will, affirming the credentials and the qualifications of that worker so that they will be received and others will encourage and support them in the work that God has for them. That's how I would understand this subject of how the workers are sent.

At least that's an introduction to it. I hope that some of the points that have been made will be helpful. When it comes to how a worker is supported, I refer you to 1 Corinthians 9 particularly. We're not going to take time to read through it because there Paul makes the case in very clear language that a worker is entitled to be supported.

He argues in a variety of ways. He looks at things that happen in society around the world. He looks at the Old Testament scriptures and he appeals to the Old Testament scriptures. He also looks at the Levitical service and what happens with the Levites in the Old Testament.

He concludes his argument in 1 Corinthians 9 by saying this In verse 14, even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. That's very clear. A worker is entitled to be supported.

Let me make a couple of observations about that. Let me say first of all that he doesn't say that the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live by faith. He does not say that. We use that expression sometimes don't we?

Living by faith. We are all to live by faith. Walk by faith. That is not the peculiar privilege of someone who is called by God to a particular work. We are never told that the worker lives by faith any more than any of us.

What he says here is that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. And he explains what he means by that is this. He says if we preach to you if we minister to you in a spiritual way then we have every right to receive certain recompense in a material way or in a carnal way.