My local church just entered its second full year of covenantal gathering and worship. During a recent members meeting, the elders called for the church to enter a time of prayer and fasting for some specific needs. Among the typical needs of a young church plant—such as stronger finances, a stable location, and faithful vision casting—the elders called upon our church to pray for something else: senders.
Our church’s demographic is largely influenced by the transient nature of city life, the seasons of college semesters and holiday breaks, and healthy members desiring to go to the nations. At the time of writing this, three separate families are in the evaluation process with three different mission organizations. For a small church plant simply needing stable membership, this is a significant proportion of our current membership.
The elders asked our church to pray for a stable core of senders. They did not discourage members who were seeking to be missionaries or ministry leaders in other local churches. Instead, they asked us to pray for those who were working and living in our city to find our church and commit to being senders. Oftentimes, missions resources and stories focus on the joys and adventures of being sent, but what about the joy of being a sender? Though there may be many reasons, I believe three rise to the top of the list.
1. The Joy of Advancing Missions
Any local body of believers must answer the question: How will our specific church respond to the Great Commission? Local churches are outposts of God’s kingdom in a dark and hostile world. The light of the gospel housed in these outposts should shine outward as far as the horizons allow. If gospel light is to spread, the right people must be sent and the required resources must be allocated. The vital role senders play in the church—to both evaluate and resource those who are sent—cannot be overstated.
Living in close community with fellow believers in the local church will shape and mature disciples from within so that some may desire to be sent out as missionaries. Senders who stay have spent their time teaching, discipling, and evaluating the lives of these missionary candidates. Senders advise individuals or families considering the step into mission work. Missionaries who are qualified to be sent are members who have grown and matured in their faith through the ministry of senders.
Senders advance missions when they send the right people with the right resources. Much like Andrew Fuller and the Baptist Missionary Society, who “held the rope” for William Carey by financing his mission to India, senders who support their missionaries and see to it that they “lack nothing” (Titus 3:13) do an invaluable service to the mission of the gospel and the growth of Christ’s Church. Senders advance missional hopes and dreams by sending and servicing the voices of truth into the world.
2. The Joy of Stewarding a Legacy
Senders who belong to churches that support missionaries have the privilege of participating in and observing gospel proclamation around the world for many years. The work of missions can often be tedious and slow, with little outward fruit to show for years of faithful service. Senders are there from the beginning of the story onward. They get to see the faithfulness of God and the power of the Spirit work in one location or in one missionary family’s ministry as it develops. Missionary children get to come home for college and be welcomed by senders who started the journey with them when they were young.
If a church has a reputation for sending missionaries, more missionaries will likely be sent in the future. If the church continues to train and resource the right people, senders will see many go. Over time, the process for training and sending may be made clearer, the support system made more efficient, and the budget more robust. Senders who stick around over long periods of time can speak seasoned words of wisdom about the process and how it may be improved and handed to the next generation of senders.
3. The Joy of Witnessing Global Glory
Resolving to be a faithful sender does not mean that one does not get to witness missions firsthand. Senders often visit and support missionaries on the field through short-term trips. They also receive and care for missionaries who come home temporarily. Regularly sending missionaries expands the local church’s awareness of the global state of lostness and the glory of God in the gospel spreading to each corner of the earth.
Being a sender means participating in the same joy as your missionaries when people find Christ. Senders get to hear reports of the work they helped advance on the field, and often these senders get to participate in hands-on experiences on a regular basis.
Though one may be encouraged by searching for missionary stories or baptism statistics online, the joy of sharing in the work and results of locally sent missionaries cannot be replicated.
Are You Called to Be a Sender?
My local church is actively calling its members to consider whether God has called for them to stay as senders and to pray for more senders to join our membership. The glory of missions is all God’s, and both senders and goers have a part to play. Joy is shared because missions is a work of the unified body of Christ.
Are you called to be a sender? Consider how you might engage in the work of sending in your local church today. Maybe it looks like continuing the work of faithful attendance, hospitality, and discipleship. Maybe it requires finding a stable job and putting down roots somewhere. Not every Christian will cross an ocean, but every Christian and church must decide whether it will hold the rope. May your choice be the source of joyful prayers like Paul’s for the Philippians because of your partnership in the gospel (Phil. 1:4–5).