The Church That Sends

Romans 10 contains what missionaries have long called the Gospel Pipeline. Paul traces the chain backwards.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:14-15)

The chain runs in this direction. Send. Preach. Hear. Believe. Call.

Sending leads to preaching. Preaching leads to hearing. Hearing leads to believing. Believing leads to calling on the name of the Lord. And "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Notice where the chain begins. Sending.

Before there is preaching, there must be sending. Before there is hearing, there must be a preacher. Before there is faith, there must be a message. And before there is a message, there must be a church that identifies, equips, commissions, supports, and releases gospel workers into the field.

The local church is the sending agency of the Great Commission.

This is exactly what we see in Acts 13 at Antioch. The church did not wait for a missions organization to approach them. The Holy Spirit spoke directly to the congregation. The church fasted, prayed, laid hands on Barnabas and Saul, and sent them off. When they completed the first missionary journey, they returned to Antioch and "gathered the church together" to report what God had done. The local church was the base of operations. It sent. It prayed. It received the report. It sent again.

Not everyone at Antioch boarded a ship. Everyone participated.

Paul later wrote to the Philippians, thanking them for their partnership in the gospel: "No church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only" (Philippians 4:15). The Philippians supported Paul financially and prayerfully. Paul called their gift "a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God" (Philippians 4:18).

Financial support of missionaries is not mere charity. It is worship. It is participation in the mission.

John makes this even more explicit. "We ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth" (3 John 8). When you support a missionary, you become a fellow worker. You share in the fruit. The one who sends and the one who goes are partners in the same harvest.

This is Carey's image. "I will go down into the pit, if you will hold the rope." Both the goer and the sender are essential. Remove either one, and the mission collapses.

What does a sending church do?

It prays for the nations, specifically and regularly. It teaches a biblical theology of missions so every member knows why the church exists and where the church is going. It identifies and develops potential missionaries from within its own membership. It gives generously to support workers on the field. It keeps real relationships with the missionaries it sends. It holds the mission before the congregation constantly, so the Great Commission is the shared calling of the whole body, not a special interest for a few.

Your church is called to be a sending church. That does not mean it must be large or wealthy. It means it must be faithful, oriented outward, willing to pray and give and release its members for the sake of the gospel.