Denominations, Differences, and Distinctives in International Missions tagged: , , , , ,

Denominations, Differences, and Distinctives in International Missions

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Will heaven have an exclusive “Southern Baptist” subdivision?

We Southern Baptists do sometimes seem to act like it., don’t we?

Southern Baptist distinctives … pointing out those things which make us truly different from other Christians … is very important in some segments of Southern Baptist life. And much of the discussions on Baptist distinctives and “purity” over the past year have focused upon the practice of church planting. There is a mantra that I have often heard often that goes something like this … “I’ll do hands-on work with anyone, but when it comes to church planting … well … we must plant Baptist churches. We cannot cooperate outside the denomination when planting churches.”

Indeed, several times in my own posts and discussions on church planting, I have been asked, “What kind of churches are they planting?” And I know what those questions mean. They are denominational questions. Translation … “Are those “Baptist” churches that are being planted?”

And I feel compelled to answer that question with another question. “Does it really, deeply, truly, eternally matter?” Seriously. In the overall eternal scheme of things, does a denomination on a “sign” truly matter when the Gospel is being shared and souls are being pointed to the Kingdom of God?

This issue is really not a big deal in the United States because denominational lines are so seldom crossed in direct Gospel ministry. But we do seem to make an inordinately large deal about it. Indeed, some make it a priority to seek out that which makes us different from other believers. But I have discovered that on the international mission field it is another issue altogether. On the international field, I am finding that our workers there seem to place a much higher priority on seeking out that which we share in common with other missionaries and indigenous believers … despite the incessant scrutiny and “inspection” by difference-seeking pastors and leaders back home. I must admit that I admire and applaud their Kingdom tenacity.

Recently I have had to sort through all of this and develop a philosophy, or theology, if you will, of missional partnership. You see, my church has just entered into a four-year commitment through our International Mission Board to become the “missionaries” and “Church Planting Strategists” for the Panao Quechua “micro” people group in the Andes Mountains of Peru. (They are a “micro” people group because they are so small. They have their own unique dialect and culture, but there are only about 60,000 of them … too few for the commitment of a full-time missionary.) Our partnership is through an IMB team in Peru called REAP North. (They have a Southern Peru counterpart appropriately called REAP South.) Their mission is to connect partnering churches in the United States with these unreached / underevangelized people groups.

We will be sending three or four teams each year to our mission field. Our goals are to make relationships, share the Gospel, and work with the small number of indigenous believers to plant churches and facilitate a church planting movement.

I know … I know … someone will inevitably ask, “What kind of churches?” Well, there’s the big “elephant” in the Southern Baptist room, isn’t it? There are a scant few evangelical believers in the area around Panao. Baptist missionaries and believers have never ventured to this isolated, high-elevation location. So we were faced with a dilemma.

Here were our options:

  1. We could go in, on our own, and seek to begin a uniquely, distinctly Baptist effort there. We could basically to a “parachute drop” into a culture about which we are completely and totally ignorant. We could pridefully and expertly show up in our western clothes and SUV’s and tell them how to plant churches, “do” church, and “be” the church … the real way … the Baptist way. And in four years we could proudly pose for photos in front of a couple of buildings with the word, “Bautista,” on the sign. And the work would be all ours and ours alone. But it would be a truly “Baptist” work.
  2. Or … We could partner with the believers who are already there. We could demonstrate respect for this tiny remnant that has faithfully lived and served among their own people for seventy-five years. We could rely upon their knowledge, wisdom, and expertise regarding their own culture. And maybe … just maybe … in four years we will find that God birthed and unleashed a movement of church planting among the Panao Quechua people that is a uniquely Panao Quechua work. And if God unleashes a house church movement, there will be no “church signs.”

So we opted for “door” #2.

Here are some of our current and developing church planting partners. Others are coming …

  • In Panao proper (the provincial “county seat”) our “vision team” made contact with a Church of God pastor. He leads a tiny, struggling congregation. He wants any help he can get. And he desires to train leaders and has a vision for planting churches. I saw the maps of the province posted on the wall of his tiny one-room apartment. He has a vision to reach his people with the true Gospel. We will partner with him and help train leaders and Church Planters.
  • In Panao our first actual team (that just returned home on Sunday) met with leaders from a Christian and Missionary Alliance church. (Apparently, there was a CMA missionary who found his way into these rugged mountains back in the early 20th century. The fruit of his work remains.) They have already agreed to partner with us. They want leadership training and have a vision to host a “Youth Congress” for the area. I have a vision to teach church planting to teen-agers … even Quechua teens. We will partner with this church.
  • Down the mountain, in a town called Molino, our “Vision Team” and last week’s team had a dialog with another Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor. He wants to train leaders and plant churches. We will partner with this church. We are sending a veterinary and evangelism team there in the last week of February to help bring attention to this little congregation in the community. Through this pastor, we met a member of the translating team from SIL that is actually translating the Bible into Panao Quechua! We will, God willing, be able to serve as distributors of these sacred translations when they become available. This is definitely a God-thing!
  • And up the mountain, in a village called Chagalla (pronounced shog-ee-ya), our vision team met with the pastor of a Church of God of Prophecy congregation. He was so excited by our visit last year and so motivated by the vision that his church planted three remote, high-elevation churches even before our first team arrived last week! Most definitely an God-thing! We will partner with this church, train leaders, and help train them to plant churches. And our veterinary / evangelism team in February will spend half of their time in this village.

I know that the first “red flags” that will be waved will focus upon our efforts to facilitate church planting with a Church of God. Well … whatever. Interestingly, we discovered that these churches seem to reject the “charismatic” gifts … they don’t understand them or even realize what we’re talking about. There is one charismatic “cargo cult” (prosperity) church in Chagalla, but is is looked upon by the CoG people with great suspicion. Even they refuse to partner with that group or include them. Pretty interesting. BTW … Our people have met with and and are planning to worship with our Church of God friends there. They are good, simple, Bible-believing Christians. Of course, there will be”tongues” during the worship (Spanish, Quechua, and English), but we will have interpreters with us, so everything was done biblically. :)

Bottom line … we are operating on the premise that God’s heaven will be nothing short of denominationally “blind.” We do not believe that God truly cares which church reaches the souls of His children with the Good News, for if they are being reached, then the true Gospel is being preached. We are banking on the absence of a “Southern Baptist Subdivision” or “ghetto” in heaven. And we are praying that this strategy of ours is within God’s true will, and that we are simply jumping right, smack-dab into the middle of it.