• Know that the greatest hindrance to missions is a weak sending church and put major effort into establishing the church as the Pastoral Epistles direct.
  

• Understand the task of missions is to evangelize strategically, establish congregations by instructing disciples and forming them in the context of the local church, and entrusting them to faithful leaders who will replicate this process.
  

• Support the centrality of the local church in the role of commissioning and sending equipping leaders for church establishment and expansion in mission work.
  

• Identify faithful men who can be trusted with the kerygma and didache with the process of testing, training, and affirming their entrustment.
  

• See multiplication of churches as the form of expansion of the church and the Gospel rather than simply building bigger and bigger churches.
  

• Expect that the bulk of mission work, that the church partners with and supports, agrees and practices these principles. 
  

• Partners in missions should have proved themselves in their local church in character and competency.
  

                        -They should be recognized by their local church as elders if they are going to be engaged in appointing other                                     leaders over the church(es).

                       -They should see their primary allegiance and accountability to their local sending church rather than their mission                          board or organization.

                        -They should be committed to the establishment, growth, and expansion of local churches, and their role as a tool                          that is not indispensable in that process.

                        -They should be diligently working on passing on the baton to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

• Paul’s principles of evangelizing strategically, establishing congregations, and entrusting to appointed elders seems to be the normative process for Christ’s Church for the following reasons:
  

• His authorization
  

o   Ephesians 3:8-11 explains the unique role among the Apostles that God had given to Paul.  Paul is to declare the mystery of the administration of the household plan of God. The order for the oikonomia has been passed by the Spirit to Paul to outline in his instructions for the churches. Jew and Gentile are fellow heirs of the unfathomable riches if Christ and formed into one new man and Paul has been chosen divinely to be the person responsible to make plain the household order, house law, administration, stewardship, plan, or administration of the Household of God. Understanding and abiding by the Household order for the churches is so important that it is the very vehicle the glory of God is put up for and displayed. This household of God and how it is to operate has been God’s eternal plan and purpose since before the creation of the world. Paul’s instructions and principles for the establishment of the churches cannot be underestimated and his principles are to continue in order to reflect the same priority in the proper order of the churches so that God is glorified as His wisdom is put on display. There is strong normative authority therefore that is derived from this text.

• His application
  

(In Acts)

§  In Acts 14, after Paul has evangelized and gathered disciples, he has them instructed in the faith to foster perseverance in their Christian lives, and then prays and fasts to select Elders to shepherd over them.

§  In Acts 20, Paul rehearses his process and then turns it over to the Ephesian elders in the entrustment stage with the understanding that this to be continued in perpetuity—evangelize strategically, establish congregations, entrust to faithful shepherds over the congregation to continue the process. Paul anticipates this is to continue with no end to it  (just as Christ did-“until the end of the age.”).
 
(In his epistles) 

§  Titus 1:5 shows us that the work in Crete that remained that Titus was designated to complete fits the stages of the process of Paul’s strategy of evangelizing strategically, establishing congregations, and entrusting to shepherding elders. Evangelization had resulted in congregations that needed more establishing and Paul ask Titus to appoint elders over the congregations to continue the shepherding and establishing process. These elders would d be entrusted to continue the work Paul had begun.

§  Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:14-15 that he is writing so that Timothy will be able to tell the church how to conduct themselves as the household of God. Paul is referring to the local churches. These verses come on the heels of the preceding verses in which Paul has laid out the leadership qualifications for the Household of God who would have the care over the local church/ It is only as the Household of God conducts themselves in the proper conduct of the household order that their testimony of faithfulness will lend to their witness to the truth in the world and the basis of presenting the gospel as evidence of Gospel change from reprobates afar off into redeemed brothers and sisters held together in the Household of God for the display of God’s wisdom to the watching world. Again, evangelism has occurred, congregations are being established as leaders (such as Timothy) are entrusted to continue the process.

§  Even in the last days of Paul’s ministry, Paul is imploring Timothy to continue this normative process in 2 Timothy 2:2 as he asks him to pass the baton through the entrusting of the deposit (1:13-14) to men whose character would be observed within the Household as faithful. Paul describes 4 generations and leaves it open-ended with the assumption of this entrusting to continue until the return of Christ. This puts great thrust into the normative understanding of Paul’s principles of evangelizing, establishing congregations, and entrusting the deposit to faithful shepherds. This entrusting is not just teaching but living the teachings of Christ and His Apostles and, if need be, dying for them.

From Acts:

13:1-5 Antioch, Seleucia, Cyprus, Salamis 
The sending church in Antioch is key to Paul’s missionary activity. The Holy Spirit delegated the authority of the church to send out Paul and Barnabas for the task He had foreordained. The fellow prophets and leaders of the church are made aware of the task after prayer and fasting and the church sends them on their way. The authority of the church as the entity that affirms the call of the missionary is vital to the proper trajectory of the task and it is to the Antioch church Paul will return and report to when He is finished.

13:6-12 Paphos 
Paul continues his strategy of contacting an audience and communicating the Gospel. In the previous verses he contacted his audience through the synagogue. Here he God brings them into a searching individual who occupies a government post. A fo9retaste of Jewish opposition is represented through the Jewish sorcerer’s efforts, but despite the opposition, hearers are converted by the power of the Gospel message. Saul’s name is changed to Paul at this point. Could it be because of his connection with his convert Paulus?

13:13-50 Perga, Pisidian Antioch
This part of the 1st missionary journey allows us to lean over Paul’s shoulder and read the content of what would probably be typical of the message of the Messiah he proclaims to a Jewish audience, usually in the synagogue. He declares Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law, Prophets, and Psalms, who was resurrected after dying at the hands of the Jews, and offers the forgiveness of sins and justification only through Christ apart from the Law and a warning against rejection.

The second time Paul speaks in the synagogue, Jewish opposition breaks out in fervor, Paul turns his message specifically to the Gentiles upon the Jewish rejection, and Gentiles turn to Christ in great number as the Jews expelled them from the region.

13:51-14:5 Iconium  
As Paul returns to the synagogue in the new city, Jewish opposition g=follows him and seeks to stir up the people against him. Many Jews and Gentiles did believe and and a plot to stone Paul and Barnabas was sought after.

14:6-20 Lystra 
A miracle of healing convinced a heathen crowd to worship them as gods, and Paul argued that it was the true God they should worship. Paul was interrupted before he could proclaim Christ as the Jews seized the opportunity to cause a riot against Paul and stoned him for dead, but God raised him up and they headed out.

14:21-28 Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch (Pisidian), Pamphylia, Perga, Attalia, Antioch 
Disciples are made in Derbe and Paul begins the trip back to the sending church of Antioch to report back. On his way back he visits the disciples that were made in journey in the cities and strengthens them in the faith, appoints elders to shepherd them, thus setting place local churches, and commits them to their care and the Lord through prayer and fasting.  The work is described as completed for that journey as the first phase of the task the Holy Spirit has set them apart for. The Antioch church gathers and they rehearse what God had done with the Gospel to the Gentiles and stayed there for a while.

The definition of missions is unnecessarily broad in evangelicalism. If it is not connected to the planting and establishing evangelical churches, then any attempt at missions misses the point of missionary work. The local church must be central to missionary enterprise for the following reasons.

In Matthew 16, Christ promised to build His church on the truth of His identity as the Son of God. This new entity of the church that Christ would build shortly would be laid on the foundation of His words and would be on the winning side despite the hatred expressed by Satanic onslaughts against it as the authority and power of Christ Himself would stand with His church. Mission work then must participate in the building of Christ’s church.

This progressed into Jesus’ instructions to His Apostles before he left them so that they would know how to accomplish the work he delegated to them of participating in the enterprise of building his church. They were to make disciples by going into all the world to preach the gospel in evangelization, baptize converts into the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, and their identity of the church, and edify them with continued instruction of all that Christ had commanded them. The local church is hinted at in this Great Commission as the task of missions is outlined.

Where we really see the centrality of the church in the practice of New Testament missions is in the book of Acts, where the Sprit’s power is unleashed in Jerusalem and a church is launched. This church is organized and established with rhythms in Acts 2:42-47 and the Satanic opposition against it in the form of persecution results in disciples fleeing persecution and taking the task of missions with them and other churches being launched in more Gentile regions.

Eventually one of these churches becomes a strategic launching base, and Antioch becomes the leader in mission work among the Gentiles as some of its particular leaders are chosen to evangelize for the purpose of pioneering the work of new churches through the propagation of the Gospel.

The strategy consisted of Paul’s preaching the Gospel, discipling converts, and organizing the disciples into churches that were led by appointed elders to continue the shepherding process and teaching after Paul left.

This practice in Acts confirms Jesus words in Matthew 16 that He would build His church and shows that He builds His church by using leaders and faithful disciples to plant and establish churches. This IS the work of the Great Commission—to not simply see individuals evangelized and edified—but to see the process of discipleship to continue of individuals through the vehicle God has chosen to display His glory—the local church.

It is the local church that sends and supports missions and the workers of missions.

Missions is the work of planting and establishing churches and churches are to do the work of planting and establishing churches according to the practice of the New Testament.  

At 7pm on Tuesday, September 10th, I'll have an informational meeting for those interested in the pilot course for the Antioch School--Acts: Keys to the Establishment & Expansion of the First Century Church. The meeting will be in the post and beam room off the gym of South Hope Community Church.

To preempt some questions that may come up, I recommend you visit www.antiochschool.edu. Otherwise, I'll try to answer any questions you may have and those I don't have an immediate answer for, I'll get in touch with BILD to find the answer. Be thinking about whether you are wanting to pursue credits initially or auditing.  You can audit and you’ll earn credits that can be used later in an Antioch degree program.

But please be aware: our idea of “auditing” courses is different from the kind of auditing where you sit in on lectures in order to gain some knowledge, but aren’t required to complete any assignments or take any tests.

Since the Antioch School is structured to be a mentoring program with classes attached (rather than a classroom program with mentoring attached), you will still be required to engage your learning by applying it in your local church, where you can use what you learn in the classroom for ongoing ministry. You will still complete assignments that will help you develop skills and character along with the knowledge you gain.

Finally, I'll have the Acts course to show you Tuesday night, but here is a more thorough description of the 15 week study:

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of this course is to determine the fundamental biblical principles regarding the mission of the Church and its role in missions, developing guidelines and strategies from these principles for a local church’s involvement. Specifically, this means that each person studying the course would do the following:

·         Develop a basic understanding of biblical keys to the establishment and expansion of the first-century Church and how to use these keys in the establishment and expansion of the global Church.

·         Design a model to use as a guide in planting and establishing churches today from the core elements of Paul’s strategy used on his missionary journeys.

·         Determine a biblical definition for missionary and missionary work.

·         Develop convictions on the role of the local church in missions today and design a model for how a local church could be central and vitally involved in missions while networking with other churches and missions agencies.

PROGRESSIVE ROLE OF EACH UNIT

Unit 1: Keys from Acts

In this unit, we will attempt to drive everyone back to the life of the Early Church for a fresh look at what happened. The first task is to wrestle with how the book of Acts should be used in the twenty-first century. Does it give us help in understanding the life and mission of the Church today? Can we use it in strategizing for ministry? After thinking these issues through and developing guidelines for use in the twenty-first century, the book of Acts is examined carefully, in six sections, looking for keys to the successful establishment and expansion of the first-century Church. This is designed to give us the database for the work to be done in the units that follow.

Unit 2: The Role of the Local Church in Fulfilling the Great Commission

Building on the data of the Acts study, this unit addresses the issue of the centrality of the local church in God’s plan for this age. In our generation, the Great Commission is often reduced to an individualistic enterprise—the multiplication of individuals. The question is asked: How did the Great Commission unfold? The unit attempts to demonstrate that the focus in the first century was not the multiplication of individuals but the multiplication of believing communities—local churches—and that the local church was central to the unfolding of this plan.

Unit 3: The Core Model: The Pauline Strategy

In this unit, we come back to the issue of how to use Acts in the twenty-first century and address the issue more specifically. Did Paul have a strategy for his missionary activity? And if so, did he, or the Spirit, intend it to be normative for the Church today? We attempt to demonstrate, in this unit, that he did have a strategy and that we need to pay attention to it since it was Paul’s job to unveil God’s administration for this age.

Unit 4: Networking, Organizations, and the Local Church

In this unit, we deal with the issue of the para-church organization. The local church is supposed to be at the center of God’s plan, and yet today it is often only a sideshow. The extent of its involvement in missions is often reduced to a recruitment ground for financial and prayer support of career missionaries. We attempt to think through a very difficult and thorny issue—the Church and para-church relationship: encouraging the building of pragmatic networking relationships between local churches and para-church organizations, calling on para-church groups to become church-based, while challenging local churches to reclaim their central role in the mission of building Christ’s Church.

Unit 5: Designing a Missions Strategy for a Local Church

Finally, we get to the central goal of the course: designing a missions strategy for local churches. The goal is to identify a plan that is in harmony, as much as possible, with the philosophy developed in the first four units. Since Christ is head over the Church and has one administration revealed through Paul, we should be able to identify a general strategy that would apply to any local church anywhere. That is the goal of this unit. Only when churches are “striving together, with one mind” will we experience the full measure of the power of Christ.



-Pastor Jamie 
2 Timothy 2:2