Ten Trends in Global Missions

By Mark Renfroe

What has changed in global missions that affects your local church today? The answer to the question could be a book, but I will present ten points to help you minister locally and globally for the glory of Jesus. Some of these are opportunities, some are challenges, and some are neutral.

1. Increasing accessibility to missionaries.

The interconnectivity of our world gives churches and missionaries the ability to see what’s happening with the other at a superficial level through various forms of social media. Missionaries can now communicate with their partners through FaceBook, Instagram, email, digital and paper newsletters, video message apps, and even content platforms like YouTube.

All of this is good, but it also presents challenges. First, with so many opportunities to communicate, missionaries need to set limits for themselves. If they aren’t careful, they can stay so connected to family and friends back home that they never deeply engage in their place of service. We all have limited relational energy, so if we spend it staying deeply connected with family, friends, and supporters, we won’t have what we need to engage with our host community. As someone who has an adult child living overseas, I’m grateful for the ability to communicate with ease via technology. I’m not suggesting a total disconnect—just a responsible use of technology so this blessing doesn’t become a curse.

Second, churches can ask for so much communication that the missionary has little time left to do what they’re called to do. It’s not an either/or supposition. We must do both in a way that serves everyone’s realistic expectations. So, a good conversation with your current and future missionaries concerning expectations is a healthy place to start. Also, be sure to find out what communication channels are being used by the missionary and being monitored by the church. Missionaries often think they are communicating well because they are active on various forms of social media only to discover that no one at the church is monitoring these channels. It’s all about setting good expectations.

2. Accessibility to national ministries.

Just as you have greater access to your missionaries and they to you, so do individuals and ministries from overseas. Have you ever received a friend request from a pastor in Pakistan or a ministry leader in Nigeria? Some of these are doing good work, but most of these connections flow from a desire for financial support. Some represent valid ministries. Some of these requests are scams. The challenge is that almost none of them have the accountability systems that are required by law in America. So, you probably want to limit your engagement to prayer. Otherwise, you might hurt the maturation process of a local church in your desire to help.

As an aside, if you want to grow in your understanding of indigenous ministries and a proper view of financial engagement, pick up a copy of When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. Also, if you are interested in supporting indigenous ministries, please reach out to World Challenge to learn how we partner with this type of ministry in a way that provides appropriate screening, accountability, and ongoing mentorship.
  
3. People working in teams vs. as individuals places a greater emphasis on who one works with, as opposed to where he or she works.

With the advent of church planting initiatives and ministries that focus on a team approach to ministry, young missionaries are more likely to focus on who they work with rather than where they work. I don’t see this as necessarily positive or negative. While earlier generations might have entered the “house of missional service” through the door of need, today’s younger global workers enter through the relational door. Neither of these has greater value than the other. The important part is that the spiritual wrestling has been done so that those going out understand that they have a God-given calling on their lives.

4. Churches are no longer gatekeepers (think stakeholders instead).

This trend tends to aggravate pastors, and I truly am sorry about that. I don’t like be provocative. But, just as church leaders no longer look to denominations as their sole point of missional engagement, neither do those wonderful people sitting in your weekly gatherings. They have friends who are serving with other ministries and they want to support them. It’s never been easier to bypass the local church when giving. Add to that the reality that denominational loyalty is at an all-time low.

So, is it a lost cause? Absolutely not, but we can no longer assume that people need us for their external giving. We need to “earn” the engagement of the flock. I know this can feel like an unpleasant shift from the past, but it doesn’t have to be one. It just means that we’ll have to work harder as we communicate God’s vision for the world, the church’s part in that vision, and how and why each person should sacrificially participate.

After all, what we really want is to see those people we’re discipling grow in their generosity as it relates to what God is doing in the world. We can do this when we properly seek to influence rather than control.

5. Everything is called missions.

This one could definitely be a book, and admittedly, it could sound a bit elitist, but it’s not. Around 100 years ago, Anglican Bishop, Stephen Neill, wrote these words: “If everything is mission—nothing is mission.” Well-meaning pastors often tell their church members that they’re missionaries to their city. Youth pastors tell their students that they’re missionaries on their campuses. Trust me, I get what they mean, and I agree 100 percent with the idea behind it.

I’ve communicated in churches for over 30 years that just as God has sent me to the Middle East to reach Muslims, he has placed you where you are to reach your neighbors. However, they aren’t the same thing. Neither one is better than the other. There’s no A Team or B Team in the kingdom. But there are differences. We’re all mandated to be gospel witnesses, but we aren’t all evangelists. We’re all called to demonstrate care for the body of Christ, but not everyone is a pastor.

The primary purpose of missions is to take the gospel to places and people where it isn’t. It isn’t about lostness—it’s about access. That requires sending (our part) and going (the part of those we send to reach the nations). It also requires training, a certain skill set, and a unique calling.

I’ve put out several campfires, but that doesn’t make me a fireman. I don’t give up the comfort of my bedroom to sleep in a room with a bunch of snoring men and women. I don’t get roused from my sleep in the middle of the night by a screeching alarm so that I can climb into uncomfortable clothes to go help people I don’t know. I don’t train every day so I can carry heavy equipment. I haven’t studied the best approaches to extinguishing fires. And, most importantly, I have never, not one time, run into a blazing building to save someone’s life or property.

This one’s personal for me. While I used to be a missionary, I no longer am. Honestly, that hurts a bit to say, but it’s the truth. Even though I travel a lot with my current role, I’m a supporter. Missionaries are those who go—and stay. The rest of us get the privilege of sending them.

6. There’s a growing trend to move away from long-term missions.

This one is certainly a challenge. Why is this such a big deal? The big deal relates to our desired outcome—the discipling of the nations. This takes deep cultural engagement, and that takes a long time to obtain. It takes years to learn a local language and culture. Some estimate that it takes up to seven years to become a productive missionary.

While the total number of global missionaries is holding steady, that number can be a bit deceiving as it includes both career and short-term missionaries. Over the past couple of decades, sending organizations have seen a drop in the number of career missionaries and an increase in short-term workers. While I am a proponent of these shorter-term assignments, they are generally only productive if they turn into some form of long-term engagement. Unfortunately, most don’t.

There is also the issue of short-term teams. Here’s a simple approach that you might want to use as you think through where and how to send teams.

•    Prioritize places where the church does not exist or is very weak. The first would require visiting a missionary or missionary team. The second option requires feedback from someone familiar enough with the work on the field to make sure that in your efforts to help, you aren’t taking away the right, responsibility, and privilege of the local church to trust God rather than you for the meeting of their needs.
•    If you are going to send a team to a place where the church is strong, limit your engagement to one that seeks to partner with the local church to reach an unreached people near their context.
•    It is understandable that most missions trips focus on places that are close, as that lowers the financial costs and limits travel time. However, most of those places have strong national churches. As mentioned above, we must be careful that in our desire to help, we don’t end up hurting the maturation process of the local church. If you do end up leading trips to one of these places where the church is strong, you might want to consider an approach that uses the trip as an example of what God has done in one place and might want to do in another. After all, that place with a strong national church was once a mission field, and God wants to turn today’s mission field into a mission force.
•    Finally, be sure to not only prepare your people before the trip but process with them what God wants from them after they return. Otherwise, the potential value of the trip is lost.

7. A move toward holistic missions.

I think this is a great trend. What is meant by wholistic missions? Missions organizations and missionaries have wrestled with the word vs. deed dilemma for generations. Biblical holism acknowledges that while God wants us to preach the gospel, he also wants to see the gathered redeemed bring about life and community transformation wherever they are. To quote one missional spokesperson, “God cares about all human suffering—especially eternal, spiritual suffering.” So, while we give priority to the spiritual, we acknowledge that when God’s reign shows up in a community, it should bring change to every part of life.

Here’s a brief understanding of wholistic ministry. The Bible identifies four specific relations that were damaged in the Fall. They are 1) man’s relationship with God, 2) man’s relationship with himself, 3) man’s relationship with his neighbor, and 4) man’s relationship with his environment. Colossians 1:20 and 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 point out that God is currently (“in Christ”) reconciling all things back to himself.

There are two important things to notice here. First, God is reconciling “all things” back to himself—not just people. While the restoration of people back to their Father through Christ’s redeeming work on the cross is paramount, it is not exclusive. God is actively involved through his people in the restoration of all areas of brokenness. Finally, note that God “is” involved in this reconciliation. His activity is current—not simply future. So, while God will complete this restoration when he sets up his kingdom on earth, he is currently engaged in this work of restoration through his people as we live in the “already but not yet” of the kingdom.

8. A return to pioneering.

The Church began as a pioneering movement. Our spiritual parents planted churches at home and abroad with an intense Holy Spirit-enabled zeal. So, the advent of new initiatives focusing on church planting among the unreached is really a return to our spiritual roots.

9. Cause-driven vs. cross-driven?

We live in a cause-driven world. Some causes are good. Some even have eternal significance. Clean water, the elimination of the sex trade, remedying illiteracy, and poverty alleviation are all great causes. Many of these even have strong biblical support. So, what could possibly be wrong with that? In short, nothing. However, they all have something in common: None of them require gospel engagement.

The United Nations and hundreds of secular groups around the world are engaged in these causes. And I want to give credit where credit is due. Many of these organizations do a good job, but none of them address the heart of the problem—the sin that’s bound up in the human heart. Likewise, causes come and go in a social media-driven world. So, while these causes may be good, they won’t be great if we don’t keep them tethered to the cross.

10. The rise in a global view of missions.

There is a rise in what many refer to as “developing world missions.” This may be the greatest development to hit the missions world since….well, since ever! This is the understanding that the Great Commission belongs to the believers of every country, people, and language. Churches around the world are growing in their understanding that from day one, they are called to missions.

God is helping many of these churches to boldly embrace the concept that they are no longer simply a mission field. They have the potential to be a missions force.

Mark Renfroe married his college sweetheart, Amy, with whom he has four adult children—one girl and three boys. The Renfroes have been involved in field missions work for 30 years. They served in the Arab community of San Francisco for four years before becoming foreign missionaries in 1995. Mark was asked to serve as the Area Director for Assemblies of God World Missions in 2007. As part of his role, he led missionaries and interfaced with national church leaders in the 18 countries of the Arab World. In 2017, Mark created Reaching Africa’s Muslims, an initiative to mobilize, equip, and deploy indigenous African missionaries to reach Muslims on the continent. Mark has graduate degrees in Intercultural Studies and Executive Leadership. He currently serves as the Chief Missions Officer for World Challenge in Colorado Springs.