About six years ago, and as a new pastor, I sat down and thought through what a Biblical philosophy of missions should look like.  To be honest, within the first few weeks as pastor our phone rang off its hook with future missionaries seeking support.  I knew that we could not possibly support them all, even at one dollar per month.  So, I set out to establish what our philosophy of missions would be.  Above all else, we wanted our philosophy to reflect the New Testament approach to Christian Missions. 

Since writing this philosophy, we have sent it to each missionary we currently support, and we send it to every missionary who approaches us for support.  Our desire in this is to communicate our goals and standards, and to give a Scriptural basis for taking on new missionaries for support.  I share it with you now in order to lay some ground work for what we feel is a Biblical starting point for missions.  I have not added to or taken away from anything in this published philosophy over the past few years, nor did I change anything for this post.  Perhaps it is time it were edited.  Perhaps not.  Feel free to make any comments as you wish.

as established by Pastor Dave Mallinak.

Christian historians have noticed that in the beginning days of our country, Christian ministries grew very gradually, and the quality of society and its civil government mirrored that growth. Since those early years in our nation’s history, however, this pattern has changed. We are now experiencing a literal explosion in “Christian ministry,” yet the quality of our society and civil government not only does not reflect this growth, but has actually moved in the opposite direction. What has happened?

Even to the casual observer, the Christian ministries of today are woefully inadequate at addressing even the simplest problems of our society. Why? Is sin so much greater than God? Is God unable to empower His people for His work any more? Or has the salt lost its savor? Are we really forced to follow along behind the world, kicking, screaming, condemning, and then imitating all their methods? The reason so many ministries are powerless against the world is because they are not truly against the world. “He that is not with me is against me” (Matthew 12:30), and no ministry is with Christ if their methods contradict God’s Word. For too long, Christians have made decisions based on tradition and convenience rather than a thorough examination of the Word of God. Unfortunately, missions, and mission boards in particular, have been guilty. Many a good missionary has yoked himself to a para-church mission board, only to find that oxen do not plough very well with a donkey strapped to their side. They may get the job done, but the team is sure hard to handle.

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You see the question above.  What do you think?  I would think that most of you would answer:  No.  God will not accept something unscriptural.  If it is unscriptural, then it doesn’t please Him.  Lots comes to mind, but let’s start with Hebrews 11:6 that “without faith, it is impossible to please Him.”   We are sanctified by the truth, not our feelings or opinions (John 17:17).   God is Holy.  I think of Caan.  God didn’t accept his well-meant labor.  Nor did God accept Saul’s early sacrifices or Uzzah’s touching the Ark.  Salvation itself is exclusive—”no man cometh unto the Father but by” Him (John 14:6) and “neither is there salvation in any other” than Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).  Many will say a whole bunch of things, but Christ will say He never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23).  Christ didn’t come to bring peace but a sword.  He’s a Divider.  He separates the sheep from the goats, the tares from the wheat.  We give God a lot of leniency where He doesn’t actually have it.

He’s longsuffering.  That’s for sure.  He’s merciful.  Definitely.  But He doesn’t accept the work that is done our way.  That’s wood, hay, and stubble (1 Corinthians 3).  Our labor is not in vain in Him (1 Corinthians 15:58).  Everything else is vain though.  He keeps giving us opportunities to get it right, but we have to get it right.  Everything we do should be regulated by Scripture and especially worship.  I mean, God will use His Word.  He will bless through His Word.  He even uses evil nations in His Divine Providence.  That doesn’t mean He accepts what they do.  You know all of that.  So…..

That brings me to a major application.  Does God accept what people are doing through unscriptural organizations?  Christ started the church and gave it His authority (Matthew 16:18, 19).  I know this is controversial, but I would rather you think of it as loving.  I hope you can assume that is how I mean it.  We don’t have a Scriptural basis to think that we can do it our way and have God accept it.  We shouldn’t think that we can add something to what God said and that He, the Perfect, Infiinte, All-Wise, Immutable God, will see that as permissible.  That we survive doing it for many years is not evidence that God is fine with it.

Think about the Wilds, Bill Rice Ranch, Bob Jones, Maranatha, Ironwood, Baptist World Mission, and more.  These are places that in most cases say that they are supplementing the church, aiding the church, going alongside the church to encourage and strengthen.  Those phrases sound nice.  At least for the cause of syrupy sentimentalism, perhaps I should just go along for the ride.  However, think of how offensive it is.  God has a way, but wooooaaaa, look out, this man, this hunk of flesh, this finite thing of depravity has a better way than God.  I can aid His way, supplement it.  He needs my help, like Judah needed Egypt.  God doesn’t need man initiated, man concocted institutions.  They will get in the way even if I can’t give you twenty reasons how they do.  They are a problem even if you can list a dozen ways that they “help.”

Our church or I don’t use any of these organizations.  I don’t endorse them.  I don’t push anyone in their direction.  I don’t want to encourage their existence any more than I want to push for the public school system.  The best a university like BJU (from where my wife graduated) can be is a better version than Clemson, another South Carolina school.  I don’t give any credit to their faculty or staff for doing “Christian service” there.  That would undermine and devalue what the Bible says about Christian service.  They cannot truly “make disciples.”  They don’t aid in the cause of sanctification.  How can one sanctify in an unscriptural way?

I do believe that God uses these people.  That doesn’t justify what they do.  God uses everyone in some way.  I believe He uses some people more than others and sometimes based upon the degree of Scripturality that they live.  I am not casting out everything they do.  Whenever they obey God’s Word, that’s good.  Whatever they do through a church—great!  They do get in the way of imparting a Scriptural model.   They do damage.

You might feel sorry for these people right now.  You might think that they deserve more respect.  Let’s together respect God and think about what He deserves.   We should delight ourselves in the Lord, not in our ways and not in our own understanding.

Let’s get the discussion going.