Those who try to promote Global Mission in a church need to spend time thinking honestly about what their church is like. Many people have a rosy picture of their church and imagine it as they would like it to be. Others have a too negative attitude to their church because of disappointments or bad experiences.
There are a number of factors that influence the way a church does mission, which might help you better understand your church. Unless you understand your church you will not be able to effectively develop a global mission interest.
Size
Big churches have advantages. There are more people to get involved, the resources are more numerous, the budget is bigger and there is usually more staff. They can take on bigger challenges and contemplate more significant projects.
But they also have problems. Some people never get involved. They have a large fringe and communication can be very difficult. A larger percentage of people in bigger churches won’t know who the mission partners are and where they work. Smaller churches are easier to influence, but need to be much more focussed if they are going to make a significant difference.
How does the size of your church, affect the way it does and understands global mission?
Denominational Links
Many Baptist churches have traditional links to the BMS. Anglicans have similar links to CMS or Crosslinks or CMJ. Sometimes these links work out well but not necessarily so.
Problems often arise when older members of the congregation are very denominationally loyal and believe that the church’s responsibility is to support a particular society, when the bulk of the congregation have moved on. If you are a denominational church with links to a denominational agency, what are the positive and negative influences of those links?
Theological Emphasis
Does your church fit into a particular ‘theological tribe’ in the church scene and how does that effect the way you do mission?
It may affect the way you understand mission. See the GPG 2.1 - Are you well to the proclamation end of the spectrum?
Your church’s understanding of the end times could have considerable effect on mission. If you are a strongly pre-millennial church, then it could well have strong influences on your understanding of the place of Israel today and that may well have an effect on your mission to the Muslim World.
Leadership’s Ability and Style
This obviously affects everything, but that includes mission. Does the leadership in your church, lead or follow? Does it try to keep the peace wherever possible or does it have a clear idea of what it believes God wants the church to do?
There is little point in the ‘mission committee’ wanting to lead the church in a certain direction if they will not get the backing of the leadership or if the leaders want to take the church somewhere else. What is the leadership structure in the church? Does the leadership team rely on house-group leaders or other group leaders to give a lead? How does the leadership control the communication in your church? How do people hear about things? How is the vision communicated?
So how does the way your church is led influence the way it does mission?
Catchment Area
A church that is situated in Bradford, Small Heath, Birmingham or East London is going to have a particular view on mission. If there is a mosque across the road from the church, that will affect the mission of the church – maybe positively, possibly negatively. It is difficult to ignore such a situation. It may be accepted as a brilliant God-given opportunity and the church may reach out and befriend many Muslims, both here and also in the country from which they come. Alternatively the church might become very fearful and defensive.
If your church is located in a very white, middle-class, English rural situation, where you never see anyone from another culture, that will influence your view of mission. People’s experiences of other cultures will be second hand and that will affect how your church gets involved in mission. Growing, Holding its own, Declining
Whether your church is getting bigger or smaller will affect the way it thinks about mission. A declining church often gets into survival mode and becomes very defensive. In churches that are growing very fast, the leadership is often in survival mode because there is so much going on.
Understanding your Church
These factors will influence the way your church thinks about global mission. Can you think of any others?
It is important to understand your church. There are some things that you can’t change – there is no point in trying. Some things are built into the DNA of your church. Other things and attitudes you can work with others to change over time. A few things can be changed more quickly with decisive leadership, but do you have the leadership that can do that?
First displayed: January 2011
