Biblical Mission Means Sending Out Biblical Missionaries

This is the third of four posts from Peter Schild (translated by Michael T. Schmid) which together constitute his booklet The Church and Missions.

‘As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.’
Acts 13:2-3

God Himself, the Holy Spirit, answered their praying and fasting. He probably spoke through the mouth of those prophets when He said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Just imagine what this must have meant for the church: they had to send away two of their best men! But this did not come as a surprise to the church. It was evident to all that these two men would be worth considering for missionary service. For a long time, these two men had already been a team and their ministry had been a great blessing to many. It was clear to all that the hand of the Lord was upon them.

When we take a look at Acts 11, we read about their joint work beginning in verse 25: ‘Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.’ He wanted Paul to be useful in the church. ‘So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.’ This passage talks about these two men who for more than a whole year had proved themselves to be faithful teachers in the church and taught many. They were a team and this was evident to all. They were a great blessing throughout that whole year.

And then something else happened – we read this later in chapter 11: The church received a prophetic revelation that there would be a famine. Therefore, the Christians collected money for the believers in Judea to help them and assist them in this difficult time. And who was sent out to deliver the money? We read in verse 30, ‘This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.’ These two men had proved themselves to be faithful as a team. They had served for over a year as teachers in the church and had been a blessing to many. They had been teaching a great many people. These were men who had proved themselves to be faithful to such a great degree that they were even entrusted with all of the money. There was no thought that they would take it for themselves. These were faithful men, seasoned teachers of the church, who had stood the test. Therefore it is not surprising that the Holy Spirit then said: ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul!’ It was no surprise. The lives of these men had previously shown that these were men of God who were among those most useful for the church. Their qualification and their calling were evident to all.

So we see that the church was called to send out some of its best men. It was not to send those who it could somehow do without. It was called to send out some of its best men, because biblical mission work means: a biblical church sending out biblically qualified preachers to proclaim the gospel in other places – men who have proved themselves to be faithful in their teaching and in their lives, men who know the Word of God and have proclaimed it. The mission field needs preachers of the Word who have proved themselves in a church to be orthodox, able to teach, and faithful. Yes, it is also good to send out doctors, Bible translators and teachers who might teach people to read and write. A missionary can be supported in many ways, but the spearhead of missions is the missionary who is a faithful teacher of God’s Word. We are speaking about men who are biblically qualified and who have been sent out by a church in order to plant churches, men who one would actually want to appoint as elders in the church because they are qualified, men whose lives and teaching satisfy God’s demands according to His holy Word. We cannot allow ourselves to make lower demands on missionaries, as though missionary service were somehow a lesser ministry compared to the ministry of elders in the church.

Is the basic prerequisite for becoming a missionary to have studied theology?

Everywhere in our country, in big cities, there are young men who have not been trained, who are not firm in faith, who have not proven themselves as faithful in a biblical church, who have not been sent out by a biblical church. They simply went to Bible school or to a seminary, and then they send themselves. They simply decided for themselves to now become a preacher. No church had any say in this. But is the basic prerequisite for becoming a missionary to have studied theology? You must have learned to be faithful, to be a member of a biblical church under the oversight of biblical elders who speak into your life. You must have proven to them that you are faithful in little things. Then the Lord will also place you over greater things.

But our country is full of young men who ‘play’ church, who say, ‘Oh, we want to reinvent church!’, who say, ‘It is cool to plant churches.’ The kingdom of God is no playground for people to run around and try things out. It is not about experiments, it is not about adventure. The church is the blood-bought bride of Christ. One does not play around with her.

Church planting and biblical missions are the work of proven men who have been sent out by a biblical church – men who have proven themselves to be faithful and able to proclaim God’s Word, who have been evaluated and commissioned by a church that follows the biblical guidelines. However, there also are men who believe that they do not need any of this, because God supposedly spoke to them. God somehow laid it on their heart to become missionaries. Why would one then still need the authority of a local church?

Have you noticed who is included in this list of men? The apostle Paul! He had a personal encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord called him to be the apostle to the nations. Have you noticed that Paul did not simply make his way? One actually might expect this to have been the case. But what happened in the previous years? Paul, you have been called by the Lord Jesus Christ – why don’t you just go then? But he does not go. In God’s providence, he first comes to a church, and in the list of men he is named last – an apostle, last of all! He first had to learn to serve with humility and to preach the Word in a church context. And only then he was sent out, when he had proven himself to be useful in the church. He waited until the Holy Spirit spoke through the church and sent him out.

Who do you think you are? How can you think about bypassing the church of Jesus and simply being a self-proclaimed missionary? The apostle Paul was sent out by a church. This is what biblical missions looks like: A biblical church sends out biblically qualified men concerning whom all in the church were sure that the Spirit had called and enabled them. Look at their lives and their ministry: These are faithful men, servants of the Word. These are men whom one would prefer to keep and appoint as elders, because it is clear that they would be such a benefit to the church. These are men who are trusted, because one knows that they do the work that is necessary – this difficult work that is required to plant a church at another location.

This is exactly what this church at Antioch did: It sent out some of its best men – and this surely was painful! Do you believe this was easy for the church? Certainly not. But they were willing to let some of their very best men go – men who had contributed so much to the ministry and who were such a great blessing. You see, sending churches must be prepared to not seek their own good. For the glory of God and for the salvation of the lost, they must say to their most important men: Go, we send you! We will make this sacrifice!

The church at Antioch was completely committed to God’s words. In Acts 13:3 we read that they laid hands on Barnabas and Paul. In doing so, they were saying, ‘We as a church are sending you according to the Word of the Lord. We are completely committed, not half-hearted. The Spirit is sending you and we are completely committed to this.’ Take note of what they do here again. We have seen it already in verse 2: ‘As they ministered to the Lord and fasted.’ And then in verse 3, in connection with their laying hands upon Barnabas and Saul, we read again, ‘Then, having fasted and prayed…’ They truly were a church of fasting and prayer, because they knew that what was happening here was a work of the Lord. It must happen in His power. In fact, it only can happen in His power.

Again: Biblical missions is based on prayer. Mission work is prayer work. It is a work of the Lord. It is the Holy Spirit who calls and enables missionaries. It is the Holy Spirit who sends out missionaries through His church.

We read further in verse 4, ‘So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia.’ Missions is the concern of the Spirit. He Himself equips men. He prepares them for the hard work of missions that requires proven men who have been formed by the Spirit for this ministry. It is a work of the Spirit. But for what purpose? What is the goal of missions?

This is the question we will address in the fourth and final article.

Peter Schild is a pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Baptist Church of Frankfurt. One more instalment of Peter’s booklet will appear here on the Banner of Truth website in the coming two weeks. 

Featured image (visible when article shared on social media) by Christian Papaux on Unsplash. 

First German edition, 2022. Original German title: Gemeinde und Mission. Translated by Michael T. Schmid. All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.