The Methodology

---

We believe the totality of the Great Commission was given to the corporate church, not to individual Christians as individuals.  Discipleship making, therefore, is a corporate body responsibility. The  responsibility is appropriated by Christ to individuals, yes, but as  members of the local church in accordance with their measure of gifting  and graces. The single mother of three does not have Great Commission  expectations laid upon her that she is not physically capable of carrying out, that a single man, for example, may in fact be capable of  doing. However, in the large scope of the fulfillment of the Great  Commission, this single mother may take part in the Great Commission by  doing what she is enabled to do, just as faithfully as the single man,  in our example. Together, we as a church make disciples. (Rom. 12:3, 6; 15:15; 1 Cor. 3:10; 12:7-8; Gal. 2:9; Eph. 3:2, 7-8; 4:7; Jas 1:5; 2 Pet. 3:15) 

We believe that by concentrating on making disciples, we equip our members to focus on the simple (though not easy) task of making disciples by the initial responsibility of sharing their testimony and the gospel  with unbelievers, rather than the complex task of the final work of planting churches, which belongs to the corporate church as a whole. By focusing on making disciples through personal evangelism, individual Christians—as individuals—are  not made to feel alone in their participation in the Great Commission by  having the Great Commission’s fulfillment unduly pressed upon their individual conscience. (Matt. 28; Acts 14:21) 

We believe that because of the extremely difficult and demanding task of making disciples, some churches have sought to labor to construct church services in place of laboring to make disciples.  Because of our natural proclivity to avoid confrontation, rejection,  and the reproach of Christ—circumstances often associated with  commanding people, through the Gospel, to repent and believe on  Christ—many have sought to take the path of least resistance by  sidestepping these difficulties and offenses all together by simply  reverting to the process of starting a new church service in a chosen locale in place of making new disciples. However, this inversion of process is guilty of mistaking the shell for the kernel.  Sadly, the motto of some American churches is: If you “build it” they  will come. In light of this departure from biblical missions, we resolve  firstly to labor for the kernel rather than the shell. By prioritizing the prime-product of making disciples we trust that the byproduct of organized established local churches who gather for worship will  have its proper place. We desire to see healthy churches planted through  new converts. (The witness of the entire Book of Acts) 

We believe that the local church, rightly ordered and rightly understood, is the missionary society and a sending agency. The church may wisely utilize mission societies or mission sending agencies, but not at the cost of ceasing to be one  itself. The church must be discriminate in this utilization lest she  forgo her responsibility of being the sending entity and authority of  her missionaries and their ministry. Thus, missionaries properly  originate from, are overseen by, and are accountable to the local  church. (Acts 9:30-31; 11:22, 26-27, 30; 12:25; 13:1-5; 14:26-28;  15:3-4, 40-41) 

We believe that missionaries are sent ones of the local church who cross linguistic and/or cultural boundaries for  the purpose of evangelism and making disciples, unto the eventual  establishment of local churches, and all this ultimately for the purpose  of worship. In a day and age where the common motto in the church is  often, “Every Christian is a Missionary,” we want to stand on the firm  example and definition of a biblical missionary. It is true that a great  many of wonderful godly men and women have gone to the nations engaged  in incredible work and witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, many of whom  have been used by God and have become great examples of a life well  spent in the service of our Savior, many of which have born the title missionary and  have been considered historically as such. However, with great respect  and gratefulness for these servants, we will endeavor, nonetheless, to  jealously guard the term missionary in order to preserve its biblical scope and function—preaching and  teaching the Gospel. Compassion and mercy ministries are a good and  natural fruit of the Christian life, and a missionary may naturally  engage in such service at times and as he sees fit, but it is secondary  to gospel ministry and is not in and of itself the primary work of a  sent missionary. (Ps. 67:4, 96:2; Hab. 2:14; Rom. 10:13-15; 2 Cor.  8:22-23; the witness of the entire Book of Acts—particularly Acts  13:1-4)

We believe that because missionaries are Gospel heralds, who are sent to preach  and teach, and this being the work of an elder, missionaries therefore  ought to be mature men who exemplify the New Testament elder  qualifications. However, this does not mean that the church cannot send  out additional men and women that are gifted Christian workers who work  in a foreign context or even directly aid the ministry of established  missionaries. The Apostle Paul often had co-laborers with him who did  not have the same gift as he did. They were a great and invaluable  service to him, and to the Lord’s work. (Acts 13:5; 2 Cor. 8:22-23; Eph.  4:11-16) 

We believe that  Jesus Christ has given to the church certain gifted men who serve to  equip the saints through the qualified office of the  eldership/overseership—some as apostles, some as prophets, some as  evangelists, some as pastors, and some as teachers—in order to build the  superstructure upon the successfully laid foundation of the apostles  and the prophets—these two gifts having ceased, being revelatory and  being mentioned by themselves in Eph. 2:20. (Matt. 24:14, 28:18; Mk.  16:15; Acts 21:8; Rom 10:13-15; 2 Cor. 8:23; Eph. 2:20, 4:11-16; 1 Tim.  3:1-7; 2 Tim. 4:5; Titus 1:1-9; 1 Pet. 5:1-2)