ABC's of Missions

The Relationship Between the Missionaries and the National Church

Introduction:  The indigenous principle teaches that mission work should never be done in a way that creates unnecessary dependence of the national church on foreign workers or foreign funds.  Missionaries should never do for the national church what it can and should be doing for itself.  Our desire to bless the church with our financial power may actually weaken the church, delay its maturing and damage its long term ability to function on its own.

Above all, the national church should support its own preachers and leaders financially.  Few practices have brought more grief and conflict into mission programs or weakened the national churches more than support of national preachers with foreign funds.  It seems logical in human wisdom to multiply preachers through foreign support, and this makes for impressive statistics on conversions, but it weakens the church in the long term.  Congregations of the early church were expected to support their own leaders and teachers from the beginning - Acts 6:4; Galatians 6:6; Philippians 4:14-16; 2 Corinthians 11:7-9; Acts 18:1-5; 1 Timothy 5:17,18; 2 Timothy 2:3-7; 1 Corinthians 9:1-14, especially verse 12.

Reasons for not supporting national church workers with foreign funds:

1.         It weakens and retards the national church spiritually.

A.         Christ taught that the issue of the love of money must be decided at the very beginning of following him - Matthew 6:21-24; 19:16-24.

B.         Maturity is in loving and giving - Acts 20:25; Ephesians 5:25.

C.         When we support leaders for the national church, we take away the test Christ gave to God's people in his time to determine their acceptance or rejection of the kingdom - Luke 10:1-12.

D.         Christians in poorer countries are not exempt from supporting their own workers.  Many New Testament Christians lived on an economic level like that of less developed countries today - Matthew 20:2; 2 Corinthians 8:1-5; Luke 16:10.

E.         Ten heads of families giving each a tenth of his income, can support a preacher at their own economic level, great or small.

2.         Foreign support attracts mercenaries to the ministry.  (This is not to say that every national worker who has been on foreign support is mercenary in his motives, but we who are rich have little understanding of how overwhelming the appeal of even a little money can be in a destitute country.)  Many poorer countries are full of independent or break away church leaders who offer to put their group of churches under your ministry if you will put the leader on salary.  Often such offers are made without even discussing doctrinal agreement.

3.         Foreign support creates destructive envy among nationals and bitterness toward the missionaries among those not supported or who want more.

4.         Foreign support takes away some of the openness and freedom in the relationship between the national leader and the missionary and makes it artificial.  In a poorer country, emotions over a little money can be intense.  Once money enters the relationship, the national worker may fear to be completely open with the missionary lest he lose his support.  Thus the missionary may not be able to  know the national as well and surely as he would have.

5.         American support centers the minds of people on the material benefits of the missionary's presence, rather than on the spiritual benefits.

6.         Such support often creates a professional concept of the ministry, rather than a servant concept.

7.         It makes the national preacher independent of the churches he is working with and lessens his accountability to them, leading to possible abuse of his authority.

8.         Only the national church can know best which workers are truly worthy of support.

9.         Foreign support greatly delays the time when the national church will be willing to assume the support of its own workers.

It is better, in the light of these truths, never to start supporting national church workers with foreign funds.  The missionaries should kindly but steadfastly point the national Christians to the scriptures, teaching them from the beginning what Christ expects of them.

If foreign support has already begun, some missionaries have worked out an agreement with the national church to decrease the foreign support by steps over a given period, letting the national church gradually assume the burden.

Conclusion:  The natural thing is for missionaries to keep all the responsibility because of its glory.  The natural thing is for the nationals to let the missionaries carry the burden for them as long as possible.  In either case it is the weakness of the flesh at work.  Both missionaries and nationals must recognize it and deal with it with Christ's help.  May God help us to choose and faithfully follow the higher and more difficult road that leads to spiritual maturity in the national church.

© by G.B. Shelburne, III (except for any graphics and scripture quotations).  May be reproduced for non-profit, non-publishing instructional purposes provided document content is not altered and this copyright notice is included in full.  Format may be altered.  South Houston Bible Institute, 14325 Crescent Landing, Houston, TX 77062-2178, U.S.A., telephone 281-090-8899, email <shbi@shbi.org>, web site <www.shbi.org>.  Scriptures, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE:  NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION © 1978 and 1984 by the New York International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.  Some courses available via Distance Learning.