Introduction
The publication on missions by Andy Johnson proposes how churches can grow by leveraging global and community missions. Churches are assigned a unique Antioch-type role to spread the gospel given by God. The author contends that the Bible provides the foundation for how churches should organize and conduct missions. Although missions involve material care, they are basically spiritual since God guides them.1 It is God’s will that Churches undertake missions on his terms since all glory and power belong to him. The processes involved in a mission described by the author include selecting missionary care, selecting missions, and developing healthy partnerships.
Summary
In his book “How the Local Churches Goes Global,” Andy Johnson describes how missions build healthy churches. The organization of missions is critical for successful and productive mission operations. It is also important that the mission pioneers be disciplined, servant-minded, and passionate about the mission. Through trust and humility, the partnership between local church organizations enables successful global missions and brings glory to Christ. Therefore, Christians must uphold and invest in missions to strengthen churches and execute God’s will.
Critical Evaluation
Missions at community and global scales should encompass long-term insights. Short-term missionary operations should have long-term objectives to benefit missionaries and local believers. Local churches form the basis of missions and should cooperate to fulfill the biblical obligation of spreading the gospel.2 Global missions should be organized at the grassroots level of local churches to reach needy communities. God gives instructions to churches on how to coordinate local and global missions in the Bible.
Members of a ministry are a vital part of a mission; hence they should have the necessary passion, interest, and motivation. The role of missions is to preach to the sinners what God has done to them through Christ. The sinful deserve punishment under God’s wrath, yet sins are forgiven due to God’s mercy. The punishment subjected to Jesus absorbed our sins through death and commanded us to trust in him after the resurrection. Therefore, the gospel in the missions should save people from sin and encourage them to trust in Christ. Christians should know, develop passion, and reflect on the gospel when executing missions.
Missionaries are individuals sent out by local churches to spread the gospel, serve and strengthen churches. Missionaries should be self-initiated and courageous to execute the roles of ministry organizations effectively. According to Johnson, the book of 3 John 1-8 gives the basic guidelines of how missionaries are shaped.3 The suggestions underpinned from the verse support that missions and missionaries are normal, coordinated between local ministries, and knowing who deserves the support. The support offered in missions should be plentiful to ensure missionaries lack nothing motivated by the love for Christ’s glory. The church should focus on successful missionaries in their practice by evaluating their competence, work ethic, and character. Moreover, speed, numbers, and shortcuts should be observed during performance assessment to avoid tragic results in missions.
Trust and humility are essential in building healthy mission partnerships. Trust and humility are correlated since trust is the soil in which humility grows best. Missionaries should not be selective but rather have confidence in the partners they collaborate with. Missions should be reformed to avoid frequent pitfalls such as disconnection of the mission from the missionary. There are many methods to engage other nations in a mission, such as through soccer clubs, international hospitality, and communication with people.
Conclusion
Andy Johnson suggests how churches can engage in healthy and efficient short-term missions. Developing passion for the mission at individual and organizational capacity is the first step in arranging a successful mission. The structural management of missions impacts the missions’ diversity, inclusivity, support, and initiative. God has directed us to bring nations together through missions to glorify his name. Mission relationships that are healthy are service-minded, led by the clergy, long-term oriented, congregation-wide and centered on commitment.
Bibliography
Johnson, Andy. Missions: How the local church goes global. Crossway, 2017. Web.
Footnotes
- 1 Johnson, Andy. Missions: How the local church goes global. Crossway, 2017.
- 2 Johnson, Missions, 26, 2017.
- 3 Johnson, Missions, 40, 2017.