4 Ways Busy Pastors Can Engage in Missions

Anna Price • Jul 25, 2019

Yes, you want your church to engage in missions.

But you also want to get home before 9 p.m. at least one day this week, right?

As a pastor, you likely have a long to-do list and are an expert at balancing priorities . As one mentor told me when I first became a children’s pastor, “It’s all about spinning plates, and most weeks, you are deciding which plate is OK to fall and break.”

While most pastors would agree they want their church to engage in missions, it’s easy for missions to become an afterthought or goal for after things are taken care of here.

But if we truly believe God has called the church to send missionaries , how can a busy pastor practically arrange their time and schedule to help the church engage in missions?

Missions is not a program, it’s the purpose.

When Bradley Bell first became lead pastor at Antioch Church in Louisville, Kentucky, the church knew they were hiring the guy who literally wrote the book (under pen name Zach Bradley) on what it means to be a sending church.

Bradley Bell headshot

Bradley Bell is the lead pastor at Antioch Church and the author of the book The Sending Church Defined.

After sending of 25 percent of their congregation out to be missionaries, though, Bell saw a church that had said yes to many missions opportunities without truly taking the truth of the Gospel to heart. In short, the church was tired .

The church’s missions program was thriving, but the 75 percent of the church not on the mission field wasn’t equipped to engage in practical evangelistic or discipleship conversations with their neighbors.

For an entire year, Antioch called a Sabbath where they didn’t do any large outreaches or new programming. Instead, leaders saturated their congregation with the truth of the Gospel from the stage, in small groups and personal discipleship.

As the truth of the Good News took root in the members, God brought new believers into Antioch’s family through the efforts not of a church program, but through congregants personally sharing the Good News.

Three people talk together

Christians sharing the Gospel with people around them is often more impactful than any large outreach program.

If your church isn’t “doing” missions, the answer may not be to just start a missions committee or plan a trip. While adding events to the calendar can give the appearance of missions, it doesn’t mean your congregation understands their part in God’s story to the nations. Instead, use your leadership position to saturate your congregation with the truth of the Gospel and the privilege we have to join God in His mission.

Interested in helping your church understand God’s heart for the nations? Check out the Explore Workshop.

Look at how your mission statement applies to the nations.

As a former missionary himself, Bell took his heart for understanding culture into his role as lead pastor.

“The temptation when you’re the new guy is to scrap everything and start over,” Bell says, “but to me, if we want to honor this congregation, let’s build on the foundation that has been laid instead of importing a foreign culture or language.”

Bell looked at the church’s already established key identities for its members: eyewitnesses, disciples, worshippers, family and blessing. Looking at those identities, he saw there is a practical missional overflow for each one.

“A practical outworking of an eyewitness is evangelism, so we want to teach a simple, reproducible tool for sharing the Gospel,” Bell says. “The key is simple and reproducible. Why can’t we teach all of our members, men and women, young and old?”

A missionary sits and eats with a family

It’s important to create a missions strategy that is simple, reproducible and can be taught to people of all ages.

He repeated this process for the other identities, and the church is now spending half a year focusing on each one of their key identities. During that time, sermons, trainings and small groups will be focused on equipping each member to live out that identity both locally and globally.

Partner with other churches.

A huge joy in our Christian faith is that we are not in this alone. Likely, there are other churches in your area that also want to engage in missions!

Highland Baptist Church in Denton, Texas, wanted to plan a mission trip to help its members serve outside the church walls. Highland only has one full-time staff member and didn’t have a volunteer able to plan a trip from scratch.

Luckily, they connected with Semihan Church, a local Korean church who invited Highland to join them on their yearly mission trip to a local Indian reservation. Semihan Church had an established relationship, schedule and training, in which they graciously let Highland participate. By sharing their resources with Highland, they were able to help twenty new people get a small picture of cross-cultural service.

Missions agencies like TEAM can also help pastors with practical matters of sending — from helping you discern if someone is called to missions to offering cultural and fundraising training. Take advantage of the resources your missions agency can offer by contacting their church engagement staff!

Spend Time Overseas

Bell shares that if there was one piece of advice he would give to pastors, it would be to spend time serving overseas . He says, “It opens your eyes to a whole realm of God’s kingdom and missions you will never get in local church ministry.”

This may seem counterintuitive. After all, if you are busy, how can you take a week or even a month to visit a mission field?

A pastor goes on a short term mission trip and immerses himself in the culture.

Going on a short-term mission trip will help you to understand the importance of missions in a new way, and the perspective you gain will be well worth the time you spent.

But the impact of such a trip goes far beyond the actual time spent on the field . Bell shares, “My time overseas informs the diversity of people I am able to relate to. I have had to step out of my own worldview and enter into someone else’s,” something he never would have experienced had he only served in the States.

Pastors who visit missionaries and ministries on the field are able to more specifically pray and share with their congregation about the work their church is involved in . They get to learn how missionaries are engaging their local communities and share those insights with their home church.

For more information about Bradley Bell’s work helping churches engage in missions, check out The Upstream Collective. Bradley Bell is leading a pastor’s cohort for lead pastors looking to engage in missions. Check out their website to explore this great opportunity.

By Suzanne Pearson 08 Mar, 2024
Through God-ordained partnerships and creative connections, TEAM worker Keith Moore sees the global Church advancing in amazing ways. In the global missions landscape, a phrase that comes up often is “from everywhere, to everywhere.” God is calling His global Church in literal new directions, as He raises up cross-cultural workers to be sent from places that were once on the receiving end of missions work. We call this movement “polycentric sending.” TEAM workers Dawn and Keith Moore have seen first-hand this transition taking place. Their story involves the unlikely but beautiful intersection of Charlotte, North Carolina; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Memphis, Tennessee...and beyond. The Path to Honduras Keith and Dawn joined TEAM in 1991 and served as church planters for nine years in Bogota, Colombia. After safety concerns precipitated their return to the States in 1999, they knew they wanted to continue serving in Latin America. The Moores felt called to Honduras but wanted to connect with a strong missional church to help send them. The Lord orchestrated a collaboration with Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. “Some people asked, ‘Why Honduras? Missionaries have been there for 100 years. It’s already reached,’” Keith says. “But there’s a whole section of Latin America that had not been reached - the upper crust.” Keith goes on to explain that he and Dawn felt called to reach college-educated professionals in Honduras – a ministry vision that resonated with the missional goals of Bellevue Baptist. Impact and Growth With the support of this new church partnership as well as another sending church in Birmingham, Alabama, the Moores embarked on their next adventure. Keith and Dawn started Impacto Honduras Church from scratch, and in less than 20 years, the church grew into four locations with 1600 total members. The Moores and other TEAM workers also created a “Bible school” type training program to help professionals who feel a call to ministry to make that transition. Throughout this period of explosive growth, church partnerships played an integral role. “It’s such a different vision when you have a church that says, ‘OK, this is our deal, we want to make this happen,’” Keith explains. “They helped us with everything. They took away every single obstacle to growth. Every time we needed something, they were there.” In 2017, the Moores once again found themselves on the verge of another decision. Was it time to leave Honduras? “I had no desire to leave,” Keith recalls. “People were coming to Christ every week! It was just so amazing.” However, back in the U.S., Keith and Dawn’s parents were in their 80s and would soon be in need of more care. “We realized that either we would leave in a crisis, or we would leave strategically,” says Keith. The couple began to implement a careful succession plan. By the time they left, the four churches were established with strong, Honduran leadership ready to carry on the work of the Gospel.
By Suzanne Pearson 23 Feb, 2024
Justin Burkholder, pictured here with his wife Jenny and their daughters Isabella, Olivia, and Zoey, has recently been named as TEAM’s next International Director. On February 19, 2024, with much excitement and gratitude to the Lord, TEAM announced that Justin Burkholder will become our organization’s new International Director, effective July 1, 2024. Justin, who is currently TEAM’s Executive Director of Global Ministry, will assume his new role upon the retirement of the current International Director, Dave Hall. ( Read the full press release here. ) We sat down recently with Justin to learn a little more about his background, his family, and the journey that has led him to TEAM. Q: Tell us a little bit about your “origin story” - Where did you grow up? What was your family like? A: I grew up in Mexico City as a missionary kid. My parents were focused on church planting. We were very close as a family. Both of my parents are still alive, and my dad serves as a pastor in southern Florida. I have one brother who is a pastor in Wisconsin, and the most special individual in my family is my sister, Amber. She was born with a very severe case of cerebral palsy and is entirely dependent on my mother...who is extraordinary! The three most impactful forces that have shaped who I am (outside of God’s grace) are growing up in Mexico, having parents who loved and planted churches, and sharing life with someone with a severe disability. My parents belonged at the time to a church and denomination that came with quite a bit of legalism and performance-oriented Christianity. Grace was a challenging concept to grasp. While I had an awareness of my sin and need for redemption, it wasn’t until I attended Moody Bible Institute that I began to grasp the fullness of God’s grace and His delight in His children. I have continued learning and trusting in the Gospel through formal education, like completing my M.Div., and through spiritual practices in community. Learning the Gospel and believing the Gospel has been a daily exercise. The Gospel is as beautiful and multi-faceted as a diamond! At an individual level, it is simple enough for us to live convinced that “Jesus loves me, this I know.” At a corporate level, it becomes the foundation that forms and informs our life as a spiritual family. At a cosmic level, it is redemption that reaches as far as the curse is found. It is hard to even grasp the multiplicity of goodness found in the Good News. Q: Share a little bit about your family life now. What does a typical day look like in the Burkholder household? A: My wife Jenny is my high-school sweetheart! She brings joy and kindness wherever she goes. She’s the best listener I’ve ever met, and we love spending time together. We have three daughters. Isabella is ten, Olivia is seven, and Zoey is four. Each of the girls is unique and has taught us a lot in our process of following Jesus together. We like to go out on walks and go to the park together. Once a month I try to get some alone time with each of my daughters which usually includes bowling or trampolines. A typical day in the Burkholder house starts around 5:00am. Because of traffic here in Guatemala City, we have to leave early for school. After school, the girls come home to different activities - sometimes swimming class, sometimes piano lessons. Four or five nights a week we have dinner together where we usually talk about our high and low moments of the day. On weekends, we enjoy time together, playing outside, or watching sports together. Go Cubs and Go Buckeyes! Q: What are your interests and hobbies? If you have the day off, what are you likely to be up to? A: I enjoy physical activity, running, strength-training and following sports. I also love music and, truth be told, am a bit snobby about my taste in music! I also am a very curious person and love reading just about anything that passes through my hands. A day off is usually an opportunity for time with family. Jenny and I like to cook something interesting together on our days off. Often there is time for some reading and watching some type of athletic event. Q: How did God lead you to TEAM? A: My wife and I were working in the Chicago suburbs. I was a youth pastor and she was a Spanish teacher. When we got married, we had already sensed God’s direction to serve cross-culturally, but it was a matter of discerning when and where. There was a driving desire in me to see a church deeply love the Scriptures and at the same time, be deeply engaged in loving and serving their city and the most vulnerable among them. As God directed our paths, we visited a variety of places and made some friends in Guatemala who opened up the path for us to serve here. While we were exploring, we knew that the International Director of an organization called TEAM happened to go to our church, so I decided I should probably invite him out for breakfast - his name was Charlie Davis. Charlie was extremely thoughtful, passionate about disciple-making, and very gracious in creating space for us as we stepped into this endeavor. Charlie connected me with Steve Dresselhaus, a fellow TEAM global worker who was at that time serving as the Senior Director for the Americas. I cannot express the debt that I owe Steve. He walked closely with me in the transition, encouraged courageous thinking about the church and her role in society, and blasted open the doors for us to serve in Guatemala. After meeting Steve, we spent some days praying about joining TEAM. One thing I will never forget – one night during the process, I found myself wide awake in the middle of the night. A peace like I have seldom experienced passed over me confirming that we should join TEAM. There is no doubt in my mind that God tied all of these pieces together to bring us into the TEAM family and community. Q: What roles have you held in TEAM? What have been the milestones in those roles? A: The most important role I have held in TEAM is that of a global worker. God in His grace has allowed us to help plant two churches here in Guatemala, serve in leadership development, counseling, and discipleship. Our greatest joy has been found walking with those who are learning to follow Christ more deeply. I served as the Ministry Area Leader in Guatemala from 2016 to 2019. We helped to establish and lead this ministry area as it grew from just four global workers to over 15. I then served as Senior Director for Mexico and Central America from 2019 to 2021, Regional Executive Director for the Americas in 2021 and 2022, and then transitioned to the role of Executive Director of Global Ministry which I’ll continue in until the end of June. Q: What do you love most about being a part of TEAM? Why TEAM rather than other organizations or job opportunities? A: The TEAM community is full of people who have faithfully served God’s mission and have given up a lot to do so. It is a privilege to know many of our global workers and be counted among them. I am also fascinated by the fact that TEAM has existed now for more than 130 years! There is something to be said about the resilience and faithfulness of an organization that has continued to impact the world for so long. The rest of our conversation with Justin will be coming soon on blog! We’ll hear more about how God called Justin to the role of International Director, and what Justin sees for the next chapter in TEAM’s work in the global Church.
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