Last week, I got off a phone call with a well-known Christian foundation that would like to fund churches being planted among unreached people/language groups. The individual I was talking with was lamenting that they had given millions of dollars to “missions,” but they could discern very little impact from what they had given. Stories of thousands getting saved and hundreds of churches planted at an astounding rate, but when they did their own evaluation three years later the results were less than encouraging. Lots of recantations, some that still call themselves Christian but rarely gathering, and maybe twelve churches of the over 300 they were told of still in existence. They had heard enough, the 6-year follow-up check was canceled. Why waste the money.

This is not uncommon in missions at all! Money is flying out the door and the initial excitement remains as long as years later no follow-up questions are asked, or, worse there is a visit with someone who knows the national language of that country. It’s not uncommon for sending agencies to trot out the “these people are in a restricted access location, so no visits allowed” line, but too often that is just cover for not wanting long-term results to be analyzed. Why is it so hard to find evangelism and church-planting efforts that stand the test of time?

As I talked to this brother from this well-known foundation, I suggested three questions to ask sending agencies/partners in overseas ministry that can be helpful in assessing what they value and how they attempt to do ministry.

Question #1.  What is the Gospel?

If you want to cut to the root of what an organization holds to, you need to ask them to articulate the gospel in two paragraphs or less. If it’s longer, about anything can sneak through. Two paragraphs are easily sufficient to see if they major on sin, lostness, Hell, redemption, substitution, atonement, Christ’s finished work, and reconciliation with the Father. There are still some agencies that practice some version of Insider Movements and many that dabble or “allow” movement methodologies. Movement methodologies are quite commonly looking for obedience to what is taught, and that obedience is interpreted as “saving faith.” Without a clear gospel – an exclusive gospel – there is often a syncretism that takes place, the mixing of two belief systems.  Syncretism is far more pervasive than most from sending countries would like to believe, and quite commonly it is because what was taught was not clear.

Let me unpack this lack of clarity just a bit. Clarity, or lack thereof, comes from two main issues. Either the communicator was unclear in his/her language, or they were unclear in the concept they are trying to communicate. Radius spills buckets of ink every year fighting for language fluency so I won’t belabor that in this article. The other side is how well does the communicator know and agree with the subject matter they are communicating? Do they know what the gospel is?  Can they articulate the gospel in their mother tongue? Do they agree that it is the only means by which men are saved from their sins, brought from death to life?

A key follow-up question to the “What is the Gospel?” is, “Does everyone in the organization subscribe to this same definition?” What is quite common today is that the founder(s) of an organization wave the flag for orthodoxy, historic Christian beliefs, but the ones on the field are not held to those same standards. So, when Christian foundations send their dollars to an organization, they have little idea what it ends up promoting.

Ask about the gospel and ask what percentage of the organization subscribes to that stated gospel. It will give you an inside peek into where they stand.

Question #2.  What is a Church?

Again, this may seem like bread and butter, right down Main Street type of stuff. It isn’t. If you ask for a definition of a church, you are liable to get “where two or more are gathered,” a gathering of people to study the Bible, unbelievers seeking to know more about Jesus, and a host of other good things…but not a church. Remember, the target matters! If the definition of a church is fuzzy here, how much worse will it be once someone is overseas using a different language, navigating a different culture, and fighting an existing worldview that is quite often hostile to Christianity?

At Radius we spend hours and hours going over the church, the students have pop quizzes on it before class, they must be able to give a definition of a church from memory to graduate. It’s core to what we do. If you don’t know what the finish line is, what is the mission of the church, how will you get there?

Again, ask the follow-up question. “Does everyone in your organization subscribe to this definition? If not, then what percentage, and how do you delineate who holds to what?” These are not the questions of 100 years ago, but it is a massive issue for our time.

Question #3.  What level of fluency does someone need to have to share the gospel?

Often people are of the mindset that some gospel is better than no gospel at all. In general, that’s a bad mindset. Yes, some gospel is better than none at all if you know that person is likely dying soon, but if they live long enough to believe that mixed-up gospel quite often they believe something…but not the true gospel. Think of that rationale in other critical areas where life and death are on the line. 

Some pilot experience is better than none. Well, maybe, if the plane is going down. But if I have a choice, I want the pilot that has years of experience and knows how to fly well. Some medical training is better than none. I…guess. If my leg is coming off, I will take anyone, but if I am going in for heart surgery I want the guy/gal that has done this for years and has a track record to prove it.

Again, syncretism (the mixing of two belief systems) is almost always the result of most gospel preaching overseas, unless it is explicitly taught against. When someone jumps into a gospel presentation and they know the language at a novice level (most missionaries top out at Novice High/Intermediate Low) and they know the culture at a basic level, the gospel is anything but clear and false converts abound.

How fluent does an organization mandate its members to be before they share the gospel? Too often the answer is “whenever they want,” to the detriment of gospel clarity.

There are not silver bullets in missions and there is always a need to sharpen and refine. Good questions asked of sending/partner agencies will at least give a clearer picture of the values they hold and the practices they employ. May God give us wisdom.