2. What Are International Churches? (MICN Missiology Series by Andrew Lupton)
As we delve further into the missiological strategy of international churches, we should first define and biblically orient international churches. How do we respond when asked by churches and sending agencies whether or not international church is a biblical expression of God’s church? Do we have a DNA that is biblical?
God’s people have always been called to the nations. God aims the overflow of his covenant blessings to his covenant people to spill into the nations. In Genesis 12:2-3 God says to Abraham, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. …in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (emphasis mine).1 God’s people are blessed by God in order to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. God’s people are a pipeline of blessing, not a stagnant and self-gratifying barrel of blessing.
A print of the Bünting Clover Leaf Map hangs in my office to remind me of how God’s heart beats to strategically reach the nations.2 It is no accident that he positioned the Old Testament people of God in Israel at the intersection of the nations. The crossroads for ancient Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon was located in Israel. Trade routes between Africa, Asia, and Europe inevitably routed through Israel. The strategic geographical placement of God’s relatively tiny nation was so that the nations would pass through and see firsthand the way God’s people respond to his grace by living and loving the Law. God’s design is to leverage mobility for his mission.
Something extraordinary shifts in Acts 2. The mission pipeline reorients. Ethnic Israel no longer uniquely delivers good news to the nations. Now the good news of God’s free grace in Christ flows from the nations to the the nations. It’s notable that this Holy Spirit shift occurs in a settling that looks strangely like an international church.3 Representatives from at least 15 different people groups have gathered in Jerusalem, a major city center. When the Holy Spirit descends, the nations speak and understand through what feels like familiar language.
In other words, the nations gather temporarily, feel at home with one another as they experience God’s grace, and are eventually sent back to the nations. In this way, an international church reflects the day of Pentecost. Pentecost Sunday is a special Sunday each year in our church. I will often ask citizens from the more than 30 countries represented in our church to each read one verse of Acts 2:1-13. Our hearts fill as our ears take in God’s Word read in Mandarin, Romanian, Korean, Yoruba, German, Swedish, Waimaja, Japanese, and Danish just to name a few. Through teary eyes, our congregants witness one of the most profoundly beautiful moments of worship in the life of our church. Good news is delivered from the nations to the nations as it was nearly 2,000 years ago.
An international church reflects Pentecost, but it also rehearses restored humanity.4 Revelation 7:9 paints a stunning picture of the day when, “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb … [are] crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” The trajectory of humanity is not headed in a monocultural direction. Rather God delights to redeem and restore all kinds of people from all kinds of places who speak all kinds of languages. International church invites God’s people to enjoy the dynamism of the multicultural people of God this side of eternity as we rehearse eternal life together.
What I love about MICN is that we exist to “strengthen the international church movement for missional impact.” MICN defines international churches as, “those churches around the world that primarily serve people of various nationalities (expatriates) and church backgrounds living outside their passport (home) countries.”5 The number of nationals who are included varies from context to context, which I will address later. Simply put, international church is a temporary church community where the nations gather to receive and respond to God’s grace and to be equipped and sent for God’s mission.
I can’t help but also notice what MICN founder, Warren Reeve, points out about the church in Antioch from Acts 11 and 13.6 He reflects, “That church reached Jews (expats in Antioch), Greek-speaking Syrians (locals in the city), plus Europeans and Asians (unreached peoples in those days). It was missional. It was international. It was a model church.” When we preached through these chapters recently, solidarity washed over our congregants. “Look! The Bible includes a church of people who are a lot like us!” They were thrilled that a church like theirs could even be a strategic launching point for God’s global mission like the church in Antioch was for Paul and his three missionary journeys.
International churches often use English as the common language familiar to most of their congregants. This reflects the particular sliver of history in which we find ourselves with English proficiency as an informal requirement for global mobility. At the United Church of Bogotá our worship services, Sunday school classes, children’s and youth programming, congregational meetings, and home groups are all conducted in English. This is consistent with our identity as an English-speaking church. As Bogotá’s only English-speaking church we feel it is important to safeguard many of our congregants’ only viable worship option, as many cannot speak Spanish.
However, we also offer simultaneous, in-ear translation in our services for those with a low proficiency in English. This offering is not an attempt to grow our church by attracting Colombians, though that result has transpired. Our aim was to offer a service to our many multicultural families in which some family members may not speak English. Parents whose children who have grown up abroad and returned to Colombia, for example, are now able to experience the same worship service the rest of the family has experienced.
International churches typically reflect a rich diversity and are therefore not only multi-cultural and multi-national, but are also often multi-denominational. Preserving this diversity is a priority, which is reflected in programing and ideally in church leadership. Global perspectives are often celebrated and integrated into the culture of the church. As will be addressed later, international churches experience high turnover among their congregants and leadership. Thus, these churches pay special attention to addressing the needs of a lifestyle of mobility and living abroad.
As MICN clarifies, international churches are not churches that exclusively serve a single ethnic, national, or language group. For example, the Korean church in Bogotá is made up of expats, but is not considered international because its expat members are all Korean and church is held in Korean, thus excluding most other nations. Similarly, international churches are not churches with the word “international” as a part of their name and branding to reflect their missional target or international affiliation. International churches are not national churches that regularly conduct a service in English.7 Lastly, while international churches are multicultural churches, they stand out from multicultural churches because they aim at and seek to leverage mobility on the mission of God.
Where else do you see international church in the Bible? What would you alter or add to our definition of the international church? Tune in next week as we take a look at who frequents the pews of international churches.
Andrew Lupton
1 Scripture references throughout are from the English Standard Version. Emphasis added here to reflect the purpose clause.
2 https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:3293713
3 Wald, Jack, Pastoring a Parade: A Guide to International Church Ministry, p. 23.
4 Ibid., pp. 23-24.
5 https://micn.org/defined/
6 https://micn.org/the-antioch-example/
7 https://micn.org/ic-definition/
