20. Why Invest in the International Church? (MICN Missiology Series by Andrew Lupton)

Few experts on international churches have captured the history of the movement like Ken MacHarg.¹ In a recent exchange with Ken, he recounted the strategic vision behind the Union Church movement of what he calls “the good old days.” What he remembers fondly about those days was a unity of vision and resourcing to reach the nations through an emerging people group, the globally mobile. He writes, “The traditional denominations had a high interest in the Union Churches to the extent that they funded a full time cooperative office in New York City that… [handled] program support and resources, pastoral searches, and acting as a clearing house, sponsoring conferences, and the whole gamut of such services. …It was through that office that I first obtained an international church appointment in Panama.” 

That unity of vision and resourcing, the investment in the “good old days” has paid dividends as tens of thousands of people spread across the globe have been eternally impacted by the Union Church movement. One day I would love to reflect with a room full of younger international church pastors on “the good old days” when other churches and sending agencies leveraged their kingdom positioning and invested in an international church movement to reach the nations and the next generation. I would love to tell the story of recruiting and resourcing a generation of international church pastors to plant and revitalize international churches in city centers throughout the world. I would love to recount the way the globally mobile were reached and deployed while showering a parade of blessings upon their host cultures along the way. 

Strategic Infiltration

Why would other churches and sending agencies make such an investment? I have described how international churches are positioned for multiplicative impact by evangelizing, discipling, and cultivating a healthy relationship with the church among the globally mobile. International churches are uniquely equipped to reach the nations and the next generation by the diaspora movement through these missional churches and their plants. International churches are also positioned to make a local impact through influencing influencers, responding to crisis, resourcing and shepherding the locally-aimed missional community, and directly through planting churches for nationals.

As compelling as the strategic positioning of international churches is, there is an unmentioned component upon which a missions agency can capitalize. Recently, the approach missions organizations take to reaching a people group occurs through equipping and supporting national church leaders. With all the beauty and complexity therein, its missionaries cross cultures to partner with nationals who will serve national churches. A key difference is that within international church ministry, I am the national. I belong to the globally mobile people group to which I minister. Some are born into this people group. Others, like me, are developed into it. 

Churches missions organizations have an unprecedented opportunity to winsomely infiltrate a rapidly growing people group in order to reach and mobilize its members for the mission of God.  Think about it. If presented with the opportunity to develop and deploy an unlimited number of Mexican pastors to reach Mexicans, I assume most mission agencies would invest heavily. How could a missional organization turn down an opportunity like that? In the international church, the harvest is plentiful and growing more plentiful by the year. The laborers are few. Now is the time to unite vision and resources. Now is the time to develop and deploy strategic insiders. Now is the time to invest in the international church movement.  

Diversified Investments

I liken an organization’s investment in international church ministry to prudent and diversified investments through an Exchange Traded Fund. Focusing on individual companies, or countries for this metaphor, requires vast amounts of local knowledge, real time adaptability, and carries much risk with the strategy. This risk is one the missions community knows all too well, as some fields are only one invasion or regime change away from having a generations-long partnership reduced to nothing as missionary families are forced to leave. Wouldn’t it also be wise to diversify and reach across industries so that one unexpected crisis within the industry or company won’t totally erase gains and reduce our investment to nothing?

Enter the Exchange Traded Fund, which is a collection of diversified investments that track an index like the S&P 500. International churches track the wide scope of God’s global mission by  the congregants they receive and send. Thus, international churches have an ongoing impact on multiple nations, socioeconomic groups, and generations. To invest in international church ministry is to invest across the index of God’s mission, which enhances the depth, width, and diversity of an organization’s impact. I am not arguing for an either/or strategy of investing in national church movements or in the international churches movement. Rather, our investment strategy should include both national and international church movements as the Spirit directs.

Missional Alignment

Think of a denominational missions sending organization already working to reach and equip nationals in a particular region. Perhaps the Spirit would lead that organization to consider how national church planting movements and international churches within the same city or country might complement one another. In this respect, international churches could serve as strategic hubs to benefit missionaries, national partners, and the needs of their ministries. International churches could be a more local resource and solution in areas where sending organizations are worried about unhealthy dependency upon external resources. Additionally, some international churches could even serve as regional hubs for training missionaries or developing future missionaries.  

But such kingdom advancement won’t happen as long as the intentional church is viewed as a missional shortcut or a “less than” when compared to many traditional missions models. Ken MacHarg’s “good old days” will grow older and older and the international church will be perpetually under-resourced and under-equipped to serve our rapidly mobilizing world. Churches and sending agencies will miss out on investing in this strategic corner of God’s mission. If you’ve ever stepped foot in a healthy international church and sniffed the potential wafting through the air, you know that would be a massive shame. Dream with me. What if the “good old days” are still ahead of us? Tune in next week as we close out this series on the missiology of international church. 

Andrew Lupton

¹ https://www.amazon.com/Bangkok-Bishkek-Budapest-Bogotá-International/dp/B086Y5LK6G