MISSIONS QUESTIONS FOR PASTORS AND CHURCH LEADERS TO ASK

At One Mission Society we are excited when a congregation take steps to become more intentional about their involvement in cross-cultural missions work because we see this kind of world evangelization as the key to meeting the requirement Jesus gave in Matthew 24:14; “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” This is how we complete the Great Commission, preaching the gospel of the kingdom to all nations. And we know that nations does not refer to political entities like Canada or Cameroon or Croatia or Colombia. It means ethno-linguistic people groups like the Ansari in India, the Arain in Pakistan, the Uygher in China and the Fulani of Nigeria.
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So we encourage congregations to develop a strategy to become more intentional about resourcing the cross-cultural work with funds and with people.

The strategy serves as the roadmap to get from where they are presently to that place of greater intentionality and impact.

However, in order for a map to be of any kind of a useful tool for charting a course, there are two critical pieces of knowledge that we must possess. The first is the knowledge of where we wish to go, that destination to which we wish to go. That’s usually quite obvious if we have taken the time to think it through. The second piece of knowledge that we must possess is perhaps less obvious and less simple to attain; where we are presently. Think about it. You cannot plot a course from point A to point B unless you can find both point A and point B on the map. And it’s been our experience that point A is the more difficult point to get correct.

Perhaps you have had this experience. You are playing a round of golf and as occasionally happens, you hit your driver off the tee and lose sight of the ball. You have an idea of the general area where it landed. And so you strike out to where you think your ball should be. You look and look, gradually moving further and further away from the spot you thought it should be in ever widening circles until you find the ball much closer to the tee than you thought it went. You were sure it went 230 yards, but it actually only went 185.

I think it is a universal principle that we estimate our progress to be further than it actually is, we estimate our drives to be longer than they are and we estimate our value to be greater than it really is. So how can we be more accurate in determining what our Point A actually is?

What follows are 19 questions to help us determine where Point A really is. These questions are designed for Pastors and church leaders, but any church member can find the questions helpful. So give them a go.

1. Is our congregation more knowledgeable or less knowledgeable about crucial spiritual needs and progress in the world than 3 years ago?
2. Is our congregation as a whole more knowledgeable or less knowledgeable about missionaries supported by our church or denomination than 3 years ago?
3. Has our church’s cross-cultural missions giving increased or decreased as a percent of our total budget in the past 3 years?
4. Has the congregation’s desire to support world missions increased or decreased over the past 3 years?  
5. In the past 3 years, who from our church has gone overseas to serve as a missionary for 1 year or longer?
6. Who in our congregation is currently preparing to become an cross-cultural career missionary?
7. Is my understanding of a pastor's role in leading the church in world missions clear, cloudy, muddy, or unimportant to me? 
8. Does the congregation see me as our church’s leader in reaching the world for Christ?
9. How is world evangelism demonstrated in our church’s vision and values?
10. Would our congregation give higher priority to cross-cultural ministries that meet humanitarian needs or spiritual needs?
11. Would our congregation give higher priority to ministries meeting spiritual needs overseas or compassion ministries in your community?
12. Am I regularly reading one or more missions periodicals? 
13. When did I last go on a cross-cultural missions trip?  When am I going again?
14. How many weekends a year does world missions get the main focus during the primary worship service in our church?
15. Am I praying regularly for a foreign missionary, nation, or people group? 
16. Is world missions emphasized enough in our church?
17. What was the last missions book I read?  When?
18. Does our church have an organized outreach to a different culture in our community or area?
19. Do I see world evangelization as an occasional project, a consistent program, an important focus, central to our mission as a church, a passion for our entire congregation, or something else?

So how did you do? We would love to hear from you. Leave us a comment below. And, if you feel it is appropriate, please share this blog post with your pastor and church leaders. We really do want to see congregations become more intentional about their role in world evangelization.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14