Dave Miller asked me to write this post. Full disclosure: I served as a missionary with the IMB for twenty-four years in Southeast Asia. I received a Ph.D. in missions from Southwestern Seminary. I’ve taught missions at Southwestern Seminary, Southern Baptist Seminary, and lately at Mid-America Baptist Seminary. For many years I’ve offered both a masters course and a Ph.D. seminar on missions strategy. At the end of the course, I share my convictions about missions strategy with my students. These are not all original with me. Dr. Cal Guy, my mentor, and professor at SWBTS taught me many of these. For these many years, I have tried to honor Dr. Guy by passing on to my students what I learned from him, though I do differ with him on some points. Of course, all these points could be expanded into a chapter in a book, and in fact, they have been. If points are not clear, I’ll try to clarify them in response to your comments.
- Strategy is no substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit. The apostles of the first century did fine, and they did not take my strategy course.
- Prayer is essential to the planning, preparing, and implementing of strategy.
- Your strategy should result in Kingdom growth. We are not seeking to just grow a denomination.
- Strategy should be holistic. That means our strategy should bless people spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Jesus came preaching and teaching, and He also healed and fed the people.
- Strategy must be based on sound research. Good research helps us develop good strategy and make informed strategic decisions.
- Effective strategy is results oriented. It results in measurable growth. Of course, growth in spiritual maturity is essential, but a good strategy will result in baptisms, churches, and church leaders that can be counted.
- Multiplication is the key concept. Our strategy must multiply believers faster than the population grows, or Christianity will constantly fall behind.
- The world will be won to Christ by means of church planting. This was the pattern of the early apostles. They fulfilled the Great Commission by planting churches.
- The church multiplies through new units. On the mission field, these are usually evangelistic Bible studies, normally in homes, that develop into house churches.
- Discipling and leadership training are the fuel that sustains church multiplication. Matthew 28:19 commands us to make “disciples,” not “converts.” Leaders for the new churches arise from the pool of disciples. If discipling and leadership training do not continue apace with evangelism and church starting, then the church planting will slow or even stop.
- Every strategy must be adapted. A strategy that works well in one culture will not necessarily work well in another, at least not without adaptation.
- Foreign missionaries must maintain an apostolic role and resist “pastoring.” Missionaries should imitate the Apostle Paul and engage in itinerant church planting.
- Local believers are the key to growth. The missionary must disciple them and train them to lead the new churches. They can win hundreds to Christ by witnessing to those in their social networks.
- Simple plans are best. With a complicated plan there is more that can go wrong.
- If your strategy depends on money, then you can only grow to the extent that funds are available. Many church planting strategies depend on an infusion of outside funds. These have inherent growth limitations. Indigenous church planting emphasizes planting churches that are self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating from the beginning. This was true of the churches the Apostle Paul planted.
- Make sure every method is reproducible. The missionary must ensure that everything done is done so simply that the local leaders can do it, also.
- There is no such thing as a “Golden Key.” A golden key is a strategy that will work anywhere and anytime. Cultures and situations vary so much around the world that different strategies are needed for different people groups. In other words, the missionary must “tailor make” a strategy for a specific people group.
