Winter 2015

In This Issue

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Baptist World Mission’s emphasis on “planting churches worldwide” is more than a slogan; it encapsulates our understanding of mission theology and praxis in the New Testament. It is

the outworking of the Great Commission, as demonstrated by the Apostle Paul’s tireless efforts to plant and mature churches on the mission field. But how can the missionary church planter establish churches cross-culturally that are both doctrinally sound and culturally appropriate? And are these two goals necessarily at odds with each other?

Just as pastors in America must vigilantly counter the eroding effects of moral decline in their culture, so missionaries must distinguish between moral and amoral aspects of culture if they hope to plant indigenous churches that will remain faithful to their founding principles. This distinction is the difference between pragmatic capitulation and legitimate acculturation. While missionaries justifiably fear culture as a potential pathway to syncretism, they must also understand the necessity of acculturation. Adapting in matters of dress, food, language and customs is an external starting point, not an ultimate goal. The most effective missionaries understand how the people of their culture think. They study their worldview, religious concepts, lifestyle, traditions, language, values, manners and customs and are able to interact with the indigenous people on these levels.

Failure to plant culturally appropriate churches violates the principle of indigenity by ignoring legitimate cultural norms. At the other end of the spectrum is compromise under the banner of cultural relevance, which ultimately results in syncretistic churches that no longer hold to the “faith once delivered” (Jude 3). Additionally, failure to plant self-sustaining churches violates the principle of autonomy. Failure to plant churches which are both indigenous and autonomous will result in short-lived ministries.

The tension of this dichotomy between cultural compromise and cultural assimilation relates to the outworking of what missiologists have long called the “indigenous principle.” By the later nineteenth century, men on both sides of the Atlantic were alarmed by the long-term dependency (paternalism) of foreign churches on missionary personnel and funds and by the erosion of doctrinal fidelity in nationalized works. They took a fresh look at Scripture, and men such as Henry Venn of the Church Missionary

Planting Biblically Separated, Culturally Sensitive Churches by Dr. Kevin L. Brosnan

Avoiding a Lone Ranger Mentality

Planting Biblically Separated Churches

(cont.)

Planting Biblically Separated Churches

(cont.)

Itineraries

Gone!

Highlights from the Highways & Hedges

Society (CMS) in England and Rufus Anderson of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) independently began promoting indigenous principles, which Melvin Hodges later formulated into the well-known “indigenous principle.” Hodges’ three-fold expression of the indigenous principle states that the mission church should be self-supporting, self-propagating and self-governing.

That expression focuses on three aspects of the function of the mission church. While function is a vital emphasis, the concept of indigenity must also relate to the form of the mission church. Although missionaries often use the two terms synonymously, the concepts of indigenity and autonomy relate more directly to form and function respectively. A mission church may function autonomously, but not be culturally indigenous in form. The missionary cause benefited greatly from the contributions of the aforementioned men and from the resultant corrective measures, which missionaries took with respect to the function of the mission church.

Perhaps we could suggest that our generation of independent Baptist missionaries would also benefit from a greater focus on the form of the mission church, because the establishment of an autonomous church is not the only essential goal of the church-planting missionary. It is entirely possible and in many cases, probable, that the self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating church will apostatize. What has the missionary accomplished in such cases?

While doctrinal drift may result from any number of root causes, failure to plant culturally-appropriate churches is a major cause of failure among mission churches. This oftentimes is because of issues that confront the national pastor after the missionary leaves. On the one hand, the national pastor may be left with a “foreign” or “Americanized” church. While the church may have appeared healthy under the missionary’s leadership, its non-indigenous form presages its decline under national leadership.

On the other end of the spectrum, the missionary may have unwisely welcomed cultural elements into the church under the banner of indigenity, which are either inherently unscriptural or dangerously suggestive of a path to compromise. In this context, doctrine is not only creedal, but also the practical living of those beliefs, including a willingness to live biblically Continued on page 3.

Highlightsf r o m t h e

Highways & Hedges

BWM’s Worldwide MinistryBWM missionary Mark Nelsen recently sent a letter of appreciation that we felt was noteworthy because it demon-strates that our philosophy, more than words on paper, is positively impacting our missionaries. “One thing I’ve always appreciated about BWM is how the autonomy of the local church is respected. Specifically, I am always encouraged how the mission respects the cultural intricacies of an autonomous local church outside the USA. What is required by BWM touches our private lives almost exclusively. Otherwise said, BWM does not seek to impose its will on the local church in the missionary’s country of service. What BWM does require is always explained in well-reasoned statements that show us missionaries that the mission is seeking our best and not just trying to build a list of rules. So, having said that, I want you to know that the question, How can I help you? is deeply appreciated on my part, because I know where this question comes from, and I love the heart and passion for missions that provokes such a question.”

Mark and Denise Nelsen have served with BWM in France since 1993.

Ivory CoastDan and Joan Cuthbertson recently shared some interesting insights into the develop-ment of two new infant works from the church in Blahou: “We are finding, more and more, that it is great to train nationals to reach their own people.” Dan teaches a group of men on Sunday afternoons from 1–4 p.m. on such subjects as Bible survey, homiletics and doctrines. These men from the church in Blahou are taking the Gospel to other villages with “straight” [sound]

doctrine, resulting in the birth of these two new church-planting ministries.

The Cuthbertsons have served with BWM since 2005.

CameroonPastor Eugene first heard the Gospel in his home village of Bamessing in January 1998 through the hut-to-hut evangelism of college student Ben Sinclair. Years later he again met up with Ben, now a missionary, in

the capital Bamenda. Eugene and his wife became early members of the Faith Baptist Church, and he felt the call to preach. Following his Bible institute training, Eugene was ordained and sent out to plant a new church in Akum. Missionary Sinclair reports that the church in Akum has now announced its intention to begin another church in Downla. The Sinclairs are thrilled to see the birth of

a completely indigenous, third-generation, church-planting work in Cameroon!

Ben and Becca Sinclair have served with BWM since 2001.

RomaniaDan Sehested reports, “Sunday, November 30, was a special day for Living Hope Independent Baptist Church of Hunedoara, Romania. On this fourth anniversary, we had a record attendance of 41 souls, several of whom were visiting for the first time. But what made it more special was the ordination of Ioan (Uţu) Dudas. Uţu was saved as a teenager 12 years ago at Camp Joy, in the northwest region of Romania. Not only is Uţu the first person saved in his family, he is also the first person saved in his village. As God led, Uţu felt the desire to prepare for ministry and enrolled in our Bible college. Toward the end of his studies, the Lord brought Roxana, a godly young lady, into his life. They married and spent a couple of years in another city before moving to Hunedoara to join us in this church-planting ministry. This young couple is growing in the Lord. They have a burden for evangelism and discipleship, and they serve in the church wherever needed. The Lord has not yet revealed the next step for Uţu and Roxana, but their desire is to plant churches in Romania.”

Dan and Lyn Sehested have served with BWM since 1991.

Cape VerdeAreobaldo and Nilza DeCarvalho are praising the Lord for providing church property inside the town of Mindelo. The cost of property was prohibitively expensive on the private market, but the Lord supplied the land through the local government municipality. It was originally designated for a soccer field, but proved to be unsuit-able for that purpose. The property is ideally situated at a major intersection. Now that the property is purchased and registered at the city hall, they will be constructing a building and reaching out to lost souls in Mindelo.

The DeCarvalhos have served with BWM since 2013.

Central AsiaTony and Lana Vinokuroff recently cel-

ebrated their church’s third anniversary and reported an attendance of over 120. Some of the attendees heard the Gospel for the very first time. Testimonies of transformed lives were

the highlight of the service in this formerly closed country. Another praiseworthy de-velopment is that the Vinokuroffs received permanent resident status this year (only days before their visas expired).

The Vinokuroffs have served with BWM since 2007.

ItalyLarry Pieri shared an inspiring one-on-one witnessing encounter: “Waiting in line to pay for my purchase, I saw a man behind me dressed up in a civil defense first response uniform. I asked him if he works with rescue missions. He said yes. I told him I work with rescue missions, but for the souls of men. He laughed, but then listened as I shared the Gospel. He heard my ac-cent and asked where I was from. After hearing his desire to improve his English, I invited him to our upcoming evange-listic meetings with an English-speaking evan-gelist. He was interested and also took a John and Romans booklet and a gospel pamphlet, which shows a rescue helicop-ter on the front cover. I pray that Rosario’s soul will be rescued one day.”

Larry and Maria Pieri have served with BWM since 1998.

Mission Matters: Avoiding a Lone ranger Mentality – Part One by Dr. Bud Steadman

separated lives that embrace the necessary alienation from aspects of popular culture. In such a case, it is unlikely the national pastor will recognize the danger or have the power to change course. Thus, the importance of indigenous policy, the missionary’s approach to culture, can hardly be overemphasized.

This question not only relates to distinctions between ministry in one’s own culture and cross-cultural church planting, but it also correlates to how servants of God conduct ministry within their own cultures. This is because all culture, whether native or foreign, contains many unbiblical values and practices from which an obedient Christian must separate. This is exactly Paul’s point in Romans 12:2, “and be not conformed to this world.”

This brings us back to our second question. Are the two goals of doctrinal fidelity and cultural appropriateness necessarily at odds with each other? Yes! Every honest missionary who has carefully considered the implications

of indigenous policy will admit that he sometimes struggles to distinguish between his own culturally shaped preferences as to the form the church should take and his identification of genuine collision points between culture and Scripture. Not only is the missionary obligated to be faithful to God’s Word, but he also needs to understand that doctrinal compromise, for the sake of cultural acceptability, will ultimately result in a syncretistic church—one which blends non-Christian tenets with biblical truth. Neither can the missionary afford the luxury of rejecting culture “out of hand” for the sake of protecting the church against doctrinal compromise, because doing so violates indigenous policy, which is essential to successful church planting.

A good biblical definition of syncretism is found in 2 Kings 17:33, “They feared the Lord [Jehovah], and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations.” Idolatry is the Old Testament word for syncretism, when

it includes the blending of rites associated with other gods with the worship of Jehovah. Jehovah’s condemnation of Israel’s syncretistic idolatry provides a theological answer to today’s syncretism. Insulating mission churches against syncretism is a challenge because syncretism is sometimes difficult to distinguish from mere cultural expressions. Identifying syncretism is a theological, cultural and academic exercise that the missionary must master and mentor because seemingly innocuous “seeds” will grow into truth-choking “weeds.”

If the ultimate goal of New Testament missions is the multiplication of indigenous churches to the glory of Christ, then the successful development of national church leadership must be of paramount importance. The New Testament bears this out with much emphasis on the development of God-called pastors. It is not the establishment of a church, but the grounding of it that occupies the most attention in the New Testament.

Planting Biblically Separated, Culturally Sensitive Churches (cont.)

In Waco, Texas, just off Interstate 35 at exit 335B, a traveler will find “The Official Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.” The entrance sign to the

museum contains these words, “One Riot, One Ranger, One Hall of Fame.” The story behind the sign involves an incident from the life of a famous ranger, Bill McDonald, who responded to a request from Dallas authori-ties for rangers to come and put down an unlawful assembly in the city. When Ranger McDonald arrived at the train depot, the mayor of Dallas asked, “Where are the oth-ers?” McDonald, in proud words unsuitable for publication, replied infamously that since it was only one riot, one ranger was enough.

Too often in Christian ministry, servants of Jesus Christ are tempted to an unbiblical view of self-sufficiency that says in essence, “I am enough.” While the Scriptures make it clear that we are not sufficient in ourselves to accomplish the work of God—we need the Lord and others—we are sometimes tempted to think that we are the exception. Such a Lone Ranger mentality manifests itself in minimization of biblical accountability that ultimately undermines the ministry we desire to advance.

A failure to understand the believer’s biblical accountability to others is at the root of a prevailing attitude among some Christians who say, “I don’t need the church.” They never attend a local assembly and thus do

not receive the benefit God intended the local church to be. Any pastor worth his salt would condemn such a position and prac-tice—but at the same time, some pastors and some missionaries believe they need no one to hold them accountable for their ministry: one ministry, one man of God.

As spiritual leaders we must understand and embrace the importance of biblical ac-countability in our lives and ministries. Such accountability safeguards us against our inherent personal weaknesses and enables us to escape the human tendency toward self-deception.

Stanley L. Derickson writes of society in gen-eral in his Notes on Theology, “The fact that human liberty is divorced increasingly from supernatural accountability may well become our national undoing.”1 Perhaps we could with equal accuracy state that divorcing our leadership ministry from biblical accountabil-ity may well become our spiritual undoing.

While a thorough treatment of this sub-ject would transcend this publication, if we would avoid the Lone Ranger mentality, we must make ourselves practically account-able in three biblical areas. In this article we consider the first of the three.

Accountability to Our MasterThe foundational teaching of Scripture on this subject is summarized in Romans 14:12:

“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” As Lord over all, Jesus will one day review and evaluate our ministry at His judgment seat. Paul was addressing believers in Romans 14 as the great Apostle, but he included himself with them as standing at the great judgment seat by using the first person plural pronoun and verb (“we shall all stand,” 14:10.) Every believer’s life of service will come under review, including those who stand before God’s people as leaders of the local assembly. We shall not be exempted.

In his book on C. H. Spurgeon, A Marvel-ous Ministry, Charles Ray said of the great preacher’s personal sense of accountability, “His grandest and most fruitful sermons were those which cost him most soul-travail and spiritual anguish; not in their preparation and arrangement, but in his own over-whelming sense of accountability to God for the souls to whom he had to preach the gospel of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.”2

There are to be no Lone Rangers in the work of God—we must never forget our individual accountability to the King!

Continued on page 4

1 Stanley L. Derickson, Notes on Theology (Albany: Books for the Ages, 1997), 11.

2 Charles Ray, A Marvelous Ministry (Essex: Forest Gate, 1905), http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/amm.htm (accessed December 5, 2014).

PO Box 2149Decatur, AL 35602

Phone (256) 353-2221office@baptistworldmission.org

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Itineraries

Steve AndersonJanuary 25–28First Baptist Church, LaSalle, IL

Kevin BrosnanNo meetings scheduled at this time

David CanedyFebruary 13–23Kenya

February 30–April 3Faith Baptist Bible College, Ankeny, IA

Pat DelaneyJanuary 31–February 4Lincoln Park Baptist Church, Wenatchee, WA

February 12–26New Zealand

Jesse GarzaMarch 8Calvary Baptist Church, Chillicothe, IL

Bud SteadmanJanuary 4Community Baptist Church, South Bend, IN

January 7–27South Africa

February 10–13FBFI Winter Board Meeting, Greenville, SC

February 10–14Bob Jones University Seminary Conference, Greenville, SC

March 4–8Bible Baptist Church, Hilton Head Island, SC

March 16–18FBFI Southeast Regional Meeting, The Wilds, Brevard, SC

March 22–25Grace Baptist Church, Owatonna, MN

This publication is available at baptistworldmission.org.

Gone!Joey and Jenny Tacon have reached 100% support. They arrived in Italy on December 6 and are settling into temporary housing. Please pray for them as they seek more permanent housing, begin language school soon and seek to be a witness for Christ!

Rebekah Fruin arrived in Cambo-dia on December 11 to join her parents and team in missionary service. Please pray as she goes to language school, adjusts to the culture and begins her min-istry, which will include teaching English and music lessons in order to make ministry contacts.

Schedule an Administrator or Director at Your Church!BWM administrators and directors offer a wonderful blend of passionate preaching and current field experiences. Please contact the mission if you would like to schedule any of these men for your next conference.

Study of New Testament methods should not distract one’s attention from the product of missions, which is enduring, biblically orthodox churches.

That leadership development is the key is almost a moot point. Whether it is couched in academic terms, such as pastoral training or leadership development, or in more personal terms such as mentoring or discipleship, the development and equipping of national leaders is the single most important factor relating to the successful indigenization of any church-planting ministry. Solutions must lie with issues that address this process. National pastors have often waned in their commitment to the theological convictions upon which the missionaries founded their churches. Viable solutions must ultimately redress this shortcoming by emphasizing both function and form when mentoring national leadership.

Churches will not replicate until missionaries replicate themselves in God-called national preachers who, among other things, are committed to biblical separatism. Perhaps an anecdote from my ancient college days can best drive home this capstone truth. I commented, in a paper presented in a missions class, that producing indigenous churches in fulfillment of the Great Commission is “simply a matter of training nationals to carry on the work.” When I examined the graded paper, I noticed that my veteran missionary instructor had circled the word simply several times in red ink and had remarked, “Is this really such a simple matter?” The wisdom of that comment became increasingly evident over seventeen years of ministry in South Africa. Producing successful national leadership has always been a key, if not the paramount challenge of the Great Commission mandate. It takes biblically separated, culturally sensitive missionaries to mentor biblically separated, culturally sensitive national preachers to plant biblically separated, culturally sensitive churches.

Planting Biblically Separated, Culturally Sensitive Churches (cont.)