Propempo International

What are the Qualifications of a Sending Church?

How can we be a good missionary sending church?

First of all, it's important that a prospective sending church understand their role in raising up, equipping, and preparing a missionary from their midst to go out to the field. The church should exercise the same diligence and care as if they were training and installing someone to become a full-time staff member among the leadership in the church.

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The Ultimate Church Diagnostic
Seven questions toward a biblical local church ministry.
It’ll “slap the sass out of you.”

What are your church missions quandries? I'd like to find out what things are troubling you or your church in the area of missions. Knowing what to address can help us develop the right tools.

Here's a few we've helped other churches with in the past months:

I’ve heard a lot of excuses. But the most dangerous are these common MYTHS about missions believed by church leaders. The following list come from real situations. Sometimes the church leader knows that the myth they believe is so lame that they don’t really want to articulate it out loud. Yet, if you dig a little bit below the surface, you uncover the weak foundation underneath.

Just how important it is a missionary’s relationship to his/her/their home church? Here are ten reasons why the missionary’s relationship to his home (sending) church is, perhaps, the highest priority relationship besides marriage and family for long-term ministry effectiveness.

We've known for a long time that American local churches, in general, are moving away from comprehensive Bible teaching and discipleship/equipping for ministry. Churches and agencies together lean on expediency to process potential candidates, sending them to swim in shark-infested waters too immature and ill-equipped for long-term effectiveness in difficult fields.

Today I was asked to make some observations about trends in local churches related to missions mobilization. This little response is NOT comprehensive. (So, maybe it should be Part 1 of a series.) Here's what I wrote:

We stand amazed and deeply grateful to God for all he has done for us in 2010. We are also very, very appreciative of ministry partners, churches and individuals, who share in the fruit of this work through their prayers, encouragement, and generous donations. The Lord has given us a banner year! We have trained national church leaders and overseas workers in limited access locations with eager receptivity and expanding opportunity.