WHAT IS NON-TRADITIONAL MISSIONS?
STATEMENT
Nontraditional missions (stateside outreach to refugees, mercy ministries, sports ministries, business as missions, etc.) can advance the Great Commission by providing gospel access, commending the gospel, modeling Christlikeness, and promoting church partnerships. Nontraditional missions should always seek to protect the church’s mission. Nontraditional missions strengthen the local church when they prioritize gospel proclamation and church membership, seek the counsel of church leaders, and function in a supportive role to the church. Nontraditional missions greatly benefit Christ’s Bride if these principles are in place.
Article Written by Tim JacksonSometimes, well-intended solutions can create more problems. Kudzu, for example. During the Great Depression, the American South imported this fast-growing vine to stop widespread soil erosion. Kudzu quickly covered the ground. But Kudzu covered almost everything else, too: trees, telephone poles, and whole hillsides. The botanical superhero turned out to be a noxious weed. The rescue mission became a hostile takeover.
Non-traditional missions—such as digging wells—can easily become the kudzu of modern missions. In their proper place, they have an important role to play, but left unattended they quickly take over. What are non-traditional missions? Do they have biblical roots? And how can the Great Commission benefit from them without them taking over?
Nontraditional Missions Defined
Non-traditional missions are—well—not traditional. Traditional missions can be loosely defined as crossing cultures to plant indigenous churches outside one’s home country as a primary vocation (Acts 13:1-14:28). Think Paul and Barnabas. Non-traditional missions overlap with this definition, but lack some traditional qualifiers: they don't plant churches as a primary vocation or go outside of one's home country. What makes non-traditional missions missions is the cross-cultural element and the aim of planting and strengthening healthy indigenous churches. When I served in Africa, my ultimate aim was to plant a healthy indigenous church, but my primary vocation was teaching English. When I served among refugees in America, I crossed significant cultural barriers, but I was living in my home country. Both assignments were non-traditional missions. Both assignments retained the same underlying principles of the six-point job description laid out in the GCC article “Missions and Missionaries: Are We Speaking the Same Language?”
So, what are non-traditional missions? Basically, any professional, parachurch, or nonprofit activity that fits the six-point job description in Chapter 2 and helps to advance the Great Commission. Non-traditional missions dominate the landscape of modern missions. Digging wells, community health, orphan care, famine relief, advocating for justice, addressing human trafficking, alleviating poverty, business as missions, student ministry, refugee work, media ministry, publishing, theological education, workshops on preaching, teaching English as a foreign language, sports ministry, international schools, medical missions—the list goes on and on. Non-traditional missions have done much good, but can easily drift from the biblical mandate of the Great Commission. It’s surprising to many that the YMCA was once a powerhouse of missionary activity in the mid-1800s, yet today has largely forgotten its wide-ranging missionary roots and dynamic evangelistic outreaches to university campuses.
The Biblical Roots of Non-traditional Missions
Understanding the proper role of non-traditional missions and keeping them on course begins with understanding their biblical roots. We don't see non-traditional missions prescribed in Scripture, but by good and necessary consequence, we see non-traditional missions implied and commended. Here are five ways we see this in the New Testament.
1. Missions to Diaspora in One's Home Country
The Apostle Peter preached to a transient, multi-ethnic crowd gathered in Jerusalem in Acts 2. This wasn't ultimately what Jesus had in mind by "Go and make disciples of all nations," but it's interesting to see how God brought the nations to Jerusalem before the church was scattered to the nations. Pentecost was a unique event in redemptive history, yet by implication it's a good thing to proclaim the gospel to migrant peoples who will bring the gospel back to their home countries and plant healthy indigenous churches. Missions to immigrants and refugees aren't traditional missions, but crossing significant cultural barriers in one's home country can advance the Great Commission. Many of the unreached immigrants we talked to in America had never heard the gospel message, even though they lived in a city full of churches.
2. Secondary Activities that Support the Primary Activity
Serving tables is not the primary task of the Great Commission, but appointing seven men to serve tables protected the primary ministry of the Word in Acts 6. The Great Commission advanced as a result of this diaconal ministry. By implication, any secondary activity supporting the Word’s primary activity is a good thing in missions. Many non-traditional mission activities, such as mercy ministries, have a diaconal shape and function. Born out of prudence and practical necessity, these secondary activities can protect and support the primary task of gospel proclamation and church planting. We know many missionaries freed up to do word ministry among the unreached because others supplied much-needed educational support for their children.
3. Traditional Missionaries Involved in Non-traditional Activities
The Apostle Paul is the traditional missionary par excellence. Even so, we find Paul involved in non-traditional activities that supported his primary task of proclaiming the gospel and planting churches. In Corinth, Paul joined the tentmaking business of a Christian couple until he was supplied with resources that allowed him to devote himself fully to the Word (Acts 18:1-5). Priscilla and Aquila would later follow Paul to Ephesus (18:18-19), correct the theology of the traveling Apollos (Acts 18:24-28), and host a church in their house back in Rome (1 Corinthians 16:19). Paul calls them “my fellow workers” (Romans 16:3). They weren’t traditional missionaries like Paul. Still, God used their professional work in tandem with Paul's missionary work. This is the biblical root of non-traditional missions known today as "tent making" and "Business as Missions" (BAM).
4. Commending the Gospel with Good Works
Paul’s purpose in his professional work wasn’t merely to support his missionary task. He also wanted to commend the gospel and give new believers an example to follow. Paul pointed to his work ethic when discipling idle Christians and wanted churches to commend the gospel by adorning doctrine with good works (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12; Titus 2:1-14). The Apostle Peter admonished the same, adding that good works make a good defense in the face of gospel opposition (2 Peter 2:12-3:17). By implication, this is how non-traditional missions can help advance the Great Commission: they commend the gospel, open up gospel access, and model Christlikeness to new believers. My dad was a church-planter in Zimbabwe, but he often commented on how the mission hospital established a good reputation for the spread of the gospel.
5. Non-traditional Missions Connects Churches
Doing good works in missions wasn’t limited to helping non-Christians. Paul also stressed the importance of helping local churches (Galatians 6:10). This was such a high priority that he scheduled a visit to Jerusalem to bring famine relief before setting off on his missionary journey to Rome (Acts 24:17). Paul collected money from Gentile churches to help the poor in the Jerusalem church, even as he hoped to be helped by the churches in Rome in his desire to preach the gospel in Spain (Romans 15:23-28). Famine relief wasn't Paul's primary task, but it strengthened church unity and benefited the advance of the Great Commission. By implication, non-traditional missions can bring churches together in partnership to meet practical needs and promote unity in the gospel and the advance of the Great Commission.
Why Nontraditional Missions Can Become a Noxious Weed
As beneficial as non-traditional missions might be, they can easily get out of hand. Here are two reasons non-traditional missions can become as troublesome as kudzu.
1. Good Intentions Taken Too Far
One reason non-traditional missions can get out of hand is that they’re a good thing. Have you heard that the good is the enemy of the best? That is certainly true for non-traditional missions. They have biblical roots; they have positive effects. Think of all the good that has come from non-traditional missions: clean water, lower infant mortality rates, better jobs, orphan care, access to the world’s hardest-to-reach places, apologetics, Bible studies on college campuses, evangelism among refugees, well-trained pastors, access to biblical resources. Persons involved in non-traditional missions have good intentions and do much good. But over time, good intentions can cause the mission of the church to drift and the gospel is lost.
Picture concentric circles. In the center is the mission of the church: make disciples of all nations (i.e., proclaim the gospel and gather believers into churches that proclaim the gospel and gather believers into churches). Outside of that circle are the many good things individual Christians can do: plant trees, start a hospital, evangelize in the workplace, write books, and facilitate a preaching workshop. Outside of that circle are the things only God can do: end poverty, control the weather, and judge the wicked with perfect justice. Non-traditional missions gets out of hand when good intentions try to expand the inner circle to include the outer circles, when the mission of the church is said to include every good thing individual Christians can do and what only God can do.
There are at least two problems with this. The first is biblical interpretation. Jesus authorized his church to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). He did not authorize his church to end poverty (Mark 14:7). Jesus commanded his church to preach the Word (1 Timothy 4:1-2). He didn’t command his church to build schools (Ephesians 4:15-16). Working to end poverty and build schools are both good and right things, but they are not the biblically defined mission of the church.
The second problem is this: expanding the mission of the church to include everything God and individual Christians can do inevitably leads the church to lose its mission. If everything is the church's mission, then nothing is the church's mission. And if the mission of the church is lost, the Great Commission will not advance.
2. Path of Least Resistance
Here’s a second reason non-traditional missions easily take over. We live in a fallen world. Sinful humanity is hostile to God (Colossians 1:21). Unregenerate people do not naturally accept the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). Unbelievers are repulsed by the gospel’s stench (2 Corinthians 2:15-16). The growth of God’s kingdom is often imperceptible (Mark 4:26-29). Non-traditional missions can easily take over because they are easier to advance than the mission of the church. It’s the path of least—or less—resistance. Famished people naturally want bread; they don’t naturally want Jesus John 6:27-28). The world has a long list of acceptable (even laudable) endeavors, but preaching the Word is not one of them. I can measure the purity of water; it’s much harder to measure the maturity of believers. Mission drift is a constant threat in any endeavor, especially in the Great Commission. Nothing less than supernatural strength will keep us on course.
To be fair, there is a range of non-traditional missions, from those that are closer to the mission of the church to those that are farther away. A Bible study on a college campus is closer to making disciples than a workshop on better farming methods (unless the workshop has a Bible study). Non-traditional missions will vary in their support of the church’s mission. Crossing the line from supporting the church’s mission to supplanting it will depend on the function and purpose of the nontraditional missions.
Does the Bible study on the college campus encourage students to join a local church? If not, it may be farther from the church’s mission than a workshop on farming that encourages attendees to join a church for spiritual growth. Satan conspires to push every activity as far away as possible from the mission of the church. The world and sinful nature are on his side.
Lose the Mission, Lose the Church, Lose the Gospel
There is a small nation in Asia that is known for its high number of missionaries and their successful non-traditional missions activity. It looks like a missions success story, except most missionaries are more connected to their programs than to local churches and they are doing little to advance the Great Commission. Were every missionary to leave this country, it’s questionable if it would affect the church (except, perhaps, to free the church to grow as it ought). The problem is this: many of these missionaries have imported the idea that the mission of the church is as broad as the many good things Christians can do. Despite good intentions, they’ve weakened the church. They’ve covered the church with kudzu.
Understanding the difference between supporting the Great Commission and supplanting the Great Commission is crucial in non-traditional missions. Choking out the mission of the church will inevitably lead to choked churches. And choked churches will preach a choked gospel [1]. We are always one generation from rejecting the biblical gospel. So, given their inherent dangers, should we engage in non-traditional missions with eternity at stake?
Biblical Principles to Guide Nontraditional Missions
Yes, we should engage in non-traditional missions so long as we use biblical principles to guide them. Here are three biblical principles to avoid inherent dangers and maximize benefit:
1. Prioritize gospel proclamation and church membership.
The Apostle Paul engaged in activities other than gospel proclamation. He worked with his hands and collected funds for the poor. But the gospel was of first importance (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and bold proclamation was his regular prayer and practice (Acts 18:4-5; Ephesians 6:17-20; Colossians 3:2-4). This wasn’t true merely for Paul but for every Christian. Those who served tables, made tents, adorned doctrine, and helped other churches—all had a gospel priority and were engaged in the proclamation of the gospel.
They were also members of local churches (e.g., Acts 2:41-47; 13:3-1; 16:5). Membership helped them guard the gospel and connect their good works to the mission of the church. How do we prevent gospel drift and promote good works? By being committed members of local churches that regularly gather (Hebrews 10:23-25). Membership in a local church takes the good things individual Christians do and aligns them with the one thing all churches must do: make disciples. Nothing in this world can outshine the corporate witness of a local church (Ephesians 3:10). Any missions activity that doesn’t prioritize gospel proclamation and church membership is out of orbit.
2. Seek the counsel of church leaders.
Doing non-traditional missions well requires wisdom. Not just personally and corporately, but from leaders God has given his church (Ephesians 4:11-12). An elder’s job is to help members do their job—not by doing it for them, but by equipping them for the ministry through their teaching and counsel. Church leaders (and the whole congregation) played a crucial role in deciding the best course in the cross-cultural dispute between widows in Acts 6. Those involved in non-traditional missions should follow the same pattern. They should seek counsel and submit to sound advice (Hebrews 13:17). The gospel spreads as a result.
3. Function in a supportive role to the church.
This brings us full circle to the first principle laid down by the Apostles in Acts 6: secondary activities exist to protect the primary task of preaching the word. The gospel is of first importance, and so is proclaiming it. Non-traditional missions exist to protect and support the ultimate aim of planting and strengthening healthy indigenous churches. Non-traditional missions advance the Great Commission only when they support the church's primary mission. Anyone engaged in non-traditional missions must be willing to constantly evaluate whether their work supports or supplants the church’s primary mission.
Non-traditional missions don’t have to be the kudzu of modern missions. When guided by biblical principles, they lead to the flourishing of churches, the spread of the gospel, and the advance of the Great Commission.
Questions:
Does your church encourage field church membership regardless of the specific task of the missionary?
Does your church or mission agency understand that the end goal of all missionaries must be the establishment of a healthy indigenous church, regardless of the specific task of the missionary?
footnotes:
[1] Protestant Liberalism proved that a choked gospel leads to a choked mission.
