Churches Can Do Mission Work
"Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea: Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul." (Acts 11:29-30)
"But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you. And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches; And not only that, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and the declaration of your ready mind: Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us: Providing for honest things not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but how much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you. Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner, and fellow-helper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ." (2 Cor. 8:16-23)
"Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity." (Phil. 4:16-17)
It seems that something concerning cooperative work by churches can be learned from these scriptures. We learn from Acts 11:29-30 that individual disciples, according to each man's ability, gave to the cause of needy saints in Judea. Their offerings were turned over to Barnabas and Paul who in turn delivered this bounty into the hands of the Judean elders. That a worthy cause may be financed for another church by a local congregation, or its members, is a matter of scriptural example. (1) The need was in Judea. (2) The disciples in Antioch gave to this cause. (3) Barnabas and Paul accepted this gift to be given to the needy Judeans. (4) The Judean elders received the gift for the needy there. (5) It is a matter of almost certainty that these same elders, whether of one or more than one congregation, used this gift for the purpose for which it was intended. Here then is an example of one congregation cooperating with another in giving and receiving.
In the Second Corinthian letter we have an example of a number of churches working together in a common cause. We can learn something of the manner of this cooperative work. Let us study carefully 2 Corinthians 8:16-24. In verse sixteen Paul expresses his thankfulness for the care that Titus had in the matter of the Corinthian collections. He states in verse seventeen that Titus accepted the exhortation. The word here translated exhortation is from the Greek word, paraklesin. It means a calling for, a summons, an exhortation. Titus had been exhorted to do this work, called to do the job, or summoned to this particular work. We are told that he was more forward on his own accord, so much so that he went to Corinth on his own accord to look after the matter. This incident gives us scriptural example for one soliciting aid for a worthy cause. Who selected Titus for this work in Corinth is not here stated, but from verse 23 we are told that he was a partner and fellow-helper of the apostle Paul concerning the Corinthians. So here is apostolic authority for the gathering of funds in one congregation for use by the elders of another congregation.
From verse 19 we learn that Titus had a traveling companion in this work. This companion had the praise of the churches everywhere. The churches themselves had chosen this man for this very work. He "was chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace." By "this grace" is meant the bounty, or collections taken by the various churches. We have no way of knowing who this one whom the churches chose for this work was. We are interested in the example.
From verse 22 we learn that these two, Titus and the one selected by the churches, had another companion. Paul speaks of him as "our brother." The apostle had the utmost confidence in him also. His identity is not known. These men are called by the apostle Paul "The messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ." (v. 23)
The Philippians were praised by Paul, because they had communicated with him in his work once and again. This they had done while he was in Thessalonica. They were the only church at the beginning that did contribute to this work. This indicates that later other churches did communicate in this work.
These principles are set forth in these scriptures. (1) Any number of churches can work together. (2) A man may be sent to a special church to encourage their contribution to this cause. (3) Churches may select a man to travel for the purpose of gathering together the combined contributions of the churches. (4) More than one man can work together in this work. (5) Where there are elders, as in the case of Judea, the contribution was given into the hands of the elders where the cause was located. (6) Where there were no elders, as was the case at Thessalonica in the beginning, evidently the collections were sent directly to the worker—Paul.
All this was done by the early church without the formation of a Missionary Society, without the individual church losing its autonomy, without the formation of a superior church of any kind, and by the simple means of cooperation of one Christian with another and one congregation with another. If it could be done then, why cannot the same type of work be done now? I do not want to be a party to an unscriptural institution of any kind, nor do I want to stand in the way of the spread of truth to the world. The world is dying for the bread of life while the people of God wrangle over the method of feeding it. Shall we build unscriptural organizations to accomplish this? Certainly not. They are not needed. God gave us the only institution needed. Are we wise and zealous enough to accomplish God's work? We must be.
We hear of one-man missionary societies, and the misuse of funds. We hear of sponsoring churches and lack of scriptural precedents. It is very necessary to guard the gates against innovations of all kinds. But shall we sit complacently by while the world gropes in darkness and souls go down to hell because some one has gone wrong in the matter of missionary zeal and unscriptural organizations have been born of the desire to send the word to those in foreign fields? I know of no great controversies that have raged over the spread of the gospel across county and state boundaries. We have not quarreled over the churches in Texas sending a preacher to Colorado to establish the kingdom of God.
Brethren, the Great Commission recognizes no state, national or racial boundaries. It states: (1) Go into all the world; (2) Preach the gospel to every creature; (3) Baptize them into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; (4) Then teach the baptized to observe all things in Christian living. Originally, the gospel was preached in Jerusalem, next in Judea, then Philip went down to Samaria and preached the gospel to them, and lastly it was preached to the ends of the earth.
Envision eleven unlearned men on the mountain in Galilee at the last interview of the Lord with his disciples before ascending to heaven. Hear his instructions to go, preach, baptize. Not one ever rode an automobile, or traveled faster than on foot. Not one owned vast worldly possessions, and never did. Not one had ever used a radio to reach thousands at one sermon. But on foot, by boat, poor, persecuted, imprisoned, downtrodden they pursued their way. Prisons, armies, poverty, diseases, death could not stop them. The message must be told. It was proclaimed by the roadside, in the homes, in jails, in palaces—anywhere and everywhere. Before that generation passed the whole world had heard the word of God.
Today the church in America—a million strong—with thousands of preachers schooled in the best schools of the land can't send the gospel across a national boundary without forming a society or provoking a wrangle. We twiddle our thumbs as churches, want our ears tickled by the finest of rhetorical phrases from our educated ministry—and I'm a friend of education—decry long doctrinal sermons, are soft in many instances, while the world wends its wanton way to hell. We preachers twiddle our thumbs, look for a well paying set of ears to tickle, think more of our "Alma Mater" often than we do the church of the Lord, while the world goes to the bow-wows. When the church at Jerusalem was scattered abroad, we are told that they went everywhere preaching the word. Maybe, what we need today is a good "scattering abroad." We need something.