Acts 1:8 - Chapter 1- Introducing the Problem

A Local Church’s Response to the Great Commission

Just before the resurrected Christ ascended to heaven, He gathered His eleven disciples about Him and gave them their prime directive: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. And you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. (Mt. 28:19; Mk. 16:15; Acts 1:8)

This prime directive, this Great Commission, was given to the first group of Christians, the first local church that ever existed. Because of their commitment to fulfill that Great Commission, the world has never been the same. Every local church today has the exact same prime directive, the same marching orders. So, how are the local churches doing today? How is YOUR church doing?

Picture this scene. Your church leadership, including you whether you are a leader or not, are standing together out in the church parking lot when suddenly Jesus appears, restates the Great Commission, then floats up into the clouds. Let’s say your group is the original eleven. What’s your next move? Call a special meeting. Good show! We see in Acts chapter one that the eleven returned to meet together in the upper room. Any thing else? We need to pray. Amen! And that’s what the disciples did.

What if that group of eleven responded to the Commission charge the way the typical evangelical, Bible believing church in America does? Can’t you just imagine the discussion?

Peter: This meeting is called to order. Okay guys, now what do we do?

Thomas: Surely Jesus doesn’t mean that eleven of us are supposed to reach the whole world. We

haven’t even reached all of Jerusalem. We’re going to need some help from other people.

Matthew: But He told us to do it.

Thomas: Then maybe you should be the first to go somewhere.

Matthew: Hey, I’ve got a good job with good benefits. I can’t just drop everything and leave.

Andrew: We’ve all got jobs and families to support.

James (son of Alphaeus): Maybe you could work along the way. A lot of people travel in their

work. Most of you are fishermen. You could fish wherever you go.

James (son of Zebedee): We only know about fishing the Sea of Galilee. That’s freshwater fishing.

Ocean fishing is a whole different world.

John: Besides, how are we supposed to get our boat over to the ocean any way?

James: Our boat? That’s Dad’s boat. He’s not going to let us take it off the lake.

Peter: Let’s get back to the assignment. We are to start in Jerusalem, then go

out to Judea and Samaria. That’s the surrounding country, places we’ve been

before. Surely we can do that much. We don’t all live in Jerusalem.

Philip: I’ll go back to Bethsaida.

Peter: Well, uh, I thought Andrew and I could go back to Bethsaida and that would free you to go

somewhere else.

Andrew: Like Dan or Beersheba. Those are certainly remote places.

Judas (not Iscariot): I think the remotest part of the earth is further away than Dan and

Beersheba. I think Jesus means the whole planet. The gospel is to go even beyond the

boundaries of the Roman Empire, to all of Asia, Africa, and Europe, even to the Gauls.

Philip: (Shudders.) The Gauls! Such barbarians! They say they have blue skin and go

to war completely naked!

Judas: Just the kind of people that need the gospel.

Andrew: Sounds like a job for you, Simon. You’re the Zealot.

Simon: Hey! I’ve got a ministry right here in Jerusalem. I can’t abandon it. Maybe we need to

contact some of the seventy that were sent out. Maybe some of them will feel called to

one of these remote places.

Bartholomew: What about that guy that lived in the tombs of Gerasenes? He was ready to leave

that place to follow Jesus. Or maybe we could support his work there in some way. He’s

in Decapolis and that is certainly beyond Judea and Samaria. Then we could contact that

woman at the well and see if there is someone in Samaria who could use some support.

Matthew: If so, then we’d have all our bases covered. We would cover Jerusalem. The

fishermen cover Judea. Surely someone will be willing in Samaria. And the former

tomb-walker will be our man in the remotest place, whether he stays there or goes

somewhere else.

Simon: Then we could put a map up on the wall here in the upper room showing where

everyone is so the whole church could see how we are answering the Great

Commission. You guys in Bethsaida could do the same thing.

Peter: But this doesn’t have any of us going anywhere new. Didn’t it sound to you like

Jesus meant for us or at least some of us to go somewhere?

Philip: Some of us are! To Bethsaida! We’ll be in Jerusalem and Judea. That’s two of

the four places mentioned. We’re half way home. We can support these other

two and pray God will raise up more workers and send them our way.

Bartholomew: Then we can be the senders. “Goers” and “Senders.” That’s what we

need for this to work.

Peter: It sure seemed to me like we were supposed to be the “Goers”, even to the

remotest part of the earth.

John: Come on, Peter, we’re just eleven guys. Even if we include all the believers in

Jerusalem, it’s just too much. We have to take care of the home church first.

Andrew, Philip, and you can go to Bethsaida. God will raise up others for the

rest of the world.

Peter: But He told us to go, that we are to preach the gospel and be His witnesses even

to the remotest parts of the earth. If not us, then who?

John: Where’s your faith? God will raise up someone……somewhere.

Peter: (Relieved.) But not necessarily us?

John: Right. So, let’s send some letters out and see what kind of response we get.

Peter: I’ll accept that as a motion. All in favor say, “Aye”.

All: Aye!

Peter: The motion passes. Remember to pray God raises up someone who’ll be

obedient to Christ’s call on his life. I’ll accept a motion that the meeting be

adjourned. And someone pray for the snacks Philip brought.

Sidestepping Part of the Great Commission

Does this sound even vaguely familiar? Can you identify any of this reasoning in your local church? Or in your missions committee? Or in you? If you are skeptical, gather any group of believers in your church (They don’t have to be leaders.), and ask them, “Pretend there were no missionaries our church was supporting, how would our church go about fulfilling Acts 1:8?” (And yes, you can have your current missions budget to work with.)

In our imaginary scenario, the disciples were in somewhat of a panic to think that maybe Jesus really expected them to leave their homes and jobs to preach the gospel in some foreign land. After all, they were fulfilling part of the Great Commission already.

Surely that was sufficient. Since God was blessing their ministry in Jerusalem and Judea, that had to take priority over the rest of the world.

Yet, they knew they could not ignore the other part of the Commission. So, what’s a small local church like theirs to do? What was their solution? It was the same as most of our own churches do when we want to send out a missionary. We look outside our church body for someone who will go to the nations. Find those people and take them on as an extension of our local church’s ministry. Then we will be fulfilling all of Acts 1:8. In reality, though, taking one from the outside is not an extension of your local church ministry, but is aiding another church’s ministry to the remotest parts of the earth. In reality, a mission strategy that solely supports “outsiders” on the foreign field sidesteps part of the Great Commission meant for every local church.*

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*Let me avoid a stoning by stating I am not opposed to taking on “outside” missionaries to support in the local church. Most of my own church’s supported missionaries are from the “outside”. If it weren’t for God raising up “someone…somewhere” to go to the mission field, many churches would not be supporting any missionaries. Few churches are supporting a “homegrown” missionary. Fewer still have more than one “homegrown” missionary on the field. However, I praise God for those He raises up from elsewhere. Most of those missionaries would have never made it to the field without the help of other churches. Most churches’ missions program would be dead without them.

Of the three parts of Acts 1:8 (Judea and Samaria are one unit.), the imaginary scenario had the disciples not expecting they had to go to the remotest part, nor did they expect any others in their Jerusalem church to go either. They didn’t think all parts of the Commission were to be fulfilled by themselves, the leaders of the church, or anyone else in their congregation. Such is the mindset of the typical protestant church in America. We’ll reach our Jerusalem and Judea/Samaria and we’ll support foreign missionaries, however we get them.

With new churches starting up and old ones closing their doors, it is impossible to pin down exactly how many protestant churches there are in the United States. There is a revolving door of missionaries going to and coming off the field. So pinning down the exact number of protestant missionaries serving at a given time is impossible to do as well. Yet, there are ball park figures people toss around. According to an artricle in the April 2006 issue of Christianity Today, there were an estimated 303,025 non-Roman Catholic Christian churches in the United States in 2000.[1] The U.S. Center for World Missions estimated the number of protestant missionaries from the U.S. in 2002 to be 64,000.[2]

If those 64,000 missionaries came from 64,000 different churches, that would mean that roughly one in five protestant churches have a missionary from their congregation on the field. One in five? Well that doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

Well, first of all, since there are missions-minded churches that have several of their members on the mission field, we know it is less than 64,000 churches sending out the missionaries. But even if it were 64,000 churches, having one in five that has one of their members on the mission field means eighty percent of the churches have no one from their church family on the mission field. Eighty percent is a huge majority of churches not sending out missionaries. And since some churches have multiple members on the field, the number that do not increases to over eighty percent.

So when I say “the typical church” is failing in this area, it’s because I believe when eighty percent of the churches are doing the same thing, it qualifies as being typical. And typically, these churches, regardless of their size, are failing to send out their own people to even the remotest parts of the world.

However, Jesus did expect those eleven to be a part of all of Acts 1:8. They did go the remotest parts of the earth. They were the first local church. Every local church established after them has the same expectation upon them by our Lord. The universal church of Christ is in full agreement. We are to preach the gospel to all nations. However, individually, most local churches, while supportive of missions, have little expectation that their own people will be going to the remotest parts of the earth.

Even churches that are strong in discipleship are not discipling their people to be Acts 1:8 Christians. Discipleship is directed at raising up mature servants for the their church in their “Jerusalem”. They are even disappointed to see some they have discipled,

because of job changes, go into their Judea and Samaria. Because of the transient society we live in today, many churches continually “lose” those promising and gifted men and women that have completed discipleship training. Churches need to quit looking at this as “losing” workers, but as sending them out to our Judea and Samaria. The local church should rejoice God is using them to make disciples and commission them to make other disciples in their new location.

Partial Commission Discipleship

What an ugly title: Partial Commission Discipleship. As one whom is very involved with discipleship in my church, I find that title insulting. Our discipleship efforts are based upon the Great Commission. We stress Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; and Acts 1:8 as every Christian’s assignment from the Savior Himself. We stress the entirety of the Great Commission, not just part of it. Lots of churches have this same dedication to the Great Commission in their discipleship programs. So what is this “partial” stuff? It’s not going on in my church! Nor yours! Right? Right!

Maybe. Maybe not.

Your church may not even use the word “discipleship” in any of its programs. Whatever your church is doing to train believers to serve Jesus Christ falls under the Great Commission, whether it is called discipleship, equipping, or some other tag. It’s all a part of making disciples, which is being called in this book “discipleship”. The question is, what is the goal of your discipleship program? Every church has their own version of the goal stated somewhere, which is something like, “To bring Christians to a mature faith in God and His Word, whereby they can be used by God to fulfill the Great Commission by going forth into the world and making disciples of others.” (No, that’s not my church’s statement. It just sounds like the many I have read over the years.)

Whatever your stated goal is, it surely is a Complete Great Commission Discipleship statement. Reaching the whole world is there, or at least implied. Yet, in the actual implementation of the training, what is the intent and hope of the program? Most likely, your church has several programs under the big umbrella we are calling “discipleship”. There are studies for basic foundations of Christianity, Bible Doctrine, Bible Study Methods, Discovering Your Gifts, Leadership Development, and Evangelism Training. Plus, there are classes for “How To” training for husbands, wives, moms, dads, singles, singles again, single parenting, parenting teenagers, grandparenting, mentoring, finances, small group ministry, Sunday School teachers, discover God’s will for your life, and spiritual warfare. You get the picture.

After one has completed a series of classes, what is the local church’s hope for that individual? The hope is for that person to get plugged-in serving there in the local church! If one who has completed the courses, or worse yet, has been teaching the courses, must move to another part of the country, everyone is disappointed. Why? Because the hope is that they would stay right there in our Jerusalem, faithfully serving until the Lord returns.

If, instead, someone announces their call for full-time Christian service in the pastorate or a U.S. based para-church ministry, people are pleasantly surprised. If someone announces they are called to the foreign mission field, they are pleasantly baffled over the idea. If one from their church actually enters pastoral or para-church ministry, it is a historical milestone spoken of proudly ten, even twenty years later. If someone actually makes it to the foreign mission field, it is a historical oddity that has people scratching their heads in wonder ten, even twenty years later.

Having some of the local church’s best disciples transfer to another part of the U.S. is no reason to despair. It is reason to rejoice that God is using your church to send out others to our Judea and Samaria. We should be commissioning them to go forth and make disciples in their new location. But because our discipleship focus is limited to our Jerusalem, we don’t expect (or hope) anyone will be used beyond our Jerusalem. That is because the heart of our discipleship does not go beyond our Jerusalem. However, the biblical mandate for the local church is to make disciples for our Jerusalem AND our Judea and Samaria AND the remotest parts of the earth. That’s Acts 1:8 discipleship.

The church that makes Acts 1:8 disciples will be regularly sending disciples even to the remotest parts of the earth.

Hold on here! Isn’t God being left out of this process? He is the One who calls people into full time Christian service, isn’t He? True. But we are the ones that are to enable them to answer that call. How so? To whom did God give the responsibility to train new believers to go into all the world and preach the gospel? To whom did Jesus say to teach these new disciples “to obey everything I have commanded you”? (Mt. 28:20 NIV)

To you and I. To the local church. That’s who. Yet the discipleship-oriented church in America, for the most part, is teaching to obey everything except the very last thing He said while still on this earth.

Objection! My church preaches and teaches the Great Commission regularly! We are strong in evangelism. Our church has doubled in size the last _(pick a number)_ years. We support _(pick a number)_ missionaries.

Praise the Lord! Those things are great! May God continue to bless these areas of ministry. But, let’s evaluate your Great Commission Discipleship with a few questions:

1) Is your church discipling with the expectation that God will take some of your best

disciples and move them to other parts of the country and to other countries?

2) When was the last time one from your church entered pastoral ministry? When was

was the time before that?

3) Does your church have any “home grown” missionaries? Were any of them sent

out in the past five years?

4) How many from your church are currently in school being trained for any kind of

full-time vocational Christian service?

5) How many currently attending your church are saying they are considering going

into any kind of full-time Christian service?

If the answer to any or all of these questions is, “None,” or, “I’m not sure,” chances are, your church is not involved in Acts 1:8 discipleship. If the local church is not making and sending out disciples to our Judea/Samaria and the remotest part of the earth, along with the making of disciples for our Jerusalem, then that church is not fulfilling the Great Commission. Making disciples for our Jerusalem is necessary. But that is not the complete commission. It is Partial Commission Discipleship.

In the 1970’s, a new faddish emphasis swept American Christianity called “Life Style Evangelism”. The battle cry was, “Your life should so exemplify Jesus Christ that others will be compelled to ask you what makes you different.” After the “anything goes” lifestyle ushered into mainstream America by the 1960’s social revolution, this call to sanctified Christian living was much needed. The hypocritical examples of worldly Christians and self-righteous Christians was destroying opportunities to win a hearing for the gospel among our peers. It was, and still is, a biblical approach to reaching the lost with the gospel message.

We don’t hear too much about lifestyle evangelism any more. Eventually, people began claiming they were practicing lifestyle evangelism by saying, “I don’t talk about the gospel to others, I’d rather they see the reality of my faith by the way I live.” Lifestyle evangelism became an excuse not to share the gospel. There was a lot of lifestyle going on, but no evangelism. No one ever received eternal life by observing a Christian life.

Observing the Christian life may have made them curious, but it is the gospel that saves.

Lifestyle evangelism that does not share the gospel message is no evangelism. The same thing happened with “Friendship Evangelism”, the fad of the 1980’s. A lot of friendly Christians never got around to sharing the gospel. Friendship evangelism that doesn’t share the gospel is just friendship, not evangelism.

Many churches think they are fulfilling the Great Commission because they have a discipleship program. Some churches, a few, have a Complete Great Commission Discipleship program successfully in place. People are regularly being raised up to go to all parts of the Acts 1:8 mandate. A church that is not raising up it’s own “home grown” missionaries is, at best, involved in Partial Commission Discipleship, for disciples are being raised for only part of the Great Commission.

Time to Take a Look in the Mirror

You, dear reader, are a leader or soon will be, at some level, in your local church. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be interested in this book. From what you have read so far, you should already know if your church is engaged in Complete or Partial Commission Discipleship. If you love your church (and you should), and can see God’s hand at work in many areas of your church (and you should), it may be hard to see the forest because of all the beautiful trees. Good things and good growth are all around the congregation. Besides that, you have two from your church in Bible college and that retired couple just returned from serving a two-year term in Africa. Doesn’t that sound like an Acts 1:8 church? That’s not Partial Commission Discipleship, is it?

Maybe, maybe not.

Just as, by God’s grace, some get saved attending churches that don’t stress the gospel message, we can see, by God’s grace, some going to the remotest parts of the earth coming from churches that don’t stress all parts of Acts 1:8 in their discipleship efforts. Sometimes individuals in the local church head into pastoral ministry or missions by some curious default rather than a prayerfully planned design. The questions, as you look at your local church, are: Is there a prayerfully planned discipleship program that expects to raise up pastors and missionaries from your congregation? And, if so, are you seeing any fruit as a direct result of that effort?

Now you should know how well your church is actively pursuing Acts 1:8 discipleship. But what about you, dear reader? Do you, in your role in the local church, consciously pray that the fruit of your ministry is a cross-section of Acts 1:8 Christians? You see, the local church cannot become an Acts 1:8 church until the leaders themselves become Acts 1:8 Christians. God doesn’t need all the leaders to start with. Just one, actually, who will begin Acts 1:8 discipleship. Will you be that one?

Pray about it. Don’t take this call lightly. You may get little support from the more “mature” leadership in the church. Expect criticism of such “lofty idealism”. But if you will commit yourself to it, your life and the lives of many in your church will never be the same.

Now, put down this book and go pray about it. Confess where you have fallen short. Confess your fears, your inadequacies. Fear and trembling in a heart that truly desires to see God glorified is what is needed. Go. Pray. There’s no sense reading on if you won’t say yes to Acts 1:8 discipleship.

Endnotes

1) Smietana, Bob. “Statistical Illusion”, Christianity Today, April 2006

2) “Approximate 2002 AD Global Mission Statistics”, Prepared by Mobilization Division, U.S. Center for World Mission, Pasadena, CA, www.uscwm.org

Acts 1:8 - Chapter 2 - Groundwork

Welcome to chapter two! Even to those of you who didn’t pray. If God moves you to action after you have read more, He’ll drive you to praying too. For, if you try to implement Acts 1:8 discipleship in your church without prayer, you will fail. Raising up such disciples is spiritual work, accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by man’s brilliant training programs. Prayer for wisdom and God’s guidance is assumed to be taking place behind the scenes throughout any discipling effort, including this one.

So, having said that, let’s move on to what the results of such prayer tends to look like.

Discipleship programs that successfully raise up workers for the local church’s many ministries do so by exposing the people to those ministries. The disciple is given opportunity to observe and take part in a ministry before being asked to commit to serving on a long-term basis. Supervised, “hands on” training is given before the disciple is given the privilege and responsibility of that ministry position. The same is true if you are going to make disciples to minister beyond your Jerusalem. You must expose the disciples to ministry opportunities beyond your Jerusalem. This exposure is not to just observe, but to also take part in ministry beyond your Jerusalem. This means taking your disciples on mission trips.

Remember, this type of discipleship assumes all your other discipling programs for your Jerusalem are still operating. Now we want to take the discipling out of our Jerusalem to prepare them to minister beyond Jerusalem. Mission trips are often called by one of two names: short term missions and summer missions. However, “short term missions” can also refer to mission service that can last up to two years in length. Therefore, in order to reduce confusion, we will use the term “summer missions” to refer to the one week to three month trips that are more practical to integrate into a local church discipleship program. Even though such trips can take place any time of the year, most occur in the summer time. Keep this in mind as you read. Summer mission trips can take place any time.

From here on out, our focus will be to make disciples for the “remotest parts of the earth”. We’re talking about raising up missionaries from your congregation. What about pastors? Aren’t we supposed to be raising them up too? Definitely. Discipleship that targets our Jerusalem coupled with discipleship that targets the rest of the world will make disciples for our Judea and Samaria as well. If you make disciples willing to go anywhere in the world to serve the Savior, some will serve as pastors here in the U.S.

Summer Missions: Latest fad or a biblical approach to disciple-making and missions?

Summer missions became somewhat of the fad in the 1990’s. Today many churches are involved in summer missions. But honestly, how many are using summer mission trips as a part of a conscious discipleship effort that will not only equip disciples to serve in their local church, but also raise up pastors and missionaries from their own church? Having talked with many team leaders over the years, some will say summer missions helps people to grow in their faith. A few will say it has something to do with discipleship or training their people to be stronger Christians or to be more equipped to serve once they get back home. But upon further probing, I usually find summer missions plays an undefined part in a even less defined discipling effort.

Some churches send out teams not giving any thought to the purpose other than saying, “It’s a good thing to do.” That makes summer missions the latest fad. The summer mission trip is viewed as a fun experience that might be a life-changing experience for some participants. The same could be said about summer camps, wilderness trips, and Christian concerts. They are a lot of fun, and, for some, they are life-changing experiences. The primary goal is fun while, at the same time, event organizers and some church leaders hope it is also life-changing for some.

There will probably be immediate objection from those whose ministries are in camps, wilderness trips, and concerts. They most likely will not agree that “fun” is the primary goal of what they offer to young people today. But, after sixteen years of ministry with young people, I can confidently say the youth go to these events primarily for “fun”, not the hope for a life-changing experience. Having said that, I also know God does use these events for some to have an encounter with Jesus Christ. Many are saved and recommit their lives to Christ. In the same way, any type of mission trip can provide a similar setting whereby organizers and leaders hope the participants will have an encounter with God.

Many can testify about the impact that even the most disorganized and ministry-less mission trip ended up having on their lives. Many mission trips include evening programs where worship bands and special speakers produce a retreat-like, if not revival- like, atmosphere that God uses to call the participants to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. The summer mission trip becomes a means to spiritual renewal, while at the same time the participants spend most, if not all, of their days doing manual labor and perhaps a vacation Bible school. The fellowship of getting sweaty together, the joy of loving the local children, and a great evening program makes a great mix for a spiritual high that God uses to change lives. Youth pastors know it is a week that will have a greater impact on the youth than anything they teach all year at youth meetings.

However, such trips are focused on the impact it will have on the participants. That’s not the purpose of the Great Commission…for those going to have a powerful encounter with God. Such an encounter is great, but it is the icing on the cake. The cake is for those going to be used by God so that others will have an encounter with the living God.

Wouldn’t it seem odd if, when Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch after their first missionary journey, their report was all about how much they were touched by the Holy Spirit and that it just felt so good to love the children and meets some sort of physical need through their labor? I doubt the church leaders at Antioch would have rejoiced much. For, they sent Paul and Barnabas out to proclaim the gospel.

Yet, these are the types of reports that mission teams often bring back…and the home church rejoices with them.

The home church rejoices?

When the home church rejoices over a mission team that reports a manual labor accomplishment, how great it felt to love the underprivileged, and how God changed the team members, it is very obvious the church’s prayer, purpose, and expectation in sending out a mission team is not the same as the missions purpose found in Acts. This does not mean such a trip was a waste of time and unfruitful. Sometimes that is the kind of trip a church must start their summer missions program with.

However, the goal of the summer missions program should be to make disciples who will proclaim the gospel around the world. That is the mission of missions, whether the ministry is for one week or for life. We must take care not to omit the mission of summer missions and thus dress up a mission trip in the emperor’s new clothes and adore something that isn’t really there.

A summer mission program that is part of an Acts 1:8 discipleship program is for the purpose of making disciples who will be trained in and participating in cross-cultural ministry. The primary purpose of the team is obedience to the Great Commission to go into the world and preach the gospel. There may still be a manual labor project, but some of the time is set aside so that the gospel is also being proclaimed.

Using summer missions as a means to spread the gospel in other lands is often criticized. Much of the criticism is deserved because most summer missionaries receive little or no training in cross-cultural ministry. Those involved in or only familiar with traditional career missionary service often have little confidence that summer missionaries can really be used by God to further the kingdom. Some people even criticize summer missions by saying it isn’t a biblical approach to world evangelism and shouldn’t even have the “missions” name attached to these trips.

Is summer missions biblical? That’s a fair question. Again, by “summer missions” we mean short trips, one week to three months in length, taken any time of the year. We have sent some out for even longer periods time, but the vast majority of summer missionary service is under three months. So again, is it biblical?

Is summer missions a biblical means of making disciples? Do we see models of training and taking or sending out disciples on ministry trips? From the four Gospels and Acts we see the answer is a resounding, “YES”. Jesus and His disciples were constantly on the move, taking trips to different places to proclaim the gospel. This is how Jesus trained and launched His disciples into ministry. In Judea they ministered in Bethany (John 11: 1-44), Jerusalem (John 3:1-21), and Jericho (Luke 19:1-10). In Galilee, they made traveled to Nain (Luke 7:11-17), Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30), Cana (John 2:1-11), Gennesaret (Mk. 6:53-56), Capernaum (Mk. 1:21-28), Bethsaida (Mk. 8:22-26), and north to Caesarea-Philippi (Mt. 16:13-20). Then there was the trips into Samaria to the woman at the well at Sychar (John 4:1:42), over to Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia (Mt. 15:21-28), and across the Sea of Galilee into Decapolis where the demoniac of Gerasenes was healed (Luke 8:26-39).

In the Acts 1:8 commission, Jesus speaks of ministering in the town they were in (Jerusalem), the rest of the country (Judea and Samaria) and beyond their country (the remotest parts of the world). In the three years they were taught and trained by Jesus, the disciples went with Him to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and beyond (Phoenicia and Decapolis). These were all short ministry trips. Today, we would call them summer mission trips, going across the country and to other countries to spread the gospel.

Along with the trips Jesus and the twelve made, Jesus sent out the seventy on short trips to be His witnesses (Luke 10:1-17). They returned from their trips with joy, having seen the power of God at work in their lives. Ministry on short trips was both a part of the disciples training and their ministry.

While the words “missions” and “missionary” are not in the Bible, we use them to explain the ministry of proclaiming the gospel beyond your hometown and the people who make such journeys. They are on a mission, or assignment, to proclaim the gospel elsewhere. While we usually think of Paul as the first missionary, we see that it is actually Philip who is first mentioned by name going elsewhere to proclaim the gospel.

After the persecution of the saints began in Jerusalem, the Christians fled the city. Acts 8:4 says, “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.” In the next verse we follow the journey of Philip and his ministry in Samaria. Then an angel of God sends him to the Gaza road in the desert (8:26) and is told directly by the Holy Spirit to witness to the Ethiopian eunuch. After the eunuch was saved, the Spirit snatched Philip and placed him in Azotus, where he “…kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea” (8:40). A hundred years ago, that was strictly a ministry of itinerant preachers. Now, it is also the ministry of summer missionaries.

Acts 13-21 contains what is popularly knows as “Paul’s Missionary Journeys”. It is in these chapters that we see the first model of missionary work. It is in these chapters we see how the early church expanded throughout the Roman Empire. Earlier, in chapter eight, we see that many believers were scattered due to persecution. As those early Christians moved to other parts of the Empire, they spread the gospel. This is how the church was established at Antioch (Acts 11:19), the capital of the Roman province of Syria. From Antioch, the church sent out Barnabas and Paul on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:3).

Each local church today should be asking, what type of missionary activity was initially used by the local church in Antioch? Did they send Paul and Barnabas to one place to take up residency? Did they stay in one place for the rest of their missionary careers? Of course, the answer is, “No.” The missionary journeys are mission trips.

The first one went to Cyprus and then over to Pamphylia and Galatia, which is part of modern day Turkey. Then they returned to their home church in Antioch to report the great things God did. Their second and third journeys also included follow up visits to further teach and encourage the saints. This follow up ministry of teaching and encouragement is what we commonly call “building up the saints”.

A couple of common criticisms against summer missions are: 1) that spending a week or two in a location isn’t a very good missions strategy; and, 2) summer missionaries cannot have much impact only being somewhere for a week or two. If these criticisms are legitimate, then there should be evidence against this type of missionary activity in Scripture.

However, as you may suspect or already know, spending a week or two somewhere and having a tremendous impact is in the very first missionary journey. The record in Acts 13 doesn’t tell us how long Paul and Barnabas were in most of the places they went to. But, we do get a good idea of how long they were in Pisidian Antioch. Acts 13:14 says they arrived in Pisidian Antioch and then went to the synagogue on the Sabbath Day. We don’t know how many days before the Sabbath they arrived. Yet, by the next Sabbath (Acts 13:44-48) we see that many were saved. Then they were driven out of the city (vs. 50). Whether that was still on the Sabbath or a few days later is uncertain.

One thing that is certain is that their ministry from one Sabbath to the next bore much fruit. Many were saved from one Saturday to the next. Even a one-week mission trip to Pisidian Antioch was used in a great way to reach the lost with the gospel of Christ. We serve a great God that can still do great things if we go somewhere for even one week to proclaim the gospel. Many of the other locations Paul and Barnabas visited may have been for more than one week. By the same token, many mission trips today are also for more than one week.

A third criticism I have heard repeatedly is: “You shouldn’t be getting people saved and then leaving them all alone without any follow up.” Again, if that is a legitimate reason not to make the mission trip, we should find evidence in the Scripture. But, as we look at the first missionary journey, we don’t see Paul and Barnabas sharing such a concern. They went where there were no Christians and preached the gospel. People were saved. Paul and Barnabas left them there with no one to do follow up.

We also must remember Jesus did the same with the demoniac at Gerasenes. The man wanted to go with Jesus and the disciples back to Galilee. But Jesus told him to remain in his hometown and be a witness for Him (Lk. 8:39). So, without any follow up, the man stayed behind and “…told the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.”

While it is always, always, always…Are you listening, you who suspect I don’t care about follow up?….while it is always my preference to partner with local believers who can do follow up after the summer missionaries leave, I never let “lack of follow up” to be an excuse not to proclaim the gospel somewhere. Preachers and evangelists often tell stories of spur-of-the-moment evangelistic opportunities that occur in odd settings: on the bus, on the subway, in an airplane, in a restaurant, standing in line somewhere, while on vacation, and many other places. Sometimes they never even get the person’s name they were talking to. But, do we ever hear someone criticizing such witnessing because of the lack of follow up?

So, let’s quit criticizing and discouraging summer missionaries from proclaiming the gospel if a follow up program is not in place. We need to remember, God is in the saving business. When God makes someone one of His children, He is very capable of taking care of His own.

God used short mission trips in the book of Acts to have a tremendous impact on the world for Christ. We serve the same God who still wants the gospel to be proclaimed around the world. Today, that same God still uses short mission trips to have a tremendous impact for Jesus Christ. Mission trips are both a means to trains disciples for ministry, as Jesus did, and a means to spread the gospel and build up the saints around the world, just as Paul did.

All of the missionary activity in the book of Acts is short term. There is no example of today’s traditional career missionary who stays in one location for life. This is not to say career missionaries are not biblical. 1 and 2 Timothy seem to indicate Timothy’s role in Ephesus fits the career church planting missionary model. Therefore, do not mistake the biblical case in favor of summer missionaries to be also a case against vocational missionaries. Vocational missionaries are definitely biblical ministries and needed in fulfilling the Great Commission.

The biblical case for summer missions has been provided to remove the accusations that summer missions is not a biblical, or good, or wise approach for making disciples and proclaiming the gospel around the world. The early local church, as we have seen in Acts, began its obedience to the Great Commission with short mission trips. They began by sending people on mission trips, who afterwards returned and reported back to their home church. The local church in Anitoch was having an impact throughout the Roman Empire. They weren’t big. They weren’t rich. They were just obedient to the call to be witnesses to even the remotest parts of the earth.

Every local church today should be following this model of involvement in spreading the gospel around the world. However, most local churches operate like the imaginary skit of the apostles at the beginning of this book. “How are we going to reach the world? We need to find someone somewhere willing to be a full-time missionary.” That’s not the biblical answer. The biblical answer is to send out people from your local church, beginning with short mission trips.

Those that are sent out on these short trips must be trained and capable of doing the ministry. Paul and Barnabas were trained servants of the Lord before being sent out by their church. They were not just a couple of nice guys at church that weren’t sure what they would be doing, but agreed to go because it sounded like fun. Paul and Barnabas and the church at Antioch all knew why the missionary journey was going to be made. They were going out to reach the lost and make disciples. Today, local churches and summer missionaries need the same clear purpose.

If your church is sending out people on summer mission trips, why are they doing so? Ask your church leadership why. Ask the regular folks in the church why they think the church sends out teams. Ask those that have gone on the trips. If none of the answers you receive include summer missions as a means of discipleship, then you need to suggest making the summer missions program a part of an Acts 1:8 discipleship program.

If you suggest this to the right people, they will want to know what you mean. So be ready to explain Acts 1:8 discipleship. (Or recommend a really good book you read on the subject!) If your church has never participated in summer missions, then it’s time to start investigating a whole new world of opportunity for you and your church.

Evaluate What Your Church Is Already Doing

Once you began investigating the world of summer missions, you will soon discover that not all summer mission trips are created equal. They come in all sizes and shapes (and price tags!) to serve different purposes. Organizations that offer summer mission trips have defined ministry purposes. The local church that sends out a summer mission team has (or should have) its discipleship purposes. Often the organization and church purposes are not the same. The local church cannot control the purpose of a trip offered by an organization. The local church can only control the purpose in sending out a summer mission team. Therefore, the local church must seek out an organization or individual missionary who will give your team the opportunity to accomplish its desired purpose.

While there are always exceptions to every rule, if your church, or the missionary you’d like to send a team to, is not very experienced in summer missions, then go through an agency that offers summer trips. Many missionaries view summer teams a mixed blessing at best. If you have missionaries visiting your church regularly, notice how few ever ask your church to send them a team of youth. However, if approached, they may not be willing to tell a supporting church, “No.” So, they graciously agree and find something for your team to do. Then you have a somewhat reluctant organizer and guide for your trip.

Until you have a few trips under your belt and know a little about what you are looking for, your best bet will be to go with an agency that will be excited to guide you through the whole experience. Unlike the individual missionary, you will work with someone at the agency whose full time job is to help churches and/or individuals have a rewarding summer missions experience.

Finding the right kind of trip with an agency takes more than looking at the advertisements. It requires calling the agency and asking them all about their strategy and goals for summer missions. Will your church team be the only ones on the trip, or will there be other church groups there as well? If there are other church groups, does your team stay together for ministry or get split up among members of other teams? Is there a program each evening with music and a speaker? Ask for phone numbers of churches and/or team leaders who went with the organization recently. Call two or three of these people and find out what is their purpose for summer missions and how the agency helped accomplished that purpose. What were the strengths and weaknesses in the agency that they noticed? How did they see God use their team members? To make an informed decision about a summer mission agency, you need to get informed.

Below I have listed the types of summer mission trips churches go on, based upon the local church’s and/or the missions agency’s purpose or expectation of the trip. As you will see, I have given them my own pet names for each kind of trip. After reading through the list, you’ll have a better idea of what questions to ask yourself, as well as that next agency you call.

The Summer Missions Smorgasbord

The Youth Trip: The purpose of this trip is for the youth to have a good time, just like any other youth trip, except this time it’s not to an amusement park, it’s to the mission field. The youth leader predicts it will be a great time of bonding together as a group. They will go some place out of the ordinary, help out the people with a physical need or occasionally do a well-rehearsed performance of some kind, see a lot of sights, take a lot of pictures, buy some souvenirs, and basically have a great time. Such trips appeal even to the most heathen kid in the church. Because “team building/bonding through fun” is the real purpose, such trips are always a huge success, unless it rains the whole week. Then it is a disaster. I know of no organization that offers such trips. So, youth leaders that want to take their kids on such a trip show up on one of the other offerings on the “smorgasbord” and are a major headache to the mission project leaders and a distraction to other groups there for the right reasons.

The Missions Observation Trip: The purpose is to go, look, and learn about missions work. First time adults are good at this. They are terrified to try to minister cross-culturally, but they are willing to go watch. Such trips are usually to a missionary your church supports. The team members follow the missionary around to see what he does on the field. A host missionary with his thinking cap on will usually find a way to get some or all of the visitors to minister in some way, hoping to whet their appetite to want to return prepared to ministernext time. Mission agencies sometimes advertise these kinds of trips as “Missions Discovery Trips”.

The Encouragement Trip: A small number of adults, or a single family, will visit a missionary couple on the field “to encourage them in their ministry.” There is no plan to be involved in any ministry beyond that of “encouragement” to the missionaries. Learning about the field may happen too, but that’s not the purpose for going. The purpose is to have fellowship with missionaries. The missionaries sort of vacation with the visitors. The missionaries benefit the most when “encouragement” really takes place. This type of trip should be a function of your mission committee’s ministry to its missionaries.

The Agency Promotion Trip: The purpose of this trip is to advertise what the agency is doing with the hopes that individuals or churches will want to support their work. The hosting organization tries to sell you on supporting them, or allowing one of their representatives to now come to your church to present the work. They may want you to sign up to support an orphan or hungry child. Trip participants are not expected to do any ministry by the organization. They may be given some menial task to do around the missions compound. But the agency’s purpose is to excite you about what they are doing so that you will become financial partners with them. Some such trips are up front and clear about this before you ever come. Others lure you there with talk of ministering to the people and then sell their ministry to you once you arrive. What about ministering to the locals? “Well there’s a language barrier and we don’t have enough translators available.....our biggest need is to get folks like you behind us.”

The Service Project Trip: These are the most popular of summer mission trips for we task oriented Americans. The purpose is for your team to do manual labor...pour that concrete, fix up that house, build a church, dig ditches, and clear off the brush for a runway or future building. The mission field is desperate for strong arms and backs to come and do the manual labor. Summer mission teams not only supply the labor, they usually supply the cost of the materials as well. The beauty of such trips is that there is no need for ministry skills or any other kind of skills. No pre-field training is needed. Get the money in and go. These trips provide a great multimedia presentation for the church. Teamwork, getting dirty, and seeing the results of that work is very gratifying to the team and those that see the slides. Such service certainly glorifies God. Christians are to be servants in the service of our Lord. Such service can open doors for ministry. But manual labor in of itself is not ministry. It aids in ministry possibilities, but carpentry work alone never saved anyone. However, such trips are still a great place to start with people who lack confidence to minister. Like the on the Observation Trip, these trips often are used by God to stir the hearts of some participants of the need to return in the future equipped to minister.

The Service/Site-Seeing Trip: These two-week to eleven-week summer offerings come in all sizes and shapes. The team usually has one large construction project in one location for the duration of the trip. The team takes in the sites in route to the project location, as well as on days off and during debrief time at the end of the trip. These trips are offered for locations all over the world. Since many are located in lesser known parts of the world, the advertised sites are portrayed with an exotic appeal. While the service on these “Site-Seeing” trips and tours is worthwhile and can be life-changing for those who go, it is these type of trips that give summer missions the negative reputation of being glorified vacations. In fact, such trips have sometimes been advertised as a “Vacation With a Purpose”.

The Ministry/Site-Seeing Tour: These have the same time spans and enticements as the above. Individuals join a host organization’s ministry tour, which usually targets Europe. The team runs a pretty hectic schedule going from place to place doing the same program over and over. The ministry can be any one of, or a mixture of choir, orchestra, sports team, clowns, mimes, puppets, or tract and/or literature distribution. Between performances or presentations many popular sites are visited, which usually make up most of the slide presentations back home. The sites the team will see are just as much of an attraction, if not more of an attraction, than what the ministry will be. Advertisements for such trips emphasize the sites equally, if not more so, than the ministry. For some organizations, the sites are the main enticement to get people to want to sign up. Think not? Then why don’t we see the same saturation of such trips touring the U.S. or going to Mexico, Canada, Central America, or anywhere in South America?

The Service/Ministry Trip: This is the most flexible type of trip with the broadest appeal because each individual team can determine how much of each they will do based upon their experience, gifts, and spiritual maturity. The service project is the reason for being in the location in the eyes of the local people. For the missionary team, the service project is their means through which to address a physical need and have the door opened to address spiritual needs. Therefore, some ministry training and preparation will be necessary for the team. Most trips expect the team to at least do a vacation Bible school as a way to minister. On non-English-speaking fields, each team is assigned one or two translators in order to communicate with the locals. Beyond VBS, any other ministry the team has prepared for can usually be done: door-to-door evangelism, open air or street evangelism, sports evangelism, evangelism through skits or mimes, youth or adult Bible studies, song and testimony programs in a local church, school, orphanage, rehab center, or even a prison. Sometimes preaching a service through an interpreter can be arranged. The ministry activity branches off from the service project. A part of the team will go out and minister while part of the team works at service. Or, the whole team may work at service part of the day and ministry part of the day. Again, the flexibility to concentrate on more service or more ministry makes this type of trip capable of challenging any team with any level of experience or spiritual maturity.

The Ministry Trip: There is no service project and this kind of trip comes in a couple of formats. One, a team targets one or more large cities for open air and/or street ministry. Every day is basically the same approach: distribute tracts/literature and share the gospel with whoever will grant you a hearing. Partnering with a local church for VBS might also be included. The second doesn’t have to be, but is usually in a less urban situation. The team is prepared to spend all day and some evenings in some form of evangelistic and/or discipleship ministry, depending on what doors of opportunity God opens for them. The Ministry Trip team has prepared itself for a multi-faceted ministry approach, capable of doing the ministries mentioned in the Ministry/Site-Seeing Tour and Service/Ministry Trip, plus discipleship ministry not mentioned elsewhere. Thus the team is usually made up of mission trip veterans experienced in cross-cultural ministry. The ability to quickly adapt to an impromptu ministry opportunity is a team strength. This does not mean the team will not do any type of service work. For, service opens doors for ministry. There is just no planned service project to keep returning to on a regular basis. As the team looks to seize opportunities to minister, service becomes more person-to-person: hauling water in buckets from a well a mile away to a family’s home; helping a mother wash laundry by hand; pushing a bus or car out of a mud hole; helping a farmer round up his stray animals. Such service follows Christ’s example of showing love and thus opening doors to minister to spiritual needs. The evangelization of the lost and the edification of believers are the two main goals of the team. Those are the two things needed to make disciples of others.

The Special Skills Trip: An individual or a whole team has a certain skill to utilize on the field. Medical missions is traditionally the most well-known type of “special skills” trip. However, in recent years, all kinds of special skills are being called for on the mission field and being answered with summer missionaries. School teachers, computer technicians, Bible college teachers, veterinarians, English Second Language teachers, and Christian businessmen as consultants are just a few of the “special skills” desired on fields today. Teams of talented singers, musicians, and athletes are popular youth skills sought for these kinds of trips. Some trips need people with ministry skills such as Bible teaching and those that can conduct ministry training seminars. The difference between this and the Ministry/Site-Seeing Tour is that all the service or ministry is in one locality. There is no touring from country to country. Seeing sites is minimal. Depending on the special skill called for, these trips may or may not provide the participants the opportunity to address spiritual issues with the nationals.

The Missionary Training Trip: Individuals seriously considering full-time missionary service join a training program on the foreign field. These six to ten-week trips include classes on missions strategy as well as ministry time among the locals. A good indication of the high quality of training that takes place can be recognized if the program is also acceptable for Bible college credit.

Walk In The Missionary’s Shoes Trip - An Individual or small team (three to six people) shadows a missionary, doing whatever ministry the missionary is doing, or telling them to do. Such trips come in every kind of activity dubbed “missions” by Americans. What you do depends on the kind of missionary, and in what location. These trips appeal to individuals considering missions as a career and are looking to experience “real missionary life” on the field. Individuals may live with missionaries or with national families. These longer trips can be set up through agencies or with individual missionaries. Some can qualify for college credit. Again, do your homework to insure the individual will be a good match for what will take place on the field. Such trips can be all anyone could hope for, or be one big boring disappointment. If your church has never sent someone on a trip like this before, agencies that have a track record of successfully running such a program should be considered first before trying to create your own with one of your supported missionaries.

Every type of trip can have God-honoring results. However, some are better suited for Acts 1:8 discipleship than others. If your church is doing, or has done, anything in summer missions, at least one off the “smorgasbord” will most likely describe the purpose of that summer missions experience. Sometimes two descriptions fit one trip because of the double purpose designed by the organization and/or team trip leader(s).

If your church has done missions trips in the past, try to determine what was the purpose of the trips. Why were the trips organized to begin with? What were they hoping to accomplish? Did they accomplish what they hoped? Did the purpose, the “why”, have anything to do with obeying the Great Commission? Did the purpose have anything to do with desiring to raise up Acts 1:8 disciples?

It would be real easy to just say “yes” to both questions. For, nearly every church views sending out an individual or team on a summer mission trip as being a part of the Great Commission. After all, it says, “Go,” and they went. With that kind of reasoning, trips to the shower would fit the Great Commission.

Now before someone takes offense at such a comparison, answer this: Why isn’t the trip to the shower Great Commission ministry?

Because a taking a shower is not doing anything the Great Commission says to do!

And what does it say to do?

Make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded (Mt. 28:19-29), preach the gospel (Mk. 16:15), repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed (Lk. 24:47), and being His witnesses (Acts 1:8)!

Granted, showers usually don’t include any of these Great Commission activities. However, did that last mission trip sponsored by your church have any of these Great Commission activities? As you reevaluate, please remember “witnesses” means “testifiers”. We have reduced “witness” and “testimony” down to meaning solely our behavior. We don’t want to be a bad “testimony” or “witness” in the way we live. While that is true, being a witness in the New Testament means: someone who testifies about something; someone who speaks on a matter.

If a trip is doing Great Commission work, then it will have baptizing or some form of vocal communication: preaching, teaching, proclaiming, or testifying. If no one was baptized, no gospel was proclaimed, no Word of God taught, or no vocal testimony given of what Jesus has done in someone’s life, then the trip wasn’t doing the Great Commission ministry.

Or, at least the team wasn’t doing Great Commission ministry. Sometimes, on some trips, the only ones being preached to, taught, and even baptized, are the team members themselves. Many people have been saved, or baptized, or have stepped up their commitment to serving Christ on a mission trip. Don’t overlook that aspect as you evaluate that last mission trip. Since summer mission trips are an important part of raising up Acts 1:8 disciples, all trips should have this two-fold purpose of making disciples out of the team members as well as the local people on the field.

If your church is not involved in summer missions, then you need to decide where to start, keeping in mind, the plan is to raise up Acts 1:8 Christians in your local church while sending out summer missionaries around the world. If your church has a summer missions program, but it is not striving to produce Acts 1:8 Christians, then you need to go through the same process.

While I know summer missions is for people of all ages - our church has sent them out as young as ten and up through the late sixties - most summer missionaries are teenagers. So while I may discuss trips with youth in mind, the same process applies regardless of the age of the participants. Since churches are sending out more teams on trips than they are individuals, I will address the process as if a team is being sent out. Besides, if you really want to start Acts 1:8 discipleship, you need to work with teams to see the program take off. Far more people are willing to join a team than to be sent off somewhere by themselves. Yet, if you are an individual, the same process applies in picking the type of trip to go on.

A Special Note to that Individual That Wants to Go

But Sees Little Hope of Getting a Team Together

Praise God for you! There are many reasons why a church isn’t sending out summer missionaries. Aside from parents not giving permission, don’t let those reasons stop you from answering God’s call. Are you willing to go by yourself? Pray for God to give you wisdom and guidance to get you on a summer mission trip. You may have to pay for it all yourself. Start saving. God can provide. Check with your friends that attend other churches to see if they have teams you can join. Or, considering going with an agency that signs up individuals from all over the country to make up teams. Summer missions starts with someone in every church. God’s choice for that someone in your church may be you, whether you are 16 years old or 60.

Back in 1986, our church had never sent out a summer missionary. It was unheard of. Then God used a high school student to open the church’s eyes to a whole new world. His name was Bill Ward III. That’s what the adults called him, particularly since Bill Ward and Bill Ward Jr. faithfully attended there as well. Young Bill announced he was going to Panama with New Tribes Mission. He was going to be gone for over a month. Well, people were surprised, to say the least. That was a big step for anyone, not to mention a high school kid. People didn’t know whether to be proud of Bill or just think he was odd. After all, the whole Ward clan seems to walk to the beat of a different drum. (A beat more families should follow, I might add.)

Bill left with the church’s prayers and blessing. When he returned, he gave a simple slide presentation on a Sunday night about the people and the ministry in Panama. Over the next seventeen years, our church out in the cornfields sent out over one thousand summer missionaries to sixteen states, three U.S. territories, and forty-nine foreign countries.

It all began with Bill at or church. By God’s grace, you can be the “Bill” at your church.

So, everyone, are you ready? Then let’s figure out what kind of trip you should pursue!