Summary: This page explains my views as to why "regular" mission boards are not biblical
(Reason number 3 of 5). For the calling page, see Why we are not under a board.

(3) Mission boards promote "their ministry" by using missionaries, and their first concern and most important priority is not the work of the Lord.

by Missionary David R Cox

Page Outline:  
I. Local churches and pastors fix problems in people's lives, not dump them.
II. Problems between missionaries and boards.
"What benefits us, benefits God, what harms us, harms God."
III. New Testament mindset

(3) Mission boards promote "their ministry" by using missionaries, and their first concern and most important priority is not the work of the Lord.

This is a subtle point, but a valid one none the less. In my years of being a missionary, I have observed many missionaries that "washed out" (abandoned their calling to missions and returned home to do something else). The reason for this is varied, but the dealing of a "problem" missionary is handled very distinctly by a mission board and illustrates my point. When a man of God has a personal problem, and it comes to light, the typical mission board deals with the situation by simply asking him to leave their association, knowing full well that he cannot enter another mission board (most will not accept a missionary that has left a mission board over a problem). There is a valid point that a minister needs to have a good testimony to be in the public service of the Lord, but there is also another side to the story, that of the particular individual and his family.

Local churches and pastors fix problems in people's lives, they are not in the habit of dumping their "problems". Within the concept of the local church, such a problem is not just "disposed of" (a hot potato that you flip off to somebody else or get rid of however). In other words, the person is counseled, dealt with, and certain considerations are appropriate for both him and his family. He is simply not "dumped", pushed out the door without any consideration of his personal and spiritual needs beyond the problem at hand. A pastor has to give account for everyone under his ministry to the Lord (Hebrews 13:17), so if such a problem presents itself in a local church missionary, the pastor cannot "get rid of the problem" but rather he deals with it.

The real difference between the two is not so much seen in when it happens, as much as in preventative measures to keep problems from happening. Because pastors know the problems from counseling they take preventative counseling when they see signs, and by this, many times, avoid the problem all together. Mission board administrators never get close enough to their missionaries to even get a clue about personal problems until they get the notice that something has happened destroying the missionary and his ministry.

In a local church missionary situation, the pastor talks to his missionaries from time to time so that he knows their situation, their lives and problems, and can give counsel much earlier in the situation to head off potential problems. In a mission board situation, any hint of a problem can get you dumped, so no mention is made and nothing is revealed to the board except the minimum of what has to be (usually what the board "finds out about" by accident and oversight of the missionary, his wife, his kids, etc). Mission boards are notorious for "not understanding the life and problems of a missionary". Having said that, I would also specifically include missions administrators that are former missionaries themselves. The rule seems to be they forget what it was like. Most are appointed not for their insight into missions and how they can help the missionaries, but rather how well they themselves take orders from the higher ups. Few have the compassion necessary to deal with missionaries as most pastors seem to easily find. They got were they are today because they conform to the organization. They think everybody else should do likewise. They do not understand pressures that would force a person to stand against an organization.

Board and missionary problems - Another angle of this issue is when there are problems between the missionary and the board. The typical attitude of a pastor (that is not on a board or pushing a mission board) is that they want their missionaries ministries to be as fruitful, biblical, and prosperous as they can possibly help them to be. The mission board attitude is that they want "their ministry" (i.e. that of the mission board) to be as fruitful and prosperous as possible. So they use their missionaries to accomplish this "success". Since in reality the board does nothing productive in the ministry itself, it must use the productivity of their missionaries to gain recognition. Woe to the missionary who does not have a flashy ministry that the board can use as Public Relations material, for he is despised and mistreated in general (unless he has connections in Christendom, i.e. with pastors that are on the board of directors).

In my years of experience as a missionary, both having problems over the years with my mission board, and seeing countless other missionary friends likewise with the same problems, I have come to the conclusion that the system holds more blame than the individuals involved.

Simply put, a missionary that is not a leader, that has to have somebody make decisions for him and guide him at every turn will not be a very good missionary. Bottom line here is that a "good missionary" must show a great deal of initiative, he must be a self starter, learn to solve his own problems with his Bible, his conscience, and the Holy Spirit, and make things happen. This flies in the face of oversight by long distance from the mission board. They take insult that they were not consulted on these issues, even minor ones. But at the same time they defer to make decisions on the hard decisions, leaving that for each man to decide in his own ministry (and take the flack from pastors, supporters, etc). Because of the needed personality of the missionary, and the control the board wishes to exercise over their missionaries, we are doomed to forever have conflicts between the two. So as a missionary you do one of two things, you become a slave to the mission board, selling your conscience to the board and what you can best guess is the board's policy and what they would do, (because you cannot actually ask them as they will get upset at you for lack of initiative), or you do what God leads you to do and eventually they will find out about some situation or decision you made, and they will rebuke you sharply for it, if not kick you out altogether.

The issue here is usually not "rebellion" on the missionary's part, but simply a minister feeling he must work in a certain way because God gives him no other choice. Mission administrators just do not understand the tensions, stress, and different cultures that their missionaries live and work in. As such they usually come down hard on the missionary when they observe something that just does not sit right with them. They look after the mission's reputation, and they are not putting the first priority in their missionary's ministries being the best that it can.

Quite simply put (after living both under a mission board and under a local church ministry), mission boards promote themselves, and pastors promote missions and their missionaries.

This translates into a simple mindset.

"What benefits us, benefits God, what harms us, harms God." Quite simply this leads to an attitude that "we are never wrong" (the Catholic church went down this road many years ago and is an excellent example of where this will take you if you follow it), and even when it is beyond doubt that we have done wrong, it is never dealt with publicly where we admit it. Our errors cannot come to the light of day unless Satan does it. (Whoever reveals our errors to the public is a traitor to Christ, and the hand of the devil.) This is not right, but it is the mindset of most "Christian ministries" that are not local churches, (and some local churches even)

We read such passages as Moses killing an Egyptian, David's many and grievous sins, Peter's denial of Christ, and we realize that in the current "Christian ministry mindset", these things would be covered up and never come to light if the modern Public Relations aware missions administrators were keeping the books. Why does God reveal them? Simple answer, because God has mercy, pardon, forgiveness, and teaches us to love one another and care for one another as some core issues within Christianity.

God is "big enough" to not really suffer damage when the carnality of man gets in the way. Instead, God forces a dealing with sin, hopefully to provoke repentance, and abandonment. This is the ultimate goal of God. Christian ministries today are heavily controlled by modern views of PR, Public Relations Management. In this scheme of things, you cover up your sins, never confess (especially publicly admitting error), and you attack anybody and anything that would reveal internal problems. Moreover, the problems are simply not dealt with. Instead they are hidden. One thing a leader does wrong ruins him forever. He has to step down, and he never can lead again. On one side of this, this forces leaders to never admit any mistake or poor judgment. This is wrong and people never see the humility of a man of God confessing that he made an error. On the other side of the issue, people ignore that some sins disqualify a leader, and he should step down.

This is how a cult is formed. Most Christian ministries border on a cultic mindset anyway. To devote your life to Christian organizations (not local churches) is a curse, and to support it (by prayers, time, energy, or especially by money) is very unwise. One well known pastor and founder of a big Christian university said, "If I fall, Fundamentalism falls." This is the kind of arrogance common among Christian ministries today. Under this mindset, people cannot be human.

What is the New Testament mindset in this? Simply, ministers are local except for church planting missionaries. By being local, the people who actually pay their salaries are seeing their life and walk weekly. When something is wrong, they see it, and God moves their conscience to stop supporting them. Make the leaders distant, and you will never see the faults in their lives, and they live in sin.

04/23/06