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In our experience, most churches send missionaries from their own church either
through their denomination, or through a variety of missions agencies. These
agencies are usually chosen by the missionaries, based on their own criteria.
The church will frequently have some contact with the agency, but most communication
with the field is through the missionaries. Many independent churches will
find themselves involved with several different agencies, and large churches
may work through eight, twelve, or more.
Xenos
Christian Fellowship is a fairly large, young, independent church in Columbus,
Ohio. In the 1980's we had grown very rapidly, which forced us to focus on
equipping new leaders for our home groups and ministry teams. We had devoted
little attention to missions in the 70's or early 80's, in spite of a heartfelt
desire to do our part in other cultures. Therefore, when our leadership sat
to consider where we were going to go in world missions, we had the opportunity
to write on a blank chalkboard rather than one cluttered with existing alliances
and commitments.
The
Xenos leaders decided we wanted direct involvement with our missionaries and
their ministries. We didn't want to simply have our people feel called to
different fields and agencies and expect the church to give its blessing and
support. We realized that Xenos had it's own ministry ethos and emphases that
were quite different than other churches. Xenos is very non-traditional and
eager to avoid exporting a western-style church to new people groups where
those forms would become a nuisance. We felt a strong desire to keep our missionaries
working together in teams on the field like they were used to doing in this
country.
We
also wished we could find a mission agency that understood and appreciated
our approach to ministry and our theological distinctives. Such an agency
might be willing to place our people together in teams, perhaps with missionaries
from other churches who feel compatible with our approach. Also, we felt that
if we were willing to commit a good number of people to the field, an agency
might be willing to include us in a partnering agreement, and share key decision-making
responsibility with us.
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