One of the appeals of travel is the opportunity to go somewhere that is different to where we usually live. It’s great to see a different area, walk somewhere else, try new cuisine, experience another culture.
That’s also healthy in ministry. It’s easy to be so invested in our local church or para-church ministry, we get little chance to see, learn from, or be refreshed by what is happening elsewhere. We focus on our corner of the harvest field and mostly only interact with people from “our tribe”.
But whether a church is large and doesn’t feel it needs help from others, or small and so busy trying to just stay afloat that there is no time for wider involvement, it is not only healthy but biblically necessary to think beyond our local ministry.
The New Testament repeatedly shows us churches and gospel workers focussing on more than their own patch. In 2 Corinthians 8, for example, Paul tells the Corinthian church about the incredible passion of the Macedonian churches (Berea, Philippi and Thessalonica) for the collection for the poor in Jerusalem. Paul was passionate about collecting gifts from Gentile churches to care for and support the poor and suffering church there. The churches in Macedonia were begging for the chance to help out, even though they themselves were struggling. Paul not only held up their example to the church in Corinth, but sent Titus to them to help them complete their own collection for the poor. Right there, we see a picture of churches in different locations working together and being spurred on by each other, to assist in the work of the gospel in another place.
What will help us think and work beyond our local ministry? I would like to suggest four things that are helpful, especially for ministers, elders and gospel workers, who can then pass on this mindset to the people they teach and lead.
Denominations
First, it is right to invest in your own denomination. The health of denominations varies enormously, some operating as robust, gospel-hearted, theologically faithful networks of churches, while others are beset by bureaucracy, liberalism, or division. Either way, it is right to work for the spiritual well-being of the denomination to which you belong. That inevitably involves some level of commitment and engagement. If the denomination is healthy, it can lead to rich fellowship, shared resourcing of ministry beyond the scope or capacity of the local church, important theological study, as well as practical structures for support and accountability. Thinking “beyond local” demands some deliberate investment into your own denomination.
Networks, conferences and fellowship
Second, it is good to find places for the cross-fertilization of ideas with people beyond our own denomination. Even if our denomination is strong and we have great encouragement and fellowship in that context, the work of the gospel is wider than our particular denomination. While some people and churches will be too divergent from us theologically for meaningful fellowship to be possible, we can usually find people in other churches and ministries with whom we have sufficient alignment to greatly benefit from engagement with each other.
Conferences and events provide great opportunities to hear and learn from others, and to form relationships with people in other churches and ministries. Some pastors benefit from peer groups that formed during their time at theological college and continue years into the future. Pastors in a local area might meet for prayer and fellowship together. There is much to be said for a minister having a mentor from another denomination. Such a person can help us see things from a different perspective and provide a sounding board for things we are thinking about. In Australia, there are some fine ministries that provide contexts for fellowship and gospel encouragement (such as The Gospel Coalition Australia, TGCA) or training (like Reach Australia). In these contexts, iron sharpens iron, and we are reminded we are not the only ones seeking to serve Christ faithfully.
Gospel ecosystems
Third, it is valuable to invest into the health of the gospel ecosystem in your area. An ecosystem is the rich interplay of multiple factors that together produce an environment for growth and health. For the gospel to spread in a city, State, region or nation, it will always take more than one great ministry, one strong church, or one good denomination.
In a rich gospel ecosystem there are many churches of different sizes, in different areas, reaching different people; evangelistic ministries and events that help spread the gospel; conferences and events that encourage people in their faith or equip them to teach, lead or serve; university campus ministries that reach students with the gospel and equip them to serve; ministries that help raise up the next generation of gospel workers through events, internships and apprenticeship; theological colleges that train people for ministry; mission organisations that open avenues for cross-cultural ministry; and so on. While all these can exist as isolated efforts, gospel work is advanced more effectively when there is synergy, cooperation, mutual support, generosity, and partnership across these ministries. That is what creates an ecosystem.
It is worth asking, am I working to support the wider health of gospel work in my area? While we will be limited in how many things we can engage with, and by the level of theological alignment we have with others, it is healthy to invest into some work beyond our immediate ministry, for the sake of the wider work of the gospel. It is also important to care about and pray for that wider work, to value and respect other like-minded ministries, to be generous toward them where possible, and to seek out ways of cooperating or partnering with others.
Global mission
A final dimension of “beyond local” is to keep on our radar the world-wide work of God. The gospel must be taken to the ends of the earth, so that people from every tribe, nation, language and tongue are called into the kingdom. It is not enough to be passionate about reaching our own area; we need to care about God’s global gospel plan.
At RTC we regularly have speakers from mission organisations join us for our community time. It is a deliberate strategy to constantly open for our students windows to the world of mission. Wonderful work is being done, and needs to be done, in countries officially closed to the gospel; in the 10/40 window (the area from 10 to 40 degrees north latitude, stretching from Morocco to Japan) where not only two-thirds of the world’s population live but also many of the world’s poorest and most unreached people groups; in Bible translation; in reaching marginalized people; in supporting those in the persecuted church, and so on.
A healthy church has global mission constantly on its radar, partnering with missions by sending, supporting, praying and giving. This ought not be an optional add-on to a church’s life but a core part of its gospel DNA. We want to see the world won for Christ.
There are strong forces to counter any attempt to think “beyond local”. Sheer busyness, not to mention selfishness, parochialism, suspicion or competitiveness, may keep us from working with others. But gospel ministry will be stronger, healthier and more biblical when our focus is not only on what we are doing for God, but on what God is doing in many places, through many people. Church and ministry leaders need to think “beyond local”, and then teach their people to think this way. God will be honoured, we will be encouraged, and gospel work will be strengthened.