One of the questions that churches often ask us is, “What are best practices in missions?” While we have a list we can give, I often reply first by asking, “To do what?” That is usually met by a long pause. The world is constantly changing, the global church is changing as well, and the role of the American church must adapt with it. We cannot assume that some expert can just tell us how to do it well and we can run that script.

To engage in best practices, every church periodically needs to go through a discernment process to hear a clear call from God for how to join his mission and then develop a way to engage that call that fits their role. Given the vast diversity in church backgrounds, contexts, giftings, and callings, that call can vary significantly from one congregation to the next. Churches of different sizes and capacities will need to engage missions differently. There is no one model for being a good missions church. The important thing is to fulfill your unique calling well.

A decade ago, we at MRN didn’t fully grasp this. We had one approach for equipping churches to be excellent mission churches. But we learned over time that not all church’s mission ministries need to look alike for them to serve with excellence. There are at least three kinds of mission churches, and excellence looks different for each type.

• Supporting churches – Provide necessary financial, emotional, and spiritual support but don’t oversee or direct any workers or works. Typically supporting churches send money to another church or organization that provides direction and oversight. They can and should also offer spiritual support.

• Sending churches – Oversee workers (or a work) with financial and legal responsibilities but don’t set or own the vision for the mission. The vision and strategy typically come from the mission team or workers, or a third party (parachurch organization). Sending churches provide accountability as well as primary emotional and spiritual support.

• Strategic churches – Have a clear sense of calling, a vision, and a strategy to see the kingdom take root and expand in a particular place with particular people. They cast vision and seek out those who can help them fulfill their vision. Strategic churches often draw sending and supporting churches into their visions.

All three types of churches play an important role in advancing the mission of God, and they all need each other for the mission of God to work well. Churches of various sizes and budgets can operate well at all three levels, but smaller churches tend to cluster at the supporting end. Strategic churches tend to be larger but don’t have to be huge. What determines the type of a missions church is a sense of calling, gifting, and decision about how to engage God’s mission.

Regardless of what type of church we are talking about, there is a way to achieve excellence in that type. You don’t have to be a sending or strategic church to be an excellent missions church. Excellence is more about having clarity around your missions calling, engaging works that are well-aligned with your congregation, uniting around your calling with a clear focus, and staying engaged at a high level in appropriate ways.

As you live more fully into the kind of mission church God has called your congregation to be, we would love to help you discern a clear missions calling and vision and live it out well.

What Kind of Missions Church Are We?