By John David Smith, President of BMA Global Missions

The fourth value of BMA Global Missions is that we practice indigenous missions principles. The word indigenous simply means that something belongs locally. The ministries that we initiate around the world must be sustainable and reproducible in each of those local contexts. Those ministries will not last, and certainly will not multiply, if they are dependent on outsiders to provide vision, finances, and leadership. 

In missionary ministry, a certain tension has always existed in the instruction and application of biblical truth in local cultural contexts. This process is referred to as indigenization: the attempt to make the gospel belong in a local setting and not be viewed as a foreign idea or expression. Unfortunately, in many places of the world where Western missionaries have pioneered gospel ministry, that ministry has been presented with a significant Western cultural baggage. 

Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh, practiced indigenous missions principles during his own personal ministry. He did not walk into a historical/cultural vacuum; he walked into a very specific history and culture in Israel. In his efforts to convey his message and develop reproducing leaders, he worked in and with the cultural norms. He did not view all culture as antagonistic to his mission. 

Jesus used four common metaphors to communicate and illustrate his message: farming, vines, sheep, and fishing. These, of course, are obviously taken directly from daily life in Israel. Jesus also utilized the synagogue system as long as they would allow him, and he employed the rabbinical structure of instruction where a rabbi would have a select group of students/followers. Jesus spoke in parables, which was a common teaching method of the local culture. There were many things that Jesus did not accept or utilize from the culture, especially the religious system of his day. 

Indigenous missions principles are quite evident in the New Testament. Historically, men like Henry Venn and Roland Allen, who both lived and served as missionaries in the early twentieth century, articulated indigenous principles, and they continue to be a very good resource in the on-going discussion. 

For many years, a guiding concept in the indigenization conversation has been the “Three-self” model for churches. In this idea, the goal is for a church that is self-governing, self-sustaining, and self-propagating. This simply means that the church makes its own decisions, pays its own way, and is able to multiply . . . all without outside interference or help. This model has been scrutinized for various reasons. One criticism is that it overly emphasizes the “self” part and creates isolation. Another criticism offered that it was incomplete and two more “selfs” were added: self-expressing and self-theologizing. These simply mean that the local church looks like a church in that culture in architecture, worship style, communication style, leadership selection, etc. Self-theologizing does not mean it can create for itself some special system of theology, it means that they must build and apply biblical theology in local themes that we simply do not have very often in the West such as polygamy, animism etc.

BMA Global Missions attempts to carry out healthy indigenous principles. Noted missionary Hudson Taylor once said that “missionaries are the scaffolding, not the edifice.” Like Christ, our missionary methods must include local forms that will allow us to develop local leaders in local systems that will carry on after the scaffolding has been removed.  

Two primary ways that BMA Global Missions attempts to accomplish this goal include our church planting grant program through ChangeMaker missionaries and our practice of the “principle of the thirds.” Both of these efforts have as their stated goal to partner without creating dependence. Prayerfully, this also does not take us to the extremes where we have no ongoing relationship and do not cultivate the “self” part in isolation but in association. 

The grant program through ChangeMaker missionaries is carried out in the lives of non-American church planters who receive a church planting grant for a limited number of years. In essence the partnership is with both the project and the person, but it is not open-ended. It is intended to help the church plant go to the five-self stage and repeat the process as the church becomes part of our worldwide family.

The principle of the thirds is intended to support those churches in their advancement by not giving them gifts where they are not vetted in the process. If they want to make a major purchase or build a building etc., they are expected to fund the first third of the total cost, then we will try to help them with a third, and the last third can be an interest free loan from our international loan fund. In the end, we partner and facilitate; we do not enable and create dependence. Also, the local congregation will have paid two-thirds of the total cost when the project is complete. 

Much like our own children, we look forward to the day when they are independent from us as parents in finances, decision making, and other areas of life. That does not end our relationship, it merely changes the dynamics. Overall, we as parents rejoice in seeing our children flourish on their own. BMA Global Missions is thankful that we have many family members in our association around the world that function on their own and yet they are a vital part of the ongoing ministry. If the edifice is going to shine and the children are going to live in a healthy manner on their own . . . the scaffolding and the unhealthy systems of enablement and dependency must come down.