What Is a Sending Church? Inspiration From Antioch

Our Church Partnerships Team regularly interviews incoming missionary candidates to learn about the church that completed their sending church reference. We ask them: what is a sending church versus a supporting church? Sometimes, they’re not sure. Other times, they refer to activities such as praying, financially supporting, caring for and welcoming missionaries home when they return.

While most churches seek to serve sent missionaries in those ways, the Bible offers a more robust portrait. In Acts, we observe what the first sending church—the church at Antioch—did that set it apart from Paul’s supporting churches, such as the church at Philippi. Three unique actions characterize a biblical sending church.

1. The sending church affirms the person’s gifts, skills and character. A church seeks to observe ministry candidates in action; they want to know them well. Barnabas and Paul taught in the church for a year (Acts 11:25-26).
2. The sending church affirms the call of those they send. In Antioch, we read that the elders were fasting and praying when the Holy Spirit told them first to set apart Barnabas and Paul (Acts 13:1-3).
3. The sending church has spiritual authority. When it was time to come home and report, Paul’s team returned to Antioch. It appears they understood Antioch was the church to which they were spiritually and ministerially accountable (Acts 14:26-28).

Today, rapid travel and instantaneous communication have expanded possibilities for sending churches to have significant partnerships with the missionaries they send out, including:

• Visiting workers on the field to personally encourage them
• Assisting with the ministry on the field
• Communicating with missionaries in real-time, e.g., at small group meetings
• Receiving more frequent reports about the ministry

Many churches appreciate the chance for hands-on involvement in ministry on the field. For example, one regularly sends short-term teams to the Middle East to provide free tutoring during breaks at an English-language school run by the workers they support.

Often, the biggest impact comes at the very beginning. Once, I called a new sending church to discuss how Pioneers might partner with the church to help its missionaries get to the field and thrive. The church’s mission leader stopped me and said with astonishment, “It sounds like you actually want us to be involved!” Yes, we do! We want to empower churches to engage robustly in the sending process. Ultimately, though, the Bible is the source of this vision.

Is your church a sending church that wants to grow its engagement with your homegrown missionaries? Would your church like to become a sending church by raising up your own to go to the field? Let’s talk.