We see evangelism and missions occurring on four levels as defined by Christ in Acts 1:8:
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Level 1 – Jerusalem – our immediate mission field. This includes the people our members interact with, the people living in the areas where our members live and the neighbourhoods in proximity to our church. It includes reaching people in the areas we live in.
Level 2 – Judea – our regional mission field. This includes other suburbs, towns, cities and provinces in South Africa. Seeking to establish new Bible-believing churches in South Africa , as well as assisting and cooperating with existing ones fulfils this part of the missions mandate.
Level 3 – Samaria – our cross-cultural mission field. This means crossing cultural and language barriers to reach the many other cultures in South Africa.
Level 4 – the uttermost part of the earth – our international mission field. This means sending and supporting church-planter who leave the borders of South Africa to preach the Gospel, establish churches and make disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ in other countries.New Covenant Baptist desires to be a part of the Lord’s mission in all four of these levels.
Our Mission Philosophy
1. DEFINITIONS
While words like “missions” and “missionary,” are not in the Bible, they do describe something that we see in the New Testament. Our definition of these words will directly influence our decisions related to missions. In financial terms, this does not mean we cannot fund work that does not fit our definition of “missions.” However, it does mean that funding such work will fall under a different line item of the budget.
a. CHURCH PLANTING:
The entire process of preaching the gospel to unbelievers (1Co 1:17), teaching them to believe and be baptised (Act 16:30-33), and further instructing them (1Th 2:17-18, 1Th 3:10; 1Ti 3:14-15) to be knitted together in a covenanted body (Col 2:19) that is edified by the offices of pastor and deacon (1Ti 3:1-13), and that assembles together (Heb 10:24-25) for teaching, admonishment, and worship in reverence and awe (Col 3:16; Heb 12:28), and for the observation of the ordinances of the Lord’s table (1Co 11:2334) and the baptism of new believers (Mat 28:19).
b. PLANTED CHURCH / ESTABLISHED CHURCH:
A church that has been planted and no longer requires the presence of a missionary. See Appendix A for a tentative description of a planted church.
c. MISSIONARY:
One directly involved in church planting whose primary role is that of preacher and teacher (Act 13:13, Act 15:36, 41). In some cases, a pastor of a local church may be classified under this title, when his own congregation is not yet self-supporting.
d. MISSIONARY HELPER:
One who does not primarily preach and teach but who is working in the field with a missionary, helping him in ways that assist the work of church planting (Act 19:22; 2Ti 1:1618; 4:11; Phm 13).
e. MISSIONARY CANDIDATE:
A man seeking financial support in order to act as a missionary, not as a missionary helper.
f. CANDIDATE:
A person seeking financial support to act as a missionary helper.
g. INITIAL CONSIDERATION:
The deliberation of the elders, deacons and congregation prior to committing ongoing financial support to a candidate.
2. ACTIONS
a) Our Aim:
The mission of New Covenant Baptist Church is to see the First Commandment become the first priority for all nations through Jesus Christ (Mk 12:28-29, Mt 28:18-20). New Covenant Baptist church desires to be a faithful channel of the whole Christian faith, conserving and propagating orthodoxy, orthopraxy and orthopathy, to our children, our families, and our neighbours, from here to the uttermost parts of the earth. We desire to believe the Truth, embrace the Good, and love the Beautiful for the fame of His name and the good of all nations.
b) Our Action: To identify and faithfully partner with missionaries and missionary helpers who are committed to our aim as described above.
i. To identify: The Holy Spirit revealed to the early church, by direct revelation, whom to set apart for church planting. In this dispensation we do not receive direct revelation, but we are well equipped to recognize those whom the Lord has prepared for this work.
a) Since at some point a missionary always performs the duties of an elder of the church he is planting, he must meet the qualifications of 1Ti 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9.
b) Those who are missionary helpers must be of proven Christian character (Act 15:3738), and are servants entrusted with church resources, hence, the qualifications of deacon are appropriate (Acts 6:16; 1Ti 3:813).6
c) This requires the elders, deacons as well as the congregation to spend sufficient time with a candidate under initial consideration (and his family, if applicable) that they are reasonably confident they know what he values and how he deports himself (and, in the case of a missionary candidate, how those of his children living at home deport themselves, if applicable).
d) All missionary candidates under initial consideration will preach or teach to the assembled congregation, to discern aptitude to teach. NCBC will lovingly and diligently strive to determine this aptitude. One sermon/lesson may be sufficient if a missionary candidate is well known to the congregation, but otherwise, one is simply not enough.
e) The pastors and deacons will review the doctrinal statement of each candidate under initial consideration. Where there are significant differences, they will consider asking the candidate for clarification, in order to learn how strongly the candidate holds his position, which direction he is going in his thinking, and how militant the candidate is on the particular point of doctrine in question. The leadership should be aware that some who proffer an orthodox doctrinal statement nevertheless treat as Christian brothers those who deny the fundamentals of the faith. A candidate who does this says he believes the truth, but shows by his affiliation that he considers it of little importance. The elders and deacons will bring such affiliations to the attention of the candidate in the course of diligent fact-finding and, if appropriate, admonishment and exhortation. Prior to any congregational vote on initial financial support of a candidate, the missions committee will report to the congregation on the candidate’s doctrinal position.
f) The elders and deacons will consult a minimum of two personal references for a candidate under initial consideration, one of which must be the pastor of the candidate’s sending church. An elder will personally contact each reference.
ii. and faithfully partner: Upon recommendation of the elders and deacons and congregational approval by formal vote, NCBC will commit to regularly and fervently pray for and give money to a worker.
a) In order to strive for authentic partnership, in which each partner shares significantly in both risk and reward, NCBC will adhere to the principle of multum non multa, “much, not many.” It is better to support few candidates at a high level then many candidates at a low level. A church that supports 100% of one missionary’s need is no less “missions minded,” and likely even more so, than a church that supports 100 missionaries at 1%.
b) Partnership requires three things: First, the missionary or missionary helper must maintain doctrinal and philosophical similarity to NCBC. While latitude must be granted, if a missionary adopts a doctrinal or philosophical position judged by the leadership to be severely at odds with NCBC, partnership is strained (Amos 3:3). Second, the missionary must maintain adequate communication regarding his activities, needs, and challenges. While the busyness of missions places missionary worker under pressure, a written update at least once every two months is needed. The financial need is to be communicated to the leadership of NCBC, so that it is clear what percentage of support he is at, and what portion of that support NCBC is fulfilled.