You sometimes hear the debate about the role of the local church versus the mobile or para-church. Some will say that the local church has it’s role serving local needs, but that the mobile church is to go out as missionaries. Other see the mobile church as a dividing factor, taking people out of the local church and decreasing it’s effectiveness is fulfilling the role that God has for it in the world.
The Traveling Team has an interesting article about the role of the local church in world missions entitled “Local Church – Friend, Foe or Failure in the Great Commission”. The article points out four “truths” about the primacy of the local church in the Great Commission:
- The Local Church is Primary in World Missions Because Jesus Said it is
- The Local Church is Primary Because the Body of Christ is there
- The Local Church is Primary Because it Affords Us Training and Care
- The Local Church is Primary Because it is Both the Beginning and the End of Missions
There are some great points made in the article and it is well worth reading it here.
Although I work with a mobile church organisation in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) I have been extremely blessed to a part of a local church in Calgary that is very missions minded. I found out about YWAM through another member who had been sent out from the church. The local church has been a huge blessing and support for me and my family ever since I joined Youth With A Mission in 1998.
For me it is the combination of both the local church, South Calgary Community Church, and the missions agency, Youth With A Mission, that has created the environment where I am able to serve God full time as a Missions Communicator.
* Photo provided by YWAM Harpenden