Our Philosophy

Missions Philosophy Statement of McPhail/Seawright Team

Our Overall Goal:

Our goal is to glorify God by obeying His command to make disciples through seeking to start indigenous fundamental local churches which will, by the blessing of God, lead to a grassroots church-planting movement.

I. “Our goal is to glorify God”

Our ultimate goal is to glorify God in everything we think, say, and do (I Cor 10:31). Thus, our ministry must be God-centered, not man-centered; based completely on the Scriptures, not on pragmatism (doing whatever works rather than what is best). Our desire is to be used by God to lead idolatrous men and women from their false religions so that they may become true worshippers of their Creator, Jesus Christ (I Thess 1:9-10).

II. “By obeying His command to make disciples”

Jesus Christ has commanded all of His followers “to make disciples of all the nations” (Matt 28:19-20). In order to obey this command, we believe the following things are necessary:

1) Evangelism–Evangelism is a very important component of all missionary work, especially at the beginning. We must “do the work of an evangelist” (II Tim 4:5) with boldness and humility. Evangelism includes both proclaiming the truth (Col 1:28-29; II Tim 4:2) and living the truth in the context of the normal relationships of life (Matt 5:1-16; I Peter 2:12).
2) Baptism–Upon profession of faith in Christ and indication of the fruit of repentance, new believers must be baptized. This baptism identifies them with their new Lord, Jesus Christ (Rom 6:3-4), and His visible body, the local church (Acts 2:41-42).
3) Teaching–Teaching/Discipleship is a non-negotiable part of all missionary work. We believe we must patiently teach God’s word to all believers at their level. This will involve a great investment of time and energy as well as emotional and spiritual stress (Col 1:24; Acts 20:17-32; I Thess 2:7-12). Those who are desirous and/or gifted will receive additional training in God’s word. We especially desire to train Spirit-controlled and God-called men who will be able to teach others also (II Tim 2:2). We believe that our teaching should begin with Biblical Theology (a chronological approach using narratives) and lead to Systematic Theology (the correlation of Biblical truth).

We believe the Great Commission contains no social mandate. At the same time, if a missionary believes that his testimony in the community is being questioned and/or desires a venue whereby to develop relationships with people and to show compassion, he may choose to be involved in social work. In the case of a local disaster or crisis, the missionary may also desire to help with the relief effort. In some places, social work must be done in order to secure a presence in that country. In all these cases, the missionary must make sure his social work does not keep him from his primary task of fulfilling the Great Commission and will not compromise the indigenous principles described below.

III. “Through seeking to start indigenous fundamental local churches”

A. Indigenous Local Churches
We believe that true Biblical discipleship should result in indigenous local churches. In order to fulfill the Great Commission biblically, there are two things that we must strive to avoid: 1) Evangelism and discipleship with no clear goal of planting churches (i.e. para-church organizations); 2) A focus on establishing an institution (local church) but failing to truly disciple people. We believe starting “indigenous” local churches will inherently avoid these two errors.
By “indigenous,” we mean local churches which are culturally distinct and independent. We must be careful not to bring American cultural forms that are not based on clear Biblical statements or principles into the field culture. The Bible must be the final authority on all areas of faith and practice in every culture. If the churches are to be indigenous, missionaries must take seriously their calling to a particular culture by learning the language of the people and striving to understand and make adjustments to the culture that they minister in (I Cor 9).
In order to start indigenous churches, four principles must be followed. The churches must be:

1. Self-Supporting:
This is the central principle which makes the indigenous church possible. We believe very strongly that churches started on the foreign field must be self-supporting from day one. In the event that temporary support is necessary for the church at the beginning, it must be limited to a level which a small group of believers could quickly and easily assume. It is important that, from the very beginning, the national believers learn the joy of Biblical giving to God and to His work at their own level. To encourage disobedience is not true Biblical discipleship. God’s people in every culture must be called upon to do what God commands them to do without excuse.1 Therefore, the missionary must be careful to think through all of his actions and make sure that they are not leading to dependence upon his resources. He must not take on the role of a patron.2 He must strive to do only what the national believers could do with their own resources. Some specific applications to this principle are the following:

1) The national church must learn from the beginning to support their own pastors and evangelists at their own level. Missionaries cannot assume this responsibility (I Cor 9:1-14; I Tim 5:17-18; III John).
2) The national church must learn from the beginning to provide the funds for their own place of worship. In most cultures, the simplest way to follow this principle would be to begin as NT churches began–as house churches (I Cor 16:19; Rom 16:5; Col 4:15).
3) The national church must learn from the beginning to use only methods and programs in the local church that are within their own financial means. Ministries, programs, and methods that require outside funding and expertise may have some fruit. In the end, however, these will be counter-productive because the national church will believe that they cannot fulfill the Great Commission without them.
There are legitimate ways for foreign funds to be used in the local church setting overseas without compromising this principle of “self-support.” The missionary may choose to give one-time gifts that do not create dependency, lead to disobedience, or compromise the testimony of Christ.

2. Self-Governing:
We believe that if the principle of “self-support” is followed, then the principle of “self-governing” will come more easily. A crucial issue in accomplishing this principle is that the missionary must accurately understand his role. We believe the role of a missionary is that of an evangelist and teacher. He must not take on the office/position of a pastor. Though the missionary will fulfill pastoral type duties, he should not ever be perceived by the nationals as the pastor of their local church. The missionary is temporary and must act as though this were true from the very beginning. The missionary should give advice and counsel but must allow the national believers to make decisions concerning matters of the local church as much as possible from day one. Sometimes this will mean allowing mistakes to be made. Some of these “matters of the local church” include the following:

1) The national church needs to decide upon its own spiritual leadership (i.e. pastors and deacons). These decisions must be based upon the leading of God communicated to both the individual and to the members of the local church, as opposed to being selected by the foreign missionaries (Acts 6:1-6; I Tim 3:1-13; I Tim 5:22). We believe that national pastors and evangelists must remain in their current vocation (I Cor 7:17-24) until the local church is able to take responsibility for his support on their own (whether part-time or full-time).
2) The national church needs to take responsibility for all matters of discipline within the body according to Biblical guidelines (Matt 18:15-17; I Cor 5).
3) The national church needs to manage its own affairs financially, take care of its own property and equipment, and decide its own programs and methods for fulfilling the Great Commission (Acts 2:42-46; 4:32-36; 6:1-6)
4) The national church needs to baptize its converts (I Cor 1:14-17) and administer the Lord’s table on its own (Acts 2:42, 46).
We believe in a congregational form of church polity. The national pastor(s) are to be spiritual servant-leaders giving direction in matters of doctrine and practice. He must not control the local church or its resources (I Pet 5:1-3; II Cor 8:20-22).

3. Self-Propagating:
If the local church is founded on the principles of “self-support” and “self-governing,” we believe it will be more likely that the church will be “self-propagating.” Once again, understanding the role of the missionary is crucial. The missionary must understand that his role with respect to that local church must change over time. Initially, the missionary will be primarily an evangelist. As people come to Christ, his role changes to primarily that of a teacher. Eventually, the missionary’s role in that church should be as an advisor/counselor. He must not take on the permanent role of evangelist and teacher in that local church. Therefore, the missionary must make sure that each of his methods of evangelism and discipleship are reproducible in the context of the culture. Some specific applications to this principle are the following:

1) The national church must be burdened to obey the Great Commission, both in personal evangelism and discipleship. Not only should the missionary teach this by word but also by example. At the same time, the missionary must not allow evangelism to revolve around his own labors (I Thess 1:6-10; II Tim 2:2).
2) The national church must choose ministry ideas from their own heart and according to their own abilities. Ministry ideas that come from the national’s own heart and personal burdens will be the most effective and permanent (Acts 4:32-37; 9:36-43; 18:24-28).

4. Self-Preserving:
Because we believe that these three “self’ principles are based on the Scriptures, missionaries must instill in the national believers a need to continue in these principles after the missionary’s departure. The missionary must be able to say with a clear conscience that he has faithfully warned and taught the national believers in preparation for the day he leaves (Acts 20:17-38; Col 1:28-29).

B. Fundamental Local Churches
We believe that true Biblical discipleship should also result in fundamental local churches. If souls have come to Christ, have been baptized, have been organized into local indigenous churches, have been systematically taught the Word of God, and upon our leaving them fail to remain faithful to all the major doctrines of Scripture, then we have not achieved our goal. Ultimately, though, the responsibility to remain fundamental in doctrine and practice rests with the national church. We believe the following Biblical teachings must be taught in all of our churches:

1) The national church must love the Truth. Doctrine and theology must be emphasized, applied to daily living, and enjoyed (II Tim 3:16-17; Acts 2:42; 17:11; Ps 119).
2) The national church must have a strong desire to defend the Truth. They must actively fight against error and “earnestly contend for the faith” (Jude 3; II Tim 4:1-3).
3) The national church must see the necessity of separating from false doctrine/teachers (II Peter 2; II John 7-11; Rom 16:17-18; Gal 1:8-9) as well as from those who fail to obey the Scriptural command to separate from false doctrine/teachers (II Thess 3:6, 14-15).
4) The national church must see the necessity of separating from sin and worldliness (I John 2:15-17; I Pet 1:13-16; II Cor 6:14-7:1).
In order for these churches to have personal convictions on Fundamentalism that will stand the test of time, patronage must be avoided at all costs.

IV. “Which will, by the Blessing of God”

This task, the accomplishing of the Great Commission in a way that glorifies God, is absolutely impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit. This is because of man’s total depravity–his inability to respond positively to God in salvation on his own without a special work of the Holy Spirit (I Cor 2:14; John 6:44; I Cor 12:3; Col 1:21; Titus 1:15). We must always remember that God is the “Lord of the harvest” (Matt 9:38) and we are His laborers by His grace (II Cor 4:5). Thus, the following things must be priorities in our personal lives, in our families, and in our team:

1) We must be careful to acknowledge our personal inability and our need for total dependence on the Lord. Therefore, we must keep daily prayer a priority (Col 4:2-4; Acts 6:4; John 15:5-8, 16). We must also stress the need for prayer support for our ministry by faithfully communicating to our prayer supporters around the world (Rom 15:20; II Cor 1:11; Eph 6:19-20; Col 4:2-4; II Thess 3:1-2).
2) We must strive for personal holiness in our lives lest we quench the Holy Spirit and become unclean vessels (Titus 2:12; II Tim 2:21-22; I Thess 5:19; John 14:13-15).
3) We must be aggressive in doing the work of the Gospel (II Tim 4:5-8; Phil 2:17; II Cor 12:15; Col 1:24, 29).

V. “Lead to a grassroots church-planting movement”

We believe very strongly that our task is not done once we have helped to establish an indigenous church or even a few indigenous churches on the field. There must be a desire on the part of the national believers to spread and expand the church of Jesus Christ into new areas without missionary efforts or patronage. This is the final stage where the nationals themselves see their own missionary obligation and set out to accomplish it. This missionary movement will be characterized by the following:

1) It will be a grassroots movement. The energy for this movement will come from the natural growth of the indigenous churches.
2) It will be a church-planting movement. The focus for this movement will be the expansion of Christ’s church into pioneer areas.