Reasonable Service

By: Melvin L. Hodges

Hodges has some tremendous material in toward the back of this little book in which he summarizes the missionary’s ministry to the indigenouss church.

Here is the summary of what he says:
1. The missionary is primarily a planter of churches. This includes two phases: evangelizing the lost, teaching the new Christians, and training national leadership.

2. “The missionary is a temporary factor in any local area, and he should build the church in such a way that it will be able to continue after he is gone.” He should not make himself the indispensable part of the church. He should not make everything rise and fall on himself. “Make the church the center.”

3. The missionary should not allow himself to become bogged down with the routine of maintaining the work, but seek to occupy new fields. He cannot expect every detail of evangelism and organization to be worked out perfectly before he relinquishes the direct oversight.

4. “The missionary should refuse to occupy a position that a national can fill. He should avoid becoming tied down to a local pastorate, but keep free for the work of extension. He should count it a triumph when he is able to place upon the shoulders of national leaders the responsibilities which he has been carrying.”

5. “The missionary should not be jealous of his own authority or position, but be willing for others to take the lead. If the national church has produced leaders who can fill the offices in the work, the missionary should not object to their taking office; nay, he should insist that they do so.”

6. “There is undoubtedly a danger that the missionary may withdraw too soon from the work.” But there is also the danger that he may fail to withdraw at the proper time. A withdrawel is too soon when the missionary leaves the FIELD before he has provided for the teaching and leadership that are vital to the indigenous church.”

****”Failure to withdraw at the proper time breeds discontent and dwarfs the national Christian leadership. It also holds the missionary in that one district when he could have moved on to a fruitful pioneer ministry.”*****

A young man from my home church, Adam McCaslin, will be coming over in the next couple of months to help out with our church planting efforts here in South Africa.

Adam is a graduate of Crown College, and seminary and has a desire to be of help wherever the Lord will allow. While home on furlough I spoke to him about coming over short-term and helping out until the Lord gives him further direction. He prayed about it and is now pursuing it.

He will be teaching classes, learning language, and helping out with a new church plant while he is here.

He is working back home and at the same time trying to raise the needed funds to come over for several months.

Adam is going to need somewhere around $5,000.00 to $7,000.00. I know this is alot of money especially during these hard economic times but I just ask you to pray for him and I know that God will supply every dollar he needs.

All of his support will be sent to Macedonia World Baptist Missions, P.O. Box 519
Braselton, GA 30517 USA

Thanks

Do you think that you are insignificant? Maybe you feel this way even in your local church. That is really a shame knowing what the Bible has to say about every true member of the local assembly.

You have to think biblically about the church. The church is called Christ’s body in Ephesians 1:22,23.

“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

Christ is the head and we as members of local assemblies are His body. Each local assembly is complete. That is, if the “members” of that body are fulfilling their chosen roles.

If you were to quit/remove your membership today would the body that you are a member of be affected? If not, that is an insult to you!

Even the smallest toe on your foot serves great purpose to the overall balance of your entire body. You may seem insignificant (a lie from Satan) but the Bible assures us that each of us play crucial parts.

What steps have you taken to strengthen the wellbeing of your (church) body? Have you made yourself available to help? Are you giving your time, talents, and treasures to the Lord? Are you allowing your gifts to show forth and bless your fellow members?

It’s time to step up and fill the role you have already been given!!!

Eph 1:7 - 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

As we continue to look into the book of Ephesians we begin to understand and appreciate more and more the salvation that God has provided for us.

Here Paul says…

1. …we have redemption –
This word redemption is a powerful word and can be defined and illustrated in a number of ways.

Here is a simple definition and example: It is to be freed from sin’s power so that it doesn’t have power to rule over us anymore. In other words sin’s handcuffs have been released. We are no longer bound by sin. Through Him (Christ) we have been released from bondage.

It also means – the act of saving somebody from a corrupted state and restoring him/her to a better condition.

Furthermore it also means that our ransom price has been paid.

In the Roman prisons of this time the offenses, charges, and punishment of the criminal were nailed outside the cell of the prisoner. When the criminal had paid his dues he would be given a receipt that stated that he had served his time and paid in full his determined punishment.

When Christ redeemed you He paid in full (on the cross) all the sins you ever did (past, present, and future).

In Christ we have true freedom! John 8:34 – “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

You have been set free in such a way that you can now do what is right and actually serve the Lord. Before you could not do this, even your best was filthiness to God. But now in your redemption you are able to glorify God!!!

This brings us to the next part of the verse.

2. …through His blood - In the O.T. on the Day of Atonement the High Priest would make sacrifrice for the sins of the people. The blood thereof would be sprinkled on the mercy seat.

The high priest would also use another goat for the purpose of serving as a scapegoat. The high priest would pray and confess the sins of the people and put symbolically place them on the goat. Then the goat would be sent to wander off into the desert. (Lev. 16)

Psalms 103:12 – “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself and caused them to be lost forever, never to be found again.

Notice in the verse from Psalms that God says “As far as the east is from the west,…” This is important because there are in fact north and south poles that can be located. But there are no determined points that one can use to distinguish how far the east is from the west. In other words God is saying they are lost!

When God looks at you, child of God, He doesn’t see your sins, rather He sees the blood of the Lamb that was slain. John referred to Christ as our scapegoat in His proclamation in John 1:29 – “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

Jesus, as the Lamb of God, (our scapegoat) took the sins of the world away!!!

3. …the forgiveness of sins - This simply means that God wipes our slate clean. Unlike when you wipe a literal slate clean and it leaves behind enough markings to still read was once intentionally written, when God wipes our slate clean it is as if our slate is brand new having never been written upon.

You have been redeemed. Christ paid your sin debt and set you free. Now”…ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Cor 6:20)

Don’t abuse your freedom. Do with it what it was intended for – to glorify God!!!

Relax! That is one word you need to learn and apply very quickly when doing cross-cultural ministry. You will either learn to chill out a little bit or have a nervous breakdown because things will not go according to protocol.

Today, we were distributing boxes of John/Romans in the main business section of the township, Njoli Square. There are taxis, street venders, and people all over the place. Well, we pulled up and started unloading the boxes and began handing them out when out of nowhere a guy comes up and grabs handfuls of them and begins passing them out.

He was a bit drunk and looking to make some money. Needless to say I couldn’t get through to him that I wouldn’t pay him and that all the helpers that were there were members of the church. He wouldn’t listen and I have to say he was hustling to get those books passed out. He did a great job:)

Obviously, I didn’t want a drunk man passing out literature for the church but sometimes you have to pick your fights and starting an argument at Njoli Square would not be wise. At first I was like, no way this is happening, I cannot have a drunk man passing out literature! Then, I said to myself it’s not worth getting all worked up over. I just relaxed and let him help us out. Who knows maybe someone took the book from him and went home and trusted Christ as their Savior.

Ephesians 1:4 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”

God has chosen you. He has chosen everyone that is in Christ Jesus. Before the world was created God looked out into eternity future and could see all that would accept His Son as Saviour. Those were chosen by God.

Illus: Let’s say I walk into the children’s church at the beginning of the month and tell the teacher that all the children that are faithful all month long will get an ice cream party at the end of the month. I have chosen ALL of the children that are faithful. At the beginnning of the month and then repeatedly throughout the month the teacher will be telling the children to be faithful in order to be apart of the ice cream party.

It is not that I reject the unfaithful but that I set a requirement and they refused to meet it. So it is that God has set a requirement and only those that obey it will be accepted by Him. God says “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (Jn. 3:36) God knew all of this before creation.

Throughout time God has had people preach His requirement for entrance into Heaven. Only the “chosen” will be accepted. The “chosen” are the ones that will accept Jesus Christ as Savior. God already knows who these are but that doesn’t mean He makes them choose Him and makes others reject Him.

Norman Geisler says that “Forced love is rape; and God is not a divine rapist.” God created us as free beings. This was dangerous but was necessary. It allowed us to choose Him or to reject Him. We rejected Him in the beginning and now He has given us an opportunity for redemption through Jesus Christ. Thus, again allowing for freedom of choice. This is the only way to the best possible world. A world where people who have heard, and heeded the great love message of God and will be with Him forever without sin.

We are chosen because we are in Christ. And we are in Christ so that we can be holy and without blame. In other words so that we can be unblemished, consecrated offerings for the glory of God. We are His workmanship created for good works.

By God’s own love He has transformed us from children of wrath to Sons of God so that we now can bring glory to His name as holy and blameless servants.

CIA factbook reports that 86% of the population can read and write.

Maybe this percentage is correct but most of the people that I know struggle to read with fluidity.

For this reason we have begun to do alot of recording. We have been recording the preaching at the church and have already completed our first discipleship c.d.

On this c.d the person will receive almost 50 minutes of teaching about salvation, assurance, and baptism.
It is also a great opportunity to advertise about our church.

Pray as we get these c.d.’s out into the community. We hope to see alot of people saved through this ministry.

New Testament Church Planting is not controlled by money.

Melvin Hogdes said “We believe that this is possible because the gospel is universal and adaptable to every climate and race, and to every social and economic level.”

I would definitely agree with this statement. I don’t believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is controlled by any of the above factors.

God’s plan from the beginning was a plan to reach the world. His kind of church can be planted and sustained in any area of the world. Whether or not you and I are effectively doing that does not negate what is true of God’s church.

Hodges, after studying the New Testament church concludes,
“The New Testament church then was first, self-propagating; that is, it had within it sufficient vitality so that it could extend throughout the region and neighboring regions by its own efforts. It produced its own workers and the work was spread abroad by the effort of the Christians themselves.”

While I agree with what Hodges says I think in this specific quote at least he leaves out a very important factor. The fact that there was a first cause. That is, the church didn’t start on its own and the people didn’t just grow on their own without any outside help. They had one of the greatest Bible teachers of all times, the Apostle Paul.

Yes, I fully believe that a Xhosa preacher/teacher is capable of doing as well if not far better than I could ever do. But he is not going to get their wandering through the wilderness alone. Paul was there to guide these churches and so the missionary is here to help train and coach local leadership.

Secondly, Hodges speaks of the self-governing principle. He says “It (N.T. church) was self-governing; that is, it was governed by men who were raised up by the Holy Spirit from among converts in the locality.”
I wholeheartedly agree with the statement, but as the saying goes “if it sounds a little too good to be true then it is.” What I mean is these “men” don’t just happen. They don’t just become godly men all of the sudden. No, it is a process. Phil 1:6 says that this process is something that takes place over the course of a life.

Yes, they can and should get involved a.s.a.p. in the ministry but it would be misleading to say that these men just show up one day. No it by God’s process of sanctification and life on life discipleship that such men will appear in church plants.

The men are called gifts according to Ephesians 4:11,12 – “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”
God gives the local church gifts. Here at Madiba Bay God has given us such men. He has given us Sipho, Lubabalo, and Babalo and I hope many more to come. They are growing and learning more and more how to use the God given gifts they have been endowed with.

Lastly, Hodges speaks of the self-supporting principle. He says “it (N.T. church) did not depend on foreign money in order to meet the expense of the work.”

This is another great point by Hodges but at the same time one I find difficult to balance. I am not for complete disuse of foreign funds but I am for the self-supporting principle.
I don’t want the churches planted here to be dependent on foreign funds. I don’t want them thinking that when the missionary goes church is over.

I don’t want to develop a welfare mentality. On the other side it would be silly to work on foreign fields and not make use of a resource God has given you.

The devil makes great use of this resource. He is doing a fantastic job of creating self-sustaining organization all over the world through its usage.

What I have been taught up to this point and have to come to take as a church planting philosophy concerning money is that we shouldn’t do things that cannot be sustained after we are gone.

We will help with the purchase of buildings or land if necessary. We will help to get things started up, but what we do not want to do is provide things that cannot be sustained by the people.
If we help with a simple building then they can afford to pay the water and electricity.
If we provide expensive S.S. materials from the states when we are gone they cannot afford to continue do so.

We can help provide chairs that will last for the church.
We cannot provide fancy meals and leave them in disappointment when the future preacher plans a churchwide meal.

We can help materials and evangelism tools. These are essentials.
We are not going to start an expensive taxi service to and from church that the church cannot sustain. Our goal is to start churches within walking distance of where the people live.

These are just some thoughts as I read through Melvin L. Hogdes book THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH.
I am not preaching to anyone just writing out my thoughts from the reading. If you disagree or have thoughts or insight please feel free to reply.

Please pray for Madiba Bay Baptist Church as it seeks to start a new church here in iBhayi (Port Elizabeth).

This will begin to take place next month as we begin outreach in the area of the new church plant. The area is called Wells Estate. Several people from Madiba Bay have been providentially moved to that area and will be immediate attenders of the new church.

The most essential thing that we need is prayer. I know we can knock on doors. I know we can preach. I know we can sing. But what we can’t do on our own is cause genuine life change in people. This is where you come in thousands of miles away. WE DESPERATELY NEED YOU TO PRAY!!!

We don’t want to plant churches. We want to cause a movement of church planting!

Read the following to understand the difference:

Perhaps this is why Church Planting Movements are devoid of goals to start ten or twenty additional churches in a country or city. Instead, these churches are satisfied with nothing less than a vision to reach their entire people group or city—and eventually the whole world! As each church realizes that it has the capacity and responsibility to reproduce itself, the numbers start compounding exponentially.- David Garrison

Prayer is the key to this.

Here are some specifics on how you can pray:
1. Ask God to give me and the other leaders wisdom
2. Ask God to send us more aspiring young men to train
3. Ask God to give us a great harvest from our outreach
4. Ask God to bless our new discipleship on c.d.

Madiba Bay Baptist church is still in its infant stages but its time to give birth. We will continue to work at building Madiba Bay but the necessity of another light source is vital.

We want to plant a number of churches here in P.E. and move on. Kentucky Fried Chicken has reached P.E. with their secrect recipe. There are around 15 KFC’s in our city alone!!! The Xhosa people do not refer to fried chicken as fried chicken they call it “Kentucky!”

Ask God to allow us to start 10 to 15 churches in this city and move on.

We are really small right now and I know the only way that things are going to grow is through God’s help.

If you would commit to pray for this need please send me an e-mail letting me know so that I can let the church know that there are others around the world praying for this church plant.

KwiGenesis 12:1

Apha sibona ukuba uThixo wambiza uAbram kwaye wamnika icebo. Wamxelela makahambe, asuke ezweni lakowabo.

Kodwa wayezakuya phi? Ndicinga noAbram wayezibuza lombuzo. Kuba, khange amxelele uThixo ukuba uzakuya phi.

uThixo wayefuna uAbram amlandele ngokholo. Kwaye sibona apha ukuba khange amthandabuze uAbram.

Namhlanje: uThixo wathetha noAbram ubuso ngobuso. Akathethi ngolahlobo nathi namhlanje. Sinalo iLizwi lakhe lonke eBhayibhileni. Ngoko ke, xa sifunda eBhayibhileni kufuneka sifane noAbram, sithobele iLizwi likaThixo ngokholo.

Umzekelo: Usindiso - Soze siqonde yonke into ethetha ngosindiso kodwa ukuba sizakusindiswa nguThixo kuzakufeka sithobele kwabaseRoma 10:9 xa iBhayibhile ithi “Ngokuba, xa uthe wamvuma ngomlomo wakho ukuba uyiNkosi uYesu, wakholwa ngentliziyo yakho ukuba uThixo wamvusa kwabafileyo, wosindiswa.”

Masimthobele ngokholo!!!