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One of the buzz words in evangelical mission circles for many years has been “church planting.” It is a rare mission society which doesn’t claim that church planting is either its primary goal or at least one of its major goals. This, of course, is as it should be. Therefore my readers may be surprised to hear me say that after 50 years in mission ministry I have never founded a church.

Am I proud of this fact? Certainly not! Am I lamenting it? No. Then why do I bring it up?

Hundreds, probably thousands, of dedicated missionaries would have to say the same thing if questioned. Why is this? The answer is simple: “There are different kinds of gifts…different kinds of service…different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men” (1 Cor. 12:4-6). In my case, instead of direct church planting, the Lord led me into a variety of support services. These included teaching, discipling, administering, writing, organizing events to challenge and inspire others and encouraging many whom God used in developing new churches.

Military experts tell us that in wartime it takes about 11 people behind the front lines to support one on the battle line. This percentage is certainly not true in missions, but the principle holds. Many support services are needed to back up those who are on “the frontlines” in establishing churches. Secretaries, bookkeepers, fundraisers, administrators, recruiters, personnel directors, medical staff, construction and maintenance workers, mechanics, plumbers, writers, pilots, community development workers, micro-enterprise experts, camping leaders, translators-and this list could go on endlessly. Some of these people do have the opportunity and joy of starting a church, but some do not.

Strangely enough, my wife-who will vigorously deny this-actually organized a church almost without realizing it. A large development flourished on the outskirts of Cartagena, Colombia, where we lived. She discovered that there was no evangelical outreach among the 16,000 inhabitants. So she recruited several teachers from our local church to join her in starting a small Sunday school for the area’s street children. They began with a tiny handful in a private home. That Sunday school has exploded into a large congregation which has planted at least a dozen more churches in surrounding areas. My wife dismisses the idea that she was a “church planter,” but a church definitely grew out of her labors.

Let’s not forget those amazing pioneers who never saw a church develop in a lifetime of ministry. For example, James Gilmour (1843-1891) worked faithfully in Mongolia from 1870 to 1891, baptized only one person and never started a church.

Mission history is full of such examples. Were these people failures? Absolutely not! They were faithful servants of the Lord who never enjoyed visible rewards.

We praise God for all who have the great privilege of bringing new churches to birth, and we relish the outcome of their labors. At the same time, we must remember those who have “different kinds of gifts…different kinds of service…different kinds of working” and rejoice with them as they make possible the church planting ministry of their colleagues. They may not be able to write the stirring prayer letters that supporting churches want. They may not have dramatic stories to tell while on home assignment. They may sometimes feel like “second class citizens” in comparison with those who have witnessed a new church blossoming from their work.

I sometimes dream of that great day when those of every people, tongue, tribe and nation are singing praises together around the throne. Those who first introduced the gospel to them will worship among them. But also present, and perhaps wearing the most shining crowns, will be those who never had the joy of actually founding a church, but who enabled others to do so. I can think of many such colleagues whose crown of faithfulness will be gleaming in the presence of the Lord. These are the unsung heroes of the faith.

May God help us in our strategic planning and our public promotion to maintain a proper balance between church planters and those who make possible their work. May we keep the apostle’s perspective, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has assigned each to his task…The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor” (1 Cor. 3:5-9).

July 5, 2002