At our March 8 Sundaygathering, you may recall that we ‘sent’ approximately 75-100 people to launch our Kent Island Campus who, for many years, have been calling the Annapolis Campus their home. What a great day in the life of our church! Now, unless you live on Kent Island and have been making that trek over the bridge (traveling a minimum of 30 minutes one way each week to go to church), you may have been thinking to yourself, “Oh, that’s nice. Good for them. I wonder where we shouldeat lunch after church today?”
To the average person that sounds good and people are excited for Bay Area to have another campus. But really, it doesn’t impact or make a difference to the majority of us. And though that might be practically true, spiritually speaking, its completely false. So, I want to share with you why ‘sending’ is absolutely necessary and essential to having and being a healthy, local church. And I’d even go as far as saying, churches that do not regularly send people - whether as missionaries, or on short term missions trips, or Residents to be pastors or even people to launch campuses and church plants - I believe those churches are not completely fulfilling the Great Commission. And that’s a problem.
So, what is it about ‘sending’ that should be making such a difference in our church’s life. I want to give you six reasons why sending is so critical to the church and our lives spiritually. Sending mirrors, and is an extension of, the character of God. From the beginning when Adam and Eve fell, God’s plan was to send someone to save and rescue the lost from their sin. He didn’t decide to remain and expect His sinful creation to return to Him. His immediate response was… to go… to send His Son … to be the One who would be our Rescuer, our Redeemer, our Savior. God’s missional impulse is always outward focused. This is known as the missio dei - it reflects the “sentness” nature of God’s character (Isaiah 6, John 20:21). So when we ‘send’ people in any form, we are reflecting God’s character and nature - which is always a good thing.
Sending is counter cultural to the ‘inward’ pull of the local church.
The church, as a living organization, is prone to succumbing to the “centripetal force” of nature. That is, the “moving or tending towards a center” type of force. Practically, most organizations, including churches, will over time only think of and care for themselves. This inward focus or movement can create an unhealthy, myopic view of themselves where resources, people, values and priorities are only about themselves. In essence, we become selfish toddlers. So, sending counter acts against this inclination towards the center, and balances the focus of the church outward. By sending, we reverse the curse and enable the body of Christ to function in line with the Great Commission. (Romans 12:1, Hebrews 13:16)
Sending is sacrificial in nature.
Making the decision to send automatically means its going to cost you something (just think about sending your child to college!). For us, this meant that many of the 75+ people going to Kent Island would step down from their serving roles here in
Annapolis. It means that their giving, their leadership, their presence all disappears here in Annapolis so that it can take root on Kent Island. That’s a cost to us as a church and a campus here in Annapolis! It requires great sacrifice, which is a sense, fulfills out core value of Extravagant Generosity. It doesn’t always feel good to say goodbye (or to leave), but it is unselfish and for a greater purpose (the advancement of the gospel). Learning to be people who are generous and sacrificial models the life of Jesus as He gave everything for us (1 John 3:16, Galatians 2:20).
Sending is a direct extension of who we are as a church.
If you’ve spent any time at Bay Area, you may have heard us talking about us being an advancing type of church. This means that we believe the Lord has called us to be the kind of church that continually looks to the horizons for where to go, what to focus on, and how to reach people. It means that when we think about making disciples, we tend to start here and move outward to the world (Acts 1:8). We believe the Gospel starts in you, and then advances to our neighbors, and finally to the nations. This might explain why we are so focused on being good news people who want to show and share the Good News where we live, work, play and learn. It also illustrates why we are so passionate about the nations and sending so many people around the world on short-term missions teams. So, sending is intentional on our part because we believe the Great Commission is an ‘outward’ focused mission (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8).
Sending requires Great Faith.
When you agree to be the one to ‘go,’ you will find yourself on a journey with Jesus that will require great faith, but also give you great faith. Whether a short-term missions team, or as a long-term missionary or church planter, or even going to launch a campus - these steps of faith mirror what the majority of people in the Bible have done. In faith, they have stepped out, and in exercising faith, they have responded to what the Lord has called them to do. We believe every Christ follower is called to exhibit great faith in Jesus, but that is never more central to the life of a believer than when they ‘go.’ Which is a catalyzer for even more faith in Jesus and His mission. If you have not exercised that step of faith to go (wherever), you are missing out! (Hebrews 11:8, 2 Corinthians 5:7).
Lastly, sending creates necessary space for those who remain.
Pruning a plant typically leads to increased growth. This principle applies to us as a church. By sending people, the roles, positions, gifts, they lived out here all go away. This naturally creates gaps or holes in our ministry here. By regularly sending and creating those holes in our ministries and communities, we create space for others to step up and join the rest of us - which is healthy both for the individual and for the church. There are often latent gifts, leaders and ideas that may never come to
life if the opportunity to fill a gap isn’t presented. So, we grow as a church as a result of sending people and creating those new opportunities for others to join us in the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:13-15, 1 Peter 4:10).
In summary, I believe one of the best things we can do as a church is to send people, whether on a summer short-term mission or a campus to reach a different area. And when we do, it should be cause for a GREAT celebration because we are emulating what our Father in Heaven has done for us. Who else can we send? Maybe its me? Maybe its you! Let’s goooooo.
To the average person that sounds good and people are excited for Bay Area to have another campus. But really, it doesn’t impact or make a difference to the majority of us. And though that might be practically true, spiritually speaking, its completely false. So, I want to share with you why ‘sending’ is absolutely necessary and essential to having and being a healthy, local church. And I’d even go as far as saying, churches that do not regularly send people - whether as missionaries, or on short term missions trips, or Residents to be pastors or even people to launch campuses and church plants - I believe those churches are not completely fulfilling the Great Commission. And that’s a problem.
So, what is it about ‘sending’ that should be making such a difference in our church’s life. I want to give you six reasons why sending is so critical to the church and our lives spiritually. Sending mirrors, and is an extension of, the character of God. From the beginning when Adam and Eve fell, God’s plan was to send someone to save and rescue the lost from their sin. He didn’t decide to remain and expect His sinful creation to return to Him. His immediate response was… to go… to send His Son … to be the One who would be our Rescuer, our Redeemer, our Savior. God’s missional impulse is always outward focused. This is known as the missio dei - it reflects the “sentness” nature of God’s character (Isaiah 6, John 20:21). So when we ‘send’ people in any form, we are reflecting God’s character and nature - which is always a good thing.
Sending is counter cultural to the ‘inward’ pull of the local church.
The church, as a living organization, is prone to succumbing to the “centripetal force” of nature. That is, the “moving or tending towards a center” type of force. Practically, most organizations, including churches, will over time only think of and care for themselves. This inward focus or movement can create an unhealthy, myopic view of themselves where resources, people, values and priorities are only about themselves. In essence, we become selfish toddlers. So, sending counter acts against this inclination towards the center, and balances the focus of the church outward. By sending, we reverse the curse and enable the body of Christ to function in line with the Great Commission. (Romans 12:1, Hebrews 13:16)
Sending is sacrificial in nature.
Making the decision to send automatically means its going to cost you something (just think about sending your child to college!). For us, this meant that many of the 75+ people going to Kent Island would step down from their serving roles here in
Annapolis. It means that their giving, their leadership, their presence all disappears here in Annapolis so that it can take root on Kent Island. That’s a cost to us as a church and a campus here in Annapolis! It requires great sacrifice, which is a sense, fulfills out core value of Extravagant Generosity. It doesn’t always feel good to say goodbye (or to leave), but it is unselfish and for a greater purpose (the advancement of the gospel). Learning to be people who are generous and sacrificial models the life of Jesus as He gave everything for us (1 John 3:16, Galatians 2:20).
Sending is a direct extension of who we are as a church.
If you’ve spent any time at Bay Area, you may have heard us talking about us being an advancing type of church. This means that we believe the Lord has called us to be the kind of church that continually looks to the horizons for where to go, what to focus on, and how to reach people. It means that when we think about making disciples, we tend to start here and move outward to the world (Acts 1:8). We believe the Gospel starts in you, and then advances to our neighbors, and finally to the nations. This might explain why we are so focused on being good news people who want to show and share the Good News where we live, work, play and learn. It also illustrates why we are so passionate about the nations and sending so many people around the world on short-term missions teams. So, sending is intentional on our part because we believe the Great Commission is an ‘outward’ focused mission (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8).
Sending requires Great Faith.
When you agree to be the one to ‘go,’ you will find yourself on a journey with Jesus that will require great faith, but also give you great faith. Whether a short-term missions team, or as a long-term missionary or church planter, or even going to launch a campus - these steps of faith mirror what the majority of people in the Bible have done. In faith, they have stepped out, and in exercising faith, they have responded to what the Lord has called them to do. We believe every Christ follower is called to exhibit great faith in Jesus, but that is never more central to the life of a believer than when they ‘go.’ Which is a catalyzer for even more faith in Jesus and His mission. If you have not exercised that step of faith to go (wherever), you are missing out! (Hebrews 11:8, 2 Corinthians 5:7).
Lastly, sending creates necessary space for those who remain.
Pruning a plant typically leads to increased growth. This principle applies to us as a church. By sending people, the roles, positions, gifts, they lived out here all go away. This naturally creates gaps or holes in our ministry here. By regularly sending and creating those holes in our ministries and communities, we create space for others to step up and join the rest of us - which is healthy both for the individual and for the church. There are often latent gifts, leaders and ideas that may never come to
life if the opportunity to fill a gap isn’t presented. So, we grow as a church as a result of sending people and creating those new opportunities for others to join us in the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:13-15, 1 Peter 4:10).
In summary, I believe one of the best things we can do as a church is to send people, whether on a summer short-term mission or a campus to reach a different area. And when we do, it should be cause for a GREAT celebration because we are emulating what our Father in Heaven has done for us. Who else can we send? Maybe its me? Maybe its you! Let’s goooooo.