Building Up the Missionary Force:
American churches take the Gospel to places with no other missionary presence

By Mary Beth Meilstrup

Pastor Brad Bessent needed an object lesson.

During a worship service, he called forward several congregation members and instructed them to join hands to create a circle.

"Is there any other way this circle could be formed?" he asked as the group stood facing one another. They looked puzzled until a womanin the congregation called out, "Turn around!"

Once the circled group faced outward, Bessent asked, "Is the view any different?"

It was just the dramatization he needed to help convince his church their view also needed to be outward.

"Maybe sometimes the view in our church grows stale because we're just looking at each other," shared Bessent, who pastors Beulah Baptist Church in Hopkins, S.C. "Not that we shouldn't care about one another, but we need to look outward at the world."

In 2007, Beulah Baptist did more than just look at the world -- this congregation of 250 embraced it full-force by committing to take mission trips every six weeks to get the Gospel to the Bambara people of Mali.

Almost 100 other churches throughout the United States have made similar commitments to help bring the Gospel to West Africa. Thanks to these churches, dozens of people groups who otherwise might never have heard are entering the Kingdom for the first time.

God put this vision into the heart of West Africa's regional leader, Randy Arnett, several years ago.

"More and more as we looked at the pure reality, it simply is not possible to get to all the unengaged, unreached people groups depending on International Mission Board personnel," he said. "It can't be done. And so (we asked) how do we go at it?"

Arnett, too, looked outward.

He started asking churches to commit to reach people groups that have no missionary presence.

"It's not just saying, 'We are going to pray for these people; we are going to think about them or put them in our Wednesday night prayer list,'" Arnett said. "It's saying, 'We will take responsibility for bringing the Gospel to them, for bringing them to Christ, for planting those first churches.'"

The churches' response to the challenge was overwhelming. When these churches are added to the graph of IMB missionaries working in the region, the workforce is boosted around 60 percent.

In 2006, Calvary Baptist Church of Neosho, Mo., became the first Engaging Church in West Africa. Thanks to their efforts and the Holy Spirit, there are now over 100 Mandyak believers.

Similar stories are popping up throughout the region. In Nigeria, First Baptist Church of Mandeville, La., a congregation of 350, has started two new churches and two preaching points with the help of Nigerian pastors. Fifteen new believers have been baptized, and another 15 await baptism.

On Beulah Baptist Church's second trip to Mali, 10 Bambara accepted Christ. Since that time, dozens more have decided to follow Jesus.

"We've seen the Gospel go from the village we work with to adjacent villages," Bessent said. "It's pretty exciting."

Early on, these churches' efforts were almost a side note to the main missions thrust in West Africa. Now, they're a vital part of the IMB's strategy for reaching this part of the world.

"I guess in my own mind starting out, this was a way of trying to cover some of the bases -- to try to get some of these people groups covered that wouldn't get covered any other way," said Arnett. "I figured we would get a few takers. What I've come to see is this is a bona fide strategy."

IMB missionary Clint Bowman agrees.

"You hear a lot more about Muslims coming to Christ, about new churches getting started," he said. "… As far as I'm concerned, it's working."

Several months ago a pastor from a Partnering Church showed Arnett an e-mail he received from a mission team out on the field.

"These are our people," the church member wrote. "This is different from any other mission trip we've ever done. If they don't hear the Gospel, it is because we didn't do our job."

Arnett said that e-mail touched him.

"So yes, things changed in a way," Arnett said. "The ownership of the Great Commission has changed."

Bessent agrees.

"One of the exciting things our people have learned is that there doesn't have to be this mysterious call to West Africa," he said. "God has already said go. And last time I checked, He hadn't changed His mind. We remind our folks that we have all been called."

It simply starts with a willingness to look outward.

Emily Peters contributed to this story.