The Missionary and his Sending Church, Part 1

Acts 13:1-3 Missions Policy, Studies in Our Church

In 'The Missionary and his Sending Church, Part 1,' Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds on the biblical relationship between missionaries and their sending churches, as well as the churches they plant. Drawing primarily from the book of Acts, he argues that missionaries must maintain a vital, ongoing relationship with their sending church through periodic visits for reporting, ministry, and reintegration into fellowship. He also begins to address the relationship between missionaries and the churches they plant, asserting that missionaries guide the establishment of indigenous eldership but do not typically become permanent resident elders themselves, a point he promises to elaborate on in the next sermon.

4 illustrations in this sermon

Welcome and Context: Trinity Baptist Church's Missionary Vision

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First Missionary Commissioning

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin welcomes visitors, explains his hoarse voice, and introduces the sermon series on Trinity Baptist Church's missionary policy, which began with a commitment to…

Trinity Baptist Church's first missionary commissioning to Hazleton, Pennsylvania, illustrates their early commitment to church planting and the long-term fruit of that vision.

to go to missionary endeavors, that other churches were involved in until such time as we were able to have a direct involvement. After about a year and a half into our life together, we had the joy of commissioning a young man and sending him out to plant a church a hundred miles west of here in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. And I had the joy last year of preaching to that church on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. That was long before we had a building, a piece of land, or anything.

1:52 - 2:24 Read in full sermon

The Missionary's Relationship to the Sending Church: Scriptural Evidence

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Garlic Breath Litotes

In this part of the sermon: Martin presents Acts 13:1-3, 14:24-28, 15:39-42, and 18:22-23 to illustrate the ongoing, vital relationship between missionaries and their sending church, including periodic…

The analogy of 'no little garlic breath' explains the figure of speech 'litotes' to clarify the meaning of 'tarried no little time' as 'tarried a long time'.

And they tarried no little time with the disciples. That's a figure of speech called a litetes in which you state something in terms of its opposite. They tarried a long time. We say of someone he had no little garlic breath after eating his spaghetti.

21:34 - 21:57 Read in full sermon

Analysis of Missionary Return Visits to the Sending Church

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Filipino Tape Listeners

Driving home: Nothing that can substitute for face to face encounter.

Martin recounts meeting Filipino believers who had only known him through tapes, illustrating the profound joy and importance of face-to-face fellowship after a period of remote ministry.

No, when they saw these brethren, they would have embraced them. And I caught a little feeling of what that must have been like in a church like that. When Paul and his companions were just names when ministering down in the central part of the Philippines in Cebu City just a few weeks ago, a group of people who took a five-hour boat ride all the way over from Ormoc to be present at a conference who have no pastor. And when they meet on the Lord's Day, they sing, they pray, and then they play tapes from the Trinity pulpit.

30:54 - 31:30 Read in full sermon

Principle: Vital, Ongoing Relationship with Sending Church

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Steve and Carol Hoffmeyer's Return

Driving home: The whole concept of a mere financial involvement is not substantiated by the word of God. There was a passion for personal involvement for personal knowledge for face to face acquaintance.

The upcoming return of missionaries Steve and Carol Hoffmeyer for six months is used as a contemporary example of the biblical principle of missionaries reintegrating with their sending church to deepen relationships and receive spiritual refreshment.

Now do you see why Steve and Carol are in Chicago in a brief layover on their way home to spend. Six months among us. Why how many of you sitting here have never met Steve and Carol face to face raise your hands. I want you all to look around raise them high nice and high.

37:13 - 37:35 Read in full sermon

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