CANDIDATE INFORMATION PACKET - Ryan Fields

What place does world evangelism have in your overall pulpit ministry? I believe the church’s role in global missions, in sum, is to think globally while being present locally. The Great Commission, a call to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19) with the guarantee that members from every tribe, tongue, people and nation will be among the redeemed (Rev. 5:9), means that all Christians must to some degree be globally minded, and therefore that the local churches in which they gather must be globally engaged. This will differ based on giftings and resources, but minimally it should involve a commitment to praying, giving and going as the Lord calls. Local churches might seek to raise up homegrown missionaries which can then be sent and supported in locations all over the world. They might seek to dedicate a portion of their annual budget to global mission endeavors. They might seek to partner with parachurch organizations that have a strategic focus in relationship to the broader mission (e.g. Bible translation, theological/pastoral training for impoverished segments of the globe, child sponsorship, famine relief efforts, etc.). But all the while these churches will recognize that they are called to be on mission in the particular locale in which they are placed: they think beyond themselves globally but they do not neglect the mission they have been given locally. In an increasingly globalizing world, global and local mission intersect more than they ever have before; by befriending and sharing the gospel with an international student in the US, for example, local mission turns out to be global mission at the same time. World evangelism is just one emphasis that the senior pastor should give, but it is an important one, and therefore it should certainly show up in pulpit ministry, especially because part of what the preached Word should do is to train God's people in righteousness so that they are thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). How would you plan to deal with church growth and the formation of daughter churches? I tend to think of church growth in terms of "depth" rather than "breadth," meaning that I believe church growth has more to do with growth in Christ than growth in numbers. This is not to say that numerical growth should be ignored; it should be strived for because this means that more folks who were lost have come to saving faith in Christ and more folks who were without faithful church community now have it. But whether 10 or 10,000 folks are entrusted into our care, our priority is to see that they are growing in Christ, which will inevitably mean that they are more likely to share the gospel with their neighbors, co- workers, etc., and then numerical growth will likely happen as a consequence. When God grants the blessing of numerical growth, I believe the best model for channeling this growth is church planting (rather than multi-site or mega-church models). Tim Keller among others has written very convincingly that this is best way to both reach an area for the gospel and rejuvenate currently existing churches in an area. I have been blessed to be a part of two EFCA churches that have been very engaged in church planting (one has planted four churches in the course of twelve years), and I would want to make it a priority to help the church prayerfully consider how often we can raise up church planters and assist them in planting churches. I believe that the network of these daughter churches is something to cultivate and that it is a best practice to keep the mother church in contact with them and supporting them through prayer (and continued financial support as appropriate).

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