How Should the Church Think About Missions?
There are right ways and wrong ways to approach missions work.
Just as Scripture clearly instructs believers how to love God (Deuteronomy 6:5), worship Him (John 4:23–24; Romans 12:1), and serve Him (1 Peter 4:11), it also gives clear direction for how the church is to carry out the Great Commission.
Yet today, pragmatism rather than biblical conviction increasingly shapes modern missions methodology.
In this conversation, Dr. David Doran—Senior Pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church and President of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary—joins TMAI President Mark Tatlock to discuss the current trajectory of evangelical missions philosophy, the historic drift toward liberalism in missiology, and the necessity of grounding missions work in a faithful theology of the church and Scripture.
As Dr. Doran states, “Ecclesiology precedes missiology.” In other words, what the church believes about itself and God’s design for ministry necessarily shapes how it carries out missions.
This conversation serves as an important reminder—effectiveness in ministry is never ultimately measured by visible results but by faithfulness to the Word of God.
The Center for Biblical Missions (CBM) exists to help local churches and church leaders think biblically about missions by providing trustworthy resources—curriculum, consulting, and connections—that strengthen churches in their Great Commission efforts around the world. Through these resources, CBM seeks to equip churches to pursue truly biblical missions work, grounded in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, not trends or pragmatism.
“You can’t assume because God has bestowed some blessing that it is an endorsement… The test is always faithfulness to the Scriptures. And so, we’ve got to be willing to submit ourselves to the authority of Scripture.
And churches have to be saying, ‘So what do we believe that God has told us to do? And are we willing to do that? And then expect that of our international workers and encourage them in it?’”
We pray this conversation encourages and strengthens you as you seek to think biblically about the church’s mission in the world.
Click the button below to watch the full interview at the Center for Biblical Missions.