I love being a Foursquare missionary. I have the privilege of serving a global church family that is passionate about Jesus Christ and seeing lives transformed by the Gospel. We are a mission-driven movement.
In October, 1927, Aimee Semple McPherson wrote in The Bridal Call magazine,
“Angelus Temple is opening one of the mightiest missionary enterprises that has ever been started. Nothing short of establishing missionaries and mission stations in every land and among every kindred, tribe, and tongue, will satisfy these earnest, enthusiastic, and consecrated followers of the Foursquare Gospel. ’The Field in the world,’ is their motto, and ‘Around the world with the Foursquare Gospel’ is their slogan. The spirit of the Foursquare Gospel is that of a true pioneer.”
The Foursquare Church has grown from a single church with a global vision to a global church with a single vision. Today, there are more than 67,000 churches in over 130 nations who are passionately committed to planting healthy churches that will transform lives and nations through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit led the Foursquare Church to develop two key components that led to this incredible fruitfulness: Foursquare Missiology and Foursquare Missionaries.
Foursquare Missiology
I can reduce everything I know about missions into four quadrants, each with four components. (You will notice in Foursquare we love the number four.)
• The Foursquare Gospel –We preach Christ as Savior, Healer, Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and Coming King. We do not preach the Church: We preach Christ and His Kingdom and he produces the Church.
• Four-Self Churches. It is a strange name. Let me explain what it means. When the Gospel takes root among a new people group, the churches are intended from the outset to have four key characteristics. These are:
- Self-governing. From among the converts leaders will be raised up and the church will govern itself, not dependent on outsiders or foreigners.
- Self-supporting. These churches learn from the beginning that generosity and self-support are critical to revival and long-term multiplication. We should never start churches that are dependent on long-term outside resources. Leaders and resources come from among the harvest.
- Self-propagating. The churches will not be dependent upon outside missionaries or teams to insure evangelism and Gospel expansion take place: they take responsibility to reach their own cities and countrymen with the Gospel. New churches are multiplied from the harvest.
- Self-expressing. We do not seek to make carbon copies of the church. We believe the Incarnation of Christ informs our missiology. It is working out of the question, “What does the Church look like in local clothes and culture?”
• Four-stage development. Church planting movements will go through four stages of development.
- At stage one the work is initiated by mission focused people. The Gospel is sown and people are won to Christ and a church is born.
- During stage two, these believers are nurtured, disciple, and brought into greater fullness in Christ.
- As they grow the Gospel begins to expand beyond them, reaching even more people. This is stage three.
- At stage four this church now begins to send out missionaries of its own to reproduce what has happened among them.
• Four critical tests. All mission efforts should pass these four “stress tests.”
- Field Driven. People on the ground need to guide what is happening. It would be a disaster for a pastor in Jackson, Mississippi to determine what a church in Seattle, Washington needs. Equally, it would be a disaster for a pastor in Seattle to determine what people Liberville, Gabon need. The field drives the mission.
- Family matters. Being part of a church family matters. Our work should not be exclusive to the Foursquare family, we all have a bigger vision of the kingdom than that, but there is a lot to be said about the principle of “family first, but not exclusively.”
- Fruit counts. Take time to look at the fruit: Transformed lives, leaders produced, and churches planted. These things matter.
- Finances that help. Finances are the most dangerous threat to our missionary endeavor. There are ways to use money that helps missions and there are ways to use money that will destroy missions. Thankfully some helpful works are out there to help us. I strongly recommend the following books:
- “When Charity Destroys Dignity: Overcoming Unhealthy Dependency in the Christian Movement” by Glenn Schwartz,
- “When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor… And Yourself” by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert,
- “Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It),” by Robert Lupton.
Foursquare Missionaries
Foursquare Missionaries are charged with living out Foursquare Missiology. This tandem force of missiology and missionaries has served as an apostolic movement resulting in a global Foursquare Church.
Imagine the strengths of a church organization designed by pastors for pastors. My guess is it would serve the needs of the pastors pretty well. It would have inherent strengths and weaknesses. In the same way, Foursquare Missions International (FMI) was designed by missionaries for missionaries. Consequently, it has inherent strengthens and weaknesses. Chief among its strengths is that it has allowed a very small number of missionaries to produce an incredible amount of fruit.
When the Foursquare Church began sending missionaries, a “sending method” was developed between the Church and the missionaries. The missionary was told, “We want you to focus on the field. We will care for you, pray for you, and financially support you so that all your time and energy can be focused on the harvest, not on where your next meal will come from.” All Foursquare Churches agreed together to support these missionaries through the General Missions Fund (now called the Global Missions Fund). Being apostolic means you are both “sent to” and “sent from”. Our missionaries were “sent to” the unreached cities, nations, and people groups of the world. They were “sent from” a church united around missions.
The two greatest strengths FMI brought to the table were (1) our missionaries could focus on the harvest and not raising support, and (2) we were very “mission specific” and thus we have a very specific type of missionary that we deployed.
Unfortunately, being designed by missionaries for missionaries brought some weaknesses as well. Over time certain deficiencies eventually arose, especially as our culture became more high-tech and high-touch.
These weaknesses were the mirrored reflections and unintended consequences of our strengths.
These unintended consequences were (1) A lack of connection and partnership with local US churches. FMI became viewed as a “black hole.” (2) Limited opportunities for those sensing a calling to serve on the mission field but who did not necessarily have the gift mix and calling of the typical Foursquare missionary. FMI was seen as a very difficult club to join.
Over time FMI has been working on how to keep the strengths of our apostolic assignment and “sending model” while at the same time making a way for every person called by Jesus to serve as a missionary and every local church who wants greater personal involvement in missions work. It is a daunting task. The results have not been perfect, it is far too complicated for that. But a new day has dawned.
Every church and every believer must wrestle through how they can best serve the Great Commission – How they are to “Pray, Give, and Go.” By working together we can accomplish far more. For me, FMI means not only Foursquare Missions International but also Foursquare Mobilized Internationally. Our God is a missionary God and our Church is a missionary church.
Regarding the financial support of missions, each church and believer needs to resolve within themselves how they can best support the advancement of the Gospel. Within FMI, there are four ways to financially support missions. (There’s that number again!)
- Support The Global Missions Fund. This focuses on our shared assignment and calling as an apostolic people.
- Support individual missionaries. Many of our missionaries now raise their own support.
- Support a project. There are so many opportunities around the world.
- Support Disaster Relief. This helps the Foursquare Church respond to crisis at home and around the world.
Each category serves a Kingdom purpose. I think it is always a good idea to have a “diversified Kingdom portfolio” where you are investing in the harvest through multiple streams. Check out http://give.foursquare.org/ for some opportunities.
As a missionary who is supported by the Global Missions Fund, I hope you will partner with me and the more than 25 missionary couples who are supported through this fund. We are actively engaged in reaching the harvest fields of the world because of your prayers and financial support.
Why should you consider supporting the Global Missions Fund?
- If you believe missionaries are best served when they do not need to worry about where their next meal will come from, you should consider supporting the Global Missions Fund.
- If you believe we should recruit, train, and empower the best of the best and send them to reach unreached cities, nations, and people groups, you should consider supporting the Global Missions Fund.
- If you believe every Foursquare Church should have equal access to the harvest, you should consider supporting the Global Missions Fund.
- If you believe developing healthy church planting movements is the best way to reach nations, you should consider supporting the Global Missions Fund.
- If you believe fruitfulness should be rewarded, you should consider supporting the Global Missions Fund.
- If you believe the Foursquare family has a shared mission to “Go Around the world with the Foursquare Gospel,” you should consider supporting the Global Missions Fund.
As a local church, would you consider setting aside time one Sunday per month to pray for Foursquare Missionaries and then receive an offering for Foursquare Missions International? It will take about seven minutes a month and it can change your church and the world.
As an individual believer, would you consider giving monthly to support Foursquare Missions? You can give through your local Foursquare Church. If that is not possible, you can give online by going to https://give.foursquare.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=501. If you prefer to send a check, please send all checks to:
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel P.O. Box 26776 Los Angeles, CA 90026
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support. We could not do this without your help.
Yours for the Harvest,
Jeff and Debbie
Debbie and I serve as the FMI Global Associate Director for MENACA and Europe. We focus on cultivating disciples, leaders, and church planting movements.
