What’s the Biblical Model for Missions and Church Planting?

Send us Fan MailGUESTS:  STEPHEN LONETTI, pastor, Beacon of Hope Church, St. Paul, MN and MARTIN MANTEN, pastor, Hope and Light Church, Turbenthal, SwitzerlandWith all the transformative events taking place—COVID and injection mandates, government and big business authoritarianism, the fall of Afghanistan to radical Islamists, the death of 13 US Marines by suicide bombers, the utter ineptness and godlessness of the Biden Administration—one might consider a topic on missions and church planting to be slightly irrelevant.It seems clear that the world is not going to be saved in its headlong rush to the End Times…but individual souls can be. So what Christians should be focused on right now, even more than current events, is obeying the parting words of Christ, the Great Commission:“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).This is an imperative—a command—from the Son of God. This isn’t a suggestion or optional if “conditions on the ground” make it seem of lesser importance than “really big geo-political issues”. In fact, what could be more important in these latter days than working diligently to evangelize and disciple—whether you are a missionary or not—and plant churches in a biblically sound manner?But that’s the caveat—“biblical sound” missions and church planting.Our guests this weekend on The Christian Worldview are Stephen Lonetti, missionary, church planter, and pastor of Beacon of Hope Church in St. Paul, MN and Martin Marten, church planter and pastor in Switzerland.They will exhort the call for missions and church planting at this time, especially in light of the unbiblical “Church Planting Movement” and “Disciple Making Movement” which are so pervasive today.>> Beacon of Hope Church in St. Paul is hosting the upcoming 2021 LifeGate Worldwide Conference Sept. 23-25, where pastors and church planters from the Middle East, Europe and North America will speak on missions and church planting. You can register at LifeGateWorldwide.org