HeartCry’s great goal and the chief end of all that we do is described in our mission statement:

The goal of our ministry is to glorify God and to bring the greatest possible good to humanity through the preaching of the gospel and the establishment of biblical churches throughout the world by means of equipping and mobilizing indigenous churches and missionaries.

We serve as a voice for the voiceless, a partner and facilitator between churches and individual believers in developed countries and indigenous churches and missionaries in some of the most unevangelized regions of the world. Our purpose is that the gospel might be preached to every creature; that a people for God might be gathered from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation; and that strong local churches might be established among them.

In the following pages, we will expound each phrase of our mission statement.

“To glorify God…”

The glory of God is the chief end of man’s existence. In I Corinthians 10:31, the Apostle Paul writes, “Whether then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Since we are commanded to glorify God even in the most trivial matters, how much more in the greatest commission that He has given to the church!

We must go into all the world and preach the gospel out of a sincere love and genuine concern for fallen humanity (Matthew 9:35-38). But there is an even greater motivation—our love for God (Matthew 22:36-38) and our desire to see Him glorified in “every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” (Revelation 5:9; 7:9)! As the Moravian missionaries often exclaimed, “Shall not the Lamb receive the full reward for His sufferings?”

“…and to bring the greatest possible good to humanity…”

The “greatest good” that we can accomplish for humanity is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world. It was through the incarnation and redemptive work of Christ that “the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared” (Titus 3:4; John 3:16), and it is through our proclamation of this event that our kindness for mankind is manifested. What greater kindness can be shown to a people than to make known to them the only message which has the power to save from sin and deliver from eternal wrath? What could be more heartless and do greater injury to a people than to withhold such a message?

If we are truly passionate about the glory of God, we will not be unmoved by the billions of people in the world who have not yet heard of Him. The reality of their dire condition will move us to compassion (Matthew 9:36), even to great sorrow and grief (Romans 9:2). More importantly, it will compel us to do all within our means to make Christ known among the nations and to endure all things for the sake of God’s elect (II Timothy 2:10).

“…through the preaching of the gospel…”

The gospel is the preeminent message of Christianity. First, it is the only message through which people can be reconciled to God. The Apostle Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). And again, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, theman Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all…” (I Timothy 2:5-6). Peter joins Paul in confirming the exclusivity of the gospel when he declares, “There is salvation in no one else [but Jesus]; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Second, the gospel is the premier message through which God’s people are sanctified. In I Timothy 3:16, the Apostle Paul refers to the gospel as “the mystery of godliness” or the mystery that produces godliness in those who believe it. The more God’s people understand what He has done for them in Christ, the more devoted, transformed, encouraged, and empowered they will be.

The Holy Spirit assures us that “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16). Nevertheless, the gospel must be at the very heart of all our preaching. In an age filled with pragmatism and evangelistic methodologies borrowed from the world, we desire to prove that the gospel is not only sufficient to save, but is the exclusive power to save. We are committed to proclaiming the gospel in its rawest and most biblical form, unencumbered by cultural compromise, contemporary repackaging, or intellectual sophistication.

“…and the establishment of biblical churches…”

While we recognize that humanity’s needs are many and its sufferings are diverse, we believe that they all spring from a common origin—the radical depravity of the heart, enmity toward God, and rejection of truth. Therefore, we believe that the greatest possible benefit to mankind comes through the preaching of the gospel and the establishment of local churches that proclaim the full counsel of God’s Word and minister according to its commands, precepts, and wisdom. True church planting cannot be accomplished through the arm of the flesh, but only through the supernatural providence of God and the means which He has ordained: biblical preaching, intercessory prayer, sacrificial service, unconditional love, and true Christlikeness.

A mature local church is a body of believers in Jesus Christ in a specific geographic location who are of like faith in the Scriptures, committed to one another’s edification, under the teaching and ministry of qualified pastors and deacons, obedient to the ordinances (i.e., baptism and the Lord’s Supper), practicing church discipline, and evangelizing the world through the preaching of the gospel. Such a church was the goal of the apostolic ministry (Ephesians 3:10-11, 21; 4:11-13), and it continues to be the goal of all true mission work today. The following five tenets guide HeartCry’s church-planting endeavors:

• A biblical church is one which seeks to conform its faith and practice to the Scriptures, especially in preaching, prayer, evangelism, leadership, membership, discipleship, the ordinances, discipline, and missions.

• A biblical church is the result of costly and arduous labor. Apart from some unusual work of the Spirit, it may take years of a missionary’s life to establish one biblical work. While we recognize the need for the rapid advance of the gospel, we must not replace biblical principles with pragmatism for the sake of apparent success, lest judgment day show our victories to be little more than smoke and mirrors. At HeartCry we do not find any biblical methodology for church planting other than prayer, preaching, submission to the sufficiency of Scripture, Christlike character, and sacrificial love.

• A biblical church is foundational to a self-sustaining, ever-multiplying missionary effort. The missionary endeavor is most effectively advanced, not through an ever-increasing number of mission agencies or a multitude of disconnected disciples, but through an ever-increasing number of local churches that are devoted to Christ, His Word, and His Commission.

• A biblical church is the evidence of a genuine work of God. The goal and litmus test of all our missionary endeavors is the planting of biblical local churches that are training elder-qualified men (II Timothy 2:2) and sending them out to establish other local churches of like faith and practice. Evangelistic decisions and even baptisms are not accurate measures for determining the effectiveness of a missionary or a ministry, but the multiplication of disciples in the context of a vibrant local church.

• A biblical church is under the headship of Christ (Ephesians 1:22) and must be governed by His Word (II Timothy 3:16-17). It is the pillar and support of the truth and the bulwark against error (I Timothy 3:15). It is the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13-14). The church alone is able to bear witness to God’s revelation and preserve a nation from self-deceit, moral decay, and self-destruction. Therefore, biblical doctrine and practice must prevail over the imaginations of men, cultural sensitivity, and pragmatism.

“…throughout the world…”

The Great Commission is not a ministry option to be debated by the church, but a direct command from the Lord Himself (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). Each generation of churches and individual believers must see itself as accountable to God for using its gifts, talents, time, and resources for the advancement of the gospel into “every nation and tribe and tongue and people” (Revelation 5:9; 7:9; 14:6).

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (I Corinthians 9:16). Although we must recognize that Paul’s calling was unique, the burden he carried and the compulsion which drove him are the standard for every believer and church. We are all “servants of Christ” and “stewards of the mysteries of God” (I Corinthians 4:1), and “it is required of a steward that he be found faithful” (I Corinthians 4:2). Borrowing from the words of William Carey, we are either called to go down in the mine as a missionary or we are called to hold the rope for those who do go down. Either way, there will be scars on our hands. We must all ask ourselves, “Where are my scars? What has it cost me to fulfill my part in the Great Commission?”

“…by means of equipping and mobilizing indigenous churches and missionaries.”

The adjective “indigenous” denotes a person who originates from or is identified with a specific geographic location, people group, or culture. For example, the Lozi Tribe is indigenous to Western Zambia. A person born and raised in Paris, France is “native” or “indigenous” to Paris. An indigenous missionary is a person who has been called by God to preach the gospel among his own people.

Although HeartCry recognizes the great benefit and need for sending cross-cultural missionaries to the unevangelized peoples of the world, we believe that we are led of the Lord to focus primarily on the support of indigenous missionaries so that they might evangelize their own peoples. We work with indigenous congregations, pastors, and missionaries of like faith and integrity to help them evangelize, disciple, and establish churches among their own peoples. This strategy will be set forth with greater thoroughness in the pages to come.