How do we fulfill the Great Commission? There are two distinct mission strategies that we must consider. They represent different approaches, but they are not in opposition. We should not think that we must choose one to the exclusion of the other. Both are viable in their own right and should be employed to fulfill the Great Commission. These two mission strategies are:

Cross-Cultural Missions. This is the traditional strategy for doing missions, whereby missionaries are sent to a nation, people group, or culture outside their own. An example of cross-cultural missions would be a North American church sending and supporting a North American missionary to Italy, Romania, or Kazakhstan.

Indigenous Missions. This strategy involves the support of missionaries who are native to the people group among whom they are ministering. An example of indigenous missions would be a Romanian missionary working in Romania among his own people or a native Parisian laboring in Paris, France.

Cross-Cultural Missions

The church has a long and glorious history of cross-cultural missions. The Apostle Paul was a cross-cultural missionary in that he went outside his own people (the Jews) and outside his own country (Palestine) and preached the gospel to the Gentiles throughout Europe. William Carey and Amy Carmichael in India, Hudson Taylor in China, and David Livingstone in Africa are all examples of cross-cultural missionaries.

It is not difficult to see that cross-cultural mission work is indispensable to the Great Commission. How can a people group who is entirely without the gospel come to a saving knowledge of Christ unless missionaries from another culture are sent to them? The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:14-15:

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’”

Cross-cultural mission work is biblical and historical, and it is necessary wherever there exists a people group completely devoid of the gospel message or where the church is still struggling to take root in a culture or people group. In many areas of the world today there are entire people groups that have no knowledge of Christ. For them to be reached, Christians must leave their own peoples and lands and go to them, bearing the good news. Also, in many areas of the world today, the gospel has been preached to some degree, but the churches are still weak and in need of missionaries from another people group to help them continue toward maturity. Finally, there are areas of the world where the church is strong; but this does not mean that God cannot call someone from another people group to minister there as a cross-cultural missionary!

Indigenous Missions

After two thousand years of missionary activity, a great portion of the world has still not heard the gospel. The traditional methodology of only training and supporting North American and Western European missionaries is not sufficient. There are simply not enough missionaries or available economic resources from the West to meet the need! A solution is to train and support indigenous missionaries to work within their own countries and people groups.

Below, we will consider a few of the benefits of supporting indigenous missionaries to reach their own people. However, before we do, we must reiterate that the indigenous missionary strategy does not eliminate or even reduce the need for cross-cultural missionaries. This is not an either/or, but a both/and situation. We are not arguing for a moratorium on cross-cultural missionaries, but we fully recognize the need for thousands more on the field! We are simply seeking to demonstrate that the indigenous missionary strategy is equally viable in certain contexts. Some of the benefits of sending indigenous missionaries are:

1. Missionary Workforce. It is a fact that, before going to war, military strategists consider the size of their population as opposed to that of their enemy. This illustrates that the number of human laborers available to carry out a given task is extremely important. The world is a very large place—exceeding eight billion people. If every Christian minister in America was a cross-cultural missionary, there would still not be enough missionaries to preach the gospel to all peoples! If we continue to depend only on missionaries from developed countries, much of the world will never hear the gospel.
2. Financial Resources. It requires tremendous financial resources to send and support North American and Western European missionaries. Many such missionary families require $6,000 to $10,000 a month to work in a foreign land where the average salary may be less than $500 a month. In contrast, the indigenous or native missionary is able to live on the same salary as his or her fellow countrymen.
3. Language and Culture. Any cross-cultural missionary will testify that differences in language and culture are two of the greatest obstacles to their ministry. It often takes a cross-cultural missionary his first term (four or five years) just to learn the language and adjust to the culture. In many cases, this means that five years and hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on the mission field while the missionary learns the language, adjusts to the culture, and does minimal ministry. In contrast, the indigenous or native missionary has no need to learn the language or adjust to the culture that he has known since birth. From the very first day on the mission field, the indigenous missionary is able to concentrate on two priorities—evangelizing the lost and establishing churches.
4. Physical/Health Challenges. Some of the most unreached peoples in the world live in the most remote places on Earth. In these areas, the physical or health challenges for cross-cultural missionaries, their wives, and their children are almost insuperable. Even the most dedicated and hardy missionaries have been forced to leave the field after only a few years of service because of physical and emotional trauma. Some continue to suffer for years after their return as a result of malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and countless other illnesses contracted through insects, microbes, food, water, and harsh living condition. In contrast, the missionary that is indigenous to such regions is able to thrive unhindered in long-term ministry.
5. Identification. There is a great deal of anti-American and anti-European bias in many of the least evangelized countries of the world. It is impossible to obtain permanent or even temporary visas to some countries. In many people groups, it is virtually impossible for a Western missionary to preach the gospel, because he is rejected for his nationality long before he has the opportunity to communicate his message! In contrast, the indigenous missionary has little problem with such bias because he is a fellow citizen with those to whom he preaches. When he is rejected, it is not because of his flag, but because of his gospel.
6. No Difficult Transitions. For the cross-cultural missionary, establishing a church is often not as difficult as the later transitional period when the missionary bids farewell and the church comes under indigenous leadership. During this time, the church often experiences a vacancy in leadership or finds it difficult to follow its newly appointed indigenous leaders. As a result, the church is discouraged, loses members, and struggles to maintain its testimony in the community. This is not a problem when the church is planted by an indigenous missionary and is under indigenous leadership from the beginning.

Our Guiding Principles

It is not only important to know why HeartCry works with indigenous missionaries, but how. From our study of the Scriptures, we have established seven principles that govern our relationship with the indigenous churches and missionaries that we sponsor.

1. HeartCry will not work independently of the indigenous churches on the mission field but in partnership with them. It is not HeartCry’s purpose to support its own “HeartCry” missionaries throughout the world, but to assist indigenous churches in training, sending, and supporting their own missionaries and planting new churches.
2. HeartCry will always recognize that each local congregation is autonomous and under the lordship of Christ. HeartCry is not a supra-ecclesiastical authority laboring independently or over the local church. Contrarily, we labor to strengthen indigenous churches and equip them to train and send out their own missionaries.
3. HeartCry will collaborate with indigenous churches to ensure that only qualified candidates are sent out. After a candidate has been recommended to us, we carefully review his or her qualifications before any decision to support is made. Our greatest concerns in the selection of missionaries are doctrine, godliness, calling, and zeal. In many cases, we have discovered that the indigenous churches are stricter or more demanding of their missionary candidates than churches in more developed countries.
4. HeartCry will work with indigenous churches and their leaders to determine the amount and duration of support for each missionary. The amount of support is based upon the average income in each country. However, we take great pains to ensure that the missionary and his family are afforded what is necessary to live with dignity. We are not supporting mere laborers, but our brothers and sisters in Christ. As Jesus warned, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40).  
5. Accountability will be the priority after a missionary is commissioned. We will be responsible on the Day of Judgment for every doctrinal error and moral failure of unworthy laborers who have been sent to the field with our approval and support (I Timothy 5:22). This is one of the reasons why HeartCry will always labor through indigenous churches and leaders that have a proven reputation and who are committed to biblical accountability and church discipline.
6. HeartCry will seek to contribute to the continued theological and ministerial training of the missionaries it sponsors. God gave evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the equipping of the saints and the edification of the church (Ephesians 4:11-12). The church will only be as strong as the men who are called to equip it and build it up. For this reason, HeartCry is committed to the continued theological education of the missionaries it supports. This is accomplished through Bible conferences, literature distribution, theological training by extension, scholarships, etc.
7. The goal is autonomy. From the first day, the goal of church planting is autonomy — a church supporting its own pastors and missionary endeavors. HeartCry will work with the indigenous leaders to determine the duration of support for each missionary. After such a time, the missionary’s life and work will be reevaluated. Support may be continued, increased, or decreased according to the need. It is important to recognize that some fields are much harder than others. The same amount of plowing and sowing in one field may not reap the same harvest in another. A missionary who is more capable and devoted may require support for a greater duration simply because of the difficulty of the field.

Frequently Asked Questions

Throughout the years, we have received many honest inquiries regarding our work through indigenous missionaries. The four most frequent are stated and answered below.

1. Are cross-cultural missionaries still needed on the mission field? Absolutely! The indigenous missionary strategy does not eliminate the need for cross-cultural missionaries. This is not an either/or but a both/and situation. We are not arguing for a moratorium on cross-cultural missionaries—we fully recognize the need for thousands more on the field! We are simply stating that the indigenous missionary strategy is equally viable and, in some cases, more effective. We pray that God might raise up a multitude of cross-cultural missionaries and churches to support them!
2. Why are the indigenous churches not supporting their own missionaries? The ultimate goal is always that the churches in any area of the world send and support their own missionaries; but many countries have been devastated by famine, war, years of political corruption, and false religions. The Christians in these countries often preach the gospel and plant churches in the midst of extreme poverty and countless other hardships. The financial and spiritual support from HeartCry simply helps them accomplish the task that God has given them. At this moment, there are multitudes of indigenous pastors and missionaries who work long hours in secular employment simply to feed their families. Then, with the few hours left in the day, they preach the gospel and plant churches. Financial support enables them to invest more time in the Lord’s work and in their families.
3. Will you spoil the native missionary by supporting him or her with money from more developed countries? The first thing we need to understand is that there is no such thing as Western, European, or American money in Christ’s kingdom. It is all God’s money. If we are prosperous in America or Europe, it is so that we might wisely use what God has given us for the advancement of His kingdom throughout the world. Second, the support given to the indigenous missionaries is adjusted according to the average income of the population. The support provides no luxuries but gives enough economic freedom so that the missionary might labor full-time in the ministry and care for his family with dignity. Finally, we do not hire men so that they might begin working on the mission field. Rather, we support men who have already given themselves to the work and would continue in it whether they received outside aid or not.
4. How can an indigenous missionary be as qualified as missionaries from more developed countries who have a university or seminary education? That depends on what we consider the qualifications to be. Do we measure a man of God by a diploma from a university or by his knowledge of the Scriptures, godliness, and a demonstration of the life and power of the Spirit? Throughout the world there are indigenous missionaries of whom the world is not worthy. We know men who have stood for hours and preached while being beaten and humiliated; they preached until their persecutors grew tired, sat down, and listened! We know men who look like toothless, sandal-footed beggars, yet they have planted many churches in spite of incalculable hardship.

One of the greatest examples of a truly qualified missionary was Angel Colmenares of Peru. He was an indigenous pastor and missionary who was used of God in a movement that left hundreds of churches in its wake. Several years ago, Paul Washer asked a Christian filmmaker to accompany Angel to a meeting of churches in the Northern Andes. The filmmaker accepted, even though he was scheduled to travel to a nearby country to attend a high-profile missions conference. Before traveling to the mountains, the filmmaker followed Angel as he walked through a garbage dump looking for a discarded car battery that he hoped might power his microphone for open-air preaching. The filmmaker later remarked, “I was scheduled to go to the greatest gathering of missionary minds and strategists in South America, but here I was walking around in a garbage dump with this humble little man who had started more churches than all those mission experts put together!”