GO INDIGENOUS! (Who Better to Reach Their Own)

INDIGENOUS. I know that isn't a word we use in our everyday language, at least not in my casual conversations. But "the word" has latched onto my thinking lately. And, I was brought back to a classic book in my personal library: "The Indigenous Church", by Melvin Hodges. The essence of the book challenges the work of missionary evangelism to be about turning such a work over to the native people that have been reached. Though this writing was published in 1953, the timeless principles seem to be revolutionary. Here's what I mean:

When churches do ministry, the tendency is to train people to work in the church and not prepare them for the real mission field.

In other words, pastors and teachers are tempted to want to keep "their" congregants (building bigger churches) instead of releasing them into their own cultures to build THE CHURCH. Back to the word INDIGENOUS... It means to be "born or engendered in, native to a land or region..." It's not the "job" of the pastor to reach the Christ-follower's unbelieving friend, neighbor or co-worker. And, so who's responsibility is it? The responsibility lies in the hands of the one who's most effective - the indigenous person, the very one who's connected to their culture! Therefore, the job description of the pastor/teacher takes us right back to Ephesians 4 - to equip God's people for works of service!!! Missionary evangelism in any culture is about reaching, teaching and releasing the taught...back to those they can reach best! So, GO INDIGENOUS...!