Amongst Independent Baptists there are various opinions regarding mission boards. Chegoggin Baptist Church of Yarmouth, NS, Canada does not support mission boards, and obviously, this means that we do not support missionaries operating under mission boards. Please understand that this is not because we are against the men. We are not. This is because we are against mission boards in principle and practice. We understand mission boards in structure and operation to be contrary to the Word of God. I trust that the following will encourage and challenge.
Bible is the Sole Authority for Faith and Practice: The Bible is the very Word and Words of the Living God and men will be judged by that Word. This means that the Bible is the supreme and sole authority in men’s lives and the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men have the freedom of will to rebel against the Word of God, but do not have the power to escape being judged by that Word. The churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, NT. patterned Baptist churches, are not legislative bodies; meaning, they do not have the authority to make laws. NT. patterned Baptist churches are executive only. Commands, responsibilities, and administrations are given to Christ’s churches, of which they are love and duty bound to execute. Neither individual nor church has any authority to operate contrary to the Word of God. (See Matthew 18:15-18; 28:18-20; etc.) How does this Scriptural truth and historic NT. Baptist church distinctives and practice compare with the very popular mission boards used by Independent Baptists? Search the Scriptures for a mission board. You will not find it. The NT. patterned Baptist church is of Divine creation, foundation, and construction. A mission board is the device of man, built on man’s authority and man’s wisdom. To claim that the Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice and then use UN-Scriptural means, method, structure, and wisdom is a direct violation of our professed faith. God honours His Word and blesses our obedience to His Word, ONLY. Jesus Christ alone is the head of His church and the Lord exercises that absolute rule through His Word and His Spirit. All challenges against Christ’s Headship of His churches is treason and rebellion against God.
Autonomy of the New Testament Church: The NT. Baptist church that the Lord Jesus built during His earthly ministry is the only and supreme executive authority for the Kingdom of God on this earth for this period of time. NT. churches are equal to each other and each is to operate autonomously, as if it were the only church on earth. (This does not preclude cooperation between churches of like faith and practice.) You will fail to find in the New Testament the supremacy of one church over another or the supremacy of a man or men over a church or churches. Baptists have historically stood against the Papal and/or Episcopal hierarchal systems which dictate the faith and practice of the churches under their rule. What Baptist church would allow an outside individual or entity to install or remove their pastor? Not one! Then why do Independent Baptist churches allow mission boards or directors to send, direct, and recall their missionaries? Mission boards usurp the authority of the NT. Baptist Church.
Priesthood of the Believers: This Bible doctrine is based upon the doctrine of salvation. Since the blood of Jesus Christ has made each saved person on equal footing before God, and each saved individual has equal access to God, then there is no priesthood standing between the children of God and God. (See Galatians 3:28; 5:6; 6:15; Ephesians 2:13, 19; Revelation 1:6.) Additionally, since each child of God is a priest then they have priestly duties to fulfill. In 1Peter 2:5, 9 we see that the child of God is to offer up spiritual sacrifices and praises to God. In Romans 12:1-2 the child of God is exhorted to offer a sacrifice, the living sacrifice of their very bodies to the service of God. But, please read the rest of the chapter. The rest of Romans 12 teaches us where we are to serve God—in the NT. patterned Baptist church, Christ's body! 1Corinthians 12-14 bears this same teaching. Mission boards fight against this Bible doctrine and historic Baptist distinctive in two ways. First, mission boards remove the work of the Great Commission from the place of service. Every child of God documented in the Book of Acts serves God in a church. The Apostles, pastors, evangelists, and every other child of God all served in a church. Second, mission boards remove the work of the Great Commission from the people of service. The members of a church have graciously gifted spiritual abilities to enable them to minister and when a church exports its service opportunities to outside ‘professionals’ there are members that are being robbed of their God given office of service and the gaining of glory for God.
Two Ordinances; Baptism and the Lord’s Table: The ordinances were given by the Lord Jesus Christ to His churches. (See Matthew 26:26-30; 28:19-20; 1Corinthians 11:2.) These ordinances guard and speak to the nature, the doctrine, the unity, and the purity of the Lord’s churches. Baptism is the door to the church (Acts 2:41) and guards the pure Gospel (Acts 19:1-7). The Lord’s Table maintains the doctrinal unity and moral purity of the church (1Corinthians 11:17-34). Mission boards exercise influence and control over the doctrine and purity of a missionary on the field which is a realm of authority that belongs to the church. Even if it is a case of a missionary on the field going into heresy or immorality, it is still a case where, according to the Scriptures, only that missionary’s church has jurisdiction to recall and discipline that man.
Individual Soul Liberty: The basis of soul liberty stands in human freedom of will and responsibility toward God. Man was created with a free will, but this freedom is not freedom from the governance of God over His creation. So, that while man has the freedom to choose to obey God or not, God will bring every man into judgment. This judgment will be between the individual man and God. Therefore, no man or group of men (I.e. society, government) has the right to coerce a man to believe, worship, and serve God contrary to that man’s beliefs. (See Ecclesiastes 11:9; Acts 17:30-31; Romans 2:5-11.) An additional Scripture teaching comes into play here, the teaching of the spheres/institutions of authority. God has instituted three spheres/institutions of authority under His own universal and absolute authority as Creator and Almighty God. These spheres are The Home, Human Government, and the NT. Church. To sum this up for brevity and get to the point needed for our subject matter at hand (How mission boards are contrary to the historic Baptist distinctives?); individual soul liberty comes into play when a home, a government, or a church coerces a person to act or profess contrary to their beliefs that belong only to God. (See Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:1-4; Ephesians 5:22; 6:1; Matthew 18:17.) For the remainder of this discussion see below, under heading of Separation of Church and State.
Saved and Baptized Membership: This is evident throughout the entirety of the New Testament. The pre-requisite to Scriptural baptism is the new birth. The pre-requisite to church membership is baptism. Therefore, the only person that can be a member of a NT. Baptist church is a born again and water baptized person. (See Acts 2:41; 8:35-38.) For the remainder of this discussion see below under heading of Separation of Church and State.
Two Offices; Pastors and Deacons: NT. Baptist churches have always recognized the only two offices that we have are pastors and deacons. The Pastoral office is for leadership, and is necessary for the spiritual growth of the church. The office of Deacon is the office of temporal service and only needed when the pastors need help so that the temporal needs do not take them away from their work of prayer and the Word of God. The mission board system creates non-Scriptural and non-church offices that exercise authority over churches.
Separation of Church and State: The separation of church and state is a Scriptural doctrine that we have already broached under “Soul Liberty.” We have already spoken of the fact that God has ordained certain spheres of influence and the appropriate institution to operate within that sphere. Therefore, human government has its sphere of authority and the NT. church has its sphere of authority and the two should never be combined for mutual empowerment. That does not mean that the state should be against the church or vice versa, but that they should not use each other for ascension of power. I have chosen to deal with Individual Soul Liberty, Saved and Baptized Membership and the Separation of Church and State under one heading because these three are inseparably linked in the subject matter being discussed. Here is the link. The mission board (or Association; or Convention) system is contrary to the New Testament at its very foundation because it is a hierarchal usurpation of the authority that belongs only to NT. patterned Baptist churches alone. If the principle of mission boards were allowed to envelope other areas of NT. church faith and practice then these churches would become what Roman Catholicism or Episcopalianism is—a beast of church-state sacral religion. Mission boards are built on the premise (although initially denied, no doubt) that human wisdom, human innovation, the power of numbers, and the rule of the elite few over the many is the way to accomplish the work of God. Mission board-ism is a man-made beast that will grow into fellowship-ism, then convention-ism, them Episcopalian-ism, and finally Romanism. If the full grown monster of Romanism is the antipathy of Soul Liberty, Saved Church Membership, and Separation of Church and State (and it is), then the best way to avoid the monster growing to full strength is to kill it in its infancy.
