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Prioritizing the Church in Missions
Encourage Long-Term Faithfulness in Missions with a Biblically Informed Strategy That Recenters the Church
The church is the origin, means, and end of missions. Scripture calls on missionaries to start and strengthen churches where new believers—and more missionaries—can grow. But today, many Christians downplay the role of the church in favor of pragmatism and parachurch ministries, weakening the missions cause.
In this brief guide, pastors John Folmar and Scott Logsdon share their decades of experience working as pastors in Muslim countries. Showing how healthy churches are essential for fulfilling the Great Commission, they teach biblical ecclesiology and missiology with wisdom and real-world advice from the field. They also caution readers against movement-driven missions, theological minimalism, and other techniques that replace the church’s God-given roles of equipping, training, and sending missionaries. Offering an effective, biblical strategy for global evangelism, Prioritizing the Church in Missions helps pastors and churches not only make Christ known throughout the world but ensure that God’s word is preserved long after missionaries leave.
Accessible Guide on Ecclesiology and Explores the biblical role of the church in equipping, training, and sending qualified missionaries as well as the dangers of unhealthy missions practices Equips churches for effective evangelism, expositional preaching, prayer, and partnering together in the Great Commission Helps Churches Build a Biblically Informed Missionary Ideal for missions-minded pastors, staff, students, and lay believers Part of the 9Marks Church-Centered Missions Series
The church is the origin, means, and end of missions. Scripture calls on missionaries to start and strengthen churches where new believers—and more missionaries—can grow. But today, many Christians downplay the role of the church in favor of pragmatism and parachurch ministries, weakening the missions cause.
In this brief guide, pastors John Folmar and Scott Logsdon share their decades of experience working as pastors in Muslim countries. Showing how healthy churches are essential for fulfilling the Great Commission, they teach biblical ecclesiology and missiology with wisdom and real-world advice from the field. They also caution readers against movement-driven missions, theological minimalism, and other techniques that replace the church’s God-given roles of equipping, training, and sending missionaries. Offering an effective, biblical strategy for global evangelism, Prioritizing the Church in Missions helps pastors and churches not only make Christ known throughout the world but ensure that God’s word is preserved long after missionaries leave.
Accessible Guide on Ecclesiology and Explores the biblical role of the church in equipping, training, and sending qualified missionaries as well as the dangers of unhealthy missions practices Equips churches for effective evangelism, expositional preaching, prayer, and partnering together in the Great Commission Helps Churches Build a Biblically Informed Missionary Ideal for missions-minded pastors, staff, students, and lay believers Part of the 9Marks Church-Centered Missions Series
- GenresChurch
232 pages, Paperback
Published September 9, 2025
21 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 30, 2025
I don't disagree with much that is written here, but it is much more of a critique of bad practice than a positive vision for the local church in cross-cultural mission.
January 6, 2026
Very good examples from the mission field and I love the vision for missions in this book. Missions is too often not church-centered. My only critique is I wish this book had more logical and biblical arguments as to why the church is the origin, means and goal of missions. It had biblical evidence but sometimes wasn’t put together as a clear argument.
December 26, 2025
Important book for Christian missions moving forward. Im excited for the forthcoming volumes in this series (I think there are 7 more to come?)
A few key take aways:
-Christianity is church shaped, therefore missions must be thoroughly church shaped.
-Conversion is corporate (Eph 2:11-22; 1 Pet 2:10)
-Unhealthy churches on the mission field is anti-missions
-To minimize doctrine on the mission field is to minimize the gospel and the Great Commission
“On every continent the local church promotes and protects the gospel” (p55)
Matthias Lohmann is right, everyone involved in missions should read this. And if you know and follow Christ that should mean you.
A few key take aways:
-Christianity is church shaped, therefore missions must be thoroughly church shaped.
-Conversion is corporate (Eph 2:11-22; 1 Pet 2:10)
-Unhealthy churches on the mission field is anti-missions
-To minimize doctrine on the mission field is to minimize the gospel and the Great Commission
“On every continent the local church promotes and protects the gospel” (p55)
Matthias Lohmann is right, everyone involved in missions should read this. And if you know and follow Christ that should mean you.
January 25, 2026
Really great book on the importance of church in missions. It gives numerous examples of missions that have succeeded and failed, all pointing to whether or not the Bible was followed as the authority for how missions should function.
If missions is a consideration for you, I would 100% say this book is a must in understanding good ecclesiology in missions.
If missions is a consideration for you, I would 100% say this book is a must in understanding good ecclesiology in missions.
December 23, 2025
Wish I could give a 4.5 ⭐️ such an encouraging read!
December 7, 2025
4.3
Helpful primer corralling missions into our understanding of the church, i.e. ecclesiology’s indispensable relevance to missiology. I found the anecdotes about missionaries, churches, and pastors insightful and the organization of the book made a compelling defense for their definition of missions.
I find myself still wanting to think more rigorously about what’s commanded versus what’s normative, especially in the accounts in Scripture. I’d have benefited from further clarity in understanding evangelistic work that doesn’t strictly fall within the bounds of the authors’ working definition of missions, such as campus evangelism with an organization like Cru or the Navigators.
Helpful primer corralling missions into our understanding of the church, i.e. ecclesiology’s indispensable relevance to missiology. I found the anecdotes about missionaries, churches, and pastors insightful and the organization of the book made a compelling defense for their definition of missions.
I find myself still wanting to think more rigorously about what’s commanded versus what’s normative, especially in the accounts in Scripture. I’d have benefited from further clarity in understanding evangelistic work that doesn’t strictly fall within the bounds of the authors’ working definition of missions, such as campus evangelism with an organization like Cru or the Navigators.
January 17, 2026
(I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.)
From the publisher: “The church is the origin, means, and end of missions. Scripture calls on missionaries to start and strengthen churches where new believers—and more missionaries—can grow. But today, many Christians downplay the role of the church in favor of pragmatism and parachurch ministries, weakening the mission's cause.”
“Prioritizing the Church in Missions” is a helpful and impactful book for any believers involved in missions or a sending church–and hopefully that’s most of us! This book seeks to provide a biblically sound picture of the church’s role in missions, apart from a sending agency. I appreciated the author’s emphasis on the importance of a church for missionaries in the field, as missionaries too are Christians in need of community, accountability, and shepherding.
As much as I would say this book seeks to provide a biblical vision for the church in missions, it often reads more as a critique of bad practice in churches where missions go forth without the church and unbiblical things begin happening. I don’t think that this is a bad thing for the book at all, just maybe a distinction I observed.
I found this book to be both well written and well researched, as well as biblically sound. Very helpful, very encouraging–an important book all around.
Highly recommend!
From the publisher: “The church is the origin, means, and end of missions. Scripture calls on missionaries to start and strengthen churches where new believers—and more missionaries—can grow. But today, many Christians downplay the role of the church in favor of pragmatism and parachurch ministries, weakening the mission's cause.”
“Prioritizing the Church in Missions” is a helpful and impactful book for any believers involved in missions or a sending church–and hopefully that’s most of us! This book seeks to provide a biblically sound picture of the church’s role in missions, apart from a sending agency. I appreciated the author’s emphasis on the importance of a church for missionaries in the field, as missionaries too are Christians in need of community, accountability, and shepherding.
As much as I would say this book seeks to provide a biblical vision for the church in missions, it often reads more as a critique of bad practice in churches where missions go forth without the church and unbiblical things begin happening. I don’t think that this is a bad thing for the book at all, just maybe a distinction I observed.
I found this book to be both well written and well researched, as well as biblically sound. Very helpful, very encouraging–an important book all around.
Highly recommend!
January 20, 2026
A helpful book in a new series, presenting a church-centred approach to global mission, recognising that churches rather than individuals, movements or other organisations "are the Bible's mission strategy - the origin, the means, and the goal of missions." Their definition of missions is "churches sending qualified workers across linguistic, geographic, or cultural barriers to start or strengthen churches."
A significant part of the book is critiquing examples of bad practice (whether real or fictional) and showing how bad ecclesiology causes damage on the mission field - both for missionaries and the communities where they serve. The authors emphasise the need for church-planting, not just conversions, and provide reflections on what good support of gospel workers looks like.
Sometimes, I would have appreciated more of a positive vision alongside the critique, and I also have questions about what this looks like for smaller local churches. Although the authors pastor outside of the US, the book has come out of a resource-rich American context, and the case studies generally involve churches that are significantly larger than average.
I'm looking forward to seeing what else is published in this series.
A significant part of the book is critiquing examples of bad practice (whether real or fictional) and showing how bad ecclesiology causes damage on the mission field - both for missionaries and the communities where they serve. The authors emphasise the need for church-planting, not just conversions, and provide reflections on what good support of gospel workers looks like.
Sometimes, I would have appreciated more of a positive vision alongside the critique, and I also have questions about what this looks like for smaller local churches. Although the authors pastor outside of the US, the book has come out of a resource-rich American context, and the case studies generally involve churches that are significantly larger than average.
I'm looking forward to seeing what else is published in this series.
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January 17, 2026This companion volume to the book I finished the other day--"Prioritizing the Missions"--covers similar ground, but is valuable in its own right. It stresses the vital importance of a missionary having a sending church to whom he/she is accountable, of making sure any missionary agency being partnered with is Biblically-based and supports sound doctrine, and the importance of a missionary in the field being a part of a local church or (if there is no local church) joining with other missionary families to form a church until a local church does come into existence.
The book also intelligently criticizing movement-based missionary organizations, which concentrate on starting new churches at an absurdly fast rate. The book points out that this leaves behind churches without strong leadership, sound doctrine and good teachers. The book's overall theme is that you can't sacrifice sound doctrine for speed.
The book also intelligently criticizing movement-based missionary organizations, which concentrate on starting new churches at an absurdly fast rate. The book points out that this leaves behind churches without strong leadership, sound doctrine and good teachers. The book's overall theme is that you can't sacrifice sound doctrine for speed.
September 15, 2025
If you follow the Missions Talk podcast, the only thing particularly new about this book is the format. It contains the same truths from the same Word, applied to the same world of missions. And for that, it's great.
Folmar and Logsdon show how intricate the church is in every stage of missions. They use a good blend of abstract theology and concrete, real-life examples.
The big negative is this book is its publishing date. It is first in the series but came out second. Therefore, the setup becomes redundant. Read this one first, and you'll be all set.
Folmar and Logsdon show how intricate the church is in every stage of missions. They use a good blend of abstract theology and concrete, real-life examples.
The big negative is this book is its publishing date. It is first in the series but came out second. Therefore, the setup becomes redundant. Read this one first, and you'll be all set.
January 25, 2026
To be a Christian is to have communion with the Triune God along with others. The church is naturally a consequence of our shared union with Christ.
Folmer & Logsdon make an excellent biblical and practical case the church as the origin, means, and goal of missions. The local church, in all her beauty and flaws, is God’s plan for his glory among the nations through the proclamation and living out of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Folmer & Logsdon make an excellent biblical and practical case the church as the origin, means, and goal of missions. The local church, in all her beauty and flaws, is God’s plan for his glory among the nations through the proclamation and living out of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
February 3, 2026
I liked so many things in this book but unfortunately really didn't like enough to feel very hesitant about recommending it. The push toward church centric missions is GREAT - I'm all for what this book has to say on that front. However, I think that this made much out of the church, not out of Christ. I also found it painfully narrow, with so many opinions, denominational nuances, and experiences presented as absolute, biblically binding commands.
I think that we can do better!
I think that we can do better!
November 17, 2025
Well written and researched depiction of how essential the church is to missions! Gave me an idea of what missions is before I head on my mission trip. Although I’m going on a short term mission trip, this educated me on what questions to ask while I’m there to explore a potential future in missions
January 21, 2026
Excellent. Necessary. What a wonderful presentation of the ecclesial-centric missiology of the New Testament and its correctional import for today!
If you had any connection to global missions in the local church or are considering any form of cross-cultural missions yourself, please read this book (I’ll purchase it for you if need be).
If you had any connection to global missions in the local church or are considering any form of cross-cultural missions yourself, please read this book (I’ll purchase it for you if need be).
September 23, 2025
A voice of biblical reason in an age that neglects the local church as the beginning, middle, and end of missions.
December 24, 2025
This book is more important than you realize.
Your view and practice of missions flows from what (and how much or little) you think of the church, the bride of Christ. Take up and read.
Your view and practice of missions flows from what (and how much or little) you think of the church, the bride of Christ. Take up and read.
February 9, 2026
Totally changed the way I thought of missions! A must read if you’re going into the mission field.
October 26, 2025
Thought provoking, biblically argued, well-researched, and convincing. The local church is God's plan for reaching the nations.
From my review:
"When you read the word missions, what comes to mind? Do you immediately think of sending agencies and missions organizations? Do your thoughts run to a missionary couple you know whose goal is to be salt and light in a difficult place but have no intention of planting a church? Do you think primarily about evangelism and serving but not about preaching and teaching? Does the Bible have any say in how missionaries should go about their work, or is it more of a free-for-all so long as the gospel is presented in some way?
John Folmar, pastor of the Evangelical Christian Church of Dubai, and Scott Logsdon, pastor the Union Church of Istanbul, aim to bring clarity to these questions in their appropriately titled book, Prioritizing the Church in Missions. Their argument is that the local church is God’s clear plan for reaching the nations, whether “local” means Sheboygan, Wisconsin or Amarah, Iraq. Although institutions like missions and sending agencies have their place in serving the work of missions, missions work is ultimately an endeavor of the church. The central claim of this book is that the local church is the origin of missions, the means of missions, and the end of missions. And Folmar and Logsdon’s goal in this book is to call local churches back to that central role."
See my full review here: https://zakmellgren.substack.com/p/wi...
Thanks to Crossway for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
From my review:
"When you read the word missions, what comes to mind? Do you immediately think of sending agencies and missions organizations? Do your thoughts run to a missionary couple you know whose goal is to be salt and light in a difficult place but have no intention of planting a church? Do you think primarily about evangelism and serving but not about preaching and teaching? Does the Bible have any say in how missionaries should go about their work, or is it more of a free-for-all so long as the gospel is presented in some way?
John Folmar, pastor of the Evangelical Christian Church of Dubai, and Scott Logsdon, pastor the Union Church of Istanbul, aim to bring clarity to these questions in their appropriately titled book, Prioritizing the Church in Missions. Their argument is that the local church is God’s clear plan for reaching the nations, whether “local” means Sheboygan, Wisconsin or Amarah, Iraq. Although institutions like missions and sending agencies have their place in serving the work of missions, missions work is ultimately an endeavor of the church. The central claim of this book is that the local church is the origin of missions, the means of missions, and the end of missions. And Folmar and Logsdon’s goal in this book is to call local churches back to that central role."
See my full review here: https://zakmellgren.substack.com/p/wi...
Thanks to Crossway for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews