Missions - How the Local Church Goes Global - Hardback

Every Christian. Every Church. The Grand Project of Global Missions.

Most Christians will never pack their bags and move overseas. Most will never learn a foreign language, plant a church in an unreached village, or serve as full-time cross-cultural missionaries. And yet the Bible is clear: every Christian and every local church is enlisted in the grand project of global missions.

The question is not whether your church is called to missions. It is how.

In Missions, Andy Johnson offers a clear, biblically grounded, and practically useful answer. Churches do not need a complicated missions programme with endless committees, unclear goals, and a budget that nobody can quite explain. They need the Bible and the wisdom to know how to apply it. Johnson points churches back to Scripture and offers concrete, actionable steps for training and supporting missionaries, forming international partnerships, sending short-term teams, and engaging the nations — both across the street and across the world.

The local church, Johnson argues, is the engine of world missions. And this short, compelling book is designed to help churches of every size and background discover how to fire that engine faithfully, wisely, and for the glory of God among all the nations.

What This Book Covers

Andy Johnson works through the biblical foundations and practical steps of local church missions:

• Why every church is a missions church — The biblical case for why global missions is not a specialist calling for a few but a shared responsibility for all
• The local church as the engine of world missions — How God has designed the local church — not parachurch organisations or individual Christians working alone — as his primary instrument for reaching the nations
• Training and supporting missionaries — Practical guidance for churches wanting to identify, equip, and sustain those they send into cross-cultural ministry
• Forming international partnerships — How local churches can build meaningful, lasting relationships with churches and ministries in other parts of the world
• Sending short-term teams — Wise, practical counsel on how to send short-term mission teams in ways that genuinely serve the global church rather than merely satisfying the sending church’s desire to feel missional
• Engaging the nations at home — How churches can pursue cross-cultural gospel witness among the nations that have come to their own neighbourhoods, cities, and communities
• Simplifying the missions programme — Why churches do not need complexity but clarity — and how to build a missions culture around Scripture rather than around programmes

What Readers Will Learn

• Why the Bible enlists every Christian and every local church in the work of global missions — regardless of size, location, or resources
• How the local church is designed by God to be the engine of world missions and what that means in practice
• How to identify, train, and support missionaries from within the local congregation
• What makes for healthy, genuinely fruitful international church partnerships — and how to avoid the pitfalls
• How to send short-term mission teams wisely — in ways that serve the receiving church and contribute to lasting gospel fruit
• How to engage the nations that God has brought to your own city, neighbourhood, and community
• Why churches do not need complicated missions programmes but clear biblical conviction and practical wisdom

How to Use This Book

Missions is short, clear, and immediately practical:

• Personal reading — Ideal for any Christian wanting to understand how their local church connects to God’s global mission and how they can participate
• Leadership reading — Essential for pastors, elders, and missions committees wanting to think carefully and biblically about their church’s approach to global missions
• Missions team training — A reliable, accessible guide for churches wanting to establish or reform their missions culture on a biblical foundation
• Church planting — A foundational resource for new churches wanting to build a global missions vision from the very beginning
• Small group discussion — Short enough to read together, practical enough to prompt genuine conversation about how your church can engage more faithfully with the nations

Who Should Read This Book

This book is for you if you are:

• A pastor or church leader wanting to build a culture of missions in your congregation that is biblically grounded and practically sustainable
• A missions committee member looking for a clear, simple framework for thinking about your church’s global missions engagement
• A church member who cares about the nations and wants to understand how your local church fits into God’s global purposes
• A missionary wanting to understand how the local church should be the foundation and sending base for your ministry
• A church planter wanting to establish a global missions vision as a core part of your new congregation’s identity from day one
• Anyone who has ever wondered: Our church wants to be involved in missions — but where on earth do we start?

About the Author

Andy Johnson is a pastor and author associated with 9Marks Ministries, known for his clear, biblically grounded writing on church health and global missions. He brings to Missions both a careful attention to what Scripture teaches about the church’s role in global mission and a pastor’s practical concern for helping ordinary churches engage the nations wisely and fruitfully. His contribution to the Building Healthy Churches series reflects his conviction that healthy churches are not inward-looking congregations but communities shaped by the gospel and oriented toward the glory of God among all peoples.

About the Building Healthy Churches Series

Missions is part of the Building Healthy Churches series published by 9Marks and Crossway — a library of short, focused books designed to help churches recover and embody the marks of a healthy, gospel-centred congregation. Each volume tackles one essential aspect of church health with biblical clarity, pastoral warmth, and practical application.

Other titles in the series include:

• Evangelism by J. Mack Stiles
• Deacons by Matt Smethurst
• Expositional Preaching by David Helm
• The Gospel by Ray Ortlund