It is frequently noted that evangelism is local witness and missions is global (cross-cultural) witness. Does the missional church movement erase this distinction? If everyone is a missionary, then shouldn’t local churches reach local cultures? 80% of deployed missionaries are sent to already evangelized areas. Roughly 30% of the global population is unevangelized and largely untargeted by so-called missional churches.
In other words, missional churches aren’t really being missional. They are evangelizing locally but not globally. If the missional church movement is to truly participate in the mission of God, it must engage in cross-cultural missions in order to plant churches where no local witness exists. Consider re-upping your missional for 2009 by going overseas, supporting indigenous pastors, sending a cross-cultural missionary, or targeting unreached peoples in your city or town.
For more on this see Keeping the Global in Missional