Much of my Christian life has been influenced by and experienced within the context of “parachurch” ministries. While my family was actively involved in our local church, I also attended Christian conferences and summer camps, I helped start an FCA huddle at my high school, and I went to a Christian college. After I graduated college, I spent six years working for FCA. Today, I work for Campus Outreach at the University of Virginia.
I’m deeply grateful for the many ways that God has used parachurch ministries in my life and for the way that these ministries strive to advance God’s Kingdom. However, I’ve had to be sharpened in my view of parachurch ministry over the years. I think I’ve always understood the church to be necessary and valuable, but it took a while for me to understand why that was the case. Then, I started studying ecclesiology and I briefly swung to the opposite view that parachurch ministries were either useless or harmful. That view was quickly corrected when I interned at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Through ministries like 9Marks and Campus Outreach, I was introduced to a beautiful, symbiotic relationship between the local church and parachurch.
What is a “parachurch” ministry?
Today, a “parachurch” organization is essentially an umbrella term used to categorize any Christian organization that is not a local church. Homeless shelters, missions agencies, schools, college ministries, and book publishers are just a few examples of groups that fall under the massive umbrella of “parachurch” ministries.
But, the true definition of a “parachurch” ministry is more narrow.
The prefix “para” means “to come alongside” or "auxiliary or assisting.” In the professional world, jobs like paralegals, paramedics, and paraeducators all exist under the authority of licensed professionals to assist, support and supplement their work in particular areas.
Parachurch ministries, by definition, are meant to “come alongside” the local church in the same way. At their best, these ministries are under the authority of the local church and exist for the sake of assisting and supporting the ministry of the church.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Parachurch ministries have a dangerous habit of competing with local churches.
How could a Parachurch ministry compete with the local church?
Early on in ministry, I heard a leader proclaim that the church had failed and God was now using their organization to save the world instead. Thankfully, this was the only time I ever heard that kind of rhetoric. I don’t think most parachurch organizations explicitly intend to compete with the local church. And yet, functionally, it happens. Here’s some of the ways I’ve seen this happen.
Silence
Some ministries simply compete with the local church by saying nothing about the church. For whatever reason, it just never comes up. When the church is never promoted or taught or even talked about, it still teaches something about the local church. A parachurch ministry that constantly promotes their own events and programs without ever mentioning the local church ends up silently competing with the church.
Scheduling
In order to have a healthy relationship with a church, you need to spend time and energy in that context. And yet, some parachurch organizations require such time-consuming involvement that there’s nothing left to give the church. This is a challenge that I wrestle with in college ministry. The weekly large groups, small group Bible-studies, social events, weekend retreats, etc. all require time and energy from our students. And, if a student takes on a leadership role in the ministry, even more is demanded of them. At some point, there isn’t any time or energy left to give to the church. At best, church then becomes a Sunday morning event to attend and, at worst, it gets dropped from the schedule entirely.
Substitution
Similar to the scheduling issue, some parachurch organizations end up becoming a substitute for the local church. One way I see this play out is the way ministries will talk about community. The desire for community and the biblical commands to “one another” are addressed, but the primary context where they get applied is within the parachurch organization. I remember being at a camp one time and the speaker was giving the usual last talk, post-camp instructions on what to do when the camp ends. He made the important point that we can’t live the Christian life alone and that we need others, but then his big application was for campers to either join or start a local chapter of the ministry in their schools.
Sacraments
I’m a Baptist, but for the sake of a good ol’ baptist alliteration here, I’m going to use the word “sacrament” instead of “ordinance.” By far, the worst way for a parachurch ministry to compete with the local church is by baptizing people and taking the Lord’s Supper. These two ordinances were given by Christ to the church alone to wield the keys to the kingdom. It’s how God visibly defines the church, protects the church and proclaims the church to the world. A parachurch organization that administers baptism and the Lord’s Supper is like a paramedic who tries to perform heart surgery or a paralegal who takes first-chair at a trial. It’s an unauthorized use of the keys. At this point, it’s not just competition, it’s an explicit slight against Christ and his bride.
How should a Parachurch ministry complement the local church?
The simple way for a parachurch ministry to complement the local church would be to not compete in the ways I mentioned above. If those are some of the “do-nots,” I’d also like to offer one “do” to this list as well for parachurch ministries.
Parachurch ministries best complement the local church when their aim and end is healthy local church membership.
That term, “healthy local church member,” is a loaded term that is essential for every ministry, church or parachurch. The term captures the entire Christian life. For someone to be a healthy local church member, they need to first respond to the gospel in repentance and faith. Then, they need to be baptized into the local church. Finally, they make covenant-commitments to a local body of believers for the sake of life-long worship, fellowship, love, service, evangelism and the glory of God.
If this is a parachurch ministry’s aim, then it’s going to cause a glorious domino effect. It’s going to require meaningful church partnerships. It’s going to set the agenda and the schedule. And, perhaps most importantly, it’s going to put a limit on the ministry’s scope and timeline.
This is something I greatly appreciate about Campus Outreach. Every CO ministry across the world is under the authority and oversight of a local church and one of our aims is to bridge the gap between the local church and the college campus. At UVA, Jefferson Park Baptist Church sends staff, members, and students onto the campus to evangelize the lost and disciple young believers. In the other direction, staff and students invite students to attend JPBC, get baptized, join the church and meaningfully engage as members. And, once a student graduates, they are hopefully equipped for a lifetime of following Jesus and building up the body as laborers for the Kingdom in the context of the church.
A Properly Working Body
One passage that has captured my heart and hope in ministry is Ephesians 4:11-16. Especially in college ministry, it has been such a joy to see students grow up, built up and equipped for the work of ministry. In this passage, we see the word “body” repeated three times. The officers build up the body, Christ grows the body, and the body builds itself up. The “body” that’s being referred to here is not simply a group of Christians, it’s the church. Parachurch ministries are a valuable part of the body. When they are properly working to build up the body, they make the body grow.
