How to Send Western Missionaries Wisely in the Global South Era

Mike Easton | Dec 16, 2025

Part 3 of a 3-Part Series: With the Rise of the Global South, Why Still Send Western Missionaries? In Part 3, we explore how Western missionaries can wisely serve today, partnering with Global South leaders and stewarding resources with humility and impact.

Knowing that we must increasingly empower missionaries from the Global South and that there is still a meaningful place for the Western missionary (see Part 2), the question becomes clear: How do we send Western missionaries wisely in this new era? How do we participate in a global missions movement that requires us to enter as learners, to posture ourselves as partners, and to send with greater intelligence, humility, and collaboration than ever before?

To send wisely, we must start by honestly reassessing what the field truly needs and whether Western missionaries are the right people to meet those needs.

1) Western Missionaries Must Meet the True Need of the Field

One of the main places Western missionaries have historically gone wrong in missions is our tendency to assume we know the need in the location we are headed to. While there is so much credit to be given to Western missionaries for the spread of the gospel around the world, in the first three mission movements, there have been significant missteps because we assumed the needs of the mission field, rather than respecting the dignity and image-bearing nature of local believers.

This has led to:

1. Millions of dollars have been spent on building centers that were not sustainable for indigenous people and often were not asked for.
2. Pastors and projects have become dependent on Western funding. This has stunted the creativity of indigenous believers.
3. It has also devalued the image bearers of God in those locations, causing them to lose dignity and agency towards fulfilling the mission God has for them.
4. Lack of reproducibility in Christian efforts. Causing them to end with the end of the missionary’s term.

Therefore, as a Western church or missionary candidate considers the impact they would like to make with a location or partner, they need to ask a few questions in the modern missions age:

1. What is the actual need for the location or partnership I will be working with? This only happens through asking questions and has to be done in person.
2. Does a Western missionary have to meet that need, or could an indigenous person do it? The prospective Western missionary must be willing to give up their dreams and ideals if it would hurt more than help what is being done through indigenous believers.
3. If a Western missionary can help meet that need, missionary candidates need to ask, “Am I equipped to meet that need?” Too many missionaries go without proper training to do the complex work of crossing cultures.

In the work of bringing the gospel to a location, a sending church or potential missionary should consider if their passion and gifting align with the needs of that location or partner. Many missionaries have gifts that would be awesome in one context, but not in another.

Consider the varying needs for locations with differing levels of gospel access:

No Gospel Access

In places without access to the gospel, someone needs to cross ethnolinguistic lines to bring it. In some situations, where there are no indigenous believers or many near-culture believers, a Western missionary can make sense.

However, what might be more cost-effective and practical is for the missionary to focus their efforts on growing the church in a nearby culture and raising up believers in that culture to take the gospel to those unengaged people or location.

Limited Gospel Access

In places with limited access to the gospel but with existing churches, what are the needs? Is it training, funding, leadership partnership, or evangelism?

Could a short-term team help broadly sow the gospel? Could a Western missionary serve as a consultant, trainer, modeler, or fundraiser for that church? Could that Western missionary work to raise up believers who will take the gospel to near-culture, unengaged people groups?

High Gospel Access

In places with numerous existing churches, the question is how we can strengthen these churches to help them reach their country and potentially send near-culture missionaries? Rarely in these settings is it best to plant churches with Western leaders or to send missionaries simply for evangelism. These locations tend to need the most Western missionaries to serve and build up the church, and to send missionaries from these churches. Aligning the missionary's purpose with the needs of the location is critical in this era of global missions.

A value that Reliant brings to the tapestry of global mission efforts is the freedom for the missionary to meet the actual needs of that location. We intentionally do not have a top-down missions hierarchy or strategy. This allows the missionary to go into a mission setting with no agenda. They can freely be learners and do what is right in that context.

As we discern the needs, the next step is learning how to engage those needs in a way that honors the people already faithfully laboring there, which means replacing old patterns of paternalism with genuine partnership.

2) Partnership Instead of Paternalism

Missions in the first three movements were too often associated with a paternalistic mindset. One in which Westerners acted as though they had superior intelligence and strategies and disregarded the image-bearing nature of indigenous believers. Any missionary endeavor in the 21st century must be rooted in partnership, not paternalism.

The Western missionary must take the posture of one who empowers rather than the face of the work. The face should always have been, and now more than ever, the indigenous believer. When done well, the dignity, creativity, and cultural understanding of the indigenous believer are upheld.

The Western church needs to consider how we can utilize our Christian history and resources to empower and equip the local church in partnership. Missionaries need to think about this type of mission work: choosing to send, sacrificial giving, and how to do theology in my culture.

1. If active in starting new churches, Western missionaries need to allow the growth to happen organically and at the pace their leaders can lead.
2. When doing evangelism and discipleship, doing it in such a way that complements the work of the local church.
3. If the Western missionary has experience in ministry, they can train pastors through modeling, classes, conferences, or even developing formalized training systems.
4. Some missionaries might focus on raising funds for near culture or indigenous missionaries by traveling back and forth between the West and the Global South.
5. The West has a rich library of Christian resources. These resources can be very beneficial when the gospel is entering a new people group, aiding in discipleship and church formation. Keep in mind, however, that the indigenous church should work towards “self-theologizing,” where they are writing their own theological books and resources to interpret the Bible and communicate it in a contextualized way.
   • Are they in an oral culture?
   • Do they even learn from logic-driven books?
6. When there are few and untrained pastors, the Western missionary can focus on catalyzing networks of pastors and leaders to work together for collaboration.

Western missionaries need to come to the mission field with a desire to understand the genuine needs and desires of indigenous believers, not with their own ideas of what those needs and desires are. Once this is identified, the Western missionary’s job is not to do it, but to empower the indigenous believers to make it happen in their own way and as much as possible, with their own resources.

As we commit to true partnership, the next question becomes how we wisely steward the resources entrusted to us, because healthy partnership always requires healthy accountability.

3) Accountability for the Gifts

In Acts 11, when the church of Jerusalem faced a famine, the church of Antioch sent two of its best leaders with a financial gift for the church in Jerusalem. This was incredibly important at the time because an untrustworthy person could easily skim funds off the top for their own personal gain. The church of Antioch, I believe, stewarded its funds well by sending them with such reputable men as Paul and Barnabas.

While the West has such great affluence, that does not mean that we should give without wisdom. Unfortunately, many non-Western missionaries or pastors have become adept at illegitimately asking for Western dollars.

It is essential, when beginning to empower workers from the Global South, to ensure they are connected to a trusted on-the-ground partner who can be your eyes and ears, or that the indigenous missionary is part of a larger and well-respected network in the country.

With the need for wise and trustworthy stewardship in mind, churches face a pressing question: how do we navigate this complexity while moving toward greater empowerment of Global South leaders without neglecting the continued role of Western missionaries?

How Should Churches Handle This Complexity?

So how can churches move forward with both wisdom and confidence? There is little doubt that churches should increase their empowerment of non-Western leaders and missionaries from the Global South. I hope your church will take meaningful steps to empower and resource trusted partners in the Global South.

But let’s not swing the pendulum too far to throw out Western sending. I believe this would be ignoring the Great Commission mandate and would be to the detriment of the gospel's movement among the nations and to Western churches.

The Reliant International team is actively working to find ways to empower the Global South alongside Western and Global South churches, while still sending Westerners regularly.

Interested in discussing how your church could benefit from investing in both indigenous and near-cultural workers, as well as sending Westerners? Reach out to the Reliant Programs Team Lead, Mike Easton (mike.easton@reliant.org), for a consultation on this multifaceted approach to sending.