JoannaV
Puritan Board Sophomore
If a local church is sending a missionary to plant churches and administer ordinances, the missionary should meet the same requirements as those who administer the ordinances in that local church, and they should expressly state that he has the authority to do these things. The specific terms used may or may not be important, but if the denomination requires that someone need be formally ordained in order to baptise, then that is probably necessary.
Once a mission church has been formed and a stage has been reached where elders can be appointed, the missionary's authority in the governing of that church lessens. He becomes more of an outside advisor. (Unless this is a denomination in which local church government is subservient, or something.)
Once a mission church has been formed and a stage has been reached where elders can be appointed, the missionary's authority in the governing of that church lessens. He becomes more of an outside advisor. (Unless this is a denomination in which local church government is subservient, or something.)