Mission to the World’s values inform everything we do, from church planting in rural Uganda to helping victims of trafficking in Germany to raising up theologically trained church planters in Senegal. Our four key values are:

1. The church
2. Grace-based
3. Reformed and covenantal
4. Mercy, justice, and the love of God

In this third installment of our series “Values that matter,” we’ll talk about MTW’s value of Reformed and covenantal.

MTW’s mission is broad: to make disciples among all nations. However, that does not mean that doctrine is unimportant. Sound doctrine and theology are essential to our mission because, to put it bluntly, bad theology hurts people. We aim to be a ministry that is guided, inspired, and shaped by our theology. This is why we value being Reformed and covenantal.

What does it mean to be Reformed and covenantal?

Being Reformed means believing that salvation is a free gift from God that we don’t earn by doing good things. We trust that God is in control of everything, including our salvation, and we look to the Bible as the main guide for what we believe and how we live. Covenant theology is a way of understanding the Bible as one big story that is built around promises (called covenants) that God made with people. These promises all point to and find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.

Sound theology is essential for making healthy disciples. As I have mentioned in a previous article, consider two of our biggest fields: Africa and Latin America. If you look at the statistics produced by missiologists, both Latin America and Africa are predominantly Christian. Roughly 80% of people in Latin America claim to be Christians. In places like Ecuador, Panama, and Peru, it is over 90%.

We see something similar in sub-Saharan Africa. In Uganda and Kenya, over 80% profess faith in Jesus. In Rwanda, more than 90%. So, why are we sending missionaries to these places?

The “good news” that isn’t

Because in many of these places, the gospel that has been preached is no gospel at all. Instead of hearing the good news that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, they have been taught that they are saved by grace plus works, faith plus works—Christ’s works plus your works. In other instances, the “gospel” they have received is the prosperity gospel, the false teaching that if you follow Jesus, He will bless you with riches and good health. Because of these false gospels, many people have simply exchanged one form of spiritual bondage for another.

As a result, the gospel has brought little transformation to society. In Uganda, 80% profess faith in Christ, including the current president. Yet, the country is plagued by corruption, violence, and egregious abuses of power. When asked why there is so much corruption in Africa, even among those who profess faith in Christ, Nigerian missionary and New Testament scholar Dr. Femi Adeleye, speaking on the podcast “On Mission with Chris Wright,” says it is because people have been fed a diet of prosperity gospel and are looking for shortcuts out of poverty. They have not been given either a biblical view of grace or of vocation and work. Victor Nakah, MTW’s international director for Africa, observes that there has been a huge failure of discipleship on this continent.

Similarly, for the past 100 years, the Protestant church in Northern Europe has experienced a sharp decline, much of which can be attributed to the decline of solid theology. Pastors and whole denominations stopped proclaiming God’s free grace. They no longer believed in the truthfulness and authority of the Bible. As a result, less than 5% of the people in Northern Europe attend church regularly. In Scotland, it is less than 2%.

Theology as a rich foundation

As the gospel reaches new regions like India, the Middle East, and Central Asia, new converts are sure to face social ostracism and persecution. To endure these hardships, they need to know that they have a Father in heaven who adores them and who is in control of all things.

So, why does MTW value Reformed and covenantal theology? Bad theology hurts people. Bad theology produces bad fruit. If we are to make disciples and teach them all that Jesus has commanded us (Matthew 28:19-20), we must do so on a rich, biblical foundation provided by Reformed and covenantal theology.

Other articles in our “Values That Matter” series:

THE CHURCH

GRACE-BASED