What ABT is Not

Posted on: 
March 1, 2018

Our website introduces ABT’s vision and purpose—what ABT is. To further clarify ABT’s function, let’s now look at what ABT is not.

A guiding principle for ABT is that we are neither the Church nor a church. We are committed to remaining a parachurch organization. The “para” in parachurch indicates “alongside” or “beside.” ABT serves the church’s mission by working alongside local churches who are willing to send their members into the field.

This means that ABT is not a sending organization. The Lord and His church send laborers. ABT helps when the sending involves Bible translation. We do not pull workers away from the local church and send them to “our” mission fields.

ABT encourages and equips churches to send and support their missionaries. We do not provide all the support for any worker.

Joining ABT includes a commitment to, not a release from, the worker’s home church. We facilitate only workers whose home church stands behind them.

In addition, ABT is not a church-planting organization. Yes, our goal for any people group includes a thriving local church, but it will not be an “ABT church.” It is not ABT’s job to administer baptism or decide questions of practice. The team on the ground works under a sending church’s oversight to plant the local church.

What is ABT? ABT is a parachurch organization that works alongside local churches to establish local churches in other settings. ABT’s function is to facilitate Bible translation. We provide linguistic training and consultation and direct Bible translation projects.

By faith we, the workers, and their sending churches look forward to the day when our co-labor with God results in local assemblies of believers following Jesus together in the far-flung reaches of the world.

Newer post: Why Our Mission Starts with the Church

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  • “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
  • “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witness of these things.” Luke 24:47, 48
  • “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:19
  • “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:3
  • “That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel.” Ephesians 3:6
  • “That they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21
  • “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’?” Mark 11:17
  • “Ask of me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance.” Psalm 2:8
  • “Behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes.” Revelation 7:9
  • “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1
  • “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16
  • “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
  • “As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country.” Proverbs 25:25
  • “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:10
  • “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You.” Psalm 22:27
  • “Truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.” Numbers 14:21
  • “Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.” Psalm 96:3, 4
  • “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14
  • “That all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other.” 1 Kings 8:60
  • “For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations.” Malachi 1:11
  • “All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name.” Psalm 86:9
  • “For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” Isaiah 61:11
  • "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" Psalm 46:10
  • "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:3, 4
  • "You are worthy. . .; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God." Revelation 5:9, 10