What’s a Parachurch? And How Should It Relate to a Local Church?

Mikey Lynch. The Vine Movement: Supporting Gospel Growth Beyond Your Church. Matthias Media, 2023. 368 pages.

In The Vine Movement, Mikey Lynch offers ways to maintain a healthy local church-parachurch relationship. Much like human relationships, especially romantic ones, the DTR (Define the Relationship) talk is meant to provide clarity that leads to health. This is what Lynch sets out to do for churches and parachurch ministries.

Distinctions

In Part One of the book, Lynch makes helpful distinctions between the local church and parachurch ministries. I appreciate that he defines the church before he defines the parachurch. In doing so, he establishes that the latter exists to serve the former.

“The difference between a church and a parachurch is quite similar to the difference between a business and a hobby,” he says (22). Like a business employs and thus sustains its employees, the church affirms and sustains the spiritual lives of its members. The parachurch being something akin to a hobby, however, helps one understand that it is optional in a way the local church isn’t. Hobbies—albeit fun and exciting—come and go. Christians should not depend on them to sustain daily life.

Definitions

While I was helped by Lynch’s apt use of helpful distinctions, I worry his definition of parachurch may be too broad. He says a parachurch is an “organized Christian activity that is distinct from the visible, institutional church” (55). To give Lynch credit, he does admit how broad the definition is and defends it by pointing out how other definitions on offer often unhelpfully include evaluation, which I assume he’s trying to avoid. Nonetheless, I fear the broadness of his definition could encourage individualistic churches in the West to outsource too much to parachurches when, in reality, some ministries are best done in the local church itself. He may have avoided this if he included something about how the local church and parachurch interact with one another. Take the following as an example of such a definition: “A parachurch is an organized Christian activity that is distinct from the visible, institutional church but exists to support the gospel witness of the local church.”

I think Lynch is right when he identifies “some aspects of gospel ministry and practical good deeds that are best done beyond the bounds of the local church” (70). Indeed, the parachurch provides an outlet for specialized mercy and mission ministries like food pantries, adoption organizations, pregnancy centers, after-school activities for kids, missions agencies, and more. Having organizations working in these areas frees the church to focus on what only it can do—making disciples through expository preaching, meaningful membership, and the ordinances. On this score, Lynch’s definition presupposes that most Christians understand how to wisely balance their efforts in their local churches and other parachurches. This presupposition fails to take into account the low priority and misunderstandings that too many Christians have when it comes to the importance of the local church.

Working Together

Setting this criticism aside for a moment, Part Two of The Vine Movement is gold and worth reading the book for. In this section, Lynch imagines ways the parachurch can amplify the work of the local church. He writes, “Far from being bloodthirsty sharks . . . parachurches . . . can support, enhance, and extend local church ministry in wonderfully positive ways” (140).

A healthy relationship between the local church and parachurch begins by not assuming the worst but instead believing the best. Much like a protein shake supplements a diet by aiding muscle growth, the parachurch has the potential to help the church grow in health.

After identifying some of the ways parachurches are able to support local churches, Lynch unpacks five helpful principles for deciding which parachurch organizations local churches should invest in. His third principle I take to be the most important. He writes, “Look for partnerships that fit with your doctrinal convictions and ministry philosophy” (146). To support a parachurch that is doctrinally unsound or inconsistent with your ministry philosophy would, at best, be confusing to church members and, at worst, be spiritually dangerous. To return to the supplement analogy, the goal is to support and enhance the local church, not to replace or destroy it.

Herein lies the importance of pastors looking into the beliefs of parachurch ministries before supporting them publicly. The biblical mandate to guard and guide the flock of God (Acts 20:28) should be applied to relationships with parachurches. Without the watchful eyes of faithful shepherds, a congregation could suffer numerous pitfalls.

Conclusion

Overall, Lynch skillfully maps out principles for “supporting gospel growth beyond your church.” This is a profitable resource for churches looking for guidance on why and how to go about partnering with parachurches.