The sending church is ___.

• A. Pastor-led
• B. Mission-driven
• C. Lay-empowered
• D. Board-governed

Answer: (C)

At the sending church, the emphasis is on empowering ordinary believers to participate in mission. This means recognizing the priesthood of all believers and equipping lay members to discern, prepare, and send out workers, with pastors guiding and mentoring rather than controlling the entire sending process. The church supports involvement through training, accountability, and ongoing care, so the mission arises from the whole body, not just a clergy leadership.

This makes lay-empowered the best description because it highlights who is actively involved in sending and sustaining mission—the lay members—rather than focusing solely on clergy leadership, governance structures, or motivation alone. While a church should be mission-driven and may operate with a board, those aspects don’t specifically capture the essential dynamic of empowering and sending laypeople into ministry.