Deoxyribonucleic Acid

Editorial by David Snyder - President/General Director

While reading the title of this article, you may have asked yourself, “What is Deoxyribonucleic Acid?” Deoxyribonucleic Acid (pronounced dee-OK-see-rye-boh-noo-KLAY-ik A-sid) is the extremely long, very-hard-to-pronounce, scientific term for DNA. Now, I assure you that I am no scientist nor do I know much about DNA. However, as I write this editorial, my wife and I are expecting the soon arrival of additional grandchildren. So, DNA is something we have been thinking about more than usual. I am confident that shortly after our grandchildren are born, there will be discussions about which parent the child favors. Obviously, this is because every child receives DNA from both parents, which passes along hereditary traits from one generation to the next.

There is no way that I can explain the biological elements of Deoxyribonucleic Acid. However, for the sake of this editorial, I will say that DNA is what makes us who we are. It is what links us to our family and allows us to perpetuate those things that are particular to our family from past generations. An AI powered Google search provided me with this definition: “DNA acts as the master instruction manual for a cell, residing primarily in the nucleus and directing its growth, function, and division. It encodes the information required to build proteins, which are the functional workhorses of the cell. When cells divide, DNA is copied and passed on, ensuring hereditary consistency.” 1

If you have read this far, you are probably wondering about the direction of this editorial. My goal is to make some applications between DNA and church planting. Every church is a living organism. The Bible says that God has given Jesus to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.2 Living organisms that are healthy reproduce themselves. This is a fundamental truth that ensures the survival of the different species. Thus, healthy churches reproduce churches.


The Great Commission was given to local churches, which are made up of individual Christians. It should be natural for every church to reproduce other churches. As a church supports missionaries, it is taking part in giving birth to churches around the world. However, the most fulfilling way for churches to reproduce themselves is to send someone from their assembly to start churches somewhere outside of their local area. This biblical process takes much prayer, planning, and preparation but it is eternally rewarding.

Just as DNA acts as the “master instruction manual for a cell…directing its growth, function, and division,” so the church uses the Bible as its Master Instruction Manual. The church should be continually seeking to see growth in each member and should be giving instruction to its members as they minister for the Lord. The “division of the cell” can represent the sending of a missionary to start another church. When the “cell divides,” the “DNA” of the church should be copied and passed on, “ensuring hereditary consistency.” In other words, when a church reproduces itself, the new church should resemble the church that started it. The way a missionary was trained in his local church should be what he strives to produce in the church he is planting.

Most likely, there are a plethora of comparisons that can be made between physical DNA and spiritual DNA. Nonetheless, I trust that this simple comparison to missions and church planting will encourage and challenge us concerning several things. First, that our churches would be like Jesus Christ. After all, the church is His body. Second, that our churches would be concerned about reproducing themselves around the world. Reproduction is a sign of a healthy church. Third, that when a church is started, it would greatly resemble the church that started it. “Hereditary consistency,” in the context of birthing New Testament churches, is not only extremely important but is also completely biblical and natural.

Baptist International Missions has been helping churches start churches since 1960. Just like the seasoned doctor or experienced midwife, BIMI stands ready to help with the entire process of birthing a new church. It is our delight to help independent Baptist churches with their biblical responsibility of reproducing themselves around the globe. Starting churches perpetuates those things that are particular to the family of God from past generations. May God help each of us to fulfill our role in seeing New Testament churches reproduced in every part of the world.

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1 AI on Google Search, response to “What is DNA?”
April 17, 2026, google.com.
2 Ephesians 1:22b–23 — Emphasis added (see also Ephesians 4:12;
Colossians 1:18, 24; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27)

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