OK - my notes from the Advancing Churches in Missions Commtiment New England Conference. It's going to be long, let me know if it was worth it....
Advancing Churches in Missions Commitment conference
ACMC – acmc.gospelcom.net
‘Flooding the World with God’s Word’
2003-11-22
Black Rock Congregational Church, Fairfield CT
Keynote
Clive Calver
World Relief
Not a lot of people working in relief, but not anyone who does it through the Church
6 ½ years as pres of World Relief
43K US Churches to serve other churches only through local churches
Temptations Facing Missions Today
Going for the jugular
Luke 4
Satan and Jesus meet in the desert
The wilderness is the classroom
30 miles x 15 miles – Judean desert
lowest places on earth
We assume Satan is a vague source of evil
Deliver us from the evil one – the Lord’s prayer which should be renamed as the Disciple’s prayer
Where Jesus will be tried and proven
Jesus was just at His highest point – baptized, mountain top experience
40 days without food
physical weakest
Why does God allow us to be tested?
Refining fire – impurities rise
Look into gold to see His reflection, in the hearts of His people
By His strength, we will win
Effective = Attacked
You are not alone.
The Holy Spirit took Jesus into the desert.
Scripture – Book of Deut
Story - The Iranian Church
5am Bible delivery
$60 = a lifesavings for Bibles
Kinds of Temptations
1. stone into bread
lots of limestone in the Judean desert, looks like bread
temptation to whine
look at your pain
use your power to feed yourself
80% of world resources are in the North American church
God trusted us to serve His church
Paul and Barnabas
Jerusalem famine, they went to Macedonia and sent back to Jerusalem
We need to rethink missions
Not a statement against expatriates
Evangelical churches don’t change quickly
19th century – sending
20th century – sharing, with indigenous
21th century – train the nationals, serving and enabling them
the serving is going to be incredibly unpopular
film about Sudan
2. temptation of compromise
All the kingdoms of the earth
Do it the easy way
The simple way
The greatest strength can become the greatest weakness
Americans are fix it people
Pioneering instinct
Sometimes it’s too easy
Not what we can do but what we can release
Most of the Christians around the world are spiritually deeper than us
Satan offers the wealth and the kingdoms of this world
Jesus strips you of what the world gives
A commitment to sacrifice
Story about the Iraqi church
Clive met a pastor’s wife
She told him her husband was preaching
He asked her what happened to the previous pastor
He showed up, a drought came, they killed him
He asked her what motivated them to come then.
She asked isn’t that what all Christians do?
‘Let a man deny himself’ – 7 times
Compromise is not the pattern of Jesus
3. Temptation to shine
Psalm 91 – aligned with the word of God
The Devil is the accuser of the brethren
Satan’s aim is the destruction of Jesus
The missions Rhode’s gallery (the wall of missionaries)
God called us to serve not to shine
‘I’ve never seen so little money going into missions. Other countries hope is in the US government when it should be in the US Church.’
You can earn the reward of service but not salvation.
Workshop #1
Ken Campbell – President – World Team Associates
Implementing a Missions Strategy in Your Church
I’m the 2nd youngest person here
The average age is easily in the upper 40s.
Affiliate of World Team
Service agency to missionaries
Church link division – connecting churches
Missions mobilization for 25 years
Wheaton IL, Wheaton Bible Church
- why have a strategy?
Communicate vision
Give focus
Establish direction
Answer questions
Enhance good stewardship
- Start with the church mission statement
Ask and answer
What is our history
What is our distinctive
Why was this church founded
What characteristics remain today
Any natural bridges to other cultures
In Wheaton, every Dunkin Donuts is owned by Pakistani people
- Misc
Gather facts about current missions commitments
Analyze data and discover current strategy
Take Perspectives course
Read _The Church is Bigger than You Think_
Subscribe to Missions Frontiers
- Select/Appoint Task force
Thinkers strategic planners
Research other churches in your network
Compare mission/strategy statements
Learn how they made changes
Analyze for what fits us
Allow time for the process
Involve key decision makers and leaders from the body
- Resources
ACMC
Denomination
Agencies
Other churches
Link to the missions strategy
Define missions for your church
- Paradigm shift in missions
Passive supporting
Proactive sending
Mission Focused/Synergistic
- How Churches View Missions (scale)
Problem -> possibility -> project -> program -> purpose -> passion
- Other Key Definitions
Church planting
Unreached
Unevangelized
Cross cultural
Domestic outreach
Support ministries
- Transition
Implement over time
Use natural attrition as part of implementation
Fire missionaries when necessary
Recruit to meet the strategy
Educate the congregation
Be gracious and generous
Communicate with present missionaries
Identify agencies that fit your strategy and partner with them
46 missionaries from 1 church with 1 agency
Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit
Workshop #2
Tom Telford, ACMC
Six Steps to Bring Missions Alive in Your Church
Many churches take a shotgun approach to missions
Focus that is strategic, defined, cooperative
Missions doesn’t fit into the American dream
- Add younger members to your missions team
Older generation – pray and pay
Younger generation – pray, pay, go
- Focus on integration versus information in Missions Programming
Missions is caught not taught
Concentrate on small groups, one-on-one
- Youth
Develop skills and passion systematically
Begin with local, physical assignments and progress to cross-cultural and international ministry
Solid training program
Debrief and move up
Short terms should be called vision trips
- Expand your involvement as senders
Evaluating call and readiness
Develop the support team
Prep field ministry
Spirit/emotional health
Family concerns
Home assignment needs
Survey of 50 churches:
20 had scholarship programs for the kids of their missionaries
48 send staff every year on a missions trip – missions minded pastor
be sensitive where you send them
*Chinese Urbana – 2004
10 essentials in a missions church
1. Outward Focus
2. pastor sold out to world evangelization
has a passion for it
3. church has a well defined missions strategy and policy
4. An effective international ministry team (missions committee)
5. A significant percent of the budget is for missions
One church gave a copy of Operation World to every person for Christmas
Resource a geography teacher
God is blessing churches that make sacrifices – economic climate
One church said if we run out of money, we fire the pastor first and the missionaries last – came upon a church property for 0 cost
6. Missions Education is for everyone
Covered basketballs as globes and gave to toddlers with the theme of hug a planet
Take your church and dip it into missions, sometimes you have to hold it down.
Drama – who wants to be a millionaire – all questions about missionaries – lifeline was one of their missionaries they called live – all money given to missions pastor at the end of the drama
7. church prepares and sends out missionaries
8. missionaries are well cared for
evaluation is part of this
missionaries child was sick. Church sent a doctor to the field. Couldn’t diagnose. Sent doctor and child to CDC in Atlanta. And then back to the field after treatment, church picked up the whole cost.
9. Broad personal involvement
10. The church prays for the world
Preachers kids are bad because they hang out with deacons kids.
Workshop #3
Doug Christgau
Everything you need to know to have effective short term missions trips
Inspire you all to do it with excellence
The kingdom would be better if we didn’t do the bottom 1/3 trips
Black Rock Church, Wheaton Bible Church, Valley Community Baptist – Avon CT
Missions Pastor
Fellowship of Short Term Leaders
1. Why Take short-term trips
a. Missionary encouragement
Do short term with your own missionaries
To encourage your own
If they have a need you can meet
b. Ministry with nationals
No just what we want
Think cognitively
Mutually designed by sending and going
c. Spiritual missions growth of members
Not a substitute for summer camp
d. Church mission passion
Church passion – debrief is huge for this
2. Before the trip – disciplined preparation leads to excellence
a. Church vs. short term agency organized
b. Financing
Should not come out of missions budget
Financed/partnered with people
If person wants to pay, let them
Giving begets giving
Can become a cash cow
c. Trip ministries and locations
Doug’s sampling of trips:
Construction trips
Rob economy – 5x the cost of a national
Nationals helping you
Work alongside
Not negative on construction trips if they are done right
Senegal
Muslims were their bosses
Will we submit?
Will we work hard
Will we be productive?
Good rapport and relationships
Sports Evangelism – Nicaragua – baseball fanatics
10 softball players
baseball clinics in the am
games with locals in the pm
evangelistic in the evening
Seeker Driven – Montreal
3 languages in city – international city
Family outreach – Indian reservation
Womens program
VBS
Youth programs
Same place for 7 years
Very good possibility of a church plant
ESL – Eastern Europe – Romania
Basic of English
Conversational English
Library software upgrades –
Software upgrade to library systems
Had special access to software in different languages
Business Education
American business practices
Believe it or not, other countries desire our standard of morality and code of ethics when it comes to business
Camp – Albania
Volunteer staff support – clean, dishes, etc.
Midpoint during their season
Muslim
There are 150K missionary kid schools around the world, virtually all are understaffed
MK schools are a great experience
Most MK schools have 50% unsaved, lots of expats have kids there
d. Training/equipping of leadership and participants
Thorough administration
8 hours of training
_Prepare Your Heart_ Cindy Judge – personal prep, any age
_Maximum Short Term Missions_ Peterson, Sneed
_Short Term Missions Workbook_ IVP
Training is critical
Hardy Personality test – have people choose one item and talk about it, in over 12 years, it helps on every team
Application/selection process
You don’t want a dysfunctional person on the trip
Missions trip are not reform school
Need a baseline of spiritual maturity – demonstrated in context of the local church
Ok for nonchristians to go
3. During the trip – direction amidst stops and starts
a. Pace of activity
b. Cultural sensitivity
c. Spiritual goals for trip members
d. Flexibility
e. Anticipate illness or stress
4. after the trip – yield from the investment
a. debrief on the plane
b. reunion with supporters included
c. tell your church
d. recruit for mission leadership at home
25% of short term members became missions volunteers
Standards of Excellent in Short-Term Missions
www.fstml.org
1. Releases God-centered kingdom growth
Expressed in the lives of all participants by:
- sound biblical doctrine
- persistent prayer
- integrity
2. is based on Partnership between sending and receiving sides
expressed by:
- primary focus on intended receptors
- planned outcomes which benefit all participants
- mutual acocountability
3. delivers a program which has been Mutually Designed by sending and receiving sides
expressed by:
- common philosophical base and alignment to long-term strategies/mission
- goer guests ability to deliver and receive
- hosts receivers ability to deliver and receive
4. provides Reliable Setup and Thorough Administration for all participants
expressed by:
- sound financial practices
- appropriate risk management
- program delivery and support logistics
5. screens, trains and provides Qualified Leadership for all participants
expressed by:
- pre-field through training and equipping leadership
- on-field through program delivery and support leadership
- post-field through debriefing and follow-up leadership
or expressed by:
- spiritually mature servant leadership
- competent interculturally experienced leadership
- empowering and equipping leadership
- prepared, organized and accountable leadership
6. is evidenced by Participants Trained and Equipped
expressed by:
- biblical, appropriate and timely for all participants
- commitment to continuous training (pre-field, on-field, post-field)
- qualified trainers
7. is commited to Thorough Debriefing and Follow-Up for all participants
expressed by:
- debriefing throughout entire process (pre-field, on-field, post-field)
- re-entry preparation for goer guests prior to leaving the field
- post-field follow-up and evaluations
or expressed by:
- spiritually mature servant leadership
- competent interculturally experienced leadership
- empowering and equipping leadership
- prepared, organized and accountable leadership
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