The Mission Team: Helping Churches Make Disciples Of People Everywhere
By Bob Mills
June 2008
In this issue of the Baptist Digest, you will be given a sampling of how your Missions Team approaches its ministry tasks. The mission team is focused on helping churches be missionary in the communities where God has placed them. Intentionally living and influencing the world for Christ Jesus. A variety of ministries are implemented to reach into every people group within our two state conventions. The Mission Team believes we must employ a variety of ministry strategies to reach all kinds of people. Some friends in Canada have a statement I really like and embrace, “We need all kinds of churches, for all kinds of people in all kinds of places.” The Missions Team includes the following ministry areas; Church Planting (all people groups), Ministry Evangelism (Church and Community Ministries, Chaplaincy, Disaster Relief and Innovative Ministries), Church Health and Leadership, College Evangelism and Ministry, Mission Mobilization (volunteerism both student and adult), North American Partnerships (Canada and Arkansas) and Baptist Men and Boys. All of these ministries are designed to assist and strengthen the local church. I am blessed to have the privilege of working with a team of gifted God called men and women.
A Biblical word being used a lot these days is the word incarnational. Incarnational, means living the person and work of Christ in our communities. For the church, it means getting outside the walls of the church and living Christ in the world. It means seeing the community the way Christ sees it and then responding as He would respond. Too many churches have a come and see posture when it comes to the people who live and work around them. Being an incarnational church means taking the Gospel to people everywhere, on their terms, where they live and where they work.
What does it mean to be a missionary church? What are some of the characteristics of a church that is missionary? A friend of mine at the North American Mission Board, John M. Bailey, offers a glimpse into what skills and values are needed by leaders in a missionary (missional) church.
1. A powerful passion to see lives transformed through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
2. The ability to lead a body in doing an exegesis of a community aimed at identifying people groups and their world views.
3. Bilingual: having the ability to speak the language of the culture and God’s kingdom.
4. Bicultural: Having the ability to dwell in the focus community while dwelling in the presence of the Father; connecting with the culture while staying grounded in God’s Word.
5. The ability to listen and ask good questions when related to the disconnected.
6. The ability to assist people in discovering their giftedness for ministry and to connect those gifts with viable ministry in the harvest.
7. The ability to create the environment where people have the freedom to dream and are encouraged to develop God-sized dreams regarding their role in living out the mission of God.
8. The ability to identify, equip and release indigenous people to participate in kingdom activities.
9. Authenticity
10. The sensitivity to involve God’s people in the development of contextual strategies that flow out of purpose, values, prayer, God’s Word and the needs of lost people.
11. Hospitality for the unchurched.
12. The ability to anticipate and navigate rapid change; having the ability to see the future and the present at the same time.
13. The ability to guide the formation and practice of authentic Christian community.
14. Creativity and vision.
The challenge to reach the lost in Nebraska and Kansas is before us today. One of the most effective ways to reach the lost is through starting Places of Light or starting a new church. Our conventions 410 X 2010 goal to start new works remains in front of us as a challenge. Currently we are at about 280. Let me challenge you to be missionary in your community and start a Place of Light. The goal to start new work is a New Testament mandate…How will you and your church respond?
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