Missions
Several years ago Pastor Sam returned from a trip to India with a conviction that any missions-oriented group at our church needed to meet frequently and regularly. Not long after that our missions committee structure changed from a monthly meeting of cell representatives to a core group meeting weekly to think, pray, and dream about all things missions.
Though our structure changed our purpose remained the same. We exist to encourage the church's ownership of missionary support and mobilize the congregation to awareness and participation in the Great Commission. To that end our efforts could not consist of mere programs and activities. Mobilization and nurturing had to be a part of spiritual development and we soon realized that our work had to be ministry, a service unto the congregation. These concerns became the staple of our prayers.
One of the privileges we have as the body of Christ is supporting workers in the mission field. New Life is blessed to have many to support but with this is the challenge of ownership and participation by the congregation at large. The church addresses the issue of ownership by relegating missionary relationships to the many cell groups at our church. This way a smaller group of people can focus on a particular missionary and his/her needs. The Missions Ministry then works with cells (via mission representatives) to pray and communicate concerns to the congregation via announcements and other means. The Missions Ministry also sponsors missionaries when they return from the field on furlough. Working with the representatives we coordinate personal care during their local stay and set aside funds to care for their needs (rest, training, counseling, etc.).
The Missions Ministry also sponsors events for mission awareness and spiritual growth. We coordinated a missions celebration where several guest speakers came and spoke on missions and its place in our lives. We also host what we call a "Conversational Banquet," which is a casual forum for interested people to share their testimonies from short term missions, to hear from live missionaries and their experiences, and to hear from the leadership and their vision for the church. Book Reviews also give us a chance to read missionary biographies and other spiritual-formation literature together and discuss their impact on our lives.
In the light of our ministry-oriented approach we have renamed "Short-Term Missions" "Overseas Discipleship Training." ODT provides a means for our church to build and strengthen relationships with our missionaries. In our past trips to China, India, Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Mexico, we have had the privilege of serving the workers, doing evangelism training (EE), leadership training, and ministry vision sharing. ODT has added benefits for those that go: the challenges of making culture adjustments, living a simple lifestyle, having a ministry-oriented mentality, and building meaningful relationships with natives. At home ODT benefits the church as she supports with prayer and sacrificial living.
In the larger picture we are also working with the New Life association of churches to develop and work together in our missions efforts. Just this past March representatives met together to pray for the respective ministries and share our summer plans. In the future we will be encouraging joint short-term ventures and working together for strategy and development. Our desire as an association is to challenge our people to respond to the Great Commission as individuals and as a church and work together to pool resources and strategies to eventually do church plants and send out missionaries together.
We are excited at the prospect of sending out missionaries from our midst within the next two years. New Life in Cerritos will be sending out a family to the Philippines, and New Life in Buena Park will be sending out our Missions Ministry director and his family. Our ministry's approach has been significantly influenced by the needs we foresee as we prepare to send out our own. Mobilization and participation have acquired a personal flavor.
The church has the amazing call to share in and to act in taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. We pray that our ministry will grow in its effectiveness to arouse our church to be a part of God's continuing work to call unto Himself His people even in the remotest parts of the earth