Earlier this week, I had the privilege of attending an event at the North American Mission Board with approximately 100 other Directors of Missions from several states. During our time together, I was reminded of the vision of this great missions organization: “Every Church On Mission”.
It’s a simple, yet powerful statement. The goal of the North American Mission Board is that every Southern Baptist church will be actively engaged in the mission of God through praying, giving, and going. While I haven’t officially adopted this vision statement for the association that I serve, that is the goal that our association’s leaders have for the churches of the Pike Association as well. In fact, I would hope that this would be the goal of every pastor: every church on mission, and ultimately, every believer on mission.
Being on mission can take several forms. It may be local or global or anywhere in between. Currently, our association is preparing for our second annual LoveLoud event, a local missions event in which individuals from our local churches take a week to blitz our communities with the love of Christ both in word and deed.
If you are looking for a great first step in leading your church to be on mission, local mission projects with other churches from your area is a great place to start. Here are six benefits to partnering with other churches in order to be on mission locally:
1. Your church will experience an evangelistic spark. When a church develops or regains an outward focus, good things usually happen. By design, local mission projects are outward-focused. If you need to become more evangelistic and outward-focused, local missions participation will certainly help!
2. Your church will develop a greater kingdom mindset, both locally and globally. When local churches work together on different projects, folks begin to see that we are all in this together. In other words, churches begin to see that we are in cooperation with sister churches, not in competition with them. This is the greater kingdom mindset on a local scale. On the global scale, as your church engages in mission locally, they will probably develop greater appreciation and support (in all of its forms) for our full-time NAMB and IMB missionaries as well.
3. The kingdom of darkness will be pushed back. Just a little bit of research will reveal vast amounts of spiritual lostness right around your community. The darkness is everywhere, but when local churches work together throughout a specified time frame, there is no doubt that the kingdom of darkness will be pushed back as the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed in deed and in truth.
4. Your community will take notice. Random acts of kindness certainly make an impact. No matter where you live, your church has tremendous opportunities to make a tangible impact on the people that live right around you!
5. Your church will gain ideas about projects that can be brought back and implemented in your church throughout the year. Almost all mission projects can be reproduced as often as you like in your local church. If you need ideas right now, click here.
6. God is glorified! The Great Commission is not an optional endeavor for you or for me. God has commanded us to live on mission for Him, both locally and globally. As we do so, we proclaim the fame of Jesus’ name, and God is glorified. There is no greater benefit than this!
Engaging in local missions is a great way to jumpstart (or restart) your church on its missions journey. How have you partnered with other churches in your local area to be on mission together?
