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Missions Overview

Guidelines

It is generally recognized that Great Commission in Matthew 28 holds the church’s guidelines for mission work:

“All authority is heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

  • They must be called
  • They must be sent
  • They must be supported
  • They must disciple ALL nations
  • Christ is the empowerment and authority of this calling

The church of Christ does not exist for its own enjoyment.  It does not exist for the sake of its programs or even for the sake of its members.  It exists for the glory of its Savior and the furthering of His Kingdom… that the world would recognize the Lordship of Christ.  If that is our purpose, then our missions efforts must be focused on and dependant on His Lordship.

"Beachhead" Strategy

Grace Community Church (Grace) has developed what we call our “Beachhead Strategy” to enable our calling fulfilling the Great Commission.  The term “beachhead” was widely used in World War II to describe the line created when a unit reaches a beach, and begins to defend that area of beach, while other reinforcements arrive to help out.

By definition we describe our Beachhead Strategy as a “strategic cross-cultural location where we can (1) support a career missionary and (2) place additional  missionaries and short-term teams for significant and effective ministry.” This strategy was formulated to:

  • Allows us to focus our support.  Being focused has the advantages of stewarding our resources and our mindshare.  It has the disadvantage of potentially ignoring a door that God has open.  Therefore, we need to be intentional in our efforts, yet opportunistic when God opens a door for us.
  • Keeps the connection between Grace and our missionaries.  Sending short-term teams builds shared concerns and shared experiences that keep relationships and communications strong.
  • Allow us to build an integrated church-wide philosophy of missions.

Just as the general in charge of a military beachhead needs to have a plan of attack, missionaries that are part of our Beachheads must have a long-term strategy that directly or indirectly supports a goal of 1) planting churches pastored by natives or 2) leadership/seminary training of the local native population.  The evidence of success is the fulfillment of the Great Commission by native leadership through the development of their own evangelistic, discipleship and church planting efforts.  Building a western-culture church (or church buildings) dependent upon external support is not an evidence of success.

Focus

There has always been a debate whether a church should focus on “reached” individuals or spend the additional effort and resources to minister to the “unreached”. The Biblical examples of both Paul and Timothy lead us to the conclusion that it should be both.  The call of the Great Commission is not merely to proclaim the Gospel; it is a call to disciple all nations. This is a transformation of a daily walk of life that impacts individuals, families and communities. Only by being His disciples can we hope to disciple others.

Doctrinal Position

Mission efforts must be theologically grounded. In fact Paul, who was greatest missionary of all time was also the greatest theologian. There are debates whether a church should support missionaries who are not completely in agreement doctrinally. This debate centers both on doctrinal stance and on the prioritization of scarce resources.  In the past years Grace has gone through the journey of understanding the Doctrines of Grace.  While it may be argued that these doctrines limit mission work, we feel these doctrines command us to perform mission work while relying on God to reap the fruit. We welcome and encourage conversations regarding these doctrinal points.

It is unrealistic to expect our missionaries to immediately embrace these doctrines when the journey taken by the Grace was difficult and took several years. It is expected that our missionaries embrace the cornerstone doctrines of salvation through Christ alone and Biblical inerrancy.  

Growing our own Missionaries

We do feel that God has called us first to train, equip and send individuals who are members of Grace.  Our calling is to advance the Great Commission, first through the equipping and sending of our members and then through others whom God has placed in our path. While there are Biblical examples of missionaries supported by other churches, sending our own to the mission field removes us from the tendency of taking a passive role in their ministry.

Support

Finally, missionaries must be supported: financially, through prayer and encouragement, and feed spiritually.  As extended members of the Grace family we need to provide the same physical and spiritual resources we would extend members of both our immediate and local church family.