Morningview Baptist Church

OF MILESTONES AND MAPS

This Sunday, I will celebrate my 3^rd anniversary as Senior Pastor of Morningview. In some ways, it is hard to believe three years have flown by so quickly. In other ways, it is like I have been here so much longer. Lisa and I feel so content and loved and affirmed in our calling to serve this congregation, and that feeling has grown consistently over the past 3 years. You all have truly become our “family” and we love you all dearly.

As I take time to reflect upon the last 3 years, it is amazing to consider all that God has done in our midst. He is so faithful and He has led us through many changes into a time of growth. One of the areas of growth I have been most excited about is in the area of missions. It has been such a blessing to see our missions vision and involvement grow with a degree of consistency.

In that regard, I would like to point our church family to the Missions Action Plan (MAP) that was recently submitted to the church by our Missions Ministry Team. The MAP is posted on our church web site and it is also available in hard-copy through our church office. It does an excellent job of not only stating the biblical basis for our own philosophy of missions, it also outlines some exciting opportunities and goals for the immediate future.

To introduce you to our evolving Vision for Missions, I wanted to provide you with an excerpt that details the immediate goal of ADOPTING people groups, GOING to specific ministry locations, and SENDING missionaries in both short-term and long-term endeavors. Here’s what it says:

4.3 Going – Without setting arbitrary numerical goals, in 2010 we would like to add an additional missions trip to our two current international trips that we take each year.  We would like to see MBC send an additional missions team to work cross-culturally among an international focus group (i.e. another people group) somewhere in the United States.  This would potentially increase the number of trips from two to three.  The trips would be as follows: 1. Open Access People Group; 2. Restricted Access Unreached People Group; 3. North American International Focus Group

4.4 Sending – MBC participates in sending through these conduits: finances, prayer, commissioning, organization/administration, and training.  When short term teams are sent, we would like to see the missions team set aside through a formal commissioning service for the teams (Acts 13:3).  The church needs to conduct a screening process that recognizes present character qualities, ministry involvement, and training as prerequisites.

Our goal for 2010 is to adopt at least one unengaged people group and begin efforts to send missionaries to them from our congregation.  An initial goal is to send a short-term team.  The long-term goal is to send those who will serve long-term on the field.

Missiologists state that 98% of missionaries who are sent go to countries where the church already exists.  Only 2% go to the unreached world.  Our goal for 2010 is to adopt an unreached people group and begin efforts to send missionaries to them from our congregation.  The first step in the process is to send a team on an investigative trip to gain information and make contact with people of peace.  The IMB is able and willing to facilitate this process.  Another goal for 2010 is to have financial support for short-term mission teams as a specified part of the annual church budget.

In the months ahead, we are going to be carefully praying and considering exactly where God would lead us in terms of these missions goals. God is already opening up exciting opportunities for us, so I hope you will make time to join us in intentional prayer for these efforts. I also hope you will take the time to read the entire MAP. It will not only be a great resource for developing your own understanding of biblical missions, it will also help open your eyes to opportunities for involvement.