I am sitting here at the airport waiting for the first of many flights that will take us to Mombasa, Kenya, our home for the next week! I am one of the strange few who look forward to the long flights, to the long days of travel as it means new adventures ahead. As exciting as the coming adventure is, the preparations for that adventure are tiresome. The long flights give me opportunity to get my head ready for the coming days. The last couple of weeks have been preparing all the personal details of leaving the country, making sure the team staying behind is equipped to keep going while we are away, buying and order the supplies we need and thinking about what needs to be done before we leave.
The details of life can keep us busy. When we are busy our minds get out of sync. When our minds get out of sync our focus can stray and then we miss the “thing” we were working so hard for.
Here are 3 focal points to help keep your church missions minded. When you are always thinking, planning and implementing these 3 areas, your church will stay focused, even when life is busy.
- Global Focus – in order to be a church that is outward focused, that is constantly thinking about ways to impact the globe, we have to have our focus on what is happening around the world. Beyond the updates you receive from your missionaries, you need to know what world events are going on, what people groups are being affected, who is serving in those areas and how (if any) you can make a difference there.
Studying people groups, staying up to date on world events, persecuted Christians and other organizations will begin to soften your hearts, show you where God is moving and begin burdening you or your church to get involved.
- What can you do to exposure your church to what is happening globally or learn about unreached people groups?
- How can you pray for what is happening around the world or people who have not heard the Gospel for the first time?
- Global Strategy – when we have a plan and a strategy on how to reach that goal and plan much more can be accomplished. Churches that have strategies to reach specific people groups, countries or regions often have greater success than those who just waited for missionaries to come to them. Global strategies help us identify specific targets, specific needs and specific goals. Although it seems like this would be limiting on the type of people that could meet those needs, the opposite is quite true. A strategy allows you to know what types of people, what types of resources to gather and look for instead of just making due with what you have and not accomplishing the real need at hand.
- Globally Focused People – If you want to make an impact on the globe, you must be preparing the people to make that impact. Training and equipping the next wave of missionaries from your church is a must if you intend to move the gospel out. We must make intentional measures to prepare the people we presently have to join our current missionaries or start new works amongst unreached peoples.
- What classes can you teach that will train people to get ready to serve?
- What programs can you create that will give people hands on experiences to get them ready to serve where they are or full time?
Stefanie Nicholson
Founder
