Missions on Point

MoP043 Missions Committee Essentials - part 1

Every church should have an effective, functional Missions Committee. We prefer you call it a "Missions Team" - not to be confused with a Short Term Missions Team. Whether you call it a Committee, or Board, or Task Force, or Team, whether you call it Missions, or Global Outreach (GO), or Cross-cultural Ministries, the main purpose is to mobilize the whole congregation to do their part in the Great Commission. Practical alignment with your local church's identity and values helps frame the scope of work. Listen and check out the paradigm-shifting concepts and resources available here.
Access the episode transcript page.

MoP042 Three Central Truths - 3 The Centrality of the Gospel in Missions

Sorry for the technical glitch on this episode. It mysteriously disappeared upon update. I've had to repost it. 
The Gospel is so essential to missions and the local church's message. It is the exclusive message of salvation in Jesus Christ. It is simple, profound, and the only basis for the transformation of men and women from the inside out.
Proclamation of the Gospel is necessary and God-empowered for effective spiritual fruit. No other substitutes will accomplish regeneration. It is a simple message: God's requirement of holiness, man's sin, God's own provision of fellowship, adoption, and payment of sin in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and man's required response of repentance and faith in Christ alone for salvation. Adding or subtracting other "works" or agenda to this distorts the Gospel; the Apostle Paul calls that "anathema;" doing so is "another gospel."
Access the episode transcript page.

MoP041 Three Central Truths - 2 The Centrality of Missions in the Local Church

The ministry of missions is, in essence, the reason for the church on earth. Keeping that passion for outreach central in the heart of the local churches maintains a healthy biblical balance. "Mission," without the "s," can be selfish and inward-focused.  People often think of missions in inaccurate or misguided terms. Local churches dare not allow external Christian organizations to eclipse their own responsibility, participation, and joy in doing the work of missions to reach the world.
Access the episode transcript page.

MoP040 Three Central Truths - 1 The Centrality of the Local Church in God’s Purposes Today

The centrality of the local church in God's purposes is too often eclipsed by our skewed cultural values of independence and resistance to vulnerability to others. The Bible makes it clear that the local church is God's agent for His work in the world - not just for missions, but for local ministry to each of us and through each of us to our community. The New Testament repudiates a "Lone Ranger" mentality. Churches may come in all kinds of forms and sizes; healthy biblical churches are absolutely central to honoring and glorifying God, ultimately throughout the world. We must radically realize the centrality of the local church in God's purposes today.
Access the episode transcript page.

MoP039 Keys to Effectiveness as a Missionary - Wrap-up of this series

This series has highlighted 13 Keys to Effectiveness as a Missionary. Every one of them could also be applied to our local church and to ourselves in our spiritual life. This wrap-up episode gives two other simple concepts for evaluation of missionary candidates, in particular: a battery of straightforward questions, and what Propempo calls the "Six C-s". The over-arching concept of all of this is that the local church has a vital, biblical role in raising up, developing, evaluating, sending, and shepherding missionaries. Solid attention to these things in the early stages will reap huge rewards in effectiveness, faithfulness, longevity, and, we believe, fruitfulness on the field. May it be so, for God's glory!
Access the episode transcript page.

MoP038 Keys to Effectiveness as a Missionary - 13 Priority of Teaching the Bible

We've touched on the importance of the missionary knowing the Word and of demonstrating the authority of the Word. This key deals with the practice of teaching the Bible as the central message and source of teaching and training in the missionary's ministry.  References to the content and teaching of God's Word should naturally ooze out of the missionary from informal settings and conversations to formal meetings and teaching. God uses the Word to save and to transform lives. No other book has the same power, promise, and potential. Teach and preach the Word!
Access the episode transcript page.

MoP037 Keys to Effectiveness as a Missionary - 12 Stamina or Durability

Frightening attrition of missionaries permanently coming off the field highlight this key to effectiveness: stay on the field! Life on the mission field is tough. Longevity and staying power are key to fruitfulness. There are ways we can help enable this key, through doing our part as sending and through encouraging our missionaries to do their part to trust God through the suffering and challenges to be durable, have the stamina it takes for the long haul. Propempo helps senders, churches, and missionaries do what it takes to make longevity a reality, by God's grace and for His glory.
Access the episode transcript page.

MoP036 Keys to Effectiveness as a Missionary - 11 Practice and Priority of Prayer

Praying in times of crisis comes naturally. Making prayer a priority in normal daily life does not. The most effective missionaries make prayer for the work in all its aspects a clear practice and priority. Studies show the most effective church planters commit 30 minutes per day to pray for the people and the work of the ministry.  It is taught, modeled, encouraged, and commanded in Scripture. Why isn't the priority of prayer more evident in our missionaries and in our own churches? Prayer shows humility and dependence upon God; then, God gets all the glory for the results!
Access the episode transcript page.