Missions on Point

We pause to reflect on God's grace and goodness to and through the Missions on Point podcast as we complete five years of weekly episodes (without missing or repeating!). We are grateful to God, to our listeners, and my associate, Joel Hollins, for making it possible to produce this podcast. 
We ask that you, our listeners, help with getting the word out to share this great content to missions-minded people everywhere :-)
This retrospective may get you interested in hearing or sharing some of the past episodes and series. We've covered a lot of territory, by God's grace!
Thanks for listening!

In this step of elevation, we expand the learning and exposure of local church-centric missions to the entire congregation. This is a crucial step, both in humble learning and in accelerated growth in the area of missions for your church. We share specific resources and types of resources to increase ownership and participation throughout the entire congregation.

Practical and widespread communication and teaching of your church's paradigm to become a Sending Church will be key to your entire body of members embracing the biblical vision of a sending church.  It will take some energy and enthusiasm to help your church grow to be committed to whole-church mobilization for missions. Lord willing, it will result in well-qualified missionaries sent to fulfill your missions strategy and see cross-cultural churches planted through your church!

Now we get to the Elevation Phase. Elevation is where the church and missions leaders begin to bring the whole church along into this new biblical awareness of what it takes to be a sending church. The leaders may be running down the track, excited about where they are going. The church members are probably still in the starting blocks, waiting for the gun to go off.  Teaching is a big part of it: for the church as a whole, as well as smaller subsets. Organizationally, you are aware that new structures and roles need to be created and launched. An Annual Mission Event can empower momentum toward everyone in the church growing in understanding and involvement. Recruiting mentors and other new roles for the Barnabas Team or Care and Prayer Team for missionaries will come here. Do something to intentionally put new missionary candidates on your church's radar for future development. Lastly, but not least, build prayer for missions, for missionaries, and for a strategic focus on missions.

Yes, it will take some effort and study to become a good sending church. There are deficits in learning this biblical role, and you'll need to exercise discernment. Even some excellent sources of information and inspiration may be influenced by their own biases and historical context. So listen to our recommendations to help you get started.

A huge part of educating your church to grow in becoming a Sending Church is taking the initiative to ask for help! Key life lessons apply here: 
Don't be in a hurry
Commit to self-assessment using metrics outside of yourself
Learn from other churches that have been in your position
Realize that God can use any "need" as an opportunity for growth, change, and positive movement in the right direction.
Find the Church Missions Profile on SendForward.org or Propempo.com
 

With a body of information from the Evaluation stage, we enter the Education stage. We will revisit some fundamental biblical truths as a priority to gain unity and clarity among the leadership. The episode highlights the most basic elements and draws some contrasts with fuzzy truths known, promoted, or accepted in our present day. We'll discuss a few key principles for funding missions, including some initial thoughts on church missions funding.

The completion of our consideration of evaluating your church's potential as a good sending church includes thoughts that will ultimately help your church rise to that challenge. Start with prayer. End with prayer. Pray throughout the process. Ask lots of probing questions. Understand that you must win the participation and ownership of your church leaders. Seek to find the right resources and partners to become the good sending church the Lord desires to use in His plan for fulfilling the Great Commission.