Missions Strategy Priorities

MVBC Missions Strategy Priorities

In order to cultivate our church’s obedience to Christ’s Great Commission, our elders have prayerfully devoted themselves to biblical study and ministry discussion in the development of a missions strategy. We want to lead the church in answering the Apostle Paul’s call to send missionaries with the gospel to the ends of the earth: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Rom. 10:14-15). To accomplish this purpose, we have developed seven priorities to guide our church:
Seven Priorities of Our Missions Strategy

Gospel Preaching – While Christians are called to do good to everyone as we have opportunity, we are not engaged in missions unless our ministry involves gospel preaching. Since the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, all of our missions work must proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. So our missionaries must prioritize Christ’s gospel as of first importance: including His miraculous birth, His righteous life, His substitutionary death, and His physical resurrection and ascension to heaven until His glorious return at the end of the age. They must sincerely and freely offer this gospel of salvation to all, calling everyone to faith in Jesus Christ and repentance unto eternal life in Him. Our missionaries must also share Christ’s compassion for sinners, who are all by nature children of wrath and condemned to hell until they have been saved by grace through faith and experienced conversion in their souls through regeneration and union with Christ. Therefore, the missionaries whom our church sends out and support must uphold the proclamation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified as the very center of their mission work.

Church Planting – When Christ gave His church our great commission, He commanded us to make disciples of all nations. So our missions work begins with evangelism and seeks the conversion of sinners, but it continues in the discipleship of believers who must be baptized and taught. Therefore, our mission includes the planting of local churches to carry out this ministry of discipleship. We want to send out and support missionaries involved in starting healthy local churches with qualified indigenous leadership of elders and deacons, biblical Baptist polity committed to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689), reverent and joyful worship according to the regulative principle, and Christ-centered ministry building up the church in love for one another while pursuing holiness together.

Unreached Prioritized – The Apostle Paul’s ambition was to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named. Following his apostolic example, our church wants to reach people groups who have never heard the gospel of Christ preached. While we recognize the importance of strengthening and serving churches in other nations, our church will prioritize sending and supporting missionaries to people groups unreached by the gospel so that they will hear of Christ and believe in Him. At the same time, we will supplement this priority with helping other people groups with existing churches grow in their health through training and equipping pastors as well as assisting these churches in their evangelism, discipleship, and church planting efforts.

Long-Term Focus - Christ is building His church through this age until His return, which means that we should trust in Him to complete His mission according to His perfect timing. So we want to match an urgency for souls to be saved with a commitment to long-term ministry. We do not desire short-term success rooted in pragmatism, but we desire faithful missions work established upon the firm foundation of Christ and His Word which produces true and lasting spiritual fruit. As a result, we will send out and support missionaries willing to endure years of struggles and suffering without fruit in order for the gospel to take root among people groups around the world. They must find their contentment in Christ while planting and watering the gospel seed, knowing that only God gives the growth in our missions work. Our church must also avoid focusing on numbers and visible fruit, trusting in Christ’s promise to be with His church on mission to the end of the age.

Selective Partnership - We want to send out biblically qualified men and spiritually mature women who agree with our doctrinal convictions, ministry philosophy, and missions strategy. Given the challenges, confusion, and compromise of much contemporary missions work, our church needs to carefully consider each missionary candidate before committing to partner with them. So our elders will rigorously assess all potential missionaries according to God’s Word and practical wisdom. Furthermore, our entire church is partnering with missionaries, which means that our elders will seek the approval of the congregation before sending out and supporting them. Our purpose is not to deter or delay missions work, but to intentionally develop partnerships with those we trust in fulfilling Christ’s great commission.

Associational Involvement - No single local church can carry out our missionary task alone. God desires us to associate with other likeminded churches, so that we can share the strengths which Christ has given us, and also receive help from others when needed. With this in mind, our church should become more involved with the Baptist associations we belong to and look for opportunities to cultivate healthy interchurch relationships in these associations. This means praying for each other, working together in training and sending out missionaries, seeking assistance from churches with experience and expertise, and combining our missionary efforts to further Christ’s kingdom.

Start Small, Go Deep - To carry out this missions strategy, our church should focus on starting small. Rather than superficially supporting many missions efforts, we want to seriously support a few. Therefore, we will provide significant financial support and frequent prayer support for our missionaries. We will also actively seek additional avenues of support, deepening our involvement in caring for them and their families.
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