Audio Transcript:

Welcome to Missions on Point, the Propempo perspective on church and missions.

Hello there and welcome to episode 197 of Missions on Point. We’re thankful that you have joined us today.  We are talking about what it means for your church to have a missions committee and what it means for you to be a member of one.  This is a crucial step that most churches take in fulfilling their particular strategic vision for missions as a church.  So, in some ways this is a well worn path that we can observe the various stories of success or failures from other churches. 

This missions committee path is but one of ten missions paths that we have laid out on Propempo.com.  It’s likely that you will find valuable help exploring those other paths as well.  For our missions committee path today, let’s briefly consider these 5 aspects: the basics of a church missions committee or team, how the committee is organized, how to implement a church missions emphasis event, missions inspiration and education, and the strategic missions focus of your church. 

1. The basics of a church missions committee or team.

The first goal here is to change our thinking from: the missions committee does missions on behalf of the church to: the missions committee mobilizes the church to do missions.  Those who do the work are the ones who get the blessing.  The whole church though needs to own the missions ministry.  The missions committee is a team of mobilizers who work to educate, inform, inspire, and provide opportunities for that to happen.  Begin by talking to church leadership and avoid the team becoming an ad hoc special interest group.  Get to know your church well.  Rarely is a church starting from scratch.  Consider the costs of establishing a team, both the tangible costs of expenses and the intangible costs of time and effort. 

The basic scope of the missions team includes these roles: stimulating prayer for missions in every ministry of the church, developing missionary care, setting the priorities, goals, policies and funding, planning a missions emphasis event, assisting with communication and accountability, assisting the church leaders so that they can lead the church in missions,  motivating the congregation to be involved, guiding candidates, organizing short term trips, and developing media and publications.  The most basic principle to remember here, like we said at first, is to maintain the distinction between doing and mobilizing. 

2. How the committee is organized

Your missions committee needs to be organized.  One of the first ways you get organized is to form a robust policy to guide it.  This is important in establishing the team and might even require extra work to establish it.  You need both a policy framework which is rarely changed and also some written, but flexible working guidelines.  In that policy is the decision making process and how this team relates to church leadership. 

Consider how often the committee will be meeting.  For many churches it is only once a month, and they sometimes take breaks.  Intensive work may require additional meetings or separate task forces.  During the budgeting season, it’s often hard to consider other business.  There might be added time for when the annual missions event takes place.

Consider also how you will select members of the team and what their qualifications need to be.  What kind of training will they receive?  What will be their various delegated roles?  They can be involved in administration, congregational involvement, finances, missions education and communication, and missionary recruitment, training, and care.  And in all that you are doing, establish expectations for reporting both to the church and its leaders and in communicating with the missionaries. 

3. How to implement a church missions emphasis event

One of the key functions of the missions committee is to engage your church and get them excited about missions.  Get your church face to face with missionaries.  Clearly communicate practical ways they can get involved.  Facilitate prayer for missionaries.  All of these typically can coalesce in an annual missions event. 

Your missions event is one part celebration, one part education, one part inspiration, and one part implementation of new initiatives.  Don’t forget that it’s a worship service.  The focus should be on God, his word, and his call on the church to go.  A lot of planning can go into it, but it’s worth it.  Quality is more important than quantity here.  So, careful organization and prioritization goes a long way.  Find a way to incorporate everyone in the church, including children, teens, and young adults, especially remembering that these young people are the pool of people that your church’s next missionary may come from.  Find some ways to get your missionaries involved too.  It’s always best to hear directly from them.  And most importantly, bath the time in prayer.  It’s what Jesus explicitly commands us to do. 

4. Missions inspiration and education

Promotion is an important function of the missions team.  Here are some ways you can promote missions involvement.  Teach about missions and gather resources.  You can create materials for promotion, presenting regular opportunities for involvement.  Promote missions involvement through establishing short term missions trips.  To learn more about that, you’ll want to check out the short-term missions path.  Furthermore, create a regular appeal for the funding of missions in your church.  Your goal here is to infuse missions into everything you do as a church. 

Next, seek to raise up missionaries in your church.  This is a similar process to the raising up of new leaders within your own congregation.  While a general appeal is given to the whole congregation, you usually have to wait until the Holy Spirit moves in a person’s heart.  The best way to get your church excited about missions is when someone is sent from your church. 

5. The strategic missions focus of your church

A strategic mission is vital for your church.  You first have to be convicted that you need to move away from simply trying to support as many missionaries in as many countries as possible.  The primary reason for this is the limitations of your own congregation coupled with the quality of support that you are able to give to that field ministry.  Depth and accountability are sacrificed if you stretch yourself too thin. 

A strategic vision can be established along various priorities.  How closely does the missionary align with your church’s definition of missions?  Are they focused on reaching the most unengaged people groups?  What’s their relationship to the church?  The closer they are connected the better.  And what type of ministry will they engage in?  Church planting or some other support ministry?  You need to have a strategic vision for missions ministry in your church, so spend the time working that out and it will be a great blessing to you in the long run.

Well, those were 5 main components of a missions team ministry to consider.  I know we flew through those, and there is much more we could say about them.  Let me repeat them to you here.  We’ve touched on: the basics of a church missions committee or team, how the committee is organized, how to implement a church missions emphasis event, missions inspiration and education, and the strategic missions focus of your church. 

Further Resources

Before you go, you may be interested in getting more help with your missions committee or learning more about missions.  Four opportunities are available to you. 

1. One, you can find a resource at Propempo.com that we deem the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for all Missions Committee or Missions Team members. It is an overview of missions and church missions functions for training local church missions functionaries or mobilizers. This is a fully online course and it provides a solid, common foundation for those serving the local church in missions.  Some churches have even used it for all of their new missions committee members. 
2. Two, you can ask for some help from one of our missions coaches, and we can come to your church to learn about it and assist you in developing your missions ministry. Our assistance is adjustable to your church’s needs. 
3. Three, if you are interested in getting your missions questions answered, including much of what we talked about here today, we have a tool on Propempo.com that can help consolidate your many questions and their corresponding answers into one downloadable pdf. Choose one of the pre-selected missions path question groupings or pick and choose the ones you like.  We want our help to be customizable to your needs. 
4. Four, we have more podcasts about missions committees that you might like to listen to. You can start with Episodes 43-45 which talk about the missions committee essentials or Episodes 129-140 which talk about your Church Missions Handbook.

In offering these opportunities to you, we want you to know that we are here for you to serve you and your church.  We pray that you and your church are blessed as you take up the biblical call to missions given to every church, especially in your efforts to establish a healthy missions team.

Thanks for joining us today on Missions on Point. We trust that you'll find more help and resources on our websites at Propempo.com and missioserve.org. We are so thankful for those who support us, enabling us to produce this podcast. Now to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen.