Our Mission
We exist to equip and empower local missionaries to develop ministries that reveal Christ in their everyday spaces.
Why
In churches across the globe there are disciples with a God given calling to birth a ministry
in their context which blesses their neighbors, makes Christ known, and strengthens the larger Body of Christ.
These local missionaries frequently slip through the cracks, as they are not employed by churches or mission agencies,
and often lack a community that can provide the coaching, encouragement, and resources they need to develop the vision
that they have received. Our desire is to partner with these disciples and share our experience and our resources to support
their Kingdom efforts. And we do so in hope of a global Body of Christ filled with ministries that display Christ's beauty,
love, and power in the everyday spaces of our world.
Essential Beliefs
We affirm the
Nicene Creed and the
Lausanne Covenant.
Methods: How Our Local Missionaries Serve
Presence
We consistently share space with and become a loving, active presence in the communities of those to whom we’re sent. It’s our job to move into their lives and to be both with and for them. We are committed to knowing and being known in our context.
Contextualization
We learn the language, culture and customs, hopes, fears, and desires of those we are sent to. From this posture of a learner we can communicate the gospel and the hope we have in Christ in a way that our neighbors can understand.
Bearing Witness
We will seek to reveal Christ in...
Relationship- demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit by how we relate to those around us.
Deed- blessing others with no strings attached through loving service, justice and mercy, and by adding value to our community.
Word- sharing the gospel in a manner that our neighbors can engage with.
Making Disciples
Our goal is for those we reach to give themselves wholly to Jesus in love, loyalty, and surrender, and to learn to be obedient to Him. We believe that the long-term fruitfulness of disciples is dependent on their surrender to Jesus and not in simply affirming doctrines about Jesus. As disciple-makers we are also called upon to
equip and empower disciples to grow in Christ-likeness personally and relationally.
Serving the Body
We commit to connecting the people who begin the discipleship journey with us to the larger Body of Christ through partnership with our local churches.
Character: Who We Want to Be
People of Simplicity
We commit to live a life free from distraction and the allure of materialism. We affirm that
every believer and every community of believers has a responsibility to renounce the
sins of its own people. As North Americans we renounce the slavery and idolatry of
materialism by embracing a simple lifestyle. We do not believe that money or things are
in themselves evil or to be avoided, but that the love of money and things is one of the
greatest perils facing western Christianity in our time. We willingly use material things
and wealth for the service of the kingdom, but not for personal fulfillment or
inappropriate luxury.
People of Humility
We commit to pursue humility as one of the chief virtues. We expect it in leadership, in
community and relationships, in our theology, in the contextualization of our mission, in
our prayer, and even in our appraisal of ourselves and others. We are convinced that
humility is necessary for following Jesus as an individual and as an organization. In
individuals we hope for humility in all our relationships and leadership roles. As an
organization we hope to be a flexible learning organization, looking always to refine our
commitments and expand our understanding and revelation of God and His call upon
us. We believe in the living prophetic word of God, that it can be heard and obeyed, yet
we also believe that we are flawed listeners and should always listen and follow with
humility.
People of Passion
With Jesus as our model, we want our lives to be characterized by passion. In the most
surface sense it means that we should be moved by our relationship with God, and
maintain a high level of dedication in all we do for Him. In a deeper sense it means that
we value suffering and sacrifice. We see Jesus’ willingness to suffer for the lost and the
hopeless as a model for all who would come after Him, and that we likewise are to take
up our cross and to walk the way of suffering. Not seeking pain or persecution, but not
shrinking back from it either. We are convinced that the clearest expression of the
gospel is love, and that love is forever re-defined by Jesus in His death for us. We value
the kind of radical faith that expects every believer to be ready and willing to suffer and
sacrifice for Jesus, His name and His kingdom.
People of Sacrificial Love
The greatest commandment we received from Christ was to love the Lord with all our
heart, soul, strength and mind. The second was to love our neighbor as
ourself. We know that this love is not an emotion, but a choice. The love that Christ
commands is a love that sets aside its own self interest and seeks the best for our
neighbors. Whatever we do, if we do not do it with this love then it will not
glorify our Lord. Our goal is to birth communities filled with the sacrificial love
which points the world to Jesus, from whom our love originates, and we
determine to make sacrificial love the foundation for our relationships with those we
serve with and those whom we seek to serve.