I. Missions Purpose Statement: The purpose of FBC missions is to engage in global efforts of bringing glory to God by winning people to Jesus Christ and equipping them to be more faithful disciples.

II. The Missions Policy purpose: To enable our church to have a sound, biblical missions program.

III. The Missions Policy Goals:

A. To ensure that missions decisions are made on a sound theological basis and in accordance with our philosophy of missions and ministry.

B. To ensure good stewardship of our financial resources.

C. To strengthen the relationship between our church family and our missionaries and/or agencies that we support.

IV. Definitions

A. Evangelism is actively sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people around us as opportunities occur without regard to geography or familiarity.

B. Discipleship is the process of helping a person to change and grow in the likeness of Christ as that person is ‘equipped for the work of the ministry’

C. Missions means evangelizing and discipling [fulfilling the Great Commission] outside one’s own geographic and cultural community in whatever forum is acceptable in the targeted country and suitable to the missionary’s gifts and experiences.

D. Missionary is a believer called of God and sent out by a local church to fulfill the Great Commission with people in a different geographic location and in a different culture than his own. The cultural difference can be within his/her country and language, or in another country. For our purposes, missionaries will be involved either directly or indirectly in establishing New Testament churches.

E. Foreign Missions are ministries that fit the above definitions that are conducted outside the United States.

F. Home Missions are ministries that fit the above definitions that are conducted within the United States.

G. Short Term Missionary is a person who is considering pursuing missions as a vocational ministry; usually the consideration is for 2 years or less, or a person participating in a Mission Trip for the purpose of training, construction, medical, or other ministry purposes.

H. National is a missionary not from the U.S. who is seeking to engage in full-time Christian vocational ministry in his own country.

V. Biblical Foundation of Missions

A. The Great Commission: Matthew 28:19,20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

1.  This passage serves as the foundation for our Mission Statement: The ministry of Faith Baptist Church is to win people to Jesus Christ and equip them to be more faithful disciples.
2. Christ delegated authority to the disciples and commanded them to “make disciples of all nations”.
3. The word “nations,” rather than referring to geo-political nation states, points to the idea that the body of Christ is to be made up of people from “every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” (Revelation 7:9).

B. Matthew 16:18, “. . . upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overpower it.”; Acts 2:37-47; Philippians 4:15-19.

1. Matthew 16 establishes the unity of the entire body of Christ(or the ‘universal church’). Our love for the brethren includes those of other cultures who know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Our church’s efforts, as well as those of our missionaries, are to seek to bring unsaved people into the Church, the body of Christ, by faithfully proclaiming the Gospel.
2. Acts 2:37-47 establishes the beginning of the ‘local church.’ Refer to our document of “Baptist Distinctives” for a complete definition of a ‘local church.’
3. Philippians 4:15-19 establishes the connection of a local church supporting a ‘missionary’ in the work of the ministry. While Paul also engaged in ‘tent making’ responsibilities (Acts 18:1-2), the norm is a local church supporting the missionaries they send out.

C. Acts 13:2 says, “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” Over time, the Church in Antioch became the leading church of the first century (Acts 13:1-14:28).

In the midst of worship, prayer, and fasting, the church responded to the Holy Spirit by commissioning two of their leaders, Barnabas and Saul, sending them into ministry.

1.  Barnabus and Saul were already actively serving in the church – seeking to win souls to Christ and engaged in regular discipleship opportunities.
2. The church recognized their gifts and service, and the church authenticated Barnabus and Saul’s call to the ministry by commissioning them for the task.
3. In each new city that Barnabas and Saul visited, their goal was to plant and establish new churches. This is evident by the fact that they evangelized key cities, preached the gospel, strengthened the disciples, and appointed elders
4. Following their missionary journey, Barnabas and Saul reported back to the church in Antioch, demonstrating their submission to the leadership and authority of that local church.
5. Therefore, missionaries are directly accountable to the local church that commissioned them and indirectly to the churches supporting them. Mission Agencies are considered ‘Support Ministries’ as stated in our Missions Philosophy (cf. VII. Types of Ministries).

VI. Purpose of Missions

Missions is the process of local churches carrying out the Great Commission (making disciples) as patterned by the book of Acts: evangelizing strategic cities, instructing new Christians, planting local churches, and strengthening those churches that they would duplicate the cycle and multiply through sending their own people into missions. The chief task of missions is to plant and establish new churches that will be effective in fulfilling the Great Commission in their geographic and cultural setting.

VII. Types of Ministries

As a matter of stewardship, we will place primary emphasis and the bulk of our time, talents, and money on sending and supporting individuals whose ministry call and focus is on the establishment, growth, and multiplication of local churches that are consistent with the doctrine and practice of Faith Baptist Church.

A. Church Planting Ministries

1. The primary focus and priority of the individual’s efforts are for the establishing of new, indigenous, reproducing churches in cross-cultural situations.
2. Consideration will possibly be given to national church planting efforts of an individual sent by a non-American church.

B. Church Development Ministries

These ministries focus on evangelism and discipleship in strategic populations which enable an existing church to reach beyond their current sphere of influence in that particular cultural setting —i.e. campus ministry, jail ministry, radio ministry, etc.

C. Support Ministries

There are individuals and/or organizations that are involved in ministries that legitimately support traditional church planting efforts (e.g. medical work, relief and development, social work, technology, educational, etc.). We may designate a portion of our missions support to go to these types of ministries.

1. Stateside administration and counsel which directly supports people in church-planting or extension type ministries (i.e. agencies like ABWE, EBM, BMM, etc.)
2. Schools and/or educational institutions what can contribute to the training of those who seek to plant/develop local churches.
3. Other ministries that contribute to effective church planting or extending existing churches – i.e. mission aviation, medical work, relief work, educational, and translation.

VIII. The Process of Being Commissioned by FBC

A. See seperate document [Appendix 1]

B. Not-Commissioned by FBC

Missionaries of this category will submit their request to the Missions Committee for consideration in presenting his/her work to our church. After recommendation from the Committee, and approval by the pastors and Deacons, then the congregation will hear that presentation. Then based on a recommendation by the Pastors/Deacons, the congregation will decide if that missionary and/or type of ministry will be a part of our missions program.

IX. Missions Committee Financial Policies

A. Amount of Financial Support

We will determine financial support of individual missionaries based on the following criteria:

1. The strength of their relationship to FBC (i.e. is FBC their ‘sending church,’).
2. Type of work that they plan to do (church planting, church development, or support ministries).
3. Total amount of support needed.
4. Whether the missionary will need short-term or long-term support.
5. Money towards educational training will be considered on a case-by-case basis for the following:

• FBC Members pursuing full-time Christian vocational ministry

• Tuition credit may be offered to supported foreign missionaries who wish to enroll their children in Faith Christian School during their furlough or while on the field.

• Our missionaries seeking to pursue additional training in areas related to their ministry.

6. The missions committee will recommend an equitable and balanced support level for each missionary and make it’s recommendations to the deacons accordingly.
7. The Missions Committee will conduct an annual financial review of each missionary endeavor of Faith Baptist Church to evaluate the support levels and budget percentages of each ministry type.
8. The Missions Committee will review these financial policies of the missions program at least every three years

 

B. Furlough

1. Missionaries that we send out from our church who choose to spend their furlough in Lafayette should be considered an extension of the Pastoral staff at Faith. They are welcome to participate in pastoral staff meetings and deacon’s meetings. They may also attend conferences with the pastoral staff and participate in other aspects of pastoral work as their schedule allows.
2. We will allow missionaries on furlough to stay in the Ministry House, as long as it is not being occupied. If the house is not available, the missionary will have to arrange for other housing.
3. The Missions Committee will conduct an interview of each missionary on furlough to evaluate that missionary’s financial support, individual spiritual growth, and ministry effectiveness [cf. Appendix 2 – [Interview Questions].

C. Mission trips

1. We will encourage individuals and families at FBC to be involved in mission trips outside of the United States (e.g. training, medical, construction, etc.).
2. We will evaluate each situation to know whether FBC will provide any financial support provided a person agrees to the Leadership Standards for those who participate in a mission trip [cf. Appendix 3 – Leadership Standards].

X. Our Church’s Responsibility for Missionaries

Some ways to help our missionaries and maintain a good working relationship with our church family:

A. Biblical Responsibility

1. Praying for each missionary and their ministry (2 Thes. 3:1).
2. Keeping that missionary accountable to our local church, especially those sent out from FBC (Acts 14:27)
3. Contributing faithfully to the financial support of each missionary and/or type of mission work (Phil. 4:15-17).

B. Practical Suggestions to build and maintain a good relationship with our missionaries and/or type of mission work: