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General Baptist Ministries

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July 22, 2014

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Christian Life

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8 Ways to Help Your Church Maintain a Missional Focus (Part 1)

By John M Galyen

Since its inception, the church has been focused on outward expansion. We seek to win people to Christ, not just to have bigger churches or more volunteers for ministry, but because we serve a missionary God who is in the sending business. God sent his Son to redeem us and provide a relationship with himself. Now he sends the Church to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to a world in desperate need of a Savior.

The local church is charged with the responsibility of spreading the gospel both locally and globally. For many churches and church leaders this may seem like an impossible task. How can a small church is Arkansas, or Missouri, or Kentucky reach the world with the gospel? Obviously, no church can single-handedly reach the world, but we each have a part to play in God’s plan to redeem every nation, tribe, and tongue. As a pastor, I want to make sure my church is engaged in local ministry, but I also want to lead them to give to, pray for, and go to all nations because this is what we are called to do. There are at least eight ways church leaders can encourage their churches to maintain this missional focus.

1. Preaching

Pastors have a tremendous opportunity to influence their church’s understanding of missions. You might consider having an annual “Missions Day” at your church where the entire service, including the sermon, is focused on informing and challenging the congregation to live a missional life. If you are the pastor, either prepare a message that speaks to the Church’s calling to share the gospel, or invite a GBIM staff member to come talk to your church about how they can get involved in international missions.

2. Promote Mission Opportunities

When is the last time you publicized General Baptist mission opportunities in your church? General Baptists provide numerous opportunities for mission involvement throughout the year. The Mission Volunteer Program (MVP) plans trips to countries like Mexico, Honduras, the Philippines, and India, among others. You can learn about these opportunities from the weekly Leadership Team emails, The Messenger, or by contacting GBIM. Promoting these trips provides church members with valuable information, but also gives them the sense that they can become personally involved in what General Baptists are doing around the world.

3. Testimonies

As people from your church take advantage of these MVP opportunities, you will want to provide them the chance to share their experiences. One of the greatest advertisements for missions in the local church is a testimony from someone who has “been there and done that.” Hearing from a fellow church member who just got back from a trip where she worked in a clinic and shared gospel with people in another context can be a very impactful way to remind people of our Great Commission calling. A testimony service is also a great way to glorify God and let the church know what the team members did while on the mission field. It can be a fantastic way to remind the church that missions are an important part of your church culture.

4. Prayer

Prayer is an important part of our worship. As we gather from Sunday to Sunday, one way to help people stay focused on the Church’s mission is to include a time of prayer that focuses on a person, country, or people group that needs to hear the good news. You could spend a little time doing this each Sunday, or set aside a special prayer time monthly or quarterly. If your church is sponsoring a GB missionary, do more than just mail in your check. Take time to pray from them and the work God has called them to do. You can even make your people aware of Operation World or joshuaproject.net so they can pray for foreign nations during their personal quiet time.

John is the pastor of Leigh’s Chapel in Greenville, Kentucky, where he has served for the past 8 years. Check back on Thursday for Part 2 of his article on the Church’s mission.

Posted by

General Baptist Ministries

Posted on

July 17, 2014

Posted under

National Missions

California

By Carl Nichols

Recently, a General Baptist team including Clint Cook, Gene Koker, and I traveled to the great state of California to meet with and encourage our churches there. I had the opportunity to meet some very dear friends and partners in the gospel. We started out in Modesto and spent a day discussing church planting with Jim Julian. Jim’s heart for God and people is incredible, and I cannot wait to see what happens as a result of our time together.

We managed to squeeze in a bit of site seeing on the great Pacific Coast Highway as we traveled south to Los Angeles. It was only 11 hours later that we arrived in L.A. for a series of meetings the following day. Did I mention it was ELEVEN HOURS?

Upon arrival in Los Angeles, we spent the day with Bruce Conran and Rene Rodriguez, along with nearly a dozen Hispanic, Filipino, and Korean pastors from south L.A. I must admit that there are some cool things happening there and I wanted to share a few of them with you:

El Instituto Biblio de Asociacion Sheffield (The Sheffield Association Bible Institute), led by Rene Rodriguez, is training individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary for ministry
Seven churches have started out of the Bible Institute in the past few years
Hundreds of lives are being changed in our churches there, and nearly all of them are led by part-time or volunteer pastors
The next generation of leaders from these families point to a great future

When I began leading National Mission as part of the advisory team, we made it a priority to have a better understanding of what is happening in California. Now we are making a commitment to ensure that the pastors who put in countless hours a week for the gospel know that they have our full support and prayers. I would also appreciate YOUR prayers for our brothers and sisters in the gospel in California, and for the work they are doing for the kingdom.

Posted by

General Baptist Ministries

Posted on

July 15, 2014

Posted under

Christian Life, General Baptists, International Missions

Macedonian Call

By Byron Beck

This past October I had the opportunity to travel to China on a “vision tour” to observe the ministry of a group with which General Baptists have a partnership (it shall remain nameless for this article).

A street musician in China

This organization helps people who want to teach English in Asia to find a university job in one of the great cities of China, or in one of a few other Asian countries. General Baptists have been partnering with them for a few years now-we provide teachers and they have the connections within the country.

I was truly impressed with the quality of people working for this organization and with the support structure they have developed to assist the teachers. Not only do they train and assist teachers for the cross-cultural challenges they will face, but they also provide an essential network for educational, emotional and spiritual care.

The visionary tour group on the Great Wall

I traveled with a great group of men. There were four General Baptist leaders and one Freewill Baptist. We visited two cities: Beijing and Yinchuan. We toured a few Chinese landmarks such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. We worshiped in two churches on Sunday: one in Chinese and one in English (Several stories could be shared about these experiences). We also visited schools and met teachers and students. That, to me, was an exhilarating experience. I was very impressed with the students’ hunger to learn and their respect for their teachers, which is not so common in America.

I was most impressed with the Chinese Christians that I met. There are several stories that I could share, but I would like to mention one young PhD student that we met. His English name was Charlie and he was studying Mechanical Engineering. He told a fascinating story about his conversion that included a dream/vision. His encounter with Christ was real and undeniable, but he spoke honestly about how hard the decision was for him.

In fact, being the analytical guy that he was, he drew out for our group a diagram of the “barriers to faith” that he and others must address in their journey toward Christ.

Here are the six barriers:

Party Membership – Everyone is encouraged to join, and it is, of course, officially atheistic

Education System – They are taught Marxist doctrine and other belief systems that are not sympathetic to Christianity

Alternate Faiths – They are told Christianity is not Chinese; if you are going to be religious, pick something like Buddhism

Family/Peer Pressures – This cannot be over-emphasized; it is disgraceful to betray one’s family. Theirs is not a “rebellion” culture and harmony is greatly valued

“Normal” Temptations – sexual, materialism, etc

The Battle of the Will – Will I surrender to God’s Kingdom? Will I give up my rights for the sake of Christ?

Honestly, I could not have been more impressed with this young man’s insight and his ability to graphically demonstrate the struggle. I was also impressed with his earnest desire to follow Jesus in spite of the obstacles.

I suppose there is a diagram like this that relates to every culture in the world.

There is a great opportunity in China. The Chinese educational officials have told this organization that they would like 300 new teachers over the next five years. That sounds like a “Macedonian Call” to me. What do you think?

Byron Beck has served General Baptist churches in Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri, and has pastored Fellowship General Baptist Church in Poplar Bluff, MO for 27 years. He is married to Kathy Beck, and they have a daughter, Katie. He will be sharing more about his trip and the different opportunities for you to invest in Asian students overseas at the Summit next week. His workshop will take place Tuesday, July 22nd, at 1:30 pm in Plaza A. This is your opportunity to make a major impact on students in Asia, either for a few weeks or a few years.