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Post by Uth_Guy on Sept 25, 2002 17:53:44 GMT -5
Outside of the Cooperative Program, how many of your churches regularly participate in missions? Do you send out missionaries from your congregations or take short-term trips? Do your churches have a missionary family targeted for prayer and over-the-top support like care packages and the like? Also, how often to you preach on mission service? Being a former missionary, these topics hit home to me. ;D
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Post by Uth_Guy on Oct 4, 2002 17:29:21 GMT -5
I was visiting with another pastor and we were talking about this topic. His impression is that the excitement in missions is dying. Either congregations are immuned to the push for missions and missionary work or the interest has turn more introspective in churches. I hope that this is a wrong impression. Since I originally posted this topic, the hits on it have been few, not to mention discussion is flatlined. Are we moving away from missions in SBC life? God help us if we are.
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Rev_C
Full Member
Posts: 13
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Post by Rev_C on Oct 4, 2002 21:29:29 GMT -5
Uth_Guy,
Don't give up just yet. The church that we came out of specialized in missions. As a matter of fact, the church had a staff member that was the minister of missions. The church gave more toward missions done within the church than supporting the associational office.
I was talking with someone the other night at a revival meeting. We were discussing short-term mission trips. He told me that the acts of September 11, 2001, have hampered travel some. Fewer trips out of the coutry are being taken.
One other note to consider. We pray for our missionaries, but the smaller churches have a difficult time sending financial support. This is in lieu of the fact that monies are sent to the various associational offices.
I hope this helps to get the discussion rolling.
In His Service, Rev C Philippians 4:13
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Post by saltcitybaptist on Oct 5, 2002 8:13:27 GMT -5
Several years ago our SBC church was supporting an Independent Baptist missionary, over and above our suport of the cooperative pgm. We had a major fininical problem when our furnace went. We requested some fininacial assistance from our association. We were told that if we could afford to support a non S Bap missionary, then we did not need help from the association. Our church voted to drop the missionary, so we could get our exthingyve furnace replaced. Any comments?
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Post by ABCRon on Oct 8, 2002 2:07:33 GMT -5
A few weeks ago, 'Brother Eli' of the Reverend Fun cartoon series went to Brazil on a mission trip. When he returned he got a letter from the church in Brazil. "After all you told us about where you come from, we decided to send missionaries to you." It does bring a smile, but more importanly it may tell us that we are in fact in need of missionaries to come tell our cities, towns and government centers about the gospel. Maybe we should focus on the missionary field in the shadow of our steeples. What do you think?
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Post by Uth_Guy on Oct 17, 2002 12:23:47 GMT -5
It does cause you to think, Ron, but when the gospel and the presense of Christianity is "strong" here and others have yet to hear, we must still continue to go. I'm speaking, of course, of nations where Christianity is the predominant spiritual influence. The fact that so many don't know the Lord in our home towns is an indication of the spiritual health of the nation itself, or better yet, the individual. The word is readily available here. Other people groups can go their entire life without know what a bible looks like; they have never heard the name of Jesus. We are never to forget our neighbors but the Lord said it best when he said Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Home is important but we can't stop there. We are just passing through!
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Post by Uth_Guy on Oct 17, 2002 12:26:56 GMT -5
Are your churches hosting mission festivals or events in November? If so, maybe you can share about what you are doing. My wife and I are manning a booth on foreign missions at such an event mid-November. It should be exciting!
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