Culturally Missions Centered

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Our purpose as the local church body is to lead people into a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ, by loving God deeply, serving one another willingly and sharing the gospel (good news) of Christ unceasingly.  This purpose is a restatement of the Great Commission given by Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20).  It encompasses the full life cycle of the church in the following ways:

1.    Reaching and teaching the unsaved about the gospel (Next Steps share)

2.   Furthering spiritual growth of Christians at any level of spiritual maturity (Next Steps serve/connect)

3.   Christians being in relationship with other believers.  (Next Steps connect)

We define the ministry of the body of Christ as evangelical in multiple realms. 

First, it is our corporate responsibility to reach the lost where we are, in our own backyard.  For FBCC, that means that Cloudcroft and surrounding communities in Otero County are our local mission.   The goal with this local mission field is to fulfill the great commission and to add to our local church body.

 Second, we are called to make disciples of all nations.  We refer to these missions as focused missions.  They might be in a foreign country, or they may be closer to home but not in our own backyard.  In these cases, we are participating in adding to God’s Kingdom but not to our local body of believers. 

We are also honored to have a number of people who are missionaries from among the congregation in a part time or full time capacity, who must raise their own support.  Therefore, we define these as targeted missions, which we define as those which are not supported in the church budget, but which are supported by individual members of the congregation.  Examples of these would be the trips to Creel, MX, the work done for Casas por Cristo or supporting Compassion International children.

It is our intent to be culturally mission centered (dedicated to the spread of the gospel in all these realms).  Therefore, our first priority is to pray for all missions activities, and then to support them via the church budget and individual gifts as the Holy Spirit leads.

Structurally, we have separated the local mission and the focused and targeted missions.  The local mission is under the direction of the Pastor.   Focused missions and targeted missions are under the direction of the Missions Team.  However, we see these as equally critical. The work of the church is every member acting as minister of the gospel.

Further, it is our goal to engender excitement and passion for all our missions activities.  We have chosen to accomplish this within our focused missions by developing relationships with our focused and targeted missions partners.  What that looks like is greater accountability of our partners, more frequent communication between the church and the partner, and bringing our partners in on a regular basis so that the church can more tangibly understand and share in their ministry.

What you can do (with thanks to Desiring God ministry):

1.  Be informed:  2 Corinthians 1:8 - For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.  For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

2.  Pray:  2 Thessalonians 3:1 - Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.

3.  Love:  Deuteronomy 10:19 - Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

4.  Send:  Romans 10:15 - And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

5.  Mobilize:  Luke 10:2 - The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send our laborers into his harvest.

6.  As you go:  Matthew 28:18-20 - And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Missions Team