USA (MNN) ― Through training, The Mission Society equips churches and other mission organizations to send missionaries into the world. One organization, World Gospel Mission, has moved into the implementation phase of The Mission Society's Global Outreach program. This is further than any other organization has progressed in The Mission Society model.
"We have received wonderful feedback from the churches where we've teamed up with ‘The Mission Society,'" said Todd Eckhardt, director of Indiana-based World Gospel Mission.
In conjunction with The Mission Society, World Gospel Mission has gone into six churches so far to demonstrate how the church is God's vehicle to send missionaries out into the world. "The first reaction is ‘Wow, mission organizations are working together,' and they are pleasantly surprised," Eckhardt said. "But it's not a competition. Everything we do is for the Kingdom."
The Global Outreach program is an extension of the Global Outreach Weekend (GOW). A Global Outreach three-day weekend includes a six-hour seminar on Friday evening and Saturday morning. The seminar provides a deeper understanding of biblical principles behind the church's role in missions work at home and around the world. It offers a new perspective on people groups of the world, and participants are challenged to greater involvement in outreach.
The seminar is designed for members of the congregation, as well as church leadership. A Global Impact Celebration is designed specifically to mobilize the entire congregation for missions outreach. It personalizes missions through interaction with cross-cultural workers and hands-on involvement with missions' projects.
"This has truly changed the focus and direction of the church," says Rev. George Howle, senior pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church in South Carolina. "We have learned that missions adds to and vitalizes a church, and GOW and GIC give the local church a way to see how they can become so directly involved in missions and a real part of it."
The Mission Society has reached out to several other missions-sending organizations, including OMS International, Serving In Missions (SIM), International Teams, and more. "By working together, we can cultivate even more churches and help more unreached people in the world," said Dick McClain, Vice President of The Mission Society Ministry Operations.
