MISSION IDEAS FOR THE LOCAL CHURCH
LITERATURE
The Foreign Missions Division provides a wide variety of materials (most are free of charge) which describe in detail the total missionary ministry. Care should be exercised in distribution of these
materials. Share them with your people in a meaningful manner. Pictures and information regarding the results and needs of missions will increase your missionary capabilities.
Make sure your church is receiving a free roll of the bi-monthly missions magazine, “Global Witness.” See that each Sunday School teacher has a current issue of the Foreign Missions Story and Missionary Map.
Additional copies of all materials may be received by addressing your request to the Foreign Missions Division.
VISITING MISSIONARIES
The travel schedule for all missionaries (newly appointed and those on furlough) is arranged through your District Foreign Missions Director. The designated length of time and dates each missionary
spends in your district is determined by his total time for deputation and is coordinated through the Foreign Missions Division.
If you would like a specific missionary to visit your church, contact your District Foreign Missions Director or the Foreign Missions Division as far in advance of the meeting as possible. Several months
advance notice is not unusual, and then it is not always possible to arrange. Please be understanding in this regard since it would be quite impossible for the missionaries to meet all invitations.
Learn something about the missionary before he arrives. See that he is adequately taken care of while in your city.
MISSIONARY SERVICES
When you receive confirmation that a missionary is to be in service with you – start the wheels rolling! Make it a “special” service. Prepare posters, display flags, print bulletins, decorate the lobby. Plan special service features by the children and young people. Roll out the red carpet!
Prepare and plan to have a meaningful service. Keep abreast of missions in general so you don’t waste the missionary’s time.
Keep the service preliminaries to a minimum. Sing missions songs. Talk missions. Pray for missions. Expose as many members and guests to the missions ministry as possible. If the service is on Sunday morning, members of the missionary’s family may visit several Sunday School classes . . . or, all in attendance may come to the auditorium for the worship service. Plan. Promote. Pray!
It is very important that the pastor communicate to the missionary as to the type of service he would like. Are slides desired? Should time be given to answer questions? Would the men, ladies or young people like to be addressed separately and in addition to the regular service? The missionaries are geared to adapt their presentation to your needs.
MISSIONARY OFFERING
Missionaries do not receive any financial support from the Foreign Missions Division while they are in the homeland. They are authorized to issue Foreign Missions offering credit receipts for the offerings
they receive. Their sole support while home is from the offerings they receive while traveling among the churches.
Their expenses are very high. They come home needing a new wardrobe, transportation and perhaps housekeeping items. Traveling, eating in restaurants and sleeping in motels (as is often necessary) becomes expensive in a hurry. Be generous to your missionaries. The blessing they will bring to your congregation will increase your own local outreach, finances included!
The missionary will give you a receipt, immediately, for the offering you give him. A copy of the receipt is sent to the Foreign Missions Division office to be credited to your church’s total missions giving
for the year. (These offering credits are added only once a year at the end of the fiscal year, June 30.)
If you desire to give the missionary additional money for a specific project or for the purchase of some equipment for him to take back to the field, he will also issue a receipt for this. Designated offerings
of this nature are sent to the Foreign Missions Division office and are held in his account until he is ready to make a purchase. The property or equipment becomes the property of the Foreign Missions
Division. (A missionary must receive Foreign Missions Board approval for the solicitation of special project monies.)
PARTNERS IN MISSIONS
The ministry of a traveling missionary is two-fold. First of all he wants to share the Foreign Missions work with you to increase your burden and involvement . . . and to thank you for your faithful
support. Secondly, he must raise his missions budget before he can go to the field. His budget is secured by the accumulation of PARTNERS IN MISSIONS (PIM) commitments which are made by the local churches.
It is very important that he secure his budget as quickly as possible so he can get to the field to do missionary work. You can hasten the harvest by becoming his Partner! The larger the commitment . . . the more meaningful your participation. (Small commitments are greatly appreciated, but they do require lengthy travel schedules. It is advisable to have a few good-sized commitments rather than many small ones.)
It certainly is not necessary for you to wait for a missionary to visit your church to become his Partner. In fact, you are urged to volunteer additional Partner/Partners just as soon as you are financially capable of doing so. Contact the Foreign Missions Division office for information regarding those missionaries needing commitments. Thanks for sharing in the harvest!
MISSIONARY NEWSLETTERS
All missionaries send regular newsletters to their PIM’s. These letters report what is happening on the field and give those of us here an opportunity to keep abreast of world-wide revival.
Post the newsletters on the bulletin board, distribute them to members of the congregation to serve as prayer reminders at home, read key statements from the pulpit to keep the missionary burden and interest alive. Share the letters with the Sunday School classes to be read by teacher or student.
WRITING TO MISSIONARIES
Missionaries are people! They are away from home and enjoy hearing the news — church, family, Pentecostal fellowship. Write to your ambassadors overseas. Take a personal interest in them and their
family. Send photos, news clippings, special items of interest. (Be sure to write to the missionary before sending any packages. Ask for specific instructions on size, weight and labeling.)
Correspondence with your missionaries will increase your burden for the lost everywhere and will result in a more effective outreach locally. Build as many “bridges” as possible in the interest of the
Great Commission!
Current missionary addresses can be obtained from the Foreign Missions Division by writing or calling.
A LOCAL FAITH PROMISE MISSIONS CONVENTION
No church is fulfilling its responsibility before God unless it is furthering the cause of a world-wide ministry. Jesus had an international vision! And He had some rather pointed remarks for the
selfish and blind. It has long been known that a missions-minded church is a growing, revival-oriented church. Pastors and congregations who want to build a strong local assembly are finding that this is most quickly done by increasing their involvement in missions. This is a fact.
As the local church reaches out, petty differences dissolve, a spirit of unity and shared duty to the lost sweeps in, local finances increase in every area and significant strides are made toward seeing
the message of truth preached in heretofore unevangelized places. Thousands are experiencing Pentecost today all over the world because local churches have caught the vision and burden of the Lord Jesus for an international harvest!
One of the most exciting and rewarding ways for a congregation to become involved is through an annual Faith Promise missions convention. Everyone enjoys a good convention. It takes planning,
work, scheduling, cooperation and much prayer. Here are a few things to consider in having a local missions convention:
1. Set a tentative date (at least six months in advance).
2. Select personnel as guest speakers (missionaries and missions leaders).
3. Contact your District Foreign Missions Director about dates and personnel. (He may refer you to the Foreign Missions Division at this point. Adjustments may have to be made in dates and personnel and this is why advance planning is so important.)
4. Make definite arrangements with speakers once a schedule is confirmed.
5. Advertise. Decorate. Plan. Save. Develop special program features, learn missions songs, purchase flags (from the Foreign Missions Division), anticipate the greatest!
6. Schedule prayer and fasting prior to the convention. Do everything you can do to make this a rewarding spiritual experience for your people.
Convention time is the most logical time to receive your Faith Promise commitments. The Faith Promise plan works! It is a plan whereby the laymen “plan by faith” to give a certain amount to Foreign Missions each pay period (week or month). Faith Promise provides your local financial base for consistent, growing giving. This proven approach to giving insures a regular resource from which the church can meet its monthly Partners in Missions commitments.
Many churches have found that a weekend convention works best. Schedule a Friday evening rally as well as a Saturday evening service. The Faith Promise plan can be presented on Saturday evening. This will allow each individual the time and opportunity to pray and seek the Lord regarding his Faith Promise commitment which is normally taken on Sunday evening. Fill all aspects of your Sunday activities with missions. Conclude with a great Faith Promise commitment service on Sunday evening.
Additional information and materials (mostly free) are provided for this purpose by the Foreign Missions Division. An organized and Scriptural approach to your people will reap lasting and effective
results in the local church as well as extend your ministry around the world.
If advanced and careful planning is made and sufficient finance is available, it is possible to schedule two missionaries for your convention; one family for the first part and the second family the last part if you are not capable of having both stay for the full time. A representative from the Foreign Missions Division office is always happy to cooperate in these conventions as well. Slides, films, messages and materials will compliment what is done at the local level.
Local missions conventions are proving to be such a blessing! If you have never sponsored a convention, do something different. Set a date and proceed with rejoicing!
FOREIGN MISSIONS CONVENTION
I. PURPOSE
A. A missionary conference or convention should be conducted each year in the local church at a time when most of the members will be present. It would be best to keep the conference around the same time of the year on an annual basis.
B. Keep missions and the purpose of the church, world evangelism, before your people.
C. By meeting different missionaries during the annual conference, people are further educated as to the challenge our world presents.
D. Use this time to renew Faith Promise Commitments.
E. Missions brings spiritual renewal to a congregation.
II. PREPARATION
A. Begin preparation well in advance – even as early as one year when possible.
B. Plan for speakers and missionaries who might be able to attend the conference.
C. Arrange special singing, making certain that basically the hymns and special songs should fall in line with the theme of missions.
D. Decorate the church with models, flags, and interesting exhibits from foreign fields. The trouble taken to make this conference a great success will be well rewarded.
E. Arrange special prayer well in advance for this missionary conference.
F. Arrange missionary slides or movie film for presentation.
G. When feasible, a missionary minded pastor might also be invited as a speaker.
III. FAITH PROMISE
A. Educate congregation on true meaning of “Faith Promise”.
B. Each Sunday School class should take up their own Faith Promise commitment. Children should all be encouraged to give however small the commitment might be. The totals will then be given to the Pastor.
C. Each member should be encouraged to make a commitment by faith on a monthly basis.
D. Make the receiving of the Faith Promise Commitment the final part of the missions convention and build it up to the point that people will eagerly anticipate the announcement of the total.
E. In some churches it might be possible to have a thermometer and as different commitments come in, this could be registered on the thermometer. In any case, the total commitment should certainly be
announced, so people may rejoice in what God has done.
IV. PARTNERS IN PRAYER
A. Without question, the greatest contribution any congregation can make towards world evangelism is consistent prayer.
B. All members should be encouraged to pray, not only for the missionaries, but for the nationals and also for unreached areas of the world.
C. News and the needs of our missionaries should be presented to the Sunday School classes.
D. The weekly bulletin could contain news and prayer requests from our missionaries.
E. Encourage discussion groups to spend time dealing with the subject of world evangelism, perhaps taking advantage of a visiting missionary. Encourage missionaries on deputation to do their part to
more fully educate the congregation in missions.
F. Encourage young people to read good books on missionary work in the past and especially to read our own publications dealing with missions which, unfortunately are still very few.
(The above material was prepared by the Foreign Missions Department.)
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