Recurring Themes in Globally-Minded Churches
David Mays

1. The church recognizes the Great Commission as the mandate for the local church
2. The church recognizes the Great Commission as the mandate for all those who claim to be disciples.
3. The church recognizes “the nations,” (meaning all the people groups of the world) as the intended recipients of disciple-making efforts.
4. The church recognizes that reaching the world for Christ is worship in action and truth. It honors and seeks God’s sovereign purpose – to receive glory in all the earth.
5. The church recognizes its mission involves the intentional delivery of the gospel to those who have not yet received it.
6. The church is developing capabilities to reach people who are outside its cultural and geographical boundaries.
7. The church embraces mobilization:
a. building global vision into the hearts and minds of its people,
b. educating, equipping, and releasing its people make disciples of all nations, and
c. resourcing and empowering its people to take steps toward fulfilling the Great Commission.
8. The church mobilizes all the ministries of the church for world evangelism rather than just one team or department.
9. The senior pastor grasps the universal scope of God’s purposes and leads his congregation toward the fulfillment of world evangelization.
10. The pastor and staff recognize that people grow in their faith as they share whatever they have with others.
11. Maintaining an outward focus is continually communicated, encouraged, and reinforced by church leaders.
12. World evangelism mobilization efforts receive the same high quality as other important ministries.
13. Missions trips are effectively employed as a catalyst for mobilization.
14. Partnerships with mission agencies, para-church organizations, indigenous organizations and indigenous churches are recognized as crucial to healthy missions involvement and expansion.
15. Churches send some of their “best” people cross-culturally.
16. Church leaders enlist people in a broad range of prayer efforts, educational topics, and ‘at home’ involvement activities in support of reaching all nations.
17. The principle, “it is better to give than to receive” is applied to church finances. Churches make it a priority to continually increase their giving to world evangelism.
18. Innovative thinking related to the uniqueness of ones church leads to customized efforts in world evangelism that attract interest and involvement of church members.
19. Churches help each other. Pastors, leaders, and members participate in conferences and courses where they learn about what God is doing throughout the world, through the local church. They are challenged to increase their involvement, sharpen their skills, and share their experiences and insights with others.
20. Obedience to the Great Commission involves risk and sacrifice. Churches realize that God will do more through their honest mistakes than their disobedience; more through their fumbled efforts than their lack of efforts; more through their awkward attempts to influence their global neighbors than through grand programs within their comfort zone.

The above article, “Recurring Themes in Globally-Minded Churches” is written by David Mays. The article was excerpted from www.acmc.org July 2002.

The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.