| core values |
Sharing the Good News: Our passion in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ is to see people become followers of Jesus living transformed lives in the power of the Holy Spirit. We want to see these disciples involved in outward-focused worshipping communities which are impacting the world. Our commitment includes strengthening and increasing the missional capacity of our partners.
Unreached Peoples: We are deeply concerned about the un-reached and least-reached people groups of the world. These are the people groups where there is no indigenous church, or where the newly emerging church is not yet able to effectively share the Good News with its people group.
God Already at Work: God has been, and continues to be, at work in the world and he calls us to join him. When we prayerfully consider the possibility of serving in a given context, our approach is to discern what God is doing, who he is working through, and how he might be calling us to participate in his work in partnership with the broader body of Christ.
Prayer: Prayer is fundamental in everything we do. As we participate in God’s mission in the world, our basic responsibility is to be people of prayer. We are committed to this as individuals, and as a fellowship of Christ’s servants.
Kingdom of God: The Kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God; it is both “now” and “not yet.” Just as the Kingdom of God was a central focus for Jesus, so it is for us, and we understand our involvement in the world in the context of God’s Kingdom. This means we are committed to the wholeness of the Gospel: sharing the message of Jesus (words), social action (works), and demonstrations of the Spirit’s power (wonders). It also means we are committed to the growth of the church, as well as to working for social righteousness, because both of these are integrally related to the Kingdom of God.
Local Church: We believe the church is the primary agent of God’s mission in the world. In terms of churches in the US, we will serve and partner with congregations as they send out their members. In terms of local churches where our personnel will be serving, we will work in partnership with local churches, and we will seek to empower, equip and support these churches as they fulfill their mission vision. Our relationship with local churches will be characterized by interdependence.
Partnership: As one expression of the body of Christ, we are committed to working in partnership with the global body of Christ whenever possible. We believe God can do more through us working together than he can when we work independently. Our vision in this regard is healthy interdependence across the spectrum of our partnership relationships. Our passion for partnership includes “… all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ …” (1 Cor. 1:2).
Incarnational Witness: Just as Jesus incarnated the love of God and the reality of God’s Kingdom, we are called to do likewise. We believe the incarnation has immense implications for us as cross-cultural servants, including: relationships as our primary focus, the necessity of language and culture learning, the critical importance of bonding and acculturation, and the necessity of carefully considering the impact our lifestyle choices have on our witness.
Stewardship: God calls us to be wise stewards of all creation. As stewards, we are accountable to God for our use of his resources, and therefore we take accountability seriously in all aspects of our service. A vital aspect of stewardship related to our work is facilitating effective partnerships between missionaries and supporting congregations. Another vital aspect is developing and maintaining a core of long-term mission personnel who have acquired good language and culture skills, effective cross-cultural skills, and missiological depth.
Servant Leadership: Our understanding and practice of leadership is based on the conviction that leaders are called to serve and empower. We approach decision-making in a participatory, consensus-based manner.
