The commission to missions was given to every individual follower of Jesus. As God breaks our heart for the lostness in our city and the 7,165 unreached people groups,¹ we come together throughout the month of December to push back the darkness in a concentrated and sacrificial way though our World Mission Offering. There are many reasons that we have such a big heart for missions, but here are a few that keep us focused and moving forward in a sacrificial way.

World missions is the call of the local church.

Vance Pitman says, “God’s activity in my life locally is always connected to his activity globally.” And as I read through the pages of scripture and better understand what it means to follow Jesus…

I believe that if we aren’t doing everything we can to make and multiply disciples of Jesus, we haven’t really believed or understood the gospel.

Every follower of Jesus is called to obey Christ’s command to make disciples who know and obey his Word. But how does he intend us to do that? His Word is clear about our call to dependence, obedience, disciple making, and churches planting through the local church. The local church is called to send out missionaries (long and short-term) and care for those that are sent. And the aim is to plant healthy, reproducing local churches as a result of our missions effort.

Prioritize equipping missionaries & indigenous leaders. 

“62% of the world’s pastors have no formal training and will probably never get any formal training from Bible school.”²  Our role is not merely to assess the problems, but to actively equip missionaries and indigenous leaders. As we help plant churches in South and South East Asia, training pastors and leaders remains a priority. Missionaries need encouragement to continue faithfully serving in their difficult contexts and new local pastors need solid Biblical training. We don’t take this responsibility lightly.

Long-term partnerships have the greatest long-term impact.

We have been intentional about cultivating long-term missional partnerships. Part of these partnerships involve the goal that we would deploy members to serve long-term in their contexts for the sake of the gospel. Being long-term focused means more than giving financially, but also includes short-term going with a long-term mind-set. We don’t just provide “missions experiences,” but we see our short-term work primarily as a way to support our long-term partners, and secondarily as a way to raise up new leaders to join the work. Missionaries and indigenous leaders need more boots on the ground, not just friends passing through.

God has given us a many instructions on the global mission of the church. Not only on what it is, but he gave us the “how-to’s” as we faithfully, joyfully, and confidentially deploy. Because we have been loved by God, we honor him by working toward his final goal—worshipers from every language, tribe, people, and nation. He gives us a mandate with a promise that his global mission will advance through dependent lives, as we display Jesus, declare the gospel, and deploy for his glory.

Our World Mission Offering will support ministries and missionaries who are making disciples and multiplying churches among unreached peoples and places around the world. Please pray that Awakening Church will continue to make a global impact as we cultivate a heart for the the Kingdom of God. Thank you for your encouragement and being actively involved in this global work!

Here is the breakdown of our 2019 World Mission Offering.