PRCC MISSIONS FOCUS GROUP

Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ
MISSIONS FOCUS GROUP

OCTOBER 29, 2000

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......

A. OBJECTIVES......

B. ACTIONS......

C. MISSIONS MINISTRY STRATEGY......

D. FOCUS AREAS......

E. RECOMMENDATIONS......

Section I. What We Were Asked To Do......

Guiding Principle......

Background......

Section II. What We Did......

Section III. What We Found......

A. Elder Interviews......

B. Staff Interviews......

C. Expert Interviews......

D. Missionary Interviews......

E. Pleasant Ridge Member Survey......

Section IV. What We Plan To Do......

A. Strategies......

Missionary Selection......

Plans and Accountability......

Exit strategies......

Mission Points self-sufficiency......

Measurements/follow-up......

Communications......

Involvement......

Future Minister of Evangelism/Missions......

Missions Support Team......

B. Focus Areas......

Missionary Internship......

Preacher Training Schools......

Global Missions......

Local evangelism at PRCC......

Long Term Efforts......

Balance......

C. Policies......

D. Future Plans......

Glossary......

Appendix......

A. Summary of Missions Team Elder Interviews......

B. Summary of Staff Interviews......

C. Summary of Expert Interviews......

D. Summary of Missionary Interviews......

E. Summary of Pleasant Ridge Member Survey......

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A. OBJECTIVES

The Missions Support Team has developed some key objectives for the Missions Program at Pleasant Ridge.

  • Grow and mature the Missions Program in terms of selection criteria, planning, evaluating, and overall effectiveness
  • Promote opportunities that our members are proud of, excited about, and create a desire to be involved
  • Support and lead higher impact mission efforts to spread the Good News

B. ACTIONS

The elders asked the staff and a special task force composed of five focus groups to determine needs and opportunities at Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ (PRCC) for the next 5 years. The Missions Focus Group gathered information from PRCC missionaries, staff, elders and Mission Program experts from sources outside PRCC and used this opportunity to review and revise our entire Missions strategy. Based on the good and wise counsel from the sources mentioned, a new vision and strategy for Missions at PRCC is evolving.

C. MISSIONS MINISTRY STRATEGY

The process by which the Missions Support Team will develop a strategy is based on the following guidelines:

  • We will pray more and let God guide our missions program.
  • We will become more proactive in selecting mission points, missionaries and mission efforts that fit the strengths of PRCC.
  • We will improve accountability of both PRCC and missionaries.
  • We will make evaluations a regular part of the missions program.
  • We will develop and implement a mission policy to:
  1. Provide discipline for the evaluation and selection of mission efforts
  2. Help direct the activities of the Missions Support Team
  3. Establish consistent requirements for mission-related activities
  • We will generate more involvement on the part of PRCC members in the missions program.
  • We will use various communication tools to improve and increase PRCC interest and involvement.
  • We will continue to pursue a balanced international and domestic outreach.

D. FOCUS AREAS

The following are examples of potential focus areas that we will evaluate in the future:

  • Establishing a formal program to develop missionaries from within PRCC
  • Sponsoring foreign preacher training schools or sponsoring preachers during their training
  • Promoting focused campaigns, including Let’s Start Talking campaigns at mission points that we support
  • Leveraging the strength and experience of our missionaries to promote mission efforts at another PRCC mission point
  • Supporting our local evangelism program at PRCC

E. RECOMMENDATIONS

The Focus Group's recommendations to execute the strategies listed above are:

  • Pray continuously for God to bless and guide our Mission efforts
  • Develop a PRCC Missions Ministry Policy
  • Develop selection criteria and evaluation measurements
  • Develop a detailed plan for each existing work
  • Select a team responsible for evaluating specific mission fields and identifying candidate missionaries to support our objectives
  • Actively recruit PRCC members to become missionaries and missionary advocates
  • Hire a Missions/Evangelism Minister
  • Develop a training program for our missionaries, our youth, our Mission Support Team and our members

Section I. What We Were Asked To Do

Guiding Principle

In the year 2004, the Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ will complete payments on the existing facility. When our building payments are completed, $203,000 will be available per year to fund other projects. The elders want to be good stewards of our future blessing by planning ahead now. They have asked the staff and a special task force to determine the needs and opportunities at Pleasant Ridge for the next 5 years and to develop a vision for the use of funds that become available in 2004. As a result, the task force has divided into 5 focus groups, which cover all ministries. These focus groups include Congregational Growth, Spiritual Growth, Family Life, Community Outreach and Missions. This report is the result of the Missions Focus Group.

Background

Teaching the lost is an important work of the Lord’s church. There are many reasons for this. First, it is our overall mission and commandment by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He commanded the disciples before he ascended to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:15-16. As members of the body of Christ, we know that the long term health and growth of the body depends upon teaching others the gospel and the plan of salvation. We also believe that the Word of God impacts peoples’ spiritual lives in countless positive ways.

Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ has always had a heart for missions. We demonstrated this in the late 70’s and 80’s by supporting John Pennisi in Brazil and Dick Boyd in Nairobi, Kenya. We invested in Guadalajara, Mexico in the late 70’s by building a worship facility in the southern part of the city and supporting Lalo Esparza. As we entered the early 90’s, several of our missionaries were at the end of their assignments and our program was reduced to one work.

However, we did not let this diminish our love for spreading the gospel. Throughout the 90’s we held several Harvest Days and Missions Days in which the congregation demonstrated the ability to give on a single day between $25,000 and $50,000 for expanding the work. Now, in the year 2000, we support 17 different mission efforts around the globe through our regular giving. These 17 works represent variety both in location and technique.

Section II. What We Did

We reviewed our current Missions Program status and goals. As a first step, we decided to gather input from various sources. We prepared survey questions to present to our own missionaries, outside Mission Program experts, and the Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ (PRCC) staff and elders. We also prepared a survey to be filled out by the congregation.

We also conducted a Missions Open Forum for the membership at PRCC in the Family Life Center on September 17th. The purpose of this forum was to provide a status of the current Missions Program and to present the future shape of the program. We also received comments and questions from the audience.

To gather information from experts, we attended a meeting with the mission ministry committee members at Richland Hills Church of Christ. At that time, we received a copy of their policy manual. We also sent survey questions to the Great Continent of Cities program, the Granny White Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee, and Herman Alexander at the Center for Christian Education.

Then, we prepared this strategy report and began making plans to execute this strategy. In order to best craft a Missions Program that meets the specific needs of PRCC and its membership, the Missions Focus Group is using this opportunity to review and revise our entire missions strategy.

Section III. What We Found

In the following section, we summarize our interviews and surveys of various groups. We also encourage the reader to browse the appendix where the complete interview and survey results can be found.

A. Elder Interviews

The following is a summary of Elder comments from various interview sessions:

  • Get “in-tune” with God’s will – let God guide our efforts
  • Develop a strategy, specific plans & missions policies to guide and focus our efforts
  • Challenge the congregation to support & grow our missions efforts
  • Promote congregational involvement in our Missions Program
  • Be proactive – search for & target potential fields and missionaries
  • A balanced approach is a healthy approach
  • Understand the mission field(s) before entering
  • Train & educate our missionaries before sending them into the field
  • Provide opportunity for our missionaries to spend time at PRCC getting to know the congregation before going into the field
  • Develop a formal selection process for identifying & selecting missionaries
  • Promote self-sufficiency for the congregations/missionaries that we support
  • Look closer to home for missions efforts in the local community
  • Have a missions minister on staff to provide leadership
  • Don’t be afraid to say “no”

B. Staff Interviews

The following is a summary of Staff comments:

  • Involve a wide cross-section of people (for example: youth, adults, and ministers) in the Missions Program.
  • Regularly visit the missionaries.
  • Expect to receive regular reports from the missionaries.
  • Mission programs should be selected based on established strategies and not on sentimental reasons.
  • We should be cautious of entering missions work where there is a lack of prayerful consideration and/or the missionary sells more of himself than the work.
  • People are generally more connected to stateside mission work since there is no language barrier, travel is easier, and the works are usually less expensive.
  • The larger-scale, highly focused mission efforts are generally supported more by congregations. (A higher investment means more interest by people).
  • The success of correspondence courses depends on the culture it is targeted toward.
  • Youth mission trips work especially well when combined with an existing mission program.
  • Full financial support of a missionary may be better than having the missionary search for support from multiple churches that give smaller amounts.
  • A sign of progress and self-sufficiency is when a missionary congregation moves beyond only the benevolent needs of the members

C. Expert Interviews

Members of the Missions Task Force met with the Richland Hills Church of Christ in September. Questionnaires were also mailed to Continent of Great Cities, Granny white Pike Church of Christ and the Center for Christian Education. In summarizing those interviews and answers to questionnaires we found:

  • Consider using special collections for Missions Program
  • Implement open communication and accountability with the congregation, the missionaries and the Elders
  • Identify mission work, then match it to the missionary
  • Recruit non-nationals to do local church evangelism
  • Develop a written plan when beginning and for exiting from a missions effort
  • Create a thorough screening process (i.e. recruiting, training, site selection, etc.)
  • Develop future missionaries from within through training and intern programs
  • Financially support all facets of mission ministry – not just the missionary
  • Plant churches to become mission-minded churches
  • Consider the three “selfs” (self-governing, self-serving, self-propagating)
  • Teach giving and tithing in the congregation; no matter what the economic situation is
  • Find an area where you can fulfill a great need and stick with it

D. Missionary Interviews

The following is a summary of responses from our missionary questionnaire that we sent to Pleasant Ridge missionaries:

  • Asked for continued prayers, additional materials, articles, tapes, etc.
  • Want more visits from PRCC members to work and study with
  • Desire a closer relationship with PRCC members (members informed and involved)
  • Need training or tools to assist with marriage and family counseling
  • Need encouragement and renewal of spiritual vigor
  • Want improved communications
  • Be available as a ministry resource: a place to get advice and insight into problems and a place for occasional fellowship and encouragement
  • Want PRCC to evaluate their effectiveness
  • Unanimously agreed to work with the MST to develop a written plan for their mission
  • Learn to dream huge dreams for missions
  • Undertake a great world evangelistic outreach instead of building more buildings

E. Pleasant Ridge Member Survey

The following is a summary of responses from our Pleasant Ridge members regarding our Missions Program:

  • Importance of budgeting for missions work rated as a high priority
  • Continue with a balanced international and domestic program (esp. in the U.S.)
  • Encourage our own members, especially our young people, to go (with our support)
  • Don’t limit ourselves to current thinking, move outside the box
  • Continue with a mix of fully supported efforts and partially supported efforts
  • Develop coordinated plan that includes a good mix of both long-term (more than 5 years) and short-term (less than 5 years) mission efforts
  • Develop detailed plan for each mission effort including a definite "exit" strategy
  • Mission efforts evolve to be self -sufficient through regular evaluation and monitoring
  • Keep in close fellowship and communication with those we sponsor
  • The members show a lot of interest in visiting a PRCC missionary or going on a PRCC supported mission trip (41.5%)
  • Keep doing the Youth Mission Trips
  • Become more involved in outreach works locally and in our own country

Section IV. What We Plan To Do

A. Strategies

The Missions Support Team has developed some key objectives for the Missions Program at Pleasant Ridge.

  • Grow and mature the Missions Program in terms of selection criteria, planning, evaluating, monitoring, communicating and overall effectiveness,
  • Promote opportunities that our members are proud of, excited about, and desire to be involved, and
  • Support and lead higher impact mission efforts that lead more of the lost to Jesus

Missionary Selection

To grow and mature the Missions Program, we must become more proactive in selecting future mission efforts once these criteria have been established. In the past, the Missions Support Team has been mostly reactive to mission opportunities presented to us. For example, many of our current major works, including Bill Wilson (Cologne, Germany), Dennis Godin (Biddeford, Maine) and John Kashorek (Messena, New York), came to us in times of need. Each work lacked funding and sponsorship. In some cases, in order to receive grant money from the Bell Trust, these mission works needed sponsoring congregations. We were able to fill that role of sponsor so that these works could continue. Many people and churches have been helped with our assistance.

In each of these cases, a Pleasant Ridge member brought these opportunities to us. One of our criteria has been that we have a direct tie or direct contact with that work, such as a relative or friend within our own church. While this has worked fairly well for us in helping us expand our missions program, this approach is not helping us mature and become more effective.

What we must do is become more proactive in selecting mission points, missionaries and mission efforts. We must conduct the proper due diligence and research to select the best works available. We must develop better filtering criteria for all future potential works. We will do this with the idea in mind of creating a “world class” Missions Program.

  • We will spend ample time researching and evaluating the specific locations and techniques that we are targeting and then recruit based on that model
  • We will match the person to the missionary task/assignment at hand
  • We will evaluate and utilize methods similar to those used by others who have successful programs to recruit full time preachers
  • We will also review other methods currently being used by various groups

We also intend to become more aggressive in selecting mission points that fit the strengths of Pleasant Ridge. We want to find opportunities that have every chance of succeeding. We also want to increase our overall effectiveness, while at the same time maintaining a balance. By maintaining a balance, or a variety of works, we can promote the interest of more of our members.

Plans and Accountability

To mature our Missions Program, we need better accountability. Accountability can be defined as being responsible to someone for the duties or resources that have been provided to do a job. For example, the Missions Support Team must be accountable to the Pleasant Ridge members and to the elders for the mission works that we select, monitor and evaluate. The members, elders and MST must be accountable to the missionaries to follow-up and assist in a personal way in the work. The missionaries must be accountable to the MST, elders and members to do the best they can, bear fruit and report regularly. We must make sure our missionaries are well trained and equipped to serve in a mission field before we send them out. During training and preparation, the missionary needs to spend an extended period of time with our members getting to know them before they leave for the mission field.

There are many things we can do to improve accountability. First, we will develop specific mission plans for each existing work. We will develop specific mission plans for all new works. These mutually agreed upon plans will contain specific goals and milestones. Some milestones will be tied to future dates. The purpose is not to put undue pressure on our missionaries, but to provide mutual understanding of goals and objectives.

  • The Mission Support Team will coordinate with each of the existing mission works to develop specific plans and goals that are realistic and agreed upon by all parties
  • Our goals will be aggressive with focus on growth in spreading the word, and balance throughout the world

Exit strategies

Each work will have as part of its plan, an exit strategy. An exit strategy describes when and how a mission work will become self-sufficient or when funding will end. It will have a plan for when and how the missionary returns home, if necessary. It has been our experience and the experience of many others that a work that has no goals can go on indefinitely and become unfruitful. Works that are just as deserving and could bear more fruit are left untouched. Developing this exit strategy for each work will be a delicate process, one that is accompanied by prayer and consultation with the missionary and the missionary congregation. This exit strategy will not be a hidden set of goals and measurements, but will be agreed upon by the missionary.