Message Magazine Online - Vol. 53, No. 01, Spring 2005

In This Issue

• A Church on Every Block
  By Donna Messenger
• Preparing the Bride
  By Michael G. Loftis, President
• Tsunami Relief
• DNA and The Church: Biblical Church Multiplication
  By Norm Nicklas
• The Most Powerful Human Force in the World
  Dr. Michael G. Loftis, President
• Why Is Missions So White?
  By Bill Commons
• Invoking the Hand of God Together
  By Rev. Charles Ware
• The Missions Committee
  By Jim Ruff
• Equipping a Generation of Global Leaders
  By Jim Jeffery
• Global Access Partnerships: One Church’s Story - Part Two
  By Dave Livermore
• Missions Conferences With Impact
  An Interview with E.C. Haskell
• Women’s Missionary Groups: A Thing of the Past?
  By Dotty Ashley
• Into Life Eternal
• Children’s Corner

The Missions Committee

By Jim Ruff, Associate Director Center for Excellence in International Ministries

To many churches, a missions committee is like a first computer; they know they ought to have one, but they are not sure how it works. Yet, nothing adds greater excitement to a missionary’s relationship to a local church than the assurance that the church has an active, well-conceived missions committee. The missionary goes to the church, and to the field, with the confidence that there are people in the church who are strategically making missions a priority in the corporate life of the church.

An active missions committee promises that some members of the church are working hard to meet the needs of the missionaries, while keeping the church aware of the missionaries and their needs. Yet activity by itself is not enough. In some churches, the small group of faithful members is made up of quiet servants of Christ who meet sporadically to make things for the missionaries, or to pray in their behalf. Praise God for those faithful saints, but a missions committee can and should do so much more.

The well-conceived missions committee is usually found in a church that does not see missions as a part of its program; rather it sees missions as the heart of its program. A well-conceived missions committee is peopled by a cross-section of the church, permanently in close contact with the leadership of the church, and proactive in finding ways to keep the whole church both aware of and active in missions. It has a carefully, prayerfully drafted missions policy drawn up with the help of people experienced in missions.

The members of the committee meet with each missionary who visits the church on prefield or furlough, pressing the missionary for details concerning such matters as work, financial needs, health, personal and family issues, and ways in which the church can better partner with the missionary. They devote time to prayer. The members make certain that prayer letters, projects, and financial needs are brought before the church. They make missionaries feel at home on furlough, and make certain that missionaries hear from home while they are on the field. They help to make missions conferences successful, and they help the pastor(s) to promote missions, as well as educate, recruit, and train missionaries in the local church. There are no limits to what they can do to promote missions.

May the number of such missions committees be exceeded only by the multitude of churches started around the world by the contented missionaries they encourage!