MSPG 1 - Introduction

I don't pretend to be a missions expert, but the church has to start somewhere. The Lord has been teaching me more and more about missions since 2015, and I've spent a lot of time in the last two years exploring this important aspect of the church's life.

Since Elynne and I are planning to migrate soon to study at TMS, I don't have much time to share what I've been learning with others. So in the next five months, January to May, I'm holding a weekly "Missions Study & Prayer Group" (MSPG) to equip them to help in the church's developing missions program.

For overviews and links to all the lessons in this ongoing series, click here.


“Course” Overview

Thanks for coming. As you know, kuya Ike and I have been working on the Missions Program of the church since 2017. Progress has been slow, but by God’s grace we’ve gotten this far. We’re only just started to get this thing moving, and this weekly Missions Study & Prayer Group is part of that.

Purpose

The reason I asked you men in particular to join is because you’ve all shown interest in missions and been involved in missions over the past years.

Now this group is the preliminary stage of what will eventually, Lord willing, become the first cross-cultural missions ministry of the church. Right now, let’s call it “Cross-Cultural Outreach” or “CCO”. I hope that you men will be the future Core Group of the CCO, but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s really the Lord’s will.

I want to ask you to meet with me every week for the next five months so I can share with you what the Lord has been teaching me about missions. This isn’t enough time to cover everything, just the important issues. 

We’ll also have a time after our study for prayer, because we need to develop the discipline of praying for missions, too. Some of the best work we will ever do in ministry will be through intercession, and some of the most powerful, heart-changing encounters we can have with God are while we’re praying. So we need to be committed to this, and we need to be well practiced in this.
Now as we learn about missions, please consider whether cross-cultural missions is something you want to be deeply involved in. It could be as a missionary who goes to the field, or a worker who has a supporting role. Think about whether missions is something you may be gifted to do, and whether it’s something God has situated you to do. If God is calling you to missions, then He will arrange your circumstances and the people in your life to allow for that.

If at any time you feel that this isn’t for you, don’t be embarrassed to bow out. It just means that God is calling you to serve Him in some other way.

The Missions Program & CCO

To start, I should tell you about the Missions Program and how CCO fits into that.
The Missions Program is kuya Ike’s brainchild, and it’s going to be the overarching “ministry” or “organization” that directs and coordinates all other “sub-ministries”. Right now we have local outreach ministries that are functioning independently of one another: Hyrax and Firstfruits. Eventually, these will become “sub-ministries” of the Missions Program.

This is how kuya Ike and I envision the structure of the Program:
  • At the top is going to be the MISSIONS COMMITTEE. It will be comprised of at least one SC member (k. Ike), who will be the head/chairman. The other members will be the heads of the various “sub-ministries”.
  • Then each ministry will have a CORE GROUP. This is what I’m trying to form eventually through this Study & Prayer Group.
  • Below them will be a COMMON POOL OF WORKERS. All workers will be workers of the Missions Program, and will be assigned to different ministries at different times based on need. This way, we can maximize our resources and share information and experience.

What this means is that the CCO will be the primary “movers” for anything and everything cross-cultural. In other words, that future ministry will be the church’s main response to the “all nations” part of the Great Commission. In the next few months, I’ll show you what that can and will involve.

Student Learning Outcomes

The Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for this course are:
  1. Theology: To articulate the theology of missions from key passages in the Old and New Testaments.
  2. Strategy: To examine various strategies for missions and to choose the best ones.
  3. Resources: To be familiar with key missions-related resources such as books, articles, websites, videos, etc.
  4. Opportunities: To consider Higher Rock’s current missions opportunities.
  5. Prayer: To develop a focused and sustainable discipline of missions-related prayer.

Assessment Indicators

To receive the maximum benefit from the weekly meetings and meet the SLOs, students should accomplish the following:
  • Regular Attendance: Each weekly meeting will include a lecture on relevant topics (SLO 1, 2), and a time for prayer (SLO 5).
  • Reading:  Each participant is encouraged to read/view the items in the Missionary Updates list (SLO 4).
  • Assessment Tests: Written tests will be given to help evaluate the participant’s comprehension of the lessons.
  • Reading Reports: Each participant is encouraged to share with the group at least one (1) report on an item in the Missions Reading List (SLO 3).
  • Case Studies: Participants will discuss possible avenues of missions work in view of present opportunities available to the church.

Tentative Schedule of Lessons

JANUARY
    1. Introduction 
        ◦ “Course” Overview
        ◦ Scheduling of Meetings (Jan - May)
    2. God’s Redemptive Plan in the Old and New Testaments (SLO 1)
    3. Defining the “Gospel” (SLO 1)
        ◦ The Gospel on Two Levels
        ◦ Issue: Over-realized Eschatology
FEBRUARY
    4. The Importance of the Gospel (SLO 1)
        ◦ The Centrality of the Gospel
        ◦ The Power of the Gospel
    5. Defining “Mission” and “Missions” (SLO 1)
    6. Worship & Missions (SLO 1)
        ◦ Worship as Our Ultimate Priority
        ◦ Missions as Our Unique Assignment 
    7. Missions in the New Testament (SLO 1)
        ◦ The Apostle Paul
        ◦ NT Churchs: Antiochans, Philippians, Thessalonians
MARCH
    8. Issues: “Missional” and “Contextualization” (SLO 1, 2)
    9. The Church’s Task (SLO 1, 2)
    10. Church-Parachurch Partnership (SLO 1, 2)
    11. Prioritizing the Least-Reached (SLO 2)
    12. Ways to Participate in Missions (SLO 2)
APRIL
    13. Partnering with Missionaries (SLO 2)
    14. Raising Missionaries (SLO 2)
    15. Reading Report 1 (SLO 3)
    16. Reading Report 2 (SLO 3)
MAY
    17. Reading Report 3 (SLO 3)
    18. Case Study 1 (SLO 4)
    19. Case Study 2 (SLO 4)

Prayer Items

    1. The MSPG
    2. Missions Program
    3. Overseas Instruction in Counseling (OIC)
    4. Pakistan


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