Is there a role for you to play in spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth? Absolutely!
The Great Commission was given to the Church—the assembly of which every believer is a member. Therefore, every Christian has an obligation to find his or her place of personal involvement in reaching the lost around the world. Our Lord Jesus said in John 4:35, “Look on the fields…they are white already to harvest.” Record numbers of Free Will Baptists are responding by moving out of the pews into the global harvest.
You can serve!
Opportunities abound for missionary service through Free Will Baptist International Missions. Our current missionaries are crying out for more workers to join their ranks around the world. In the past three years, 44 new missionaries have been appointed for service. Yet the need for more workers is great.
In addition to the demand for full-time career missionaries, a variety of needs for temporary workers exist on all our fields. This summer 87 high school students and adult sponsors will form seven E-TEAMs for two weeks of ministry in Cuba, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Uruguay, Panama, and France. Our College Ministry Program will send seven college students to serve with the E-TEAMs, seven as a team to Kazakhstan, and five as apprentices in France, Kazakhstan, and Uruguay.
Adults from a growing number of churches are personally participating in mission trips and projects that take two weeks or less. Free Will Baptists are learning to use their professional training and vocational skills for volunteer service to help our field ministries and stateside mobilization efforts.
For information on opportunities and requirements for service contact Judy Lytle judy@fwbgo.com.
You can encourage!
Missionaries need encouragement from those of us in the States. Contact from home strengthens them through times of loneliness, discouragement and difficulty on the field. Missionaries also enjoy sharing their victories with folks at home.
God has given our generation unprecedented tools for communication. You can use those tools to make a difference for missionaries and their families, as well as national pastors and Christians. The internet has opened the door for e-mail, Web cameras, instant messaging, and even web phones. You can send words of encouragement, share news from home, and update prayer requests. You will never know how much your encouragement means! Handwritten letters are a special treasure.
You can find e-mail addresses for all Free Will Baptist missionaries at www.fwbgo.com. Both e-mail and mailing addresses are located in the missionary directory available from our office.
You can pray!
The most powerful impact you can have on missionary work is through prayer. Prayer allows you to intercede for a missionary’s personal welfare and his or her ministry. You can partner in soul-winning efforts worldwide by praying specifically for the people missionaries are attempting to reach. Through prayer you can engage directly in spiritual warfare against which all our missionaries struggle.
“Hotline,” a weekly list of prayer requests, is posted on our Web site and International Missions will send it free of charge to anyone who requests it. Sign up today (april@fwbgo.com, 877-767-7736), or visit our Web page (www.fwbgo.com) for weekly updates.
You can invest!
The cost of reaching the world for Christ is high. The work of global evangelism—deploying missionaries, building church buildings, training national leadership, and operating the home office to serve missionaries overseas and the denomination stateside—is expensive. With inflation and expansion of our missionary force, expenses will continue to rise. It will never become cheaper for Free Will Baptists to obey the Great Commission.
You can participate in God’s global harvest by giving personally to help plant churches overseas through Free Will Baptist International Missions. While many people choose to give through their local church, growing numbers are taking advantage of new on-line options for personal giving directly to the Mission (www.fwbgo.com). You can give a one-time gift or authorize automated monthly bank drafts.
Your gifts to International Missions can help change the world! All undesignated contributions help advance the total program of Free Will Baptist International Missions. In addition to cash gifts, individuals may give stock, real estate, equipment, or services as in-kind contributions. Gifts to Free Will Baptist International Missions are tax deductible. Please contact me for more information (doug@fwbgo.com).
I’ve met people who regret that they did not invest in Wal-Mart when they had the chance years ago. Today they realize the financial return they missed by choosing to spend on themselves what they might have invested. The day will come when many Christians will regret their failure to invest more in the work of global evangelism. In heaven they will realize the reward they missed when they chose to spend on themselves what they might have invested in eternity. Giving today can help you stand before our Lord at judgment with no regrets.
What will you do?
Free Will Baptists began sending missionaries overseas nearly 200 years ago. The challenges and opportunities we have today are beyond anything our forefathers could have dreamed. You can be personally involved in the harvest in ways previous generations never imagined.
With these opportunities comes responsibility. Jesus said the harvest is ripe, but laborers are few.
What will you do about it?
Doug Little is the director of stateside development for Free Will Baptist International Missions. .
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