Part of our vision at All Souls Community Church is to share Christ’s Gospel peace with the world. We state in our Church values that “We believe that the gospel changes people. We believe that changed people, living with gospel priorities and goals, transform their communities and the world.” So when it comes to global missions, we envision gospel transformed communities around the world.
In seeking to live out our vision, our Global Missions Team has two essential goals. First, we seek to share the Gospel with the world in word and deed. God calls Christians to preach the Gospel, and God calls Christians to demonstrate the Gospel by providing mercy to people in need and fighting for justice for those who are oppressed. Second, we seek to develop a missional identity among our entire congregation. We desire that when each member of the congregation thinks about how to serve Christ, he or she considers global missions as part of that service.
What does this look like for All Souls Community Church? We are in the very early stages of developing our missions ministry, but the following is a brief description of the ministries we are developing and hope to develop. In looking at this list, please know that while we categorize these ministries, the categories are in one sense artificial. Generally (and where possible), we are seeking to partner with ministries that are involved in sharing the gospel in both word and deed.
Word Ministry
- The centerpiece of missions ministry will be a partnership with a church that is being “planted” in a community where the Gospel is not known. We will seek to partner with that Church as they share the Gospel in word and deed to their community. We are in the process of searching for that church to partner with.
- We are also providing support for Jeremy Lutjens, the brother of a congregant, as he goes to Slovenia with a Christian mission organization called Cru, to minister at the University of Ljubljana, the largest university in Slovenia. Slovenia is a deeply agnostic country, and the vast majority of college students are making their way into adulthood with ever hearing about Jesus. The goal of Jeremy’s team is to bring many students to Christ and to help raise up a Slovenian-led Christian student organization who will continue sharing the gospel with college students for years to come. To that end, the team will be sharing life with the college students, hosting Bible studies and weekly worship meetings, engaging in discipleship relationships, and teaching students how to share the gospel with friends and family. If you are interested in learning more about the ministry in which Jeremy is engaged, please check out his webpage at https://give.ccci.org/give/View/0642970?pp=Search+Results
Deed Ministry
- Emergency relief and rehabilitation
We are providing emergency relief through World Vision. So far we have provided assistance for victims of flooding in the southern United States and victims of famine on the Horn of Africa. If you are interested about the crisis in the Horn of Africa (the site of our latest donation) and World Vision’s response to that crisis, please check out http://www2.worldvision.org/news/world-vision-east-africa-response. - Developmental Assistance
We are in the process of developing some projects through HOPE International, a Christian organization that provides microfinancing to people in poverty. - Assistance for “the least of these”
The reality is that special care is needed for certain populations in our world. The Bible itself refers to the widows, the orphans, the immigrants, the sick, the oppressed, among others. We see this component of our ministry as supporting two types of ministry: providing mercy and seeking justice.In order to support “providing mercy,” we are in the process of developing some projects through World Vision.
In order to support “seeking justice,” we are in the process of developing some projects through International Justice Mission (IJM), a Christian human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.
How Can You Participate
As we stated, we are in the very early stages of developing our missions ministry, and we would love and appreciate your participation and support.
- Please pray for the work of God’s Kingdom around the world and for our missions ministry.
- Over the coming months, we will begin offering projects and activities involving the ministries described above. Please participate in those projects and activities.
- Finally, we are in the process of developing a global missions team who will be involved in the development, leadership and “hands-on” work of our projects. If you are interested in joining the missions team or in participating in our missions ministry in some other way (ideas always welcome!), please contact either Doug Walker and Daniel Barkley (globalmissions@allsoulscommunity.com).
