ur Passion for MissionsOne of the most amazing things about becoming a Christian is the realization that nothing is the same as it was before God reached down into your life! You don't view yourself the same, your family, your neighborhood, your workplace, this nation, the world---all now are filled with opportunity and possibility to glorify God by what you think, say and do! We at Bay Area Community Church believe the same is true in how we view the world as a Christian! The evening news or morning newspaper should never be the same again. As we hear or read about what is happening in the Middle East, Russia, or South America, we understand that God is at work to fulfill His global purposes! And even more, we are not just passive spectators but privileged participants in seeing God bring about His promises to bless the nations through men and women like ourselves!
"Missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man...Worship is the fuel and goal in missions. It's the goal of missions, because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God's glory...But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can't commend what you don't cherish." ~John Piper
God is central. All of life is about the glory of God. We were created to worship Him and reflect His glory in all we do. As we worship God, He so fills our hearts that we stretch out our arms and extend our reach to people who desperately need Christ. As we are satisfied in the worship of God, our worship brings a hunger and a hope to those who have strayed so far.
That is what we want to see... lost people coming to faith... broken people being healed. Hurting people delighting in God. Lives transformed from Greater Annapolis to Nigeria to Indonesia to Poland.
May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy.~Psalm 67:3-4
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.~Psalm 97:1
We believe that God is calling us to be the kind of people whose passion is for the supremacy of God in all of life. We will never be effective in our missionary efforts if we are not enamored with the greatness of God. If we lack passion for God we will lack the passion to draw others into the worship of God. Without a grand view of God there will be no grand vision for reaching others.
At Bay Area, we define missions as the cross cultural foreign outreach of the church to bless the nations (Gen 12:1-3) through evangelization, discipleship and church planting to fulfill the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). Let's look at these two passages:
Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives,
And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."~Genesis 12:1-3
In the first one, Abraham receives a call from God to leave his homeland and go to a place not yet revealed. God tells him that the reason He is blessing Abraham and his descendants, the reason that He has chosen Abraham to become a great nation and to have a great name, is so that they (Abraham and his family) might be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Wherever Abraham went, he and his family were to tell the nations about the God who had called them out of Ur and invite others to follow this great God. We, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, are the spiritual descendants of Abraham. This blessing of "all the families of the earth" is to be poured out through faith in Jesus Christ.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and 10, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."~Matthew 28:18-20
The Great Commission of our Lord is the greatest plan ever given to men, by the greatest Person who ever lived, concerning the greatest power ever revealed and with the greatest promise ever recorded. We've been told to make disciples of all the nations, going, baptizing, and teaching them to observe all of Jesus' commandments. We've been given this privilege, knowing that as we go, we go as Christ's ambassadors, by His authority, and that He is with us always. We also go in faith that He is fulfilling His promise that at the end of this age, gathered around His throne will be worshipers of every tongue, tribe and language. (Revelation 5:9-10).
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.~Acts 1:8
Before ascending to heaven, Jesus gives us a simple strategy for outreach. He says, "You shall be My witnesses!" Start locally where you are (Jerusalem). Expand to the surrounding regions (Judea and Samaria). Then take the Good News to the remotest part of the earth. Our vision is to do that. We believe that God wants to use us to help people become passionate maturing followers of Christ from here to the nations. We articulate our vision along the Acts 1:8 paradigm.
Locally, in the greater Annapolis areas, God has called us to make passionate maturing followers of Christ of all ages. We are zealous about making growing disciples of Christ instead of comfy cultural Christians. Our vision is to multiply small groups throughout the greater Annapolis area. We are called to take the initiative to share the Gospel in our neighborhoods, to help reach the Naval Academy, St. John's, and Anne Arundel Community College, to pray for our government leaders at the State Capital, and to compassionately help the disenfranchised. Additionally, we aspire to partner with other local churches and ministries in the cause of Christ. We are asking God to help us an equipping center that serves other ministries.
Regionally, in Maryland and the US, God has called us to strategically plant churches outside of the greater Annapolis area. Because the area we live in is highly transient, we believe that God wants to especially use us to mature men and women in every imaginable vocation of life who will be sent throughout the US to further expand His kingdom work. Also, God has called us to train, send out, and support pastors, missionaries, and parachurch workers. Our regional vision includes becoming an equipping center to serve and train ministries outside the BACC body.
Globally, to the uttermost part of the earth, God has called us to send and support short and long-term missionaries, to become an equipping and resource center which serves international churches and ministries, and to strategically plant churches around the world.
God blesses his people for the sake of the nations. Psalm 67 says, "God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us that Your ways may be known on the earth, your salvation among all nations…God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him."
God wants to bless his people because he wants them to be a blessing to the nations. That's why we pray that God would bless us, not for ourselves, but for the sake of the nations.
Bay Area is presently involved in this cross-cultural outreach in Nigeria, Indonesia, Poland, and Malaysia. We are also privileged to be domestically involved through Campus Crusade for Christ, Great Commission Ministries (CGM), Navigators, Officers Christian Fellowship, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Young Life, Metro MD/Youth for Christ, Good News Prison Ministry, Clapham Institute, SPAN (Severna Park Assistance Network) and Bethany Christian Services.
As the church in Antioch did in Acts 13:1-5, we have seen God set aside men and women from this church to go into parts of the world where the name of Christ is not yet known. Bay Area Community Church believes that this pattern of sending our own is a biblical one and involves training them to effectively proclaim the gospel of Christ, wherever God is leading them to go. Our missionaries, having been sent out, have a strong sense of responsibility to the leadership of this church and the Compassionate Outreach Team (COT). As Paul and Barnabas returned to report all that God was doing in the midst of their going, our supported missionaries frequently communicate with the church regarding what God is doing and how we might better pray for them and the area in which they are serving. We look forward to their visits home to see and hear firsthand about some of the lives touched through these extensions of Bay Area's outreach. Bay Area also believes that the work of missions must be supported financially. Paul urged the church at Corinth to follow the example of the churches of Macedonia in giving to the work of the saints in other parts of the world (2 Corinthians 8 & 9). Therefore, as good stewards of the gifts God has entrusted us, Bay Area sets aside every week a generous portion of the offering both for ministry in the United States and to the ends of the earth. Prayer under girds our support of the work of our missionaries (Colossians 4:2-4). We recognize that while not all of us are called to go to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8), we as a body must be praying for those who do, trusting that God's Spirit will enable them to do the work He's prepared for them to do! Our missionaries send regular prayer updates to the COT and their supporters via e-mail and general prayer letters. We hold periodic intercessory prayer meetings and nights of prayer and praise to lift up these concerns corporately.
With so many needs all around us, why should we go to other nations?
We ask that question because we misunderstand God's heart and plan for the nations. God has a heart of mercy toward all peoples. Romans 15:8-9 says, "I tell you that Christ became a servant…in order that the nations might glorify God for his mercy." Jesus Christ became a servant who suffered and died that all the nations would glorify our merciful God. "Nations" refers to the ethnic people groups around the world. Revelations 5:9 puts it this way, "You were slain and by your blood you ransomed men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation."
If God has a heart for every nation and Jesus died that the nations would bring God glory, how can we be indifferent or question going? And if God's heart and plan isn't convincing enough, we have Christ's direct command…"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:19). That means taking the Good News to our friends and to Jos, Nigeria. Making disciples in our neighborhoods and in Indonesia. Planting churches outside the Greater Annapolis area and in Poznan, Poland.
That's our heart... to see lives transformed from here to the nations by growing mature disciples and planting healthy churches.
Why go? Because of God's heart of mercy in sending Christ to die for the nations. Because of Christ's command to go!
Can you imagine a more compelling reason?
At Bay Area, we want to be a church that sends out missionaries without neglecting the needs of our own families and friends...a church that evangelizes our own neighborhoods while not ignoring the rest of the world.
"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"~Revelations 7:9-10
One day we who have trusted Christ for salvation will spend eternity worshiping Him with people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. In the meantime, He's given us the command and privilege to share the Gospel around the world.
Bay Area challenges you to consider the many verses in the Bible which speak of the nations, and to get involved in God's global purposes through prayer, serving, or going yourself!
Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.~Psalm 96:3