This is part four of a series on how your church can develop a missions program.
We Need to Encourage Our Confidence in the Local Church (Genesis 24: 5-12)
While we are building a compelling missions program, we need to be encouraged on our path of success. When our professional life out-paces our personal life, we bring stress to ourselves and those around us. Here are four means of encouragement:
First, incorporate the people factor. When we spend time with the right people in the right place, we become the right person. Make a list of your closest friends. This reflects where you will be in five years. If you do not like where your friends are taking you, get some new friends!
Get to know other pastors, especially those who have world class missions programs that touch the nations. When you spend time in the presence of greatness, you become dissatisfied with average. You will never change the vision of your church until you have changed the vision for your own life.
Second, involve the promise factor. Abraham said, “God will…send His angel ahead of you.” There are more promises in the Bible than we have problems. Read a Great Commission promise every week.
Third, investigate the profit factor. We need to know the benefits of becoming a Great Commission church. Real motivation comes from proper motives. Once you see what the profit is, you determine the “why” of what to do. God will then show you the “how” to do it. The big question is: Is my whole life built around bringing a bride to Jesus?
Fourth, be inspired through the prayer factor. We need to pray that God will turn obstacles into opportunities. If you are not praying, then either you do not think your cause is God-given or you are overly confident.
James O. Davis,
Founder of the Billion Soul Foundation
© 2009 Church of God World Missions