Evangelism – the act being a witness by declaring the good news of God’s gracious offer of salvation in Christ to sinners

Discipleship – teaching believers to follow Christ by obedience to His commands and by imitation of His character

Outreach – the efforts of evangelism and discipleship by our local church in our local geographic boundaries and cultural community

Missions – mobilizing physical resources and qualified believers to advance the glory of God in the gospel to all peoples of the world locally, nationally and internationally through the efforts of gospel-witnessing, disciple-making and church-growing

• By studying Christ’s commissions in the Gospels and the accounts of Acts, we conclude that “missions” and “missionary” are extra-biblical terms that must be defined by principles and not clear biblical definition.

• In our study we conclude that three elements must form the basis of missions ministry:

Gospel- witnessing.  We must give the gospel message to all, trusting God for the desired results of conversion.

Disciple-making.  By God’s grace and at His will, converts will be added to the church, taught the doctrine of Christ and encouraged on the path of obedience to Him.

Church-facilitating.  By the work of gospel-witnessing and disciple-making, the church is being enlarged, strengthened and equipped.  This should be a goal of missions work; however, we are not limiting ourselves to new church planting efforts “from scratch,” but rather recognize the ecclesiastical focus of Acts and the three journeys of Paul and his ministry team.

Missionary – a believer, led and gifted by God, who is sent from and/or supported by the local church to witness to the gospel and to disciple believers for the growth or establishment of a local church

Foreign missions – ministry that fits the above definitions that is accomplished outside the United States

Home missions – ministry that fits the above definitions that is accomplished inside the United States

Church planting – an emphasis on the purpose of a missionary’s ministry of growing and grounding the believers, training national leadership, and forming local, autonomous, reproducing, Gospel churches.

Short-term missions – ministry that fits the above definitions that is designed for 2 years or less.