Career Missions Policy at Bethlehem

Author:

- Various

Priorities in Career Missions

The most measurable goal Scripture gives us for accomplishing the Great Commission is that of discipling "peoples". We are commanded to disciple all the peoples of the world (Matthew 28:18). We are promised that the gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). It has been revealed to us that when all is said and done there will be men and women worshiping the Lamb from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues (Revelation 7:9); for Christ has purchased for God with his blood individuals from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Revelation 5:9).

Therefore, although we must wholeheartedly continue to multiply churches within people groups where an evangelizing church has already been planted, we must also be vitally concerned about planting churches where Christ has not yet even been named in a culturally relevant manner (Romans 15:20). Since we are specifically told that the Great Commission will only be fulfilled when some from EVERY people are won to Christ, therefore a special focus on penetrating unreached people groups is warranted.

A. Types of missionary outreach:

Church planting: the establishing of local, indigenous churches characterized by true worship of God, effective biblical nurture of believers, and evangelization of unbelievers, to the end that these churches will reproduce themselves.
Church planting efforts will require an initial evangelistic strategy and a strong, ongoing gospel witness and teaching ministry for the effective building up of a living body of believers. These efforts may encompass such activities as gospel team work, evangelistic Bible studies, literature distribution, evangelistic film and broadcast media, campus evangelism/discipleship, and evangelistic camp work, among other ministries. Each of these activities should have the goal of establishing or building up new local churches.
Strengthening existing churches: equipping and building up existing local, indigenous churches so that they are able to evangelize and reproduce churches among their own people in an effective way.
Efforts to strengthen local churches may include such activities as training national leadership and partnering with Christian nationals in outreach ministries.
Support ministries: providing support services to aid those engaged in church planting and equipping ministries.
Support ministries may include such activities as translation, administration, medical work, aviation, community development and other services.

B. These categories are not meant to convey inferiority or superiority among types of missionary work. We trust that under the Holy Spirit's direction, a healthy blend of diversified ministries will be supported and encouraged.

At the same time, we will seek to plan and strategize so as to focus on areas of missionary activity which seem to be critical from the perspective of world missions at this time in history. For this reason we will increasingly seek to devote the majority of Bethlehem's supported missionary activity to the planting and equipping of churches in both "unreached" and critically needy areas.

Qualifications

Clear profession and evidence of God's saving work; spiritual maturity; consistent Chris tian lifestyle; evidence of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23); continue spiritual growth; modeling the life of Christ (servant spirit, sacrificial spirit, industrious spirit, team spirit, tolerant spirit, prayerful spirit).
Member of Bethlehem and actively involved in the life of the church for a minimum of two years.
Adequate education and training to carry out the proposed ministry. This includes Bible training and cross-cultural preparation and whatever professional training that may be required.
Background of proven ministry experience (including active involvement in evangelism and discipleship and ideally to include an overseas short-term experience and/or crosscultural experience in the U.S.).
Proposed missionary activity is in line with FMC missions strategy and emphases.
Completion of Bethlehem's Nurture Program for Missionary Candidates (see the Nurture Program Handbook for complete Nurture Program description).
Desires to maintain strong relationship with Bethlehem members and leadership, and will abide by any guidelines for correspondence and periodic review of ministry.
Reflects character qualities of I Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:6-9.
Acceptance by a FMC approved mission agency.
Physically, emotionally and mentally fit. Successful completion of any psychological testing which Bethlehem and/or approved mission agency requires.
Strength of marriage and family relationships/acceptance of singleness.

Note: In recent years owing to the grace of God there has been an abundance of candidates from Bethlehem and the FMC has not been able to consider financial support for non-Bethlehem candidates.

Occasionally, candidates come to Bethlehem already under appointment by a mission agency and feel led to make Bethlehem their church home. In such cases, the Foreign Missions Committee will still require membership and active involvement in the life of church for two years along with the above qualifications before they will consider the possibility of financial support.

Bethlehem's Relationship With Mission Agencies

A. The relationship between Bethlehem Baptist Church and mission agencies is basically one of mutual cooperation, responsibility, and purpose. The mobilization of resource personnel and finances, and the matching of them with effective ministries require synchronized efforts of both the church and the agency.
The mission agencies are accountable to the local church regarding the utilization of resource personnel and finances that emanate from the local church. They are also accountable for assuring that Bethlehem missionaries receive the best possible guidance for the proper use of their gifts, experience, personalities, and training.
Bethlehem is accountable to the agency to prepare and equip candidates to the best degree possible, including the areas of Christian life, personal relationships, basic Bible training, and ministry experience.
When a Bethlehem member becomes involved with an agency, the church has a serious responsibility to work in cooperation with that agency to assure the best possible preparation and placement for the candidate.
Every missionary should have responsible oversight while on the field. In the case of Bethlehem members, the church is responsible to provide that oversight or to see that it is adequately provided. Realizing that the local church is not in the best position to administer on site oversight, counsel, personal care, discipleship, encouragement and evaluation, these responsibilities will normally be entrusted to the agency. Another aspect of the responsible oversight is commitment. Bethlehem Baptist is committed to every one of its missionaries and has a keen sense of responsibility toward them. This includes attempting to do our share in seeing to it that all their needs are met: physical, emotional, spiritual, and ministry needs. Even though the church cannot provide adequate oversight on the field, Bethlehem wants to stay abreast of the lives and ministry of the missionary family.
Each missionary shall operate under an approved agency. If a missionary changes agencies, he/she must gain prior approval from the church. Advance notification must be given to allow Bethlehem to evaluate the agency and the specific ministry involvement. If this is not done, support may be terminated. This applies to members and non-members alike.

Based on the above, the following are criteria for the evaluation of agencies through which missionaries or projects are supported by Bethlehem:

The Foreign Missions Committee is convinced that missionaries are more effective in ministry and more adequately cared for when working under an established sending agency; therefore, it is our policy not to support missionaries who are independent of such sponsorship and direction.
The agency's overall goals and doctrinal statement should be consistent with Bethlehem's.
The agency should be a member of the The Mission Exchange (formerly known as EFMA) or CrossGlobal Link (formerly known as IFMA) and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). If it is not a member, approval will be based on evaluation of the agency by the Bethlehem Foreign Missions Committee and unanimous recommendation by the Committee.
The agency should have a clear policy toward the national church of the countries in which its missionaries are sent which provides for development of national leadership and missionary sending from the national church.
The agency should provide responsible oversight for its missionaries. Such oversight includes care for spiritual, physical, and emotional needs, guidance in goal-setting, and administrative oversight for the work on the field.
The agency should demonstrate cooperation with other like-minded agencies at the administrative and ministry level.

Financial Support

Career missionaries, who the Bethlehem Foreign Missions Committee decides to support, will receive financial support based upon the following guide. In rare cases, for specific reasons, the Committee may depart from this guide. It should also be noted this represents a goal which may or may not be achieved due to extenuating circumstances (such as number of people going out at that time; the financial situation of the church; etc.)

A. Pre-Field Funding

Once a person (or couple) comes under appointment of an approved missions agency they can make application to the Foreign Missions Committee for monthly support and if approved the Committee will make available to them monies which can be used to help them through their deputation period prior to going to the field, as the budget allows.

This policy applies only to those being sent out as career missionaries by Bethlehem and who have completed the Nurture Program for Missionary Candidates.
We will not begin regular on-going monthly support of a missionary until the month of actual departure to the field assignment.
Bethlehem will not assist with "start-up" costs in addition to Pre-field Funds described above.
The annual dollar amount of support will not exceed $35,000 per missionary unit per year.

B. Financially supporting a missionary couple when one spouse is not a member of Bethlehem and does not intend to become a member.

Determinations will be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account: meeting BBC’s qualifications for career missionaries; agreement with Bethlehem’s theology/ philosophy of ministry and missions and attitude of the non-member (for example: genuine like-mindedness rather than viewing us as a source of funds; willingness to spend time at BBC to get to know the church and the people).

We will need to early involvement with the couple (as early as feasibly possible) through meetings with the FMC and Pastor Erik Hyatt.

The ideal situation would be to establish a “working agreement” between us; the other church; and the couple so that we would be “joint sending churches.” Pastor Erik, on our behalf, will contact the other church to initiate discussion regarding the establishment of a working agreement. The working agreement would include: mutual understanding of amount of furlough time spent at each church; commitment to communicate with each other news/prayer requests of the missionaries; teaming to jointly meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the missionaries; etc.

Although completion of the Nurture Program is not required for the non-member spouse, the following would be:

Reading Desiring God, and Let the Nations Be Glad.
Completing the Preparedness Questionnaire/Enrich if something similar has not already been done.
The BBC member spouse must have completed the Nurture Program. The nonmember spouse must have completed requirements of his/her home church and be endorsed by that church.
The missionary couple must have a Bethlehem-based Barnabas missionary support team.

The specific recommendations (requirements) may vary a bit depending on the particulars of the situation (i.e., we may ask that a couple stay in the area for a specified period of time).

The primary goal is not to rush a missionary to the field or to arbitrarily delay departure to the field, but to allow enough time to start building a foundation of mutual love, encouragement, and respect between the missionaries and the church that will sustain both missionaries for years to come.

Meeting these requirements the missionary couple could be supported up to 25% monthly support.

Pre-field funds in the amount of $2,200* (over a two year period) would be available, as the budget allows.

Re-evaluation and Termination

It is the Foreign Missions Committee's policy to check annually with the missions agencies to see if our missionaries are adequately supported. Increase in support will be determined by the need of the missionary and our ability to meet the need, considering the total foreign missions budget.

A standardized questionnaire will also be sent to each missionary or couple. Increases in support, when given are determined when the annual budget is prepared.

Re-evaluation of continued support will be done by review of the Foreign Missions Committee at the time of any of the following incidents in a missionary's life:

Change in the nature or location of ministry.
Change of missions agency/organization.
Retirement.
An extended furlough.
Problems which interfere with the missionary's ability to perform normal missionary responsibilities.
F. Change in Church membership

Fund Raising at Bethlehem

Once a missionary has been formally appointed by an approved mission agency as a career missionary or accepted as a short-term missionary, they are eligible to make application to Bethlehem's Foreign Missions Committee for financial support. Their application will be reviewed by the People Sub-committee, who will then interview them, and make a recommendation to the Policy & Finance portion of the Foreign Missions Committee. The Foreign Missions Committee will vote and, if accepted, will determine the amount of financial support which will be allotted from Bethlehem's FMC budget.

The missionary is then free to approach individuals within Bethlehem with whom they already have a personal relationship and invite them to prayerfully consider investing in their ministry.

Missionary candidates will not be permitted to make any mass appeal for funds except under the rarest circumstances and with the approval and guidance of the Foreign Missions Committee.

Many people at Bethlehem are already supporting one or more missionaries in addition to their regular giving to the church. Others have decided to invest all their giving in the over all missions and outreach budget of the church, knowing that about 31 cents of every dollar goes toward the total missions program of the church (home, urban and foreign missions). However, there are people in a position to invest in a new missionary and they are looking for someone who has taken their preparation seriously and has passion, vision, and a proven track record of ministry.

Expectations

Often our missionaries have asked us if they are doing everything that we desire of them. Sometimes our missionaries are not sure how we perceive our role and what they can expect from Bethlehem. What follows is an attempt to clarify these expectations.

A. What Should A Missionary Expect From Bethlehem?

Prayer Support--We will continually work at encouraging our people to pray for our missionaries.
Financial Support--We will pay on a regular basis what we promise to a missionary unit for the length of his/her term. At the end of that time an evaluation will be made by both parties to see if we want to continue in this relationship. If there is a change in ministry and/or location, an evaluation will be made if we want to continue to support this ministry. In the event that the overall fiscal situation of the church dictates that regular payment of financial support must be altered, we will communicate that information in a prompt and timely manner.
Consistent Communication--We will attempt to keep our missionaries up to date on what is happening at Bethlehem.
Practical Assistance--If a missionary needs housing, transportation, furniture, etc., while he/she is in our area or other kinds of need while on the field, we will attempt to meet those needs through their support team.
5. Team Relationship--We want to be viewed as part of the team behind our missionaries. They can expect us to have a concern for them and for their ministry. We desire an openness on both our parts. We want to continually develop the attitude of a team ministry that results in a closer relationship.
Report to Foreign Missions Committee--Our missionaries can expect to meet with the Committee whenever they are on home ministry assignment.
Report to Church--We, in conjunction with the missionary's support team, will assist returning missionaries in lining up speaking engagements in the church to share about their ministry.

B. What Should We Expect From Our Missionaries?

We would like to have close communication with our missionaries. We believe we should hear from them at least quarterly in one form or another (e-mail or hardcopy updates). It is our desire to know how their ministry is progressing as well as how they are doing personally.
As part of the team, we would like to be informed of any changes in plans for ministry and/or location.
In order to help us better plan for a missionary being in our area, we would like to know as soon as possible when he/she will be with us.

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