Ask God to raise up those at Providence (of whatever age) with a heart to labor for His harvest
Serving in Cherokee (Scott & Ruth Hill / Norman & Julie Beck):
Carol's experience assisting in the kitchen
Areas of potential assistance:
Church planting efforts
Follow-up events (cookouts, etc.) with members of community they've helped
Financial support (Hill's down $250/mo.)
Set up a meeting w/ the Hills?
Reminder: MTW's "1% prayer" for November
MTW Worldwide Mission's Conference
Nov 10-12 (Fri-Sun), 2017 in Dallas, TX (mtw.org/gmc)
Discussion about someone attending?
Conf. Cost = $199 (if register by 7/31). About $800 available in the budget.
Finalize criteria to assist in selecting missionaries to support: Note that we are NOT saying that all these criteria must be met. We will ask the Holy Spirit to use these criteria to guide us in deciding upon missionaries to support (example: even though we may list MTW as a criteria, that doesn’t mean we would only look at MTW missionaries - it would just give a more favorable rating in the area of support agency).
Doctrinal alignment: we should have assurance that the missionaries are well versed in the Gospel of Grace, aligned with solid Reformed principles, and possess God-given gifts to communicate His Word (note that this is the top criteria)
Commitment to proclamation: should be committed to the clear proclamation of God's Word. This includes evaluating giftedness and the ability of the missionaries to effectively communicate with their target audience (e.g. language considerations).
Mission driven: Driven with zeal to carry out the Great Commission.
Serve as a part of Mission to the World: by supporting MTW missionaries, we can have some level of assurance that they are well vetted, trained, and already in line with most of our goals (e.g. dedication to building the Kingdom through the local church)
Opportunity for direct involvement by Providence: With geographic considerations and the type of ministry in mind, we would like a way to support through direct involvement (e.g. use of gifting at Providence, short-term missions, etc.)
Commitment to church planting: clear path to integrating people into the Church, and a clear plan for discipling them. This means that the missionaries hold to the centrality of the local church as the instrument for advancing God's Kingdom.
Commitment to national Christian leadership: Shows desire and/or plan for the church to be led by local believers, rather than by the missionaries themselves.
Commitment to caring for the weak, poor, and vulnerable
Meeting a significant area of need: missionaries meet a critical need, which, apart from their work, would result in a significant loss of Christian witness and church building (there are times when this item may raise to nearer to the top of the criteria, because the missionaries, while NOT meeting a number of the other criteria, facilitate the clear building up of the body of Christ because they are addressing a specific shortfall in an area - e.g. theological education, translation of God's Word, caring for pastors in an area experiencing moral downfall, etc.). Generally, this would need to be fairly significant, though, for us to choose this over other criteria.