4 Ways to Unite Your Local and Global Missions Strategy

Anna Price • Jan 25, 2018

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 is a common verse in the missions world , used to encourage every Christian to take the Gospel to their Jerusalem (local city), Judea and Samaria (region), and the ends of the earth (world).

But with limited time and resources, this mission can seem like more than we can handle. Churches often start asking, “Should we focus on local or global missions?”

In answering this question, many churches decrease their global impact, fulfilling only part of the command God gave to take our witness to the nations, and dividing the world into unhelpful us vs. them categories.

How do we combat this? Read on to find four ways we’ve seen churches reach here AND there to make a deep impact in bringing hope to the nations.

1. Remember our mission is given by an infinite God.

This question is born out of a practical need — as finite beings with limited resources, we can choose between local or global ministry out of fear that we can’t do both. But this mindset forgets Who we serve.

The mission laid out in Acts 1:8 cannot be completed with our resources alone. It requires belief that the One who has given us this mission will equip us to fulfill it. It requires a reliance on the Lord as we seek to fulfill what He has called our congregation to do. It requires faith that God will provide the time, the people and the finances needed to share the Gospel near and far.

“Our missionaries shouldn’t be the only ones having to step out in faith,” says Steve Beirn, author of Well Sent .

So how are we, as the Church, walking in faith to discern what God is calling us to?

2. Connect your global missions strategy to your local missions strategy.

This is perhaps the most helpful move we’ve seen many churches take to destroy the here or there mentality. Explore what God has enabled your church to do in your local community. How have you impacted the people in your neighborhood?

Once you’ve defined how God has specifically equipped and unleashed your church locally, search for ways to share impact with other people groups and countries.

For instance, if your church focuses on creating a community where everyone feels welcome, search for global ministries and missionaries your church can partner with to help refugees in Europe feel welcome in their new country.

Or maybe your church is just blocks away from a local university, and your congregation loves to see students come to know Christ in a personal way. Your church could partner with ministries like NorteVerdadeiro to reach the future leaders of Europe through a community center and church plant near one of the largest universities in Portugal.

Looking to define your church’s missions strategy? Check out our free resource, Casting a Vision for Missions , that guides your church leadership through creating and executing a strategy.

3. Explore the demographics of your city and region.

As God brings the nations to our doorstep like never before , it is important to understand the changing demographics of your city and allow that to inform your missions strategy. Use websites like Data USA to search your city and find out what countries are represented therein.

Chances are, you’ll find there is an unreached or unengaged people group represented in your city, or close by. What would happen if your church intentionally engaged that people group?

One church found there was a high population of undocumented immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador in their neighborhood. As a part of their local outreach strategy, they began an ESL and citizenship class, building relationships with the students in order to share the Gospel. One of those ESL students became a Christian and began planning to plant a church in his hometown in Mexico, sent and supported by the church.

Another church discovered they lived in an area with a high population of Urdu speakers. They began to pray weekly for the Urdu speakers in their area, including specific cultural facts and prayer requests in their church newsletter. Soon, church members began noticing the Urdu speakers around them and started building relationships with the people for whom they’d been praying.

Eventually, a few members found they loved the Indian Urdu speakers they had befriended and decided to continue the church’s local impact by serving globally in India.

4. Learn from your missionaries.

Your global missions partners have a lot of insight to add when it comes to your local missions strategy. They have likely begun a ministry program from scratch, learned how to transition an everyday conversation to spiritual matters, and made friends with people from other cultures and backgrounds.

Your missionaries can share what they’ve learned with your congregation, by sharing ways they’ve shared the Gospel with their neighbors. They can tell you the best resources to use when starting an ESL class, or tell you how they’ve struck up conversations in the grocery store line that led to friendships.

Your church and your missionaries have the same goal: to see more people come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, so it makes sense to equip one another for the mission.

We hope these tips help your church reflect on your local and global missions strategies, and the ways the two can connect. As we each seek to live on mission locally and globally, let’s continue to pray God will move near and far, here and there.

By Suzanne Pearson 08 Mar, 2024
Through God-ordained partnerships and creative connections, TEAM worker Keith Moore sees the global Church advancing in amazing ways. In the global missions landscape, a phrase that comes up often is “from everywhere, to everywhere.” God is calling His global Church in literal new directions, as He raises up cross-cultural workers to be sent from places that were once on the receiving end of missions work. We call this movement “polycentric sending.” TEAM workers Dawn and Keith Moore have seen first-hand this transition taking place. Their story involves the unlikely but beautiful intersection of Charlotte, North Carolina; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Memphis, Tennessee...and beyond. The Path to Honduras Keith and Dawn joined TEAM in 1991 and served as church planters for nine years in Bogota, Colombia. After safety concerns precipitated their return to the States in 1999, they knew they wanted to continue serving in Latin America. The Moores felt called to Honduras but wanted to connect with a strong missional church to help send them. The Lord orchestrated a collaboration with Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. “Some people asked, ‘Why Honduras? Missionaries have been there for 100 years. It’s already reached,’” Keith says. “But there’s a whole section of Latin America that had not been reached - the upper crust.” Keith goes on to explain that he and Dawn felt called to reach college-educated professionals in Honduras – a ministry vision that resonated with the missional goals of Bellevue Baptist. Impact and Growth With the support of this new church partnership as well as another sending church in Birmingham, Alabama, the Moores embarked on their next adventure. Keith and Dawn started Impacto Honduras Church from scratch, and in less than 20 years, the church grew into four locations with 1600 total members. The Moores and other TEAM workers also created a “Bible school” type training program to help professionals who feel a call to ministry to make that transition. Throughout this period of explosive growth, church partnerships played an integral role. “It’s such a different vision when you have a church that says, ‘OK, this is our deal, we want to make this happen,’” Keith explains. “They helped us with everything. They took away every single obstacle to growth. Every time we needed something, they were there.” In 2017, the Moores once again found themselves on the verge of another decision. Was it time to leave Honduras? “I had no desire to leave,” Keith recalls. “People were coming to Christ every week! It was just so amazing.” However, back in the U.S., Keith and Dawn’s parents were in their 80s and would soon be in need of more care. “We realized that either we would leave in a crisis, or we would leave strategically,” says Keith. The couple began to implement a careful succession plan. By the time they left, the four churches were established with strong, Honduran leadership ready to carry on the work of the Gospel.
By Suzanne Pearson 23 Feb, 2024
Justin Burkholder, pictured here with his wife Jenny and their daughters Isabella, Olivia, and Zoey, has recently been named as TEAM’s next International Director. On February 19, 2024, with much excitement and gratitude to the Lord, TEAM announced that Justin Burkholder will become our organization’s new International Director, effective July 1, 2024. Justin, who is currently TEAM’s Executive Director of Global Ministry, will assume his new role upon the retirement of the current International Director, Dave Hall. ( Read the full press release here. ) We sat down recently with Justin to learn a little more about his background, his family, and the journey that has led him to TEAM. Q: Tell us a little bit about your “origin story” - Where did you grow up? What was your family like? A: I grew up in Mexico City as a missionary kid. My parents were focused on church planting. We were very close as a family. Both of my parents are still alive, and my dad serves as a pastor in southern Florida. I have one brother who is a pastor in Wisconsin, and the most special individual in my family is my sister, Amber. She was born with a very severe case of cerebral palsy and is entirely dependent on my mother...who is extraordinary! The three most impactful forces that have shaped who I am (outside of God’s grace) are growing up in Mexico, having parents who loved and planted churches, and sharing life with someone with a severe disability. My parents belonged at the time to a church and denomination that came with quite a bit of legalism and performance-oriented Christianity. Grace was a challenging concept to grasp. While I had an awareness of my sin and need for redemption, it wasn’t until I attended Moody Bible Institute that I began to grasp the fullness of God’s grace and His delight in His children. I have continued learning and trusting in the Gospel through formal education, like completing my M.Div., and through spiritual practices in community. Learning the Gospel and believing the Gospel has been a daily exercise. The Gospel is as beautiful and multi-faceted as a diamond! At an individual level, it is simple enough for us to live convinced that “Jesus loves me, this I know.” At a corporate level, it becomes the foundation that forms and informs our life as a spiritual family. At a cosmic level, it is redemption that reaches as far as the curse is found. It is hard to even grasp the multiplicity of goodness found in the Good News. Q: Share a little bit about your family life now. What does a typical day look like in the Burkholder household? A: My wife Jenny is my high-school sweetheart! She brings joy and kindness wherever she goes. She’s the best listener I’ve ever met, and we love spending time together. We have three daughters. Isabella is ten, Olivia is seven, and Zoey is four. Each of the girls is unique and has taught us a lot in our process of following Jesus together. We like to go out on walks and go to the park together. Once a month I try to get some alone time with each of my daughters which usually includes bowling or trampolines. A typical day in the Burkholder house starts around 5:00am. Because of traffic here in Guatemala City, we have to leave early for school. After school, the girls come home to different activities - sometimes swimming class, sometimes piano lessons. Four or five nights a week we have dinner together where we usually talk about our high and low moments of the day. On weekends, we enjoy time together, playing outside, or watching sports together. Go Cubs and Go Buckeyes! Q: What are your interests and hobbies? If you have the day off, what are you likely to be up to? A: I enjoy physical activity, running, strength-training and following sports. I also love music and, truth be told, am a bit snobby about my taste in music! I also am a very curious person and love reading just about anything that passes through my hands. A day off is usually an opportunity for time with family. Jenny and I like to cook something interesting together on our days off. Often there is time for some reading and watching some type of athletic event. Q: How did God lead you to TEAM? A: My wife and I were working in the Chicago suburbs. I was a youth pastor and she was a Spanish teacher. When we got married, we had already sensed God’s direction to serve cross-culturally, but it was a matter of discerning when and where. There was a driving desire in me to see a church deeply love the Scriptures and at the same time, be deeply engaged in loving and serving their city and the most vulnerable among them. As God directed our paths, we visited a variety of places and made some friends in Guatemala who opened up the path for us to serve here. While we were exploring, we knew that the International Director of an organization called TEAM happened to go to our church, so I decided I should probably invite him out for breakfast - his name was Charlie Davis. Charlie was extremely thoughtful, passionate about disciple-making, and very gracious in creating space for us as we stepped into this endeavor. Charlie connected me with Steve Dresselhaus, a fellow TEAM global worker who was at that time serving as the Senior Director for the Americas. I cannot express the debt that I owe Steve. He walked closely with me in the transition, encouraged courageous thinking about the church and her role in society, and blasted open the doors for us to serve in Guatemala. After meeting Steve, we spent some days praying about joining TEAM. One thing I will never forget – one night during the process, I found myself wide awake in the middle of the night. A peace like I have seldom experienced passed over me confirming that we should join TEAM. There is no doubt in my mind that God tied all of these pieces together to bring us into the TEAM family and community. Q: What roles have you held in TEAM? What have been the milestones in those roles? A: The most important role I have held in TEAM is that of a global worker. God in His grace has allowed us to help plant two churches here in Guatemala, serve in leadership development, counseling, and discipleship. Our greatest joy has been found walking with those who are learning to follow Christ more deeply. I served as the Ministry Area Leader in Guatemala from 2016 to 2019. We helped to establish and lead this ministry area as it grew from just four global workers to over 15. I then served as Senior Director for Mexico and Central America from 2019 to 2021, Regional Executive Director for the Americas in 2021 and 2022, and then transitioned to the role of Executive Director of Global Ministry which I’ll continue in until the end of June. Q: What do you love most about being a part of TEAM? Why TEAM rather than other organizations or job opportunities? A: The TEAM community is full of people who have faithfully served God’s mission and have given up a lot to do so. It is a privilege to know many of our global workers and be counted among them. I am also fascinated by the fact that TEAM has existed now for more than 130 years! There is something to be said about the resilience and faithfulness of an organization that has continued to impact the world for so long. The rest of our conversation with Justin will be coming soon on blog! We’ll hear more about how God called Justin to the role of International Director, and what Justin sees for the next chapter in TEAM’s work in the global Church.
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