It's How You Did It!
It’s no surprise - I like local church missions events! The Alliance church I grew up in had a fabulous missions heritage of sending, praying, and supporting. It was informational. It was inspirational. It was motivational. And, it contributed to the spiritual formation of the church body, and was developmental in those sensing the Spirit nudge us towards a vocational calling. Every year, multiple times each year, our NCD churches host IWs and promote Alliance missions. Local leaders increase levels of engagement. Local missions teams creatively plan ways of connecting the local church body with individual IWs. Each year, we share some some of these stories in the newsletter. I hope you find these accounts encouraging. Together we celebrate ministries throughout our geography, and around the world!
Church Mission Event Testimonies & Ideas
+Hillside - Vermillion, SD
The most effective connection our congregation had with the Gilberts was at our annual Pumpkin Shoot Out. Over 150 congregation and community members attended. It has long been established that engaging in activities together will deepen a relationship. This event is not wanting for activities. Choose from hayrides, yard games, pumpkin shooting, volleyball, and a bonfire, there is something for everyone. It was a big event with many small settings. The Gilberts were able to circulate around these settings and meet different groups of the congregation while participating in fun activities. Chatting with people on the hayride or playing corn hole in the front yard, connections were made on many different levels. This is the opening event for Hillside’s GO Conference. It is intended to be a celebratory ice breaker for our missionary guests. Over the next several days, the Gilberts had common ground with our congregation. Conversations at other events could easily be sparked by talking about the Pumpkin Shoot Out, and then lead into deeper, more informative topics. The Pumpkin Shoot Out is a favorite for our church and we are eager to repeat again next year!
Stacia Buchholtz, Missions Mobilizer
+Riverside Church - Big Lake, MN
In 2012, Riverside Church partnered with the Envision team in Burkina Faso to reach the Dogose people—an unreached people group from the southwest region of Burkina Faso The Dogose are primarily subsistence farmers and religiously Islamic animists. Simultaneous to Riverside’s development of a new partnership, the national C&MA in Burkina Faso sent out Pastor Innocent as a missionary to the Dogose. He and his family were the first believers to go to the Dogose and the first Jesus followers in that region. Pastor Innocent has been, and continues to be, pivotal in reaching the Dogose people. Through the partnership’s development it was determined that caring for the Dogose people’s physical needs as well as spiritual needs was paramount. Given the challenging economic and geographic realities of the region, clean water is always a challenge for those living in much of Burkina Faso. Furthermore, it was made clear that as clean water is provided to challenged areas, spiritual receptivity often improves. With that in mind, Riverside began the ministry strategy of drilling wells and building hangars (that are the beginnings of church facilities). In the last 9 years, there have been 29 wells drilled, 21 hangars built, 2 full ?me pastors launched, and 3 pastors are now in training—including the first Dogose pastor! Most importantly, as a result of the Holy Spirit’s work in hearts and minds, 463 Dogose have come to faith in Jesus. The Joshua Project defines an unreached people group as a people who lack enough followers of Christ and resources to evangelize their own people. The percentage of a population that enables this to happen is 2%. Through God’s blessing of the partnership and work of this region, 1% of the Dogose are now followers of Jesus! May God enable many more Dogose to respond to the greatest Good News in the world and embolden them to share the amazing news of Jesus Christ and His love!
Nate Sickler, Sauk Rapids Campus Pastor & Missions Mobilizer
+Perham, MN
I love having a missionary speak during the church service, but when our people have a one on one conversation with a missionary, then they become invested in their work. Over the past few years, we have been experimenting with a number of ideas regarding missions conference. We have a goal of finding settings in which our people can connect with missionaries relationally. Events that include both the outdoors and food have been the most successful in making this happen. We have also had people simply open up their homes for an evening in which people can come out and meet with our missionaries in a relaxed small group setting. One of my favorite experiences has been to use missions conference as a way to build connections with our local public schools. We have many teachers who want to expose their kids to other cultures and welcome our missionaries to come in and to give a short presentation. We aren't able to talk about Jesus, but it gets us into the schools and opens opportunities for spiritual conversations outside of the school setting.
Michael Bochman, Pastor
+New Song - Grand Rapids, MN
In the past, we have had a "Missions Festival" where we had different families provided food from different cultural and ethnic places where we have CMA missionaries planted (food from around the world). This year, we took a little different approach. We went tropical! It was a fun filled night of all things Hawaii. Hawaiian food was catered by a small food truck and it was simply mouth watering. To advertise for this event, two couples from our church dressed up in floral shirts, flowered necklaces and coconuts. They made a very entertaining, video inviting everyone to join us for a "Missions Luau". When we arrived at church, we were met with lei's, blue punch, hanging botanicals and lots of cute little umbrellas for our drinks. The auditorium was colorfully decorated and even had a photo booth in the corner with all the props, including a large blow-up shark. Gentle music played while people chatted. The mood was set. The food was perfection, but the speakers made it great. A sweet couple from our congregation shared. Both had lost their first spouse to cancer and now counsel people to find health in all areas of their life. They shared personal stories from their lives and left us with a large dose of encouragement moving forward. Chris and Dave Manfred also had a chance to speak. They were so gracious and easy to listen to as they described in detail their mission and calling to a live of servanthood in Cambodia. They are genuine in every sense of the word and we all felt like hiding in their suitcase as they head back to the field. After the speakers were done, we had cupcakes and games. Keith was the "captain" of one team and I (Scotty) was the leader of the other team. Little did we know we were about to enter a poipu eating contest. Detestable. Then we had to build a shelter for our missionaries from anything in the room we could find. Keith's team won; sympathy probably, but we were gracious losers. Our 2nd place award was a can of Spam. It was such a life-giving night. Many connections were made and I just can't wait to see what comes of it.
Scotty Puglisi, Pastor’s Wife
Has your missions team evaluated this year’s events? After reviewing the Missions Engagement Assessment Tool, can your missions team outline 3 areas to increase engagement before your missions event in 2022?
Here are some more ideas from previous years:
Dave Manske
Missions Mobilizer