How defining the task shaped our church.

Connection Church Vidalia, GA, was planted in 2015. God has blessed us tremendously since the first Connection Church started in Statesboro, GA, in 2008. Currently, we have a network of nine autonomous churches throughout the state. Our belief is that planting healthy churches that focus on intentional discipleship is the best way to get the Gospel throughout the ends of the earth. Not only is this the biblical model, but we have also seen God's faithfulness throughout this process. Although the enemy hates seeing healthy churches being planted, our conviction is that there is nothing more rewarding and fruitful for the Kingdom than this end.

In 2014, I was introduced to Engage Global, a weekend mission training ministry for the church. The 48 hours I spent at Engage Global rocked my world and my whole perspective on missions. Before, I had a narrow and incomplete view of what "missions" was and what the "task" still is. I never would have thought that one short trip to a missions training would change how I view church planting and God's mandate to extend His glory amongst all nations. Although learning the truth about missions can overwhelm most believers, we had two options. Do we sulk in our disobedience and talk about how unrealistic it is that we - a small church in rural Georgia - can make a global difference and keep focusing on local outreach and beefing up our Sundays? Or do we try to organize everything we do as a church and future church plants in line with God's will and our obedience unto the nations, trusting that He will use our faithfulness? By God's grace, we chose the latter.

My conviction was to set our north star on reaching the nations, that in everything we do, reaching the unreached would be in our DNA. Culture has once been defined as 'what feels normal.'  We often ask ourselves, "How long does it take a person who starts
coming to our church to know about God's heart for the nations and our role in this?" Would it be two years, one year, or six months? We want God's heart for the nations to be so clearly communicated in everything we do; people feel that 'to be a part of
Connection Church Vidalia is to join in reaching the nations.' We believe it is our responsibility to help educate, engage, and provide experiences for our members to help mobilize them. A few examples of how we do this:

Educate

• Children's ministry, where we have missionary highlights and stories on a simple level.

• Youth ministry- time of prayer for the nations and teachings at their level.

• An “equip” class that answers this question: 'How do I know and play my role in reaching the nations'

Engage

• Q & A's on Sundays with missionaries when they are on home assignment.
• Sunday prayer times for our missionaries and the nations.

Engage

• Yearly trips to Engage Global, where we prioritize leaders within our church, potential goers, and people God puts on our hearts.
• A discipleship pipeline specifically for potential goers.

Although these examples are not exhaustive, this is an idea of how seriously we take this mandate. We desperately want to be a church God uses mightily for His Glory amongst all nations. In this effort, it can be easy to look for the magic trick that produces
missionaries.  My challenge to all of you is to consider defining the task for your churches, brothers and sisters. Please do not compare to other churches or be discouraged by where you are or are not in this mobilization process. We serve a big God, and He has a way of doing extraordinary things with ordinary people who love Him and are willing just to be obedient. If you are willing to rise to this challenge, He will use you and your church by God's grace. After all, He's waiting for us to join Him, not the other way around.