Missions of Grace

"The heart of Grace Bible Church is missions"

God’s commands are clearly displayed that His glory and His name are to be made known.  Missions are given to the church that we may be part of His sovereign plan to proclaim His glory!  Grace Bible Church of Hollister is committed to the preaching of the gospel with the belief that God will save lives for His glory.  Grace Bible Church is committed to the discipling process in order that those who God saves may progress in their sanctification for the purpose of God’s ultimate glory.  Grace Bible Church is committed to the training of the young and old in Christ for preparation of sharing God’s glory to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.  And we are committed to the giving of finances, time and effort for God’s glory to be proclaimed to all nations.

God loves the world, God has unlimited resources to reach the world, and God channels these resources through His people.  One way we embrace these resources and God’s purposes for them is through an active and engaged Missions Committee. It is our desire to be faithful to the Lord’s Great Commission, (Matthew 28:16), and participate in the work of discipling all nations.

Increase Awareness..."committee also heightens the awareness of missions by increasing our understanding and participation in the Great Commission"The committee corresponds with our missionaries and keeps the church body informed of their physical and spiritual needs. The committee also heightens the awareness of missions by increasing our understanding and participation in the Great Commission.  We seek to train, support and send our own people to the mission field (Romans 10:15), as well as missionaries from other ministries where that missional partnering represents compounded opportunities in reaching a lost and dieing world.
Do you have a heart for missions? Are you interested in becoming part of the Missions Team at Grace? The following is intended to introduce you to our vision for the missions program at Grace Bible Church and our guidelines for evaluating ministries seeking our support. Our ultimate goal is to see the Lord glorified as individuals come to know the joy of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
It is in fulfillment of the Lord's commands that we commit our personal service, prayer, and financial support to this crucial task.

We understand the focus of this mission to be two-fold.

1. Baptizing - The work of evangelism, which leads people to publicly identify themselves as followers of Jesus Christ.
2. Teaching - The work of training believers in the whole counsel of God, thus equipping them for the continued work of the Gospel.

A Higher Support to Missionary Ratio

We desire to have a lasting and significant impact on the missionaries we wholeheartedly support, so we aim to financially support a few missionaries significantly, rather than support a long list of missionaries minimally.
Missionary Support"We desire to have a lasting and significant impact on the missionaries we wholeheartedly support"In doing this, we increase the opportunity for the church family to know and have a deep personal investment in the missionary family, facilitating members and friends of our congregation personally assisting missionaries in the field.
This approach also encourages the missionary to be part of our fellowship in a deeper way and while on furlough to nurture that relationship with our church, ministering to us, and being ministered too in return by us. These deeper relationships also promote greater accountability back to the congregation.

Training to Disciple

We place a high value on the missionary who trains faithful men and who will continue the chain of instruction to others. The benefit is Biblical multiplication, the promotion of sound doctrine within the ministry, and it fulfills the Lord’s instruction concerning the work of the church and her leaders.

The Importance of Nationals Over Aliens

We believe those who live and understand a culture are best able to communicate the Gospel to that culture, so we look for opportunities to train and support national workers, though we may never meet them personally. We believe, in general, a trained missionary national can more rapidly and effectively reach the mission field with the least amount of hindrance. When you consider language training alone for a foreign missionary takes a year or more and that national missionaries, (specifically church planters), are more likely to be supported long-term by the people they minister to, the national has a great advantage for the work of the Kingdom of God.

Pursuit of Congregational Opportunities

It is our great joy when members and friends of our church desire to visit and serve on the mission field.  We put great emphasis on encouraging, recruiting, and supporting those who (1) are qualified to serve, and (2) stand to make great spiritual and personal gains by going.
We believe it is our obligation to equip those called for the work of service. And as a local church, we recognize that their life's commitment to missions will provide many spiritual and material returns on this investment.

A Local Church Priority

God has ordained that the Gospel of Jesus Christ should today be preserved and promoted by the church (Eph 3:10; I Timothy 3:15).  Thus our focus will include these affirmations:

• Reaching the local community is the responsibility of the local church, which fulfills its purpose by proclaiming the Gospel and presenting a testimony of love and holiness (John 13:35; I Peter 2:9-10).
• Where no local church exists, the highest priority is to plant one. All evangelism must lead toward this point (Eph 4:11-12).
• Where a sound local church exists on the foreign field, the priority of our missions program is to work hand-in-hand with that church, strengthening its ministry and serving its needs.

The Priorities of Missions Support

Given our desire to be good stewards with the Lord's money, we commit to funding the kinds of ministries that will have the greatest potential long-term return for our investment.  The types of mission activities we seek to support include;

• Church Planting
• Missions encompassing both aspects of the Great Commission
• Ministry Training
• Equipping people within a given culture to either plant churches in that culture, or serve the Lord in the existing churches in that culture.
• Church-Sponsored and/or Church-Benefited Evangelism
• Evangelistic work that takes place with the support of a local church, toward the benefit of the local church, or toward the goal of planting a local church.

Missionaries seeking support from GBC must meet the following requirements:

• An obvious call to the work validated by a local church of like faith
• The spiritual qualifications of a church leader/server (I Timothy 3, Titus 1)
• A completed education sufficient for the work of ministry so as to handle accurately the Word of God
• Be in full agreement with GBC's doctrinal statement
• A commitment to the establishment and edification of the local church as God's plan for ministry
• Be sponsored by a Mission Agency that demonstrates doctrinal and financial integrity
• Be willing to maintain a close   relationship with GBC that will involve regular personal communication and a substantial commitment of furlough time

As a Missions Committee, we exist to make missions an active ministry in the church, which involves the whole congregation.

The Missions Committee evaluates and recommends missionaries for financial support to the Board of Elders. We propose the annual missions budget for the church.

We communicate the needs of the church’s supported missionaries back to the board and the congregation, and educate the congregation on missions throughout the world.

We are also active in recruiting missionaries from our own fellowship, both career and short-term.

If you would like more information about the Missions Ministry here at Grace or would like to be a part of the Missions Team, please contact the church office, (831) 638-1394.

Grace Bible Church
634 Monterey Street
Hollister, California  95023
(831) 638-1394  
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