Core Values

The Missions Division conducts a careful examination before forming cross-cultural partnerships or sending global workers overseas. A prospective global partner or global worker is evaluated on the basis of their character, ministry competence, and compatibility with our core values.

Our Core Values:

1. Indigenous Leadership Development: Our goal is to facilitate fully indigenous, self-sustaining church planting movements characterized by self-governance, self-propagation, and self-support to the greatest extent possible. To accomplish this, partner with existing indigenous or near-neighbor leaders to run all aspects of church planting ministry (Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23; 20:26-32; Romans 15:18-20, 23). We pursue an approach that empowers indigenous and near-neighbor workers to be the key players in reaching their contexts. Working with young people is essential in developing indigenous leadership since reaching the next generation for Christ is necessary to have a long-lasting impact on a community or people group (1 Timothy 4:12). Whenever possible, we will aim to promote regional collaboration among our fields. Our partners must grow into organizational maturity, demonstrating independent governance and financial accountability.
2. House Church Planting: In the early church, we observe that communities of believers continually expanded and multiplied, reaching vast numbers of people (Colossians 1:6; Acts 2:47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:7; 9:31; 12:24). The early church was determined to empower every member to do the work of ministry so that the growth would remain (Ephesians 4:7-16; 1 Timothy 3). Early believers got the opportunity to meet in homes for bible study, fellowship, prayer, and communion (Acts 2:42-47). House churches allow believers to create grace-focused, close-knit communities where members are mobilized to engage non-Christian culture with the gospel, experience profound spiritual transformation, grow in the knowledge of the Lord and his grace, engage in Christian love, and get an opportunity to lead for God. By emphasizing both the meeting in small groups and the need for expansion, we create an environment where believers rise to the occasion and fill much-needed leadership roles to sustain the movements of God in the long term. It is, therefore, essential for us to promote ever-expanding networks of house churches that focus on evangelism and discipleship.
3. Poverty Alleviation: We want to prioritize our efforts among impoverished people groups. God places a high emphasis on loving and working among the disadvantaged (Isaiah 58:6-7, 61:1; Luke 6:20-21; 14:12-14; Galatians 2:10; James 1:27). It is the responsibility of local churches to be merciful and meet basic needs of those around them. These acts of love adorn the gospel, as believers shine in a dark world and bring glory to God (Titus 2:10; James 2:15-16; Matthew 5:14-16). We want to avoid superficial approaches to poverty alleviation that do more harm than good. We are committed to promoting the holistic and sustainable development of the communities where God has placed us, working among the underprivileged in a way that honors and empowers them toward spiritual, social, emotional, and economic progress.
   
4. Least Reached: Our ministries work among the least reached, which means a low percentage of the population of a people group are followers of Jesus. This definition includes unreached people groups (UPGs, less than 2% believing) and frontier people groups (FPGs, less than 0.1% believing). Throughout our history, we have remained committed to unreached and frontier people groups, and this will continue to be the case as we aim to follow the Apostle Paul’s example, who “aspired to preach the gospel, where Christ was not already named” (Romans 15:20; 10:14-15). The term "Least Reached" is used in this context to expand the scope of our mission initiatives to include fields where the believing presence may be greater than 2% but remains a small minority. These people groups are also in much need of resources and assistance.
   
5. Responsiveness: We will prioritize work among people groups that are responsive to the gospel and bearing fruit. Jesus designed us to bear much fruit in qualitative and quantitative terms (Jn. 15:1-17; Luke 8:4-15; Gal. 5:22-23). It is God’s will for Christian workers to go into his field and reap a harvest of people added to the kingdom (Luke 10:2; John 4:34-38; Galatians  6:9). Although responsible for sharing the gospel all over the world, Jesus’ disciples were to make strategic decisions based on ministry opportunities and responsiveness to the message of the gospel (Luke 10:5-11; 1 Corinthians 16:8-9). Our fields should also track and show measurable evidence of changed lives.
6. Biblical Equipping: We believe all followers of Christ stand under the authority of Scripture since it is the Word of God, who is the “only Sovereign, the King of kings, Lord of Lords” (1 Timothy 6:12-16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17). Therefore, it is of paramount importance for us to protect the message of grace entrusted to us and equip all believers to handle the word of truth accurately for the work of ministry (2 Timothy 1:13-14; 2:15). When we prioritize the study and application of the Scriptures, we expect God to powerfully transform his people and bring about both qualitative and quantitative growth (1 Peter 2:2; Hebrews 4:12).