Outreach
Missiologist Tim Dearborn states: "The church of God does not have a mission in the world; the God of mission has a church in the world." This paradigm shift deeply informs our mission philosophy. Caring for the world, in whatever manner, represents the very heart of God for his whole creation. Mission in all its facets cannot be seen as optional for any believer or any church. Here is another way of expressing it. Our community is fueled by the fundamental convictions that God is always committed to these two agendas:
- the proclamation of his glory to every people group — in life, in word, and in deed; and
- the transformation towards the glory of God in each of his children through our new identity in Christ.
Whichever is the starting point, good ministry and mission will lead a person more profoundly inward into an awareness of God's grace of redemption and adoption, and more powerfully outward into an ever broadening world of servant love and witness to the others.
Another key element is the realization that the church in the rest of the world often has more to teach us than we do them. Our days of "empire thinking" where North America dictates eveything must come to an end. Mutual partnerships that form between equals in the body of Christ make for an entirely different missional context. We are grateful to have such a partnership with the Iglesia Comunitaria Cristiana (The Christian Community Church) in Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic. Through the minsitry of Del Camino Connection and their staff -- Tom & Dee Yaccino -- we are learning what it means to become a more wholistic, missional church here in the US and elsewhere with other sister churches around the world.