Matthew 9: 37-38 says, Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” Long story short, the work in front of us is unlimited, but our resources are not. The Faith Missions Committee here at Ridgecrest needs your discernment to help us focus our limited resources toward mission projects that honor the Living God and share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those who don’t know Him as their personal Lord and Savior.
As our Faith Missions Committee started researching mission opportunities, we first had to identify which projects were mission driven (generally externally focused; geared to share the gospel), which ones were ministry driven (generally church family or niche group focused; geared to live out the gospel), and which ones could be considered crossover projects (those that were mission oriented but were also ministry projects that would benefit our church family or a specific group). After doing so, we eliminated those projects which could only be classified as ministry, as there are other teams in our church family that are focused on ministry and our task is to identify mission opportunities that allow our church family to engage in sharing the gospel.
What remains are opportunities that are either purely mission oriented or are considered crossover opportunities, which are focused on sharing the gospel but also have components that are ministry, or support, in nature. These opportunities have been put into a survey format to help us further reduce the list and to focus our attention on those opportunities which are the best fit for our church family. The survey is divided into three sections: 1. Past or Present Mission Opportunities (opportunities in which we have historically participated or in which we are currently participating), 2. New Mission Opportunities (possible new mission opportunities), and 3. Give Us Your Mission Ideas (describe a mission opportunity you would like us to explore).
The Faith Missions Committee will be sharing this survey through presentation at life groups, accountability meetings, church lobby/foyer table, as well as other methods. Our goal is to have this survey available for Ridgecrest members to complete and submit throughout the months of June and July. Survey results will be reviewed by the Faith Missions Committee, with a final list of opportunities being identified during our August 2024 Faith Missions Committee meeting. This final list will then be shared with the church at the accountability meeting following that date.
Be aware that this does not mean that our Faith Missions Committee is not working on other mission opportunities for our church family, which will run concurrently with this survey process. These opportunities include but are not limited to the following: Ridgecrest Love Your Neighbor Sharing the Gospel project (Happening Now), Guatemala Trip (June 2024), All Nations Love Your Neighbor project (kickoff July 2024); and Cru Campus Development project in Fulton, MO (August/September 2024). More information will be forthcoming on all these exciting projects and more!
Please know that just because an opportunity is listed herein does not necessarily mean that we will be moving forward with that opportunity. Likewise, if we missed something that is not listed herein, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we will not being doing that going forward. Our goal is to partner with you to identify a select list of projects toward which we can allocate appropriate resources and accomplish them well together rather than attempting to have a large list of items that we are neither able to manage nor complete in a God-honoring manner. Thank you for your participation and partnership in this process.
Faith Missions Team
