Our aspiration as a church here at Widcombe is to be a Missionary Sending Community. We desire to equip, send and support missionaries to serve the Lord in long-term Mission at home and abroad.
In particular:
We want to equip and prayerfully and actively support those whose call we have recognised and whom we have sent out from the church.
Our Objectives:
- We want to encourage a new generation of disciples to serve in long term Mission at home and abroad.
- We want to encourage individual members of the Church Fellowship to see themselves as active senders of missionaries and to involve themselves as supporters of those we have sent through prayer, communication and other practical means.
We see Mission as a distinctive component of our outreach generally but we wish to dispel any suggestion that only those sent out by the church as missionaries work in a mission field. We firmly believe that all disciples have a mission field within which they are called to witness. However we believe that as a Church Fellowship we have a particular responsibility individually and corporately to support those that we have sent out as missionaries.
Is it just supporting our missionaries?
Clearly we want to support those missionaries that we have sent out but we believe our support for Mission should extend beyond this to other missionaries and missionary organisations. The scope of our vision includes:
- Workers who are serving in strategic cross-cultural situations in the UK to whom we have pledged support
- Missionaries whom we have sent out overseas on a long term or short term basis, including tent makers
- Unreached areas and ethnic groups that God leads us to support
- Other Mission endeavours that God may bring within our vision
How do we make this happen?
We have a Missionary Council which comprises a group of Church Members appointed by the Eldership operating under the chairmanship of an Elder. The role of the Missionary Council can be expressed in summary as:
- Promoting, encouraging and communicating Mission vision within Widcombe as widely as possible
- Playing a part in developing and maintaining support for our present and future missionaries
Getting Involved – Our missionaries need YOU
It is our conviction that each member of the Church Fellowship is called to serve in Mission either as a GOER or as a SENDER
This involvement includes:
- Gaining an awareness of our missionaries’ circumstances
- Praying for our missionaries
- Participating in the work of Mission