MISSIONS' MINISTRY

We believe that the church exists to make disciples of all nations.  Presently, we have missions involvement in East Timor, Cambodia, Thailand and China.  We are also involved in local missions involvement in Australia. 

Frequently Asked Questions on Missions

1. What is our primary focus on mission works?
2. What is the general policy governing support for different mission projects?
3. What is the process for the adoption of mission projects?
4. Who can propose mission projects for adoption?
5. What are our existing mission projects in FCC?
6. Where do we get the funding for the projects?
7. What about our focus on local mission projects?
8. Who forms the missions committee?
9. What do we hope to see in the future?

1. WHAT IS OUR PRIMARY FOCUS IN OUR MISSIONS WORK?

It is our desire to build disciples who are committed to the fulfillment of the Great Commission – both locally and globally.  There are some distinctive in our approach that is aligned to who we are and what we are about as a church.

The purpose of FCC is to multiply intentional disciple-making cell churches that love God passionately and love people practically.  This same purpose is adopted in our missions endeavor.  In the light of this, the three primary focuses of our missions are:

• Training & Equipping of Indigenous Pastors and Leaders
• Planting of Intentional Disciple-making Cell Churches
• Addressing of Systemic Poverty in order to achieve the above

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2. WHAT IS THE GENERAL POLICY GOVERNING SUPPORT FOR DIFFERENT MISSION PROJECTS?

There are basically 4 Categories of Missions Projects in our Missions Matrix.  They are:

 

The guiding principle in the categorization of the projects is based on: 

The higher the level of accountability is; the higher the level of support will be – financially and pastorally.  This is how it will look:

Church Adopted Projects are projects that are fully adopted and commissioned by the Church corporately with the agreement of the ELT.  Projects of this nature will be fully supported financially and fully accountable pastorally.  The projects can be in partnership with other organizations and churches but FCC will have direct ownership of the project in terms of input into the direction and the operation of the project.  Examples of such projects will be our East Timor Village Adoption or the Cambodia Bible Training School.  70% of our mission resources can be utilized for this category.

Church Supported Projects are projects that are supported by the church but done through another mission agency.  In this case, FCC may not have direct input into the direction and operation of the project but the ELT is in support of the project.  An example of this category will be when we second and support a church member to work in YWAM for one year.  15% of our mission resources can be utilized for this category.

Church Endorsed Projects is when we agree to participate or support on a project by project basis.  We endorse the project and give partial support to it because we believe that it is a good and necessary project that fits into the scope of our missions work.  Examples of this could be when we choose to support the feeding project that Eagles Missions has for the poor in the city.  Once that particular project is over, our support or participation can cease.  10% of our mission resources can go to this category.

Finally Personal Involvement Projects are projects that some individual member of the church may bring to our attention.  If the project is something that is in line with the scope of our missions work, the Missions Committee can propose to give a one-time gift to support the project.  An example of this could be a one-off gift to Barnabas Fund to help the persecuted Christians in Orissa.  5% of our mission resources can be set aside for this category.

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3. WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR THE ADOPTION OF MISSION PROJECTS?

For a project to be adopted, a few factors need to be in place:

• There must be a project on the field of choice that fits the scope of our missions focus.
• There must a viable partner/s on the field that is able to implement the project.
• There must be willingness to co-own the project in terms of input towards the direction and operation.
• There must an agreeable strategy and process that all parties can agree on.
• There must be a definitive outcome for the project.
• There must be a feasible budget that the church is able to support for the project.
• There must be an agreement at the ELT level to formally adopt the project

As a general principle, we believe in divine appointments and we want to trust God to allow our paths to cross with key partners in different nations that God wants us as a congregation to focus on.  Thus far, all our existing projects are results of divine appointments that God gave that ultimately gave birth to these projects.

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4. WHO CAN PROPOSE MISSION PROJECTS FOR ADOPTION?

Any members of the Church can propose feasible projects that meet the criteria for consideration of adoption to the Missions Committee.  This usually happens after an exploratory trip has been done to assess the feasibility of the project.  However the final decision to adopt or not adopt the project rest with the ELT.

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5. WHAT ARE OUR EXISTING MISSION PROJECTS IN FCC?

At the moment, we have 4 country focuses namely; East Timor, Cambodia, Philippines and China. 

In East Timor, we have adopted a village called Kamalerera under the umbrella of the Love Timor project which is a global cooperative effort to bring transformation to East Timor.  We have Field Workers Agung and Andry who are working in that village.  This year, we are beginning to see the fruit of conversion taking place in this village and a cell group is been birthed.

We have a Bible Training School in Cambodia which is partnership between FCC/Arrows/Bible College of Western Australia and Pastor Bien’s organization called PCL.   We graduated our first batch of 26 students last December and we are preparing to take in the next batch of students in October 2010.

In Cambodia, we have also adopted Roong Village in Takeo for church-planting.  Thus far, we have many teams that have reached out to this village and a church of about 70 people has started to gather in the village weekly.  We are in the process of putting up a church/community hall to serve the village more effectively.  One of our graduates from our Bible Training School; Pastor Monet will be stationed in Roong Village to become the Resident Pastor of that village church.  Once this is done, this will be our first overseas church-plant.

In Philippines, we have just started working on building a new Bible training School to train pastors and church-planters for the Muslim area of Mindanao.  We are working in partnership with Pastor Sharon Tan from Grace Community in Cebu City and also New Life Fellowship in Fremantle.  This school will be similar to the school in Cambodia.  We trust that we will be able to develop new partnerships for church-planting in Mindanao through our students in the training school in due time.

In China, we are still in the process of seeking feasible projects to adopt for long term involvement.  We are trusting God to give us divine appointments in this nation because there are many of our church members who are passionate about working in China.

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6. WHERE DO WE GET THE FUNDING FOR THE PROJECTS?

Basically, our entire budget comes from the tithing of the church collection weekly to the work of missions.  There are also some funds that come from the designated giving of the members to specific projects in our different country focus.  This gives us an annual mission budget of about $120,000 this financial year. 

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7. WHAT ABOUT OUR FOCUS ON LOCAL MISSION PROJECTS?

We also believe that missions can be done locally.  As such, we also seek out local partners to develop local missions work. 

Thus far, we have supported many local organizations within the congregation and without; including YWAM House-Helps, Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Box Project, Eagles Mission, Balga Children Outreach, Harvest International, Bible Colleges of Western Australia, International Justice Mission, Not For Sale etc.
Next year, we are also exploring with YWAM to do a Suburb Outreach with a suburb near us.  Together with the YWAM International Teams, we will pick a suburb to saturate and reach out to with the gospel.  This is still in the workings and more details will follow…

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8. WHO FORMS THE MISSIONS COMMITTEE?

At the moment, the following are in the Missions Committee:

• Kwan Yew Beng(Chairman/Philippines)
• Elder Peter Ng (Advisor/Cambodia)
• Janice Nadason (Secretary/Cambodia)
• Pastor Jeffrey Ang (East Timor)
• Duanne Salim (East Timor)
• Michael Soon (Member)
• Danny Tang (Member)
• Pastor Peet Palm (Local Missions)

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9. WHAT DO WE HOPE TO SEE IN THE FUTURE?

We want to see mission involvement becoming an intentional part of our discipleship journey.  For this to happen, we will have to place missions before the eyes of the people constantly. 

This can happen by having more frequent trips to our adopted fields and hearing more praise reports from teams coming back throughout the year that will inspire others to jump in. 

The annual mission month will only become a teaser for the church at large but the inspiration towards mission involvement can come through separate mission gatherings around the country of choice.  A newsletter for missions can be developed over time as well to keep the information for missions flowing in the church. 

Our ultimate desire is to see every cell group adopting a country focus for mission involvement in prayer, giving as well as going. 

Let us continue to join hearts and hands to bring this Great Commission Dream to pass!

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