What should a church do? What should our mission be?

It seems that almost everyone – – even people who don’t go to church or appreciate the church – – has an opinion about what a church should do.

Wouldn’t it make sense to learn what the founder of the church had in mind for the church?

As Jesus ascended into heaven, he left explicit instructions for his followers. He said, “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth“ (Acts 1:8). The remainder of the Book of Acts shows how the followers of Christ carried out His plan.

Those early disciples followed the teachings of Jesus exactly. They witnessed what Christ had done where they were locally and then moved outward for a global proclamation.

If the church is to follow Christ we must seek to take the same local and global focus.

Let me give you some ways we as a church are set up to do local and global missions.

First, we seek to have a budget and a plan that follows the commands of Christ. Each week as you give, your tithes and offerings go to reach locally and to reach globally.

Second, we have begun other campuses of First Baptist Church to reach locally and to reach globally. In the next few weeks I want to describe our campuses and those who lead these groups of FBC.

Third, you have an opportunity to be trained to “Share your faith without fear“ at the end of this month and in September we will work with other like-minded churches to learn to “be witnesses.“

These two training periods, Sunday, July 29, and Sunday, September 9, will give us a starting point for reaching locally.