Southern Methodist Foreign Missions
Because of what Christ has done and in obedience to His direction as commanded in the Great Commission, the purpose of The Southern Methodist Church Foreign Missions, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, is to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to those who have not heard in their own language, and to establish them in the faith, to the end that they become disciplers of others.
Southern Methodist Foreign Missions helps the congregations of The Southern Methodist Church fulfill the Great Commission task by:
- Increasing foreign mission awareness and enthusiasm among the members.
- Guiding the members to participate in missions through finances, prayers, and personal activities.
- Recruiting new workers for the field.
Southern Methodist Foreign Missions further serves as a liaison between the congregations and the missionaries.
(See The Discipline ¶102, Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, John 20:21, Acts 1:8)
The vision of Southern Methodist Foreign Missions is:
- That all missionaries be engaged in reaching the unreached people groups around the world.
- That all members of Southern Methodist churches be involved in Foreign Missions.
- That missionaries share with the churches the lessons learned on the field.
The Southern Methodist Church seeks to do all things rooted in the Word of God, for the glory of His name and for the transformation of people’s lives. Therefore, we are driven by the following core convictions:
- Our God is a missionary God, and His desire is to see His glory spread among all peoples.
- Missions is driven by the Great Commission.
- The local church should be active in sending out, sustaining, and caring for its members serving cross-culturally.
- Prayer is a vital work of international missions.
- Priority should be placed on unreached and forgotten peoples.
- Missions should occur within a team context.
- Theology matters when multiplying disciples and churches.
- High value should be placed on both the progress of the mission and the ongoing spiritual renewal of the worker.
- The local church should live and give sacrificially so that all peoples may have an opportunity to be transformed by the gospel.
Classifications of Global Workers
(For the security of our global workers, we do not list their names and locations where they are serving.)
Missionary
The primary goal of the missionary’s calling should be the salvation and discipleship of lost humanity. While the missionary may have abilities for defined ministries such as teaching, literacy, translation, medical, maintenance, etc., his ultimate goal shall be to provide others with a strong, scriptural foundation through the teaching, preaching, and living of the principles of God’s Word. All Southern Methodist Foreign Missionaries must be sent out under an approved sending agency
Ministry Partner
A Ministry Partner has fulfilled most, but not all, of the requirements to be a Southern Methodist Missionary. A Ministry Partner may not meet educational requirements, ministry assignment requirements, or other prerequisite requirements as outlined in the Southern Methodist Foreign Missions Policy Handbook, but can still be eligible to be a Ministry Partner if he has fulfilled most of them.
International Ministry
An International Ministry is a theologically like-minded ministry located outside the borders of the United States and may include a pastor, an evangelist, another Christian worker, a church, a definable group of churches, or a denomination located outside of the United States that has at minimum a Memorandum of Understanding with The Southern Methodist Church. The International Ministry may also have a member of the clergy of The Southern Methodist Church as its leader. International Ministries are not formal works of The Southern Methodist Church as the denomination is not incorporated outside of the United States
For more information, contact the Foreign Missions Office at 803-268-1353 or by email at office@smcmissions.org.