RMD Churches Working Together in Missions

One of the greatest joys and benefits of being part of an association of like-minded churches is the ability to work together to accomplish more than we could accomplish separately. In fact, some of the earliest cooperation between Evangelical Free Churches was in the area of overseas missions. That strategic opportunity still exists today as evidenced by several of our RMD churches working together in both Costa Rica and India.

In February and March of this year, a ten-person missions team traveled to India for a combined vision and training trip where we connected with Jonathan Singh and the North India Strategic Alliance. We had pastors and mission leaders from three churches (Bethany - Centennial; Faith – Colorado Springs; Cornerstone – Johnstown). We were also privileged to have our Superintendent Greg Fell and our Director of Church Planting Bruce Redmond join the trip and provide several days of training for many regional church planting leaders of NISA.

We are in the process of building a consortium of RMD churches who will be strategic partners with Jonathan Singh and NISA in India. Today, we have five churches regularly involved (the three mentioned above as well as Northview – Colorado Springs and Living Hope – Grand Junction). WE ARE LOOKING FOR SEVERAL MORE CHURCHES TO JOIN THIS CONSORTIUM! TO THAT END, WE ARE PLANNING ANOTHER VISION AND TRAINING TRIP TO INDIA IN JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009. Please contact me if you would like to find out more about this opportunity.

Another way for RMD churches to partner together is in the area of regular mission trips. Churches that are experienced in short-term trips can invite newer or smaller churches to join them on one of their trips to help the new church get their feet wet with the ministry. This will often lead to the new church establishing their own relationship with the missionary or national ministry and eventually sending their own teams. WE ARE LOOKING FOR CHURCHES ON BOTH SIDES OF THIS OPPORTUNITY, THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO INVITE OTHERS TO JOIN THEM, AND THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO JOIN A CHURCH THAT ALREADY HAS PLANS IN PLACE FOR A SHORT-TERM TRIP. Please contact me if you would like help in establishing these connections.

Mike Harrison, RMD Missions Mobilizer

E-mail: mike.harrison@efca.org Phone: 303-663-0034