How We Go
Our Strategy
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
Our strategy is based upon Biblical principles. By leveraging the resources God has given to us, we proclaim the gospel and care for people. The best way that we’ve found to do this is through strong partnerships.
Our Jerusalem - St. Charles
Our Judea - St. Louis and the State of Missouri
Our Samaria - United States and surrounding countries
Ends of the Earth - Overseas focus on UPG’s
We see in Scripture how Jesus provided food and healed many people in addition to providing salvation. Accordingly, our partnerships are aimed at meeting both physical and spiritual needs. We always proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ knowing that will have eternal significance. While caring for people and providing for physical needs, we focus on sustainability and are careful not to create dependency.
We strongly believe that we must use incarnational ministry if we are going to transform people’s lives. Incarnational ministry is consistent, unconditional, and sacrificial. It imitates Christ humbling himself to become flesh and His willingness to bear the sin of the world. It is a commitment to follow the way of the cross and to sacrifice our time for the expansion of the Kingdom. We believe that this type of ministry will bring redemption to our community and spiritual growth to our church.
Our Partnerships
We accomplish our strategy by developing deeply rooted partnerships through our Connection Points and Small Groups. Whether we are partnering with local churches or with missionaries overseas, we are careful not to push our own agenda. Rather, we use the gifts and talents of our members to meet the needs of the long-term strategy of that particular partner. We do this by sending members to serve, creating sustainability, and by praying faithfully.
Strong partnerships unite the body of Christ and enable the gospel to take root and multiply disciples. We do not want to make a habit of taking one-time trips to multiple locations; instead we desire to develop ongoing partnerships in fewer locations with a deeper level of commitment. Our partners include believers, churches, and organizations that share our beliefs, vision, and values.
Our Jerusalem - We will have a strong emphasis in the coming years on our Jerusalem partners, as this has been the area that we as a church have impacted the least. Each Connection Point or Small Group is expected to commit to one of our local partners. We have found it is most effective when a Small Group commits for a year to consistently pray and serve every month as a group. This fosters incarnational ministry, which creates trust, builds friendship, and often provides the best opportunities to share the gospel. Since we have fallen short to consistently serve our community in the past, we must unite together and commit to love St. Charles.
Our Judea and Samaria - Many of our members have a burden for our Judea and Samaria partners and have been serving them for years. We believe that a balanced strategy is necessary and recognize there are great needs in these regions. You can serve anywhere from the government-subsidized housing projects of East St. Louis to the disaster-stricken city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. We serve international students from all over the world as well as widows, orphans, the impoverished, and refugees who are eager to hear the gospel. As the church, we must step up and be Christ’s ambassadors in these regions.
Ends of the Earth - We have a strong Ends of the Earth ministry that continues to develop and includes short-term teams as well as long-term missionaries. Many of our short-term teams are smaller groups that aim to further the long-term strategy of our missionary partners in the field. Ministry on these trips includes evangelism, discipleship, church planting, English as a second language, vacation Bible school, construction, medical work, and leadership training. All of our long-term missionaries are required to go through our Missionary Development Program. They will be supported prayerfully and financially through our sending teams. Please pray that God would continue to raise up laborers to go into the plentiful harvest field.