Zambia Hunt

Every church must determine where their priorities lie in how they will allocate financial priorities in missions work. These priorities should be based on missions theology from which flows missions philosophy. Here is how we have defined our priorities at Kitwe Church.

The Priority Of Career Missions 

Scripture’s most measurable goal for accomplishing the Great Commission is that of discipling ‘peoples.’ 

We are commanded to disciple all the world’s peoples (Matthew 28:18). We are promised that the gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to the whole world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). 

God shows us that in the end, there will be men and women worshipping the Lamb from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues (Revelation 7:9)…because Christ has purchased for God with His blood individuals from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation (Revelation 5:9). 

Therefore, although we must wholeheartedly continue to multiply churches within people groups where an evangelizing church has already been planted, we must also be vitally concerned about planting churches where Christ has not yet been named in a culturally relevant manner – Romans 15:20. 

Types of Missionary Outreach 

Church Planting – The establishing of local, indigenous churches characterized by true worship of God, effective Biblical nurture of believers, and the evangelization of unbelievers, to the end that these churches will reproduce themselves. 

They are strengthening Existing Churches – Equipping and building up local indigenous churches to effectively evangelize and reproduce churches among their people. 

Support Ministries – Providing support services to aid those engaged in church planting and equipping ministries. This may include translation, caring for orphaned and relinquished children, serving those infected with HIV/AIDS, refugee relief, administration, teaching missionary children, medical work, aviation, community development, and other services. However, for such a ministry to be supported by Kitwe Church, it must be demonstrable that such work contributes to church planting and is not simply a humanitarian effort.

These categories are not meant to convey inferiority or superiority among types of missionary work. We trust that a healthy blend of diversified ministries will be supported and encouraged under the Holy Spirit’s direction. At the same time, we will seek to plan and strategize to focus on areas of missionary activity that seem critical from the perspective of world missions at this time in history.

For this reason, we will seek to devote more and more of our missionary activity to the planting and equipping churches in unreached, critically needy areas and areas that are strategic for training the next generation of servant leaders for Great Commission Living. 

OUR MISSION GOAL

Indigenous Ministries – An indigenous ministry is native to or originates naturally in a particular place.  We do not seek to “transplant” churches from one culture into another. Instead, we aim to plant the seed of God’s Word into the local soil of whatever culture our missionaries serve so that the resulting church is both firm in Biblical truth and principle and culturally distinct in its expression of worship and gospel witness.

An indigenous church must be self-supporting, self-governing, self-reproducing, and self-theologizing.  Each local church planted through the ministry of Kitwe church will be an autonomous church when it has reached full maturity.  Christ has promised that He will build His church.  We must do our part to initiate work in new places but not micro-manage the work as God brings it to maturity.  

In keeping with these indigenous principles, Kitwe Church will not simply assist in all requests to fund mission projects.  We will not contribute to the dependency syndrome that plagues most mission fields. Instead, we will strategically choose which missionaries and which local churches to partner with based on our relationship with them and the commonality of our mission principles, policies, and practices. 

Short-Term Missions 

Short-term missions are typically exploratory, not requiring a specific calling to become a vocational or career missionary. For this reason, a person interested in short-term missions still needs the support and endorsement of his home church while investigating his future in missionary service.