If you're not sure which of the six ways will be your way to obey, take the first step and LEARN about:

• God’s purpose in missions
• What missions have accomplished and the task that remains
• How to communicate Christ’s love across cultures
• How churches multiply spontaneously across regions
  
  

The best ways to begin?

1. Participate in Mission Minded Sundays (special Sunday Adult Bible Fellowship where we focus on Missions)
2. Sign up for an Adult Bible Fellowship “missions” quarter or help teach a missions-focused class to youngsters
3. Explore missions as a Small Group
4. Read missionary biographies, books and magazine articles
5. Talk with missionaries about their ministries
6. Serve on the Missions Committee or a subcommittee (contact Jeff Templeton for details)

In Thessalonians, the Bible tells us to “PRAY continually” and in Philippians “to present [our] requests to God.” It’s clear our God wants and waits for our participation in His grand purpose. Yet, we often fail to come to Him.

Perhaps you and I have just gotten out of the habit. Maybe we have slid into the sin of prayerlessness because we’re too busy, too preoccupied with other things.

The question is… if you have the power to put your requests before God, why wouldn’t you? Imagine one day standing in God’s presence and seeing the impact of your prayers!!

Try praying five minutes a day for five days for one of the missionaries The Chapel supports. Or pray for a country—use the newspaper, Internet, or TV news to pray over events.

In each week’s Sunday bulletin and in the monthly prayer calendar insert, you’ll find prayer requests from our missionaries. 

Think you know what "GO" means? Well, think again. Where going once meant "long-term or no," today, you can go near or far for a week or a lifetime and just about any length in between. For example, you can live in the U.S. and travel back and forth to your country of service a couple of times a year. There’s a tremendous need in missions for all professions. God can use your gifts, your talents anywhere.

Here are just a few of the ways in which Chapel people are "going":

• Evangelizing on the internet
• Local outreach—partnering with OCCDA in its Schools of Hope, Mosaic and special events; Harbor Habitat for Humanity; quarterly Chapel in Action (CIA) events; and Vaction Bible School.
• Short-term trips to Romania, the Gulf Coast, Haiti, Zambia, Japan, Ecuador, Nepal. 
• Intense exploration into adopting a New People Group in which a team is praying, researching and making contacts for anticipated Chapel ministry to an unreached people group (of which fewer than 2 percent know the Gospel).
• People on the cusp of committing major portions of their lives to overseas ministry.

Mission agencies emphasize that the prayer and relationship support of a group at home is just as important as "SENDing" financial support.

The Chapel congregation has given to missions at sacrificial levels since its inception. But of equal importance is the time and effort that goes into meeting missionaries’ needs both on the field and at home.

Today, Timothy Teams go even farther than the Missions Committee’s efforts historically. A Timothy Team (made up of people committed to a particular missionary):

• Provides focused, regular prayer about the missionary’s ministry and personal needs
• Keeps the missionary’s ministry alive before the church
• Assists with things that need to be sent to the field
• Helps in preparation for when the missionary is coming home on assignment

By serving on a Timothy Team you become, by extension, a part of something that’s going on in another part of the world. You become friends and fellow workers with a specific missionary. Further, you reflect for other Chapel goers and the world what Christian community means.

Not all mission fields are overseas. Some people to whom we minister will stay in our backyards, while others may be here only for a time. Both groups give us the opportunity to WELCOME them into our homes and lives and draw them to Christ.

Many foreign nationals come here as students or transfer here as professionals. Their presence gives us a rare opportunity to share Christ because:

• They may be freer to talk about faith and belief here than in their homelands
• Your home or a lunch hour may provide a non-threatening environment in which to talk
• A relationship with you may help them understand the culture and give them an opportunity to practice their English skills
• Your friendship can fill the void loneliness and fear may have created in their lives. Historically, many of these visitors are never invited into an American home.

Refugees and immigrants also present a unique opportunity for welcoming, with their needs for food, housing, clothing, and understanding. Your time and assistance can give palpable proof of God’s love to them.

MOBILIZING is identifying, recruiting, and mentoring those whom God has called to a variety of missions. To take them from “I never thought about missions” to “I feel I’m called” to “I’m on my way.”

There are significant ways in which you can contribute to mobilizing:

• Keep missions before your children or grandchildren as a way in which God may use them in their life’s work.
• Keep an eye out for people that show potential for Kingdom work and let them know what you see in them.
• Fund training for another person to further their preparation for mission. Or fund your own training to that end.
• Be a “resource” in other ways—for example, by connecting candidates with career missionaries or others that can enrich their preparation and service.
• Be a great listener as missions-focused people sort through their excitement and concerns about what they will undertake.

Allow God to use your efforts to reach that “great multitude” that one day will stand before the throne. Help bring an awareness of “His glory” in all the earth!