Encourager Church
“Our partner churches remind us that we are not alone in the work, help us to feel more and more like an extension of the church and the church’s mission around the world. They help us to think more creatively about how best to communicate our story and work back to the churches. They provide us with a consistent contact for prayer support, [and] they help us stay connected to the churches,” said Larry and Sarah Ballew, CBF representatives in China.
CBF Encourager Churches are an essential component to the work of Fellowship field personnel around the world. Encourager Churches covenant with field personnel in four areas – prayer support, financial support, short-term missions and administrative support. Such a relationship invites the church into a front line role in missions. It returns the church to its historic role in the sending of members of its body into the world as a transformation witness of the presence of Christ.
To facilitate the enhanced role of the local church in the mission enterprise we develop a formal partnership covenant between the field personnel, local churches, and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) Global Missions. We develop this partnership covenant in close consultation with a selected member of the CBF Global Missions Missional Church team. In this partnership covenant relationship, the local church claims designation as the Encourager Church.
Encourager Churches join CBF Global Missions as an active agent in the sending and supporting process. It is a substantive commitment. We express the four covenant areas as follows:
- Prayer Support: Encourager Churches covenant to integrate prayer requests from the CBF field personnel into the prayer life of the congregation.
- Short-term Missions Support: Encourager Churches covenant to arrange short-term mission opportunities for individuals and teams in their congregations, as possible, to help address the short-term needs emerging from the ministry of the CBF field personnel. This happens in concert with the CBF short-term missions program facilitated by Chris Bolton. CBF Global Missions will provide Encourager Churches with resources in the form of manuals, web resources, training options, and/or ministry consultations to help ensure effective short-term support and ministry opportunities.
- Financial Support: The Encourager Church participates in the financial support of the CBF field personnel and/or their ministry expression. In some cases, the Encourager Church will provide the primary financial support for the CBF field personnel. In other cases, the Encourager Church will provide some level of financial support, while joining with other congregations and organizations to provide the balance of the needed financial support. CBF field personnel may also be tent-makers, meaning they will have employment that provides their primary financial support. In these cases, the Encourager Church might contribute toward one or more of the project needs related to the ministry expression of the CBF field personnel. Together, we identify the level of financial commitment to the CBF field personnel, and/or their ministry, during the covenant development process. CBF Global Missions maintains financial and ministry accountability by employing such self-funded personnel and relating such tent-maker CBF field personnel to the Global Missions team structure and accountability system. CBF also provides access to financial mechanisms that facilitate the effective transfer of funds internationally.
- Administrative Support: There are several different ways an Encourager Church provides administrative support for the ministry of CBF field personnel. The Encourager Church might serve as the conduit for the mailing of the CBF field personnel’s newsletter and/or website. Likewise, the Encourager Church might provide some other form of administrative support that would be required for the specific mission ministry expression of the CBF field personnel.
It is apparent in the descriptors noted above, that the relationship between the CBF field personnel and Encourager Churches is an intimate one. While the covenant demands are significant, the potential positive impact on the mission life of the congregation is even more profound. It brings those in the pew into the living expression of global missions. The Encourager Church role helps to empower local congregations to discover and fulfill its God given mission.
Download an encourager church description. If you would like to ask further questions before becoming an encourager church, contact Karen Gilbert at (800) 352-8741.