Distinctives of the Family-Friendly Missions Agency

Family Mission International is actively engaging families arou

Today there are over 620 Protestant missionary-sending agencies in the United States and Canada. They range from huge to tiny, well-established to very new. Most of them have impressive publicity campaigns and many agency representatives. These organizations provide a means of mobilizing missionary efforts around the globe. Sadly though, the efforts of many modern missionary agencies have lost sight of the importance of the family in the cause of world missions. Their focus has been turned toward ministry that does not address the most important issues facing the familyU

There is a crisis in world missions today that is threatening to stunt the growth of the church and limit the penetration of the Gospel. At the heart of this crisis is the family.

Our mission must now be to restore to the Biblical doctrine of missions and our missionary efforts, the central place of the family. This is done as we shift our focus once again to missions by the family and to the family. This can successfully be accomplished as families, churches, and agencies acknowledge the following distinctives of family-friendly missions and align their practices accordingly.

How the Family-Friendly Missions Agency Works:

• Recruits families, not individuals. While singles are also blessed in ministry, they are placed in Family Mission Teams for collaborative ministry.

• Works as an aid to churches. This is not a replacement, but a tool.

• Concentrates ministry on the main issues affecting families. Thus, high importance is placed on Biblical Doctrine, home education and family discipleship training.

• Makes healthy and growing family life a prerequisite for ministry involvement.

• Cares for the marriages of its team members, knowing that they are the foundation for family ministry.

• Views children as the source of strength in family mission. Does not limit family size but encourages it.

• Encourages family cohesion and unity.

• Encourages family education in missionary families as the primary vehicle of effectiveness in family missions.

• Does not divide families into separate ministry pursuits, but unites them around a common family vision and an exciting family mission that allows all members to participate.

• Actively seeks the involvement of children alongside the parents in hands-on ministry.

When we reprioritize our ministry pursuits around God’s design and value what is closest to His heart, then we experience the fullness of the power of the Gospel reaching the nations.

We at FMI are excited about this potential and are passionate about our mission and ministry as families. We earnestly seek to become a family-friendly missions agency that does not reject but embraces and blesses the whole family in its vital mission worldwide.

 

 

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