Global Missions

 

Our global vision is to see indigenous disciple-making movements among unreached people groups

 

An unreached people group, as defined by the Joshua Project, is ‘a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelise this people group without outside assistance’.

There are seven specific criteria that distinguish one people group from another: language, culture, geography, religion, ethnicity, self-identity, and socioeconomic status. A people group is considered ‘unreached’ or ‘least-reached’ when there are less than or equal to 2% Evangelical Christians and less than or equal to 5% Professing Christians.

As a church, we recognise that there are unreached peoples both in their home countries and through their diaspora in many parts of the world.

Through the alignment of vision and resources, Clayton Church of Christ currently engages in Global Mission towards reaching the unreached through Global Workers in Cambodia, South East Asia and Australia, Global Partners in South Asia, as well as Diaspora work in Australia among the Japanese and International Students.

6 Ways you can get involved:

Go

 

Things to do:

There are many ways that God can use you on the mission field:

  • Use your professional skills or hobbies to reach the unreached.
  • Lay down strong foundations and open up new doors of opportunity through a prayer journey or exposure trip.
  • Support those who are reaching the unreached by serving the children of missionaries, offering technical or admin support, making videos, or even using your hospitality skills by managing a guest home for missionaries who need rest and recuperation.
  • Initiate a short-term missions team from our church and see if you can mobilise others to join you. We can help you organise this if you have a heart to go!

There’s something for everyone to get involved in. We encourage everyone to go on a short term trip at least once to gain a better understanding of where they fit in God’s mission. You might end up wanting to go long-term, or you might come back with a deeper understanding of how to pray for the unreached. Going will help you gain a wider perspective and discover how you can serve God more fully no matter where you are.

Search and browse through thousands of short, medium and long term opportunities at missionseek.com.au

Send

For every cross-cultural worker, there are many, many senders that are needed to help them thrive on the field!

Things to do:

  • Provide financial and prayer support as individuals, family or life groups for our Global Workers and Partners
  • With your life group, adopt a Global Worker family that our church sends and provide care support by sending care packages, birthday cards, regularly pray for them and communicate through Zoom and fellowship.
  • Take a family trip to visit one of the Global Workers that our church partners with to provide encouragement or support.
  • When a Global Worker family come home, they may need a place to stay, a child booster seat for their car, or even a car to drive around. Perhaps you could fill their fridge with groceries or help in other practical ways to make this transition as smooth as possible. Be creative!
  • Sometimes our Global Workers leave behind elderly parents or family members who might really appreciate someone visiting them every so often, or helping out when there is a need (going to the doctors, emergencies).

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”’

Romans 10:14-15

Welcome

Things to do:

  • Volunteer to help out at Encounter English Learning, or the Japanese Diaspora ministries that our church run or are involved in.
  • Show hospitality to International Students in partnership with our campus ministry, or some of the displaced Ukrainian families that attend our church.
  • Consider being a “Home Stay” family for overseas high school and University students that come from countries where it’s hard to hear about Jesus.
  • Is there a new migrant family in your neighbourhood that you or your group to reach out to? Perhaps you live in areas such as Springvale, Dandenong or Box Hill where there are a lot of migrant communities from Vietnam, Myanmar, China or Japan etc

Mobilise

Things to do:

Is your passion to motivate and get people involved in Global mission?

Here are some simple examples of how you can mobilise others:

  • Share about mission events, conferences, courses, opportunities and needs in Global Mission.
  • Advocate for a Global Worker, unreached people group or missions in general and invite others to pray, serve and get involved.
  • Organise your group to attend one of the learning activities in the “LEARN” section.
  • Read or share mission books and biographies with others.
  • Coach or mentor those who are discerning where God might be calling them to serve. Using these 6 ways is a good place to start!

Learn

Things to do:

  • Enrol in mission course like Kairos or Perspectives to learn more about God’s heart for missions.

Find out more about Kairos

Contact us to find out when the next Kairos Course will be run at church!

  • Attend mission conferences such as Activate or NTE (National Training Event) to be challenged by what God is doing around the world. You might just be inspired by the stories you hear, meet other like-minded friends, find more resources to grow, and be able to check out all the mission organisations out there.
  • Read books about Christian mission, cross-cultural ministry, unreached people groups, and missionary biographies.
  • Get involved in mission discussion groups or mission exposure nights. Contact us and we can help you get connected!
  • Follow mission organisations on Facebook and Instagram as they often post great articles, stories, fun facts, and infographics. 
  • Read and learn more about unreached people groups at Joshua Project

Pray

Things to do:

  • Download the PrayerMate app and subscribe to mission prayer feeds on your phone.
  • Watch and pray through Prayercast videos on nations and religious groups.
  • Subscribe to one of our Global Workers’ news & prayer letters or newsletters about the people groups they are reaching.
  • Join a mission prayer group run by one of our mission’ partners.
  • Use a prayer guide to pray for an unreached people group every day for one month. 
  • Join us at our Sunday morning prayer meetings at church. On the first week of each month, our focus will be praying for missions and our missionaries. We meet at 9:00 am in room 2.