Is ReachAcross the right mission agency for me?
Here is a brief overview of who we are and how we work together
Our...
Passion, vision, and mission
Character and values
Experience and areas of service
Preparation and member care
Approach to mission
Organization
Our Passion, Vision, and, Mission
ReachAcross has a passion to share Jesus' love with unreached Muslims
Our vision is to see Muslims become devoted followers of Jesus Christ in self-sustaining and reproducing fellowships
Our mission is to:
- Share the Gospel with Muslims
- Serve them in practical ways
- Disciple them to follow Jesus
We combine practical service and gospel witness
John Stott, a highly respected evangelical Christian leader, wrote:
“In the early 1960s, I began to travel in the Third World, and I saw poverty in Latin America, Africa, and Asia as I had not seen it before. It became clear to me that it was utterly impossible to take that old view.” [The ‘old view’ was that preaching was always a Christian's pre-eminent task, and that deeds of compassion were strictly secondary.]
The mandate for our vision and mission comes from God himself:
- ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.’” Mark 16:15
- "… the Son of Man will say to those on his right, 'Come…take your inheritance…. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat… I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer…, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you… or see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, '…whatever you did for…the least of these…you did for me.' Matthew 25:31-46
Our Character and Values
- We are a team family whose desire is to know God and to make his love known among unreached Muslims
- Bible study, prayer, and worship are a regular part of our team life
“Prayer changes us so we can change the world. If we are not good news, we have no good news.” Peter Greig
- We seek to affirm one another
Each person has giftings, skills, and abilities that can be used to build God’s kingdom among Muslim peoples
- We value flexibility. Everyone is encouraged to minister and serve in the manner that suits them
- We aim to be courageous and go to the most difficult and challenging places, yet not to take irrational risks
- We are eager to learn from others about how we can better minister and serve
- We value churches and other mission agencies and seek to work and minister together with them wherever possible
- We value accountability because we all have weaknesses and shortcomings
- We seek to be humble and non-patronizing in our practical service and spiritual ministry
"Missions are not a movement from the haves to the have-nots, from the educated to the illiterate. They are a movement from the fellowship of believers to those outside this fellowship of faith...to all who stand outside this fellowship, whoever and wherever they may be." G. G. Baeta
Our Experience and Areas of Service
- ReachAcross was one of the first mission agencies established for the sole purpose of reaching unreached Muslims
- We have considerable experience in the Middle East, parts of East and West Africa, South Asia, and in some of our sending countries
- We have worked, and continue to do so in some of the most difficult locations among unreached Muslim people groups
- We are eager to follow God’s leading to work among unreached Muslims wherever they may be found
- We welcome new initiatives from new members
Speak to someone to learn more about our areas of service
Our Preparation and Member Care
Your preparation will:
Be decided together with you and a National Director
Be flexible so that it can fit in with your other obligations
Areas that will be looked at are...
Personal readiness: You may need to…
- Develop further spiritual disciplines
- Learn more about yourself
- Learn about working in teams
- Get additional qualifications and training
- You will be advised on suitable medical and emergency insurance and a pension plan
Ministry readiness: We will decide together with you what further training or experience you need. For example:
- Evangelism and discipleship
- Cross-cultural training
- Knowledge of the people group you want to work among
- Language learning options
- Whether you should take an exploratory trip to:
- Find out about ministry opportunities
- Meet the team you may work with
- Explore how your skills, training, and abilities can be used
- Consider options for obtaining a visa
- Check out options for your children’s education
Raising your support team for finances and prayer
- Together with you we would like to visit your home church leaders to…
- Answer questions they may have
- Discuss your preparation, accountability, and ongoing support
- ReachAcross will assist you in support-raising by...
- Advising you on how to raise support
- Linking you with potential supporters
- Three good books for support raising are:
ReachAcross is committed to providing the following services and member care:
- Pre-assignment briefings
- Regular debriefing, and critical incident debriefing
- Advising on security matters: risk assessment and contingency planning
- Processing finances
- Enabling effective and secure communications
- In-service and ongoing training
- Facilitating home assignments
- Giving guidance and support for final re-entry
Speak to someone to learn more about how we provide ongoing support for our members
Our Approach to Mission
There are many ways by which we seek to share the gospel with Muslims and to serve them.
These will vary according to circumstances and personal gifting and ability
Some general principles and guidelines we follow are:
- Seeking to be humble and non-patronizing
- Being ready and bold to give answers for our faith and way of life
- Encouraging each person to be themselves and not imitate others
- Learning the local language well
- Seeking to make genuine friendships
- We are careful not to use or exploit people for any purpose
- We seek to live godly lives that will prompt others to ask us about our faith
- We do not criticise or insult Islam, Mohammed, the Qur'an, or Islamic culture
- We seek to answer Muslims' misconceptions about Christianity and make a case for the validity of the Christian faith and its Scriptures
- We believe that a warm invitation to the truth is more useful than harsh criticism of areas of disagreement
- As a general guideline we ask men to work with men and women with women
- We will not accept or agree to any practice that may appear as a financial inducement, or other incentives, such as extraction to other countries, for Muslims to come to faith in Jesus
Speak to someone in ReachAcros to learn more about our approach to mission
Our Organization
ReachAcross is a smaller mission agency
- This gives us some distinct advantages
- We are like a large family. Everyone is significant; no one is ‘a number’
- We can be flexible and plans are tailor-made to suit each person
- Everyone can easily talk to those in leadership
- However, being small also has some disadvantages
- We do not have all the resources or sophistication of larger agencies
- We compensate for this by...
- Partnering with other mission agencies
- Using the training facilities of missionary training institutes
- Outsourcing activities that require considerable technical expertise: e.g. secure email communications and website maintenance
This way of working allows us to choose among the best training and services that are available and also enables us to be very flexible in the timing, preparation, and placement of our mission workers
Our Leadership and Decision-making
ReachAcross uses a leadership team model
- Each team has a leader
- However, the team together makes decisions that affect the team as a whole
- No individual has absolute authority
ReachAcross’s leadership is decentralized
- Our Fields are led by those on the field
- Our Sending Bases are led by those at the sending bases
- Our International Executive, which makes decisions for ReachAcross as a whole, has equal representation from our Fields and Sending Bases
Our Financial Policy
The amount of support a person needs to raise is…
- Decided on an individual basis
- Tailored according to ministry and personal needs
- Normally 10% of one's support is used for administration, member care, and other services
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All our National and International Office finances are properly audited
Security, Crisis Management, and Risk Assessment
ReachAcross works in areas of the world that regularly experience crisis
We have developed comprehensive security policies, guidelines, and procedures for such situations
Speak to someone to learn more about our organization