The Ohio Independent Baptist, September 1970

• • • issionary Ul or t e oca urc by John Wood - Bellefontaine, Ohio The Calvar)' Bapti t Church of Bellefontaine recentl y adopted a e t of mi ionary guideline which are aimed at developing over the coming )·ear a mi ionar)' program with both direction and balance. The guideline \\ ere fir t pre ented by Pa tor J ohn R. Wood to the Board of Deacon \vho, after evera1 month of prayer and deliberation, pre ented them to the church. After each point was care– f uJl)r explained by the Pastor, the con– gregation overwhelmingly approved them. It i now the church' ta k to im– plement this program over the year ahead. a challenge they are looking forward to. The whole concept i ba ed on the idea of a "Mi ionary Tree' . A tree ha three natural divi ion ; the tap root \\tith it large root y tern , the trunk ( the fir t natural extension of the tap root ), and the branche . The tap root repre ent Home Mi ion , the trunk. Foreign Mission , and the branches are those pecialized exten- ion of the local church·s ministry uch a Christian Education , Radio, Youth amps. hri stian Litera ture, etc. Thi i a logical break-down for a in a tree. all hristian mini tri e are dependent upon the root y tern to st1pport the tree. Home Mi c;ionc;, and the establishing of local cht1rches I the foundation upon aj"ltch Foreign fi io11 and Branch Mini trie eAi t. \A/ithout local churches the ~ hole uper-structure \\.'Ottld col]ap e. o e1n– phasi i fir t of al l placed ttpon th1 all i1nportant n1ini tr)' o1 e~tab l1 sl11ng local churche in An1c1 tea. 1 h1 i. feedir1g the root }' tcn1. '\ 'e aid the trunk is tl1c first na– tural e ten io,1 of tl1e root S)' St e 111. o it i in oreign Mi ion . l 11 ot1r ()fO- rarn .. reig11 J is ion is n1erel v t l1e tal,Jj l1i11g oJ loca l cl1urcl1c: ., c>11 f reign fic:1cl. JI the 111i si l)nar\' is ~ n, oJ, d in 11,eclical ,-. ,r <)r lit er- ture, or 111c ot}1er 111ir1i tr)' a1)ar1 fro111 tl1 e tal,li hir1g of I cal cht1 rcl1- , \\C c n id r Iii 111ini 11 t1n(ler ·J3rancl1 1mni tri ". ·1i1>1urall} , 111i - )1011 i t·:1lJl1 h111g chr1rcl1e , a11d 1l1i .\ a t 11 t a 1 f u I a I I Ill i i Jl a 1 i J J auJ , 11d Ila, 11al a , I im111 tll) and ')J)c1 HE OHIO I D P NOENT BAPTI T Rev. John Wood La tly, our third divi ion enable u to inve t in tho e pecial arm of the church that are o needftil and yet who e mini trie are peci alized mini trie that do 11o t invol ve the tart– ing of local churche . We inclt1de tin– der uch '·Branch Mini trie " tho e area of endeavor mentioned earlier, P!t•s Jewi h evange]i n1. , ocial agen– cies, and any other \\ orthy effort that i not direc tly involved with local cht1rch e tab li hment . Looking at mi ion f ro r11 thi per– pective, our cht1rch adopted the fol– Jo~ ing guideline~: 1. A c; mt1ch a po ible, 111 i. 1ona r), mone 1' will be di s tribt1ted thtt - 1) : 13 for e tab11 hing cht1rche at ho111e. VJ for e tal-) lish tng ch tirche\ abroad 1~ tor brancl1 r11in1">trie~. 2 Onl} ho111e and foreign 111t"i\tOn– ar1e\ an(I 1111\\ton i1gcr1c1e\ 111- \! 0l\ cd 1n c~tablt':)l1111g cl1t1rcl1e, of our O\\tl k111cl ( r I{li( ) \\tll l1c CC)tl ·iclerc<.I tor sup11ort 3. J~ cc1 t for 1111~!\1011aries ,vl1t) ,1re 1 r >~e11fl)' 111c111l1~rs of t)tlr (J\\' Il cl1ur h, ,vl10 \\'ill fCLCIV 111011tl1l)' sU JJJ)Ort 1101 t( exc t:ll I 0() ca 11 111i ionar\ ,, i II r ei ve 111<. 11111 I\ ~ ~ UJ)l)Cll'l Ilt1t t ) cxcecll ~ -o. 4. l ncl1 l)ra n 11 111i i 11 ngc11 ' ( l1J ,J ra lio, t .) ,,ill I) grant J 11'1 n1l1l llJll> 1 t 11 t tl Ct.: (I m-o. 5. 111 tl1 r ig11 111i il 11·tr 1)r - gram every effort will be made to have equal repre entation around the world. with the ma– jor continent and popul ation center having mi sionarie up– ported by our church. 6. Regular quarterly reports will be required from each mi ionary we support. 7. Periodic vi it hould be made to mi ion field by re pon ible people who will, in turn, report their finding to the church. Thi even point program i elf e'{planatory, bt1t may we add thi one co1nment . Under point three and four, ~·e had to tart omeplace, o the~e figure were arrived at to erve for now. But it i under tood if in– flation continue to ri e, and co t in– crea e, that the e figure will need to be revi ed upward . We feel God i going to ble thi program becau e. a tated earlier, it ha direction and bal ance. We belie e it to be ba ed on Biblical principle ~ it empha ize the real crux of mi - ion , namely, local church e tabli h– ment. It i our belief that. if all our churche would o empha ize the ' tap root ' ' mini try of n1i ion . there would be ample mone)' to adeqt1atel)' upport the "trunk'' and ··bran h" mini trie in mi ion . A health )-' tree depend upon a healthy root :y tern. -;ii , Bapti.·t 1i 2601 L111 oin Roa E canaba Mi ch • 'IOll .. outh 98 ~ 1 1 ~ l n • 1 I l r , 1, J n ci <. t t. r 1 t .111 \ th I , l l EPTEMBER, 1970 s