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During our Annual Global Outreach Celebration in October 2021, we were able to celebrate God's work through us and our partners, locally and globally. During these weeks, you had many questions about the work going on and about how we partner with those taking the Gospel around the world. Our G.O. Team responded to your questions. To see their responses, please keep scrolling. If you'd like to listen to the some of the stories and the sermons from this year, click on the button below. 

What is one of the coolest, most powerful testimonies from their ministry of God working?

Pastor Rick mentioned during his sermon on Oct 31 in Burlington a few stories of breakthroughs some partners reported. Commit in a Faith Promise to pray for specific GO partners and you’ll receive emails and newsletters from those partners about breakthroughs and prayer needs. Or register to join a Zoom prayer meeting the first Saturday each month from 8:30-9:30 am where both a US and World GO partner will share their stories.

How many partners are waiting to be considered?

10 prospective partners have been in contact with Mount Hope in the past few months to request monthly or project support.

If a missions organization desires to partner with the church, how do they go about it?

They (as with individual prospective partners) would email [email protected] or talk to our GO (Global Outreach) Team members, who would initiate a series of conversations and would review the application at quarterly meetings.

What resources do you use to know which part of the world has not heard the gospel of Jesus?

We look at JoshuaProject.net, which aggregates religious and sociological statistics from a variety of trusted sources and allows comparisons of relative scale of how many do not have the opportunity to hear the gospel from someone in their own community. That resource lists each ethnolinguistic people group, the predominant religion and the percentage of Christians for each people group.

What are the upcoming missions trips being planned? And how long are these trips for?

Trips to Israel, India then Turkey are planned for 2022-2024. Probably during the summer, but possibly in the winter. For 9-14 days each, including travel days, so longer for India than Israel or Turkey . Some Mount Hopers could participate in virtual trips that will be announced in upcoming months to similar countries, as an intermediate step in preparation for in-person trips, or as a standalone experience.

How do you equip and support International Partners to prevent ministry burnout?

We rely primarily on member care services (e.g., counseling, team leadership, area/regional leadership) provided by AG World Missions or the mission agencies that send out our partners. We also rally prayer adopters and representatives of our Global Outreach Team to pray for each of our partners and their families. We’re working to develop a larger team of people who will maintain direct contact with our partners, to encourage them and provide a connection with an “extended family” in the US.

Don’t missionaries get a salary? Why not just pay them a salary?

Most missionaries are expected to raise their own financial support from churches, family and friends. Hudson Taylor was a pioneering missionary in the 1850s. He went out to the mission field trusting that God would provide for his needs and move His people to help and support the mission. Many missionary sending agencies followed his example and are part of what is known as the faith missions movement. 

In one sense, this approach promotes a value that mission work is a step of faith and a calling[, rather than mainly a job or way to earn a living]. For many prospective missionaries, raising their own support serves as a test of their persistence and commitment to go to the field. With this approach, more churches expand their vision and horizons by hearing about the work of more missionaries and developing a connection with more missionaries and different mission fields. Missionaries from smaller churches are able to get prayer and financial support from a wider network. 

How do you evaluate success?

We ask for reports from the field and ask them to visit and connect when they are in the area to let us know of their progress. AG World & US Missions as well as other mission agencies also have accountability and reporting structures in place.

A lot of the mission fields our partners do pioneering, groundbreaking work in hard places. It could take many years before there are visible fruit from plowing or preparing the soil and sowing the seeds of the gospel. So we look for faithfulness and progress, in avenues and platforms that enable our partners to connect with locals and build relationships. Such that those locals get closer to Jesus and then commit to follow Jesus.

What do I do if I feel that God is calling me to be a missionary? How do I start?

Contact me, pastors, or any GO team member. We’ll help you explore your part in God's extraordinary global purposes and your next steps with Assemblies of God World Missions or US Missions, or other mission sending agencies.

What about all the needs that are right in our backyard?

Jesus’ Great Commission calls all of us to reach and disciple all ethnic groups as we go or journey in life, while his last words rallied his disciples to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. The call in Acts 1:8 was not a phased approach, to start in our backyard, then go to those in our ethnic group in our region, the different ethnic groups who live near us, and only then the ends of the earth. It gives us the total scope of our unfinished task to be his witnesses everywhere. 

Each of us can’t be everywhere at once, but we as different members of Jesus’ body are given the privilege and responsibility to speak of and demonstrate Jesus’ love to those around us, both as individuals and as the local church. So, we are each called to meet the needs in our backyard, with our individual and corporate time, talents, possessions, and money. We can get involved in ongoing ministry in prisons, nursing homes, food pantries, or the work of our local partners in caring for homeless or sex-traficked women, college students, international students, refugees or others in our backyard. 

And we are called to send those who will bear good news to those we do not have contact with, who would not otherwise know of Jesus, here in our backyard and to the ends of the earth, keeping in mind Romans 10:14-15. 

What difference does our partnership this make?

Our involvement enables our partners to get to the field faster and stay in the field [to do essential work to reach those who don’t have access to the gospel or in other words don’t know any Christians who speak their language or come from their cultural background]. With your generous faith promise giving that increased 6% last year, Mount Hope has been able to add about a half dozen GO partners last year, give about a dozen partners special gifts totaling $13,000 to help them minister to others severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and increase our monthly support of about a dozen partners. I trust that God has opened doors and led our partners to those He wants to draw to Himself because Mount Hopers commit to pray regularly for them, on our own, in community groups, or in prayer meetings.

What are other ways I can help missionaries reach out locally or overseas?

You can commit to praying regularly for them, that God will open doors and lead them to people of peace who will follow Jesus and share the good news with others from their family, friends and co-workers within their ethnic group or circle of influence. Volunteer to help local mission partners and go on trips to help and encourage missionaries beyond greater Boston. Volunteer to coordinate mission trips. Contact me, GO Team members or Compassion Ministry team members in person or at [email protected]. We’d like to match your interests, passions and giftings with the specific opportunities.