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Who Can Participate in Missions? |
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When RP Missions sent out its first teams in the summer of 1997, it was limited to those between the ages of 18 and 22. As the agency has grown and as our host congregations have grown more confident in the work of hosting teams, we have expanded the age range of our participants. For our domestic missions, we ask that young people be at least 16 years old. For our international mission trips, 18 years old is the minimum. Because our central focus is on outreach and evangelism, we have found that a certain level of maturity is needed to handle the challenges and stress that can be associated with outreach, but also in dealing with cross cultural experiences. However, now RP Missions has enjoyed the participation of adults, families, and youth groups. Some special planning is required for families and youth groups, so we invite them to contact RP Missions to see what arrangements can be made to suit their needs. RP Missions also requires a rigorous application process that challenges the applicants to examine their hearts to make sure they are contemplating missions for Christ honoring reasons and to be sure they are prepared to go over and act as His servants to serve His churches. Along with a rigorous application, RP Missions also seeks references from the young person's pastor, a teacher/professor, and a peer. The applicant then also fills out a self evaluation based on the reference forms submitted by those three. All of these things help to ensure that the participant understands the aim of missions and that they display a strong desire to grow in their understanding of Christ's church, grow in their confidence to speak about their king, Jesus Christ so that others might hear of the salvation only found in Him, and that they might prayerfully consider where God might have them use their gifts to serve in His church. |
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Does Reformed Equal "Frozen Chosen?" |
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For too long a crafty attack has been laid against the the work of Reformed churches. Charges have been raised that the study of Reformed theology yields little more than mental exercise. Instead, much of Christendom has pursued a broad evangelical approach to the work of Missions. At RP Missions, we believe that God's Word is powerful and that the doctrines commonly embraced by the Reformed community are based upon the Scriptures and as such are powerful. What greater tool do the people of God have to use in the battles they are currently engaged than the Word of God? But why do people decry Reformed theology? Some may say that it is too harsh, others that it is too demanding, and still others that it is too cumbersome to wield and so must be replaced with something lighter and easier to bear. However, RP Missions , a short-term mission agency under the oversight and authority of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America , believes that when Reformed theology is rightly understood, it compels the people of God to action for Christ. We beleive that the work done by the Westminster Divines provides a very helpful tool to the man or woman that seeks to take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the marketplace, the schools, the workplace, or the home (all of which are potential mission fields). So what sets RP Missions apart from other short-term mission agencies? First, it is under the oversight and authority of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. This is a measure to help ensure that as God would grow the institution, that it doesn't forsake its doctrinal foundations. By being under the oversight of the church, it also provides RP Missions with the added resources of an entire denomination with a rich heritage of missionary endeavors and commitment to the historic Reformed faith. Another distinctive feature of RP Missions is its commitment to partner with Reformed churches and missionaries around the world. This helps to facilitate opportunities for young people to grow in their understanding of the application of Reformed theology by working shoulder to shoulder with pastors, elders, deacons, missionaries and other church workers. It is our hope that as young people grow in their understanding of Reformed theology, as they grow in their confidence to engage those whom God puts across their paths, that Christ might use such endeavors to strengthen His church and that the blessings of these mission endeavors might not only be felt by the individual called to go, but also by their home congregation, who benefit from their newly acquired gifts and confidence, and the host congregation/mission stations that enjoy for a time the tireless efforts of a new generation of young people whom God has given a desire to serve. Pastors, would you consider recommending students to participate in a summer short-term mission with RP Missions? Do you have questions about the agency or programs available? If so, please reply to this email and I will be most pleased to try to answer them. If you would like to discuss the opportunities via the phone, please either let me know how to contact you, or you can reach the Director, Matt Filbert at (412)901-3553. If your congregation doesn't have youth at this time interested in missions, but you know of another congregation that you think might be pleased to encourage youth to participate, please forward this message using the instructions at the bottom of the E-Newsletter. Thank you for your time and we would greatly appreciate your prayers as we seek to faithfully serve Christ in the encouragement of the saints, the proclamation of the gospel to the lost, and the strengthening of a new generation of Christian servants. |
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