OnEARTH at a Glance
We believe that short term mission experiences are fantastic, but research shows that without intentional actions to ground these wonderful experiences into other cultures they can be at best, some Christian people playing games and helping out the poor in another culture, and at worst just an excuse to build up your frequent flyer points.
It is our belief from scripture that a disciple is a missionary.
Sounds like a radical style of discipleship, yes?
NO! There is only one type of discipleship shown to us in the scripture. Jesus is that model. He gave up all the honor and privilege of His place in heaven and came to earth as a human baby and ministered to us - as one of us. This is the ultimate model of what is called incarnational mission.
What Will OnEARTH Look Like?
A 14 Week (2 hours p/w plus 2 weeks away) missional discipleship experience that includes three important steps;
1. Cross Cultural Mission Experience (either
overseas or to our own
indigenous culture) to help gain a greater global perspective/world view.
2. Local (Urban) Mission Experience, to help individuals gain a greater appreciation of missions closer to home.
3. A
process of application (of the above) to the individual's own context, ministry and mission.
You could view the above three steps as a funnel, seeing step one at the wide top of the funnel, being a broad 'out there' type experience, followed by step two further into the funnel and culminating in step three, bringing these experience right home to 'where the rubber hits the road' in terms of an individual disciple of Christ and their Kingdom mission on the earth. They will ask the questions, "Who am I? What gifts do I have to offer? And where might I better administer them?"
Cross - Cultural Mission Experience
There is one cross cultural experience to the Kimberley region of WA and one experience into Thailand, in partnership with the Thai WA Project in 2008
Local Mission and Application.
Aside from 2 weeks cross-cultural mission each participant would be committed to a 2 hour 12 week interactive small group gathering, a study called "Ignition" on the book of Acts and engaging in their own experimental missional activity in their local context.
The group would meet weekly in Menora, Perth. Country based participants would be linked via video conference or/and web interaction.
Included in the 12 week process would be a weekend away at a 'mini-mission' trip spending the weekend living and 'breathing' in the inner city ministering alongside those working with some of the most marginalized people in our city.
