Texas Baptists…and Texas Partnerships
Texas Baptists are all about missions. That’s why the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) has a solid focus on providing mission opportunities in virtually every corner of the world. We locate areas where we feel Baptists need a more prominent voice, such as in New England and Minnesota/Wisconsin within the USA, or in international locations like Venezuela, Nigeria and Ukraine. We then create partnerships with local Baptist bodies to carry out a wide range of ministries. The Texas Partnerships staff of the BGCT works in conjunction with our Baptist partners to provide a selection of mission projects, based on their strategies. In other words, our projects are all derived from field-based strategies.
PROJECT SELECTION
The Texas Partnerships office offers projects ranging from traditional mission opportunities such as preaching, evangelism, church planting and church construction, to more creative forms of mission work like drama productions, children’s camps, and sports evangelism.
Our current international partnership agreements are with Venezuela (2008-2010), Nigeria (2008-2010), and Ukraine (2007-2009). The USA-based partnerships are Impact Northeast (2008-2010) and Minnesota/Wisconsin (2008-2010). We also have on-going, limited-focus relationships with Spain (Christian school), South Africa (evangelism project), Austria (children’s ministry), and a number of other “friends” around the world.
In addition to Project Selection, the Texas Partnerships office offers a number of other resources to help you make your next mission experience the best ever. We can help you with issues such as General Mission Project Orientation, In-depth Mission Project Training, Prayer Network Resources, and Mission Project Logistics, to name a few of our services. Let’s take a closer look at several of these services.
ORIENTATION
Texas Partnerships wants each mission team to be the best-equipped team possible. We will provide each member of your mission team with an orientation manual that covers a variety of subjects. You will get General Information covering subjects such as financing your trip and supplemental travel insurance. We’ll share some Travel and Health Hints to help you with some common sense travel and health suggestions. You’ll be exposed to the basics of Customs and Culture so that you won’t be overwhelmed by culture stress or shock.
We’ll give you some great ideas on Spiritual Preparation with some suggestions on how to prepare your personal testimony and how to witness in other cultures. We’ll provide you with the most current background information on your country assignment in the section My Assignment. Finally we’ll help you deal with issues that will help you with Preserving the Experience.
TRAINING WORKSHOPS
Mission Team orientation is a great start to help prepare you for a successful experience, but we believe that team orientation will be just scratching the surface. Let’s go deeper…with some training workshops designed to help you fine-tune your preparation.
“Impact Your World” is an interactive, cross-cultural awareness workshop designed to help you better understand what is involved in ministering across cultural lines. The workshop content comes from “Basic Training for Mission Teams” produced by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. The workshop is designed around several key questions:
• “How did Jesus see the world around him?”
• “What is Worldview…and Why is it important to understand?”
• “What is Culture Stress…and How do I work my way through it?”
• “Can I evangelize the same way as I do in Texas?”
• “Is Spiritual Warfare an issue that I need to understand?”
We’ll come to your church…at a time that works best for the needs of your mission team. Customized workshops that focus on a single ministry issue can be developed according to your needs. Issues such as Muslim Evangelism, Mormon Evangelism, Working in Islamic Cultures, and Working with AIDS Victims are just a few of the issues where we can call on our personnel resources to help you go deeper in your preparation for ministry.
PRAYER NETWORK RESOURCES
Texas Partnerships believes in the vital importance of prayer for mission volunteers. Prayer prepares the way for a successful mission project. Prayer also sustains and strengthens volunteer missionaries. Prayer intercessors are an integral part of each mission team. Prayer, in the form of praises, helps build up and encourage Texas Baptists as they rejoice and celebrate the stories of mission involvement from sister Texas Baptist churches. Texas Partnerships publishes a quarterly “Mission Update” to provide both information and inspiration. Prayer needs and information pieces are included in each issue, as well as prayer answers and praises to celebrate and to rejoice over recent mission experiences.
MISSION PROJECT LOGISTICS
The Texas Partnerships staff will work with Texas Baptist mission teams during every step of mission project planning. We can provide a trip planning guide to help with step-by-step planning.
• Arranging airline tickets
• Supplemental travel insurance
• Passports and visas
• Up-to-date information on travel inoculations and other health issues
• Current security advisories
Our goal is to provide basic, how-to, personalized service in all aspects of mission project participation.
CONCLUSION
The traditional expression of mission service is the local church volunteer missionary who is seeking a short-term, life-stretching experience in mission service. Texas Partnerships is the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) mission office that helps provide a platform for these experiences outside the borders of Texas. God may lead Texas Baptists to one of our long-term partner locations. Or God may lead our volunteer missionaries to ministry in an entirely different part of the world. That’s why we like to refer to our ministry as the Texas Baptist “GPS for Missions”. We’ll go any distance…we’ll partner with Baptist groups anywhere in the world…to carry the message of Christ.
For more information about Texas Partnerships, contact Steve Seaberry at (214) 828-5180
Baptist General Convention of Texas - Texas Partnerships Mission Opportunities