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Global Frontier Missions
General
Organizational Principles
Purpose & Mission Statement:
Global Frontier Missions is a movement of Christ-centered communities dedicated to mobilizing, training, and multiplying individuals and churches to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the least reached people groups of the earth.
MissioNexus
Mission Finder
Mission Next
Standards of Excellence
International
Houston, TX
Richmond, VA
India
Doctrinal Statement:
[+] We believe that God is the eternal Father and Creator of all things. He has always existed in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). (Gen 1:1-3). [+] We believe that God created man in His image (Gen. 1:27), but man rebelled against God, introducing sin into this world (Rom. 5:12). Ever since then, all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). [+] We believe that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, died for our sins, and resurrected from the dead on the third day to freely offer salvation to all who call on and put faith in Him (Rom. 10:13). He is the only way to heaven and the only name that can be called upon to gain eternal life (Acts 4:12). [+] We believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and came to usher in the kingdom of God which is already here, but not yet revealed in its fullness (Mt. 4:17). He deserves to be the Savior and Lord of our lives (Rom. 10:9). As a result, we need to die to ourselves, forsake all, take up our crosses, and follow Him (Lk. 14:27). [+] We believe that God sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to go out and be witnesses (Acts 1:8). Just as the Father sent His Son into the world, now Jesus sends us to be His ambassadors to a lost and hurting world (Jn. 20:21). The Holy Spirit gives us gifts and causes us to bear fruit in order to carry out God’s will (1 Cor. 12:11,12). [+] We believe that the Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God and the final authority and standard by which we should live (1 Tim. 3:16). [+] We believe that love sums up the law. We need to love God with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves (Mt. 22:37-39). By our love will they know that we are His disciples (Jn. 13:35). [+] We believe that every believer in the world makes up a part of the body of Christ and that God’s will for His church is that we be unified so that the world might know the Truth (Jn. 17:23). [+] We believe that it is the responsibility of the Church to take the Gospel into the entire world as a testimony to all nations (Mt. 24:14). Every member in the body of Christ must play a role in building the kingdom of God, and taking the Good News to all creation, making disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus taught (Mt. 28:18-20). We also adhere to the Lausanne Covenant which was established in 1974 when Billy Graham gathered churches and missions organizations from over 150 nations to focus on working together to see the Gospel taken to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
Core Values:
Prayer Apart from the vine we can do nothing. Absolute dependence upon the Lord is necessary to see any ministry fruit that will last. We are committed to only making decisions for our individual and corporate ministries as we listen to God in prayer. If you are around GFMers very long, you will pick up on a strong ethos of intercessory prayer.
Worship as a lifestyle Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is both the fuel for missions and goal for missions. When Christ returns, there will be no more need for missions, so we put a high value on what will last for all of eternity: worship of the one true God. You will find us constantly delighting in God through testimonies, music, fellowship, enjoying His creation, food, etc.
Death to self Jesus said that in order to be his followers that we MUST deny self, take up our cross, and follow Him. One of our core values is no longer living for self, comfort and security but for God and His glory.
Unreached People Groups One of the main distinctives of GFM is our exclusive dedication to UPGs. Everything we do must indirectly or directly affect praying, giving, or going among the unreached. We do very little missions work in places and among peoples that already have a culturally relevant witness of the Gospel. Check out the biblical basis of missions and the state of the world to find out why!
Strategy GFM thinks good stewardship is central to Christianity, and we want to make the best use of our time, talent, treasure, people, etc. We do not want to just be busy, we want to be strategic in everything that we do as the Lord leads. We constantly review goals, programs, and personnel to make sure that we are maximizing our resources to bear fruit and see the kingdom expand.
Hospitality We highly value being welcoming. GFM believes being hospitable to the foreigners that are coming to this country is going to be one of the keys to seeing the Great Commission fulfilled. We also love bringing people into our community to experience Christ along with us. Come for a visit; we’ve always got a room for you to stay in!
Holy Spirit Jesus said to wait for the Holy Spirit to come before going out and fulfilling this great task that He gave us. We need His conviction, His gifts, His fruit, His prayers, His counsel, and His power to be able to take the Good News to all nations. GFMers live out Ephesians 5:18 “being filled” always with His Spirit, putting off our old man and putting on the new, not grieving the Holy Spirit but ministering in His power.
Incarnational Ministry We believe that Jesus was the perfect example of a missionary when He came and “dwelt among us”. Paul said that when he was among the Jews, he acted like a Jew to reach the Jews and he did likewise for the Gentiles and the weak. We want to become like those we are seeking to serve, so GFM mission trip participants, interns, students and staff live right in the middle of the people groups we are trying to reach.
Healthy, Loving Relationships Interpersonal problems are the number one reason people leave the mission field, so GFM is dedicated to seeing healthy individuals, marriages, and teams serving the Lord together. We pray that the world will know that we are disciples of His by our love for one another.
Generosity and Faith in Finances We place a strong emphasis on depending on the Lord to provide for all of our financial needs. We are constantly amazed by his miraculous provision as our staff and students raise financial support by trusting God for their daily bread. The GFM family also lives like the early church did in Acts 4 and takes care of one another as there are needs in the body.
Ministering in Teams We believe that God’s favorite way to work on this planet is through his church, so we are absolutely committed to prayer, the apostles’ teachings, breaking bread, sharing everything in common, and seeing people come daily into the Kingdom. We think that Jesus sent the disciples out two by two for a reason, so GFM places a big emphasis on ministering in a team context.
Obedienced Based Discipleship We believe that the kingdom of God is supposed to grow naturally and organically. GFM is firmly dedicated to making disciples that will make other disciples (disciple-making movements) and plant churches that will plant other churches (church planting movements). We are constantly teaching others to teach others and equipping the body of Christ while trying to constantly work ourselves out of a job.
Unity GFM emphasizes and values working together with other churches and para-church organizations to see the Gospel taken to all nations. The Great Commission will only be fulfilled when we work together and unite to see Christ glorified throughout the whole earth, so we are ruthless about promoting unity in the body of Christ and working with people all over the Church.
Simple, Reproducible Methods At GFM, we try to do everything (discipleship, church planting, missions work) in ways that are easy for others to follow. The simpler we keep our Christianity (Jesus is Lord; Love God and love others), the easier it is for people to “sneeze” on others and infect them with a kingdom lifestyle.
Lifelong Learner You will notice that people at GFM are in constant learner mode as we read books, attend conferences, talk to field missionaries, compare notes with other churches/organizations, etc. We love being creative, trying new things, and “failing forward”. We also love sharing new things that the Lord is teaching us in prayer, ministry, and His Word.
Missions-Sending
Church Planting
Evangelism
Internships
Internships (Collegiate Accredited)
Internships (Collegiate)
Prayer Walking
Team Training
4 to 11 Months
1 to 2 Years
More than 2 Years
Long Term/One Way
Trip Costs Details:
Summer Internship for college age ~$1,000 (covers housing, utilities, and food for two months) Missionary Training School ~$4,000 (tuition/training materials and housing for singles; couples and families housing is on their own)
Training Required for Service:
Actually as an organization we are the training. We do a 5 month missionary training school that is required for anyone that is wanting to join our long-term staff.
Training Provided by Organization:
As an organization we see our role in the mission’s world as pre-field training for individuals that want to serve among the nations both domestically and overseas. In order to prepare individuals for the mission field we run our Missionary Training School. There are three different tracks: 1.) a 5 month program we offer twice a year from Jan – May and Aug – Dec. in Clarkston, GA; 2.) a 10 month program from August – May hosted in Houston, TX where you can earn a TESOL certification in teaching English as a Second Language; or 3.) a 5 month program we offer twice a year from Jan – May and Aug – Dec. in Richmond, VA. During all these programs we train individuals in team building, missionary work, church planting, discipleship, death to self, etc. At the same time you would be living in a remarkably diverse city giving you the opportunity to use what you are learning to build relationships with people from a wide variety of countries and cultures while working alongside our long-term workers. Through this course it is also possible to receive a 2 year degree in Ministry in Intercultural Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary.
Application Process:
The application process is fairly simple. For both the summer internship and missionary training school we require an online application be filled out, 2 non-family reference forms also filled out electronically, and a $25 application fee that we then use to run a background check. We also have staff available as "pre-field mentors" to help people through the process. Once accepted interns and students must do support raising. From submitting the application to arriving at one of our locations funded we have seen it done in as little as a couple months but can also take up to a year or more (mainly depending on support raising).
Speaking to Past or Present Missionaries:
Being that we are primarily a pre-field training organizations we partner with several other MSOs in order to get our graduates overseas. As a result we have connections with a lot of organizations and therefore missionaries on the field.
Characteristics of the Ideal Missionary:
Obviously we are not expecting one person to meet all of these characteristics - however, we do need various individuals that have all of these different characteristics.