 | Is KC Mission a church? Is it a satellite church? Is it a church plant? Is it some sort of humanitarian assistance program?... I have found that the people who ask me about this work usually leave just as confused as before they asked... and I think that is my fault! |
I think perhaps I have done a poor job of trying to explain this work, and so I'm going to try to lay it out in this article so that when I am asked in the future, I can just refer people here.
Question:
Is KC Mission some sort of humanitarian program?
Answer:
No, we don't give out soup and blankets to homeless people... it isn't THAT type of "mission." We give out the Gospel and try to rescue souls from Hell; THAT is the mission we are on!
Question:
Is KC Mission a church?
Answer:
No. This is a ministry of our church--Iola Baptist Temple. All those who are involved in this work are under the authority of IBT and are encouraged to join (in accordance to our church bylaws) to be covenanted together with us to accomplish the work of the church in an organized and orderly way.
Question:
So, it is a church plant?
Answer:
Yes and no. Some of the confusion here has to do with how this phrase is used today. I don't particularly care for the modern practice of "planting churches" and what that looks like in our current era, and so I have not wanted to embrace that phrase. As a result, people who think of us as a "church plant" are really confused. "Why the name KC Mission? Shouldn't it be Such-and-such Baptist Church?" Well, honestly, I'm not a fan of the method where a man gets ordained as a "pastor," raises support for a couple years, finds a building in the area he wants to "plant a church," and then he starts canvasing the area in hopes of getting the community to come attend his services.
Now, a lot of good guys do it this way, and I'm not complaining. Neither do I want to start a debate and cause problems, so instead, I just remain mostly quiet on the matter. As a result, I'm afraid that we are the ones who end up appearing very unorthodox and unscriptural. So, let me explain:
There is definitely a distant vision of one day seeing this work become an independent Baptist church with an ordained pastor to lead it. However, we have no current plans of this happening anytime soon. Right now, we just want to stay focused on our mission.
What about the term "Satellite church?"
Well, that title might seem to fit the closest as far as how we appear in terms of meeting in a location (albeit a very flexible and temporary location) that is nearly two hours away from the town where our church typically meets. But it isn't a separate church that livestreams my preaching or that I show up to as a guest speaker... if that was the case, there are far better preachers they could listen to every time they meet! I work with this group as much as possible and then they also try to come to Iola from time to time to meet with the rest of our members. We meet together twice per week in KC for preaching and/or ministry training and three times per week for soul-winning.
So, to try to clear it all up, here is what KC Mission is... are you ready?
KC mission is a "mission" work in "Kansas City!"
Thus the title "KC Mission" (Originally I thought of calling this work "Operation Samaria"... but I'll have to explain that in another post sometime).
In closing, let me state the mission of Iola Baptist Temple's work in KC (which we call "KC Misson")
1) Our mission is to knock on every door in the Kansas City metro with the sole purpose of presenting a clear and thorough Gospel presentation and inviting those who believe the Gospel to call upon the Lord for their salvation.
2) Our mission is to train disciples of Christ for church ministry, and to raise new laborers who will join us in fulfilling the #1 mission.
Question:
Is KC Mission some sort of humanitarian program?
Answer:
No, we don't give out soup and blankets to homeless people... it isn't THAT type of "mission." We give out the Gospel and try to rescue souls from Hell; THAT is the mission we are on!
Question:
Is KC Mission a church?
Answer:
No. This is a ministry of our church--Iola Baptist Temple. All those who are involved in this work are under the authority of IBT and are encouraged to join (in accordance to our church bylaws) to be covenanted together with us to accomplish the work of the church in an organized and orderly way.
Question:
So, it is a church plant?
Answer:
Yes and no. Some of the confusion here has to do with how this phrase is used today. I don't particularly care for the modern practice of "planting churches" and what that looks like in our current era, and so I have not wanted to embrace that phrase. As a result, people who think of us as a "church plant" are really confused. "Why the name KC Mission? Shouldn't it be Such-and-such Baptist Church?" Well, honestly, I'm not a fan of the method where a man gets ordained as a "pastor," raises support for a couple years, finds a building in the area he wants to "plant a church," and then he starts canvasing the area in hopes of getting the community to come attend his services.
Now, a lot of good guys do it this way, and I'm not complaining. Neither do I want to start a debate and cause problems, so instead, I just remain mostly quiet on the matter. As a result, I'm afraid that we are the ones who end up appearing very unorthodox and unscriptural. So, let me explain:
There is definitely a distant vision of one day seeing this work become an independent Baptist church with an ordained pastor to lead it. However, we have no current plans of this happening anytime soon. Right now, we just want to stay focused on our mission.
What about the term "Satellite church?"
Well, that title might seem to fit the closest as far as how we appear in terms of meeting in a location (albeit a very flexible and temporary location) that is nearly two hours away from the town where our church typically meets. But it isn't a separate church that livestreams my preaching or that I show up to as a guest speaker... if that was the case, there are far better preachers they could listen to every time they meet! I work with this group as much as possible and then they also try to come to Iola from time to time to meet with the rest of our members. We meet together twice per week in KC for preaching and/or ministry training and three times per week for soul-winning.
So, to try to clear it all up, here is what KC Mission is... are you ready?
KC mission is a "mission" work in "Kansas City!"
Thus the title "KC Mission" (Originally I thought of calling this work "Operation Samaria"... but I'll have to explain that in another post sometime).
In closing, let me state the mission of Iola Baptist Temple's work in KC (which we call "KC Misson")
1) Our mission is to knock on every door in the Kansas City metro with the sole purpose of presenting a clear and thorough Gospel presentation and inviting those who believe the Gospel to call upon the Lord for their salvation.
2) Our mission is to train disciples of Christ for church ministry, and to raise new laborers who will join us in fulfilling the #1 mission.
If you or your church would like to team up with us or would like us to knock any doors in your area, contact us and let us know.
If you want a basic demonstration of what we do, I just recently uploaded a nine-part seminar that includes a demonstration.
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