BCEC Missions
Back in 1977, when BCEC was embarking on its first building project, church members sacrificially contributed to the construction of our first church building at 249 Harrison Ave. and created the General Fund for normal church operation. Additionally, the leadership recognized the importance of using God’s resources beyond benefitting our own church. Thus, the Missions Fund was established to contribute to God’s work around the world. Ever since then, the church has continued the focus of expanding this important aspect of God’s teaching through our support for long term global partners (aka missionaries), organizing short term missions trips and hosting the annual conference to help us to see what God is doing around the world.
Why should the church care about world missions? Isn’t there plenty of ministries to do locally?
God is passionate about making His glory known in the whole world. He loves the world and not want anyone to perish but have eternal life. God’s heart for the world was on full display when He commanded us in Matthew 28 “Go and make disciples of all nations”. In Matthew 24: 14, Jesus told the disciples “the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world”. Every disciple of Jesus is called to play a part in global evangelism. Today, there are still over 2.5 billion people in the world who have no access to the Good News. They’ll live and die without ever even hearing the Name of Jesus.
Why do we need a Missions Fund? Where does the money go?
The Missions Fund supports four major areas of Missions in the church. The largest portion goes to support 34 global partners who are serving in 11 countries. Our global partners serve in many areas ranging from reaching atheists or people of different religious background, minority people groups, different age and profession groups, crossing cultural barriers as well as to the Chinese diaspora. Some are involved in traditional church planting, while others are working on Bible translation, or using their profession to work in countries that do not grant visas for Christian workers. The Fund supports mission organizations, seminaries, and take care of our global partners’ emergency situations. We sponsor numerous short-term missions teams every year and scholarships for members to attend national mission conferences to further educate our brothers and sisters about the importance of missions. Lastly, the Fund is used to host the annual Missions Conference where we invite speakers and global partners to come and share with us about what God has done around the world and the latest trends in missions.
Why do we have a short-term missions program?
We believe that short-term missions is a great tool for discipleship. It provides opportunities to be trained, learn important aspects of ministry, to be the hands, and to support the work of our partners in the field. It also provides members valuable spiritual lessons and be stretched in their faith. We partner with our global partners, local churches, and Christian agencies. We offer exploration and training sessions to prepare them before the trip. By serving the spiritually and materially impoverished, God opens participants’ eyes to the needs of the world. They learn how to partner with God in His work of global evangelism.
Why should I go to the Missions Conference?
The Missions Committee organizes the annual Missions Conference to inform us about world’s mission. Through speaker sessions, we raise awareness on global evangelism and the urgency to reach the lost. We learn how God is leading our global partners in their work. We can better support them by understanding their needs and pray effectively for them.