Bethany is and has always been a church that is outward-focused. We are firmly committed to the Great Commission that Jesus gave to us. We prioritize this global disciple-making in our church by financially and prayerfully supporting multiple missionaries all over the world. The message of the Gospel must get out into all the world. We, however, are not merely a church that has missionaries - we are a missional church, committed to all its people being an active Gospel presence in the daily life. To this end, outreach functions in 4 different ways at Bethany Church:
Mission
Bethany Children’s Ministry seeks to partner with parents as they nurture their children’s spiritual and emotional development. Our primary programming happens on Sunday morning, with age-relevant musical worship and Bible study reinforced by a memorization program.
Various other activities throughout the year reinforce Bible learning and provide fellowship. Bethany Children’s Ministries exists to grow our children in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Missions
We have men and women who are financially supported by Bethany to both locally and globally evangelize the lost, plant churches, and train up leaders in all cultures. We also support short-term missions, providing opportunities to raise up future long-term missionaries and provide needed short-term help to those already in the field. You can learn more about them on our Missionaries page.
Equipping We believe that the best outreach will happen by equipping believers to go "OUT" into their communities and share the Gospel. There are classes available in evangelism that we encourage all members to take.
One of the programs we have available is participation in the Global Media Outreach (GMO) ministry. GMO is a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. It enables anyone with a computer to be a missionary, with opportunities to contact seekers around the world from your own home. Bethany Church has a team of six online missionaries with Global Media Outreach: Midge Crossan, David Bury, Neal Persons, Kathy Churchwell, Jim Wilday, and John Keirsey.
As Global Media Outreach missionaries, they pray for and correspond with people who have visited one of several websites and where they responded with their email address, an indication of their spiritual state, and a request for contact from a Christian.
At http://www.GreatCommission2020.com, you can see a real-time feed of Global Media Outreach online activity. On a world map you can see a color-coded icon flash each time someone views a GMO site, or indicates a decision to follow Christ, or receives a follow up from a GMO missionary. Our Bethany GMO missionaries are among those who are doing the follow up on that activity. Our team has sent over 1500 email follow ups to over 1000 seekers.
You can go to http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com to learn more about this dynamic ministry. GMO started in 2004. That year, 20,000 people indicated a decision or recommitment for Christ. Last year more than 15 million people responded with a decision to follow Christ. We are praying for 20 million in 2011. Praise God! And if you want more information about our Bethany GMO team, including how to join in, please contact Midge Crossan at paladinprojects.gmail.com.
Social Justice We at Bethany believe that we are not only required to evangelize the lost with words, but also to love a broken world. Jesus proved his great love for the poor, sick, and downtrodden, and we want to follow Jesus' example. We as a church support organizations such as Lifewater, World Vision, and many others to this cause. We also provide many hands-on opportunities for members to serve those in need.
Outreach Events We are a church that seeks the lost; we do not seek to "steal" people from other churches. To this end, we never compete with other churches for better programs. Rather, we do provide the venue for anyone to discover who Jesus is in a variety of social gatherings and cultural events.
Missions Updates - 4-18-12
Missionary of the Week Dick & Millie Bransford Africa Inland Mission - USA & Kenya
The recent trip to the Horn went well. There still are many with burn contractures, hydrocephalus, spina bifida, and other congenital and acquired problems. Please pray for these medical trips, and pray especially for the salvation of “Deena”, one of the young doctors with whom I have worked since 2006. Millie’s twin sister, Mary, died in March. Her brother,Shelton, died last November. Please pray for Millie.
Jerry & Marilyn Hogshead Paraclete & Barnabas Ventures
During my recent trip, I met again with M, the leader of a large movement of followers of Jesus from Muslim backgrounds, to explore a proposed partnership. About 30 years ago, six young Muslim men had come to M to request baptism. M advised them not to be baptized at that time, as it would only alienate them from their families and communities. He told them to go back to their villages and win their elders by the quality of their new lives. Six months later the young men returned with sixteen village elders who wanted to learn more about Jesus. That was the beginning of a movement that continues to this day. Most believers remain within the larger Muslim culture, much as the believing Jews did in the first century. I hope to make one more visit to finalize the design of a project to develop story-centric training for the movement.
Listen to Last Week's Sermon -
A Runaway's Story: The Book of Jonah 5-13-2012 - Part 4 - How God Changes Hearts - Jonah 4 - Pastor Phil Carlson
VBS IS COMING!!!
When: Monday, June 25 - Friday, June 29
9 am - noon
Where: Bethany Church
Cost: FREE!!
Open to all Kindergarten grads through 5th Grade grads.
Pre-Elementary open to Bethany School & Bethany Church children. Limited additional spaces for Pre-Elementary children available for kids with an Elementary sibling attending VBS.
To register, stop by the Church Office and pick up a form.
Or you can click on a link below. Either print the form and bring it in, or fill it out in Excel and email it back to welcome@bethanyfamily.com!! Pre-Elementary Registration Elementary Registration
Click here to pick up Pastor Phil's new book at Amazon.com.
Brian & Rachael Lenney and the boys are settling down in their new home in Idaho. He has sent along his latest newsletter for those who would like to keep in touch. We have been so blessed by their ministry here, and wish them well in their new venture!
VBS IS COMING!!!
Click here