Deutsche Missionsgemeinschaft
From Missiopedia
Back to International Organizations
Contents |
[edit] Deutsche Missionsgemeinschaft
- DMG (German Missionary Fellowship)
[edit] Who are we
German Missionary Fellowship (DMG) supports Christian churches in the implementation of the Great Commission of Jesus (Matthew 28,19 ff.). DMG enables professionally and theologically educated Christians to work with international partner missions and local churches.
DMG is based on the biblical principles of the German Evangelical Fellowship. It is our conviction that all born-again Christians are part of the body of Christ, which sets DMG free to associate with any Christian group and conviction within the Evangelical Alliance.
DMG is completely financed by donations. It is a member of the German Alliance of Evangelical Missions (AEM).
340 DMG missionaries work in 70 countries around the earth:
Evangelisation, church planting, pioneer mission, theological education, children's, youth's and students ministry, linguistics, Bible translation, literature production, radio mission, medical ministry, voluntary service overseas, agricultural development aid, flight ministry, aids- and hygiene counselling, ministry among street children, training of teachers, medical staff and nursery school teachers.
[edit] Vision Statement of German Missionary Fellowship
Deutsche Missionsgemeinschaft - DMG
[edit] (1) Who we are (our identity):
German Missionary Fellowship (DMG) is a fellowship of people called by God and sent by a church and serve in world mission.
German Missionary Fellowship means that we have been sent and are mainly supported by one or more churches in Germany. We communicate in the German language and we are organised as an association under German legislation.
We see ourselves as a fellowship for service. We come from different evangelical churches, denominations and Christian fellowships, yet we are convinced that God has called us into service and into this fellowship to glorify him by making ourselves available to him for his global action (world mission). Our goal in life is to have fellowship with God and to praise and worship him (1 Corinthians 1:9).
Fellowship for service means that we want to keep the whole fellowship in view and that each individual is actively involved, takes over responsibilities and cares for each other.
As God's holy people we want to serve each other and live in relationships characterised by respect, love and care - according to Jesus desire for his disciples (John 13:14+34+35; Romans 12:5+10). The fellowship results in security and freedom, diversity and a consultative leadership. The fellowship does not cover all aspects of a Christian church but remains focused on service in world mission.
Called by God: We are convinced that the Lord of missions has called us to serve Him in the context of our fellowship and that we work for him. This requires that every member is born again, acknowledges Jesus as Lord in his/her life and wants to glorify God with his/her life. God has equipped everyone with gifts which are a sign of his calling. We acknowledge the Bible as God's reliable and binding Word for faith and personal life and want to live out our calling in its context. We await God's guidance, have regular fellowship with him in personal and group prayer, emphasise intercession and trust him for his good, sufficient provision for our daily needs (faith mission).
We provide services for the general public in Germany, the church of Christ (Public Relations), sending churches, people interested in missions, enquirers, our own missionaries and the churches in their countries of service, our partner missions and for the peoples not yet reached with the Gospel.
Mission flows from the heart of God ("missio dei"). He is the origin and the Lord. He reveals his glory (Genesis 16:10; John 1:14). The whole earth shall be full of his glory (Isaiah 6,3). In the centre of mission is the almighty God worthy of all worship, honour and praise (Deuteronomy 32:3; Revelation 7:12) and not man in his suffering or religious needs - not even the lostness of man without Christ.
God loves everybody unconditionally (John 3:16) and wants everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). Through sin (rebellion against God) man is separated from God and destined to death (Romans 3:23; 6:23), lost forever (John 3:36; 2 Thessalonians 1:8+9) no matter how religious and moral he/she may be. In Jesus' atoning death and resurrection God has done everything for our salvation (Hebrews 9:12-15; 1 Corinthians 15:17-22). This free gift of God has to be accepted in faith (Ephesians 2:8) and God will grant him/her the new birth (John 1:12f), eternal life in fellowship with him (1 John 5:11f) and puts him/her in the church of Jesus (Acts 2:47).
This Good News of salvation in Jesus (Acts 4:12) has to be made known in all the world, especially among the Unreached, until Jesus comes back (Matthew 28:18-20). Therefore, the proclamation of the Gospel has utmost priority (Mark 16:15) and he risen Lord has promised the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). If the living God lives in us (Colossians 1:27) and we are his children then we cannot but be filled by his love for the lost (Acts 4:20) and make ourselves available to him unconditionally (Romans 12,1+2).
[edit] (2) What we stand for (our values):
The following fundamental values are important to us:
Founded on the Word of God: We acknowledge the Bible as the inspired, reliable and binding Word of God. This includes the message of the lostness of man without Jesus, the need to be born again through grace and by faith and to receive new life in Jesus Christ. Our statement of faith is that of the German Evangelical Alliance of 1972 and the Frankfurt Declaration for Mission of 1970.
Dependent on God: We live in faith and in dependency on God. We trust him in respect to our provision, protection and guidance, as individuals and as a mission (faith mission). This keeps us open to be lead by Him and in an attitude of learning.
Living in prayer and faith are crucial for us. In prayer we praise God, express our thanks, ask for his guidance, for forgiveness and spiritual fruit and all we and others may need.
Committed to fellowship: As a fellowship we want to care for each other, be responsible for and support each other. This community spirit gives security and sets us free for trust and joyfulness. God's entrusted gifts can be developed, creativity and initiative grow and our diversity and richness be lived out. This requires a life of transparency, integrity and personal responsibility, humility, willingness to forgive, cooperate and compromise.
Proclaiming Jesus: We consider every missionary to be an ambassador for Christ and not merely a professional expert. Everybody should be involved in evangelism, discipleship, church planting and sending missionaries.
Sharing with each other including financially (2 Corinthians 8:14): The plenty of one helps the shortage of the other. At the same time each missionary gives his/her friends the opportunity to take part in his/her ministry including through financial support (personal supporters).
Practise a Simple lifestyle: We want to be good stewards of God's gifts and therefore live a simple and economical lifestyle.
Committed to the Church: We stress the fundamental importance of the church in mission and see ourselves as helper and partner of the sending church. We are only one segment of the chain: home church - DMG - partner mission - mission team - church in the country of service.
Cooperating with partner agencies: In the country of service we work together with partner organisations who are responsible for leadership and member care. Thus we deliberately abstain from own fields, teams or projects. This usually leads to international teams in which the cultural diversity is expressed and leads to mutual service and enrichment. We support cooperation in the countries of service and the building of strategic alliances so that the resources are effective.
Focus on Cross-cultural mission, especially unreached peoples. The challenges ahead are mainly in the 10/40 window, the mega-cities, children's and youth's work, media and the development of own national mission movements in the countries of service.
Emphasis on Long-term mission: We stress the value of long-term service of missionaries and careful study of language and culture for an effective ministry. Yet we also recognise the value of short-term ministries. God often uses short-term experience to call people for long-term service.
Keeping a global perspective: Through the principle of cooperation with partner agencies we can send missionaries to any part of the world (no geographic limitations) and use people of any type of gifting, experience and profession.
[edit] (3) What we want (our goals):
We want to glorify God by helping churches to send out and care for their missionaries who build up missional churches among and together with other peoples.
DMG wants to help churches in the fulfillment of their Great Commission. This means (1) to raise mission interest where it does not yet exist, (2) to further expertise where it is not much developed, (3) to assist churches in the sending and support of their missionaries and (4) help in cross-cultural outreach in the sending country. This includes that we may have to take the initiative at times and to challenge churches - even the churches in Antioch and Jerusalem had difficulties to fulfil their calling to world mission (Acts 9:26;11:1-18; 13:2; 15:8-10). We want to work together with the sending churches as close as possible and to extend their vision for world mission.
The church is God's instrument in world mission (Acts 1:8; Ephesians 3:10; 1 Peter 2:9). The Lord chose not to fulfill the great commission all by himself but to include the church in his mighty working in the world (Matthew 28:18-20; John 20:21; Acts 4:31). Not only a few elect but every follower of Christ and the whole church (local and universal) shall participate in it. Mission normally starts with a sending church (or fellowship of believers whatever they may call themselves). It builds the church in the country of service and results in the encouragement of the sending church.
Missionaries have been called by God (Acts 13:4). This calling is usually confirmed by the sending church (Acts 13:3). Missionaries remain part of their sending church during their term of service and accountable to her. They are commissioned by their sending church but not controlled by her. Even in early times we find a clear assignment of functions between sending church and the mission team with independence of the mission team regarding strategic planning (Acts 16:16f; Romans 15:24; Colossians 4:12+13), personnel assignment and leadership (Acts 13:13; 16:1-3; 2 Titus 4:9f), the basic principles of mission agencies. Supporting churches and further friends often supplement the sending church and have part in the ministry. In many cases additional support is needed as the sending church has limited means (prayer, encouragement, finances). This follows the example of the Apostle Paul who was sent by Antioch church (Acts 13:2) yet substantially supported by the church in Phillipi (Philippians 4:15) and additional churches in Rome (Romans 15:24), Asia Minor and Greece (Acts 20:4) contributed to it. In addition Paul thought himself accountable to the church in Jerusalem (Acts 18:22; 21:18).
Care means complete personal support during all phases in the missionary career, including preparation for service, the ministry in the country of service and after return to the home country. It includes the development of personality, training, development of gifts and growth in effectiveness in ministry.
Missionaries are ambassadors of Christ who proclaim the Good News with words and deeds and attitude.
New churches shall participate in mission right from the beginning by evangelistic outreach in their own country and world-wide as this is the calling of the church.
Mission is not limited to proclaiming the gospel or converting individual people. Its goal is the building of the church as body of Christ and the fellowship of believers. God wants to be glorified before the visible and invisible world by the loving fellowship of the redeemed who live in sanctified relationships resembling God's character (Galatians 5:22) and have part in his mission. According to Matthew 28:18-20 the focus of the Great Commission is the call to "make disciples" which happens through going, evangelism, gathering of believers, discipleship training, teaching, leadership training and training in evangelism and world mission and sending of their own missionaries. As this requires a living example the sending of missionaries is indispensable. "Teaching them all ....." (Matthew 28:20) means comprehensive teaching. All areas of life shall come under the leadership of Jesus: the personal life, the relationships among believers and to their society and creation. This explains the need for medical ministry, education, social work, development work etc., yet all these ministries need to be checked to which extent they contribute to the growth or founding of the church and whether they show God's mercy and care.
DMG focuses on cross-cultural mission. To do this effectively and efficiently DMG partners with agencies in the countries of service which are responsible for field leadership and member care.
[edit] External link
This taken from the website of the German Missionary Fellowship, there you read more about this mission: *[1]
