Four reasons why your church needs to do an Insight Team
Does your church want to engage more in world mission? Here’s why going on a BMS World Mission Insight Team is a great place to start, from people who know
When you praise God in church on Sunday, have you ever considered that millions and millions of people worldwide are doing exactly the same?
What if you got to experience the World Church up close and personal? What impact would it have on you, your church and the world?
BMS Insight Teams provide an opportunity to find this out. By taking a team from your church to where BMS works, you will not only see how God is transforming lives, but also how he can play a part in the work.
Convinced? Here are four more reasons why BMS Insight Teams might be just what your church needs:
1. You’ll understand the world better
Seeing world mission up close was special for David Wise, Pastor of Greenford Baptist Church in London. He went on a BMS Insight Team to Mozambique in August 2016.
“You can read Engage, you can look at the BMS website, you can watch the odd DVD,” he says, “but to actually be in a context and to see what life is like and to see what a difference BMS people are making in a context is a huge privilege.”
David also found that it made mission more real for those in his church who couldn’t go.
“When you go back and you talk about it, people in church have got a much better grasp of what mission is really about and what BMS is up to,” David says. “It is incredibly enriching and uplifting for the church in terms of their engagement with BMS.”
2. You will be well looked after
When you go on a BMS Insight Team, we will do all we can before, during and after to make sure you have all you need for your trip. Ken Russell went with three other members of Perth Baptist Church to see mission worker Sarah McArthur in Peru in 2015.
He was impressed by the way the Insight Team programme is run. “BMS has very clear structured training before you get there, support when you are there and help if things go wrong,” Ken says. “I think the package is really well put together by BMS. I would recommend it for that alone.”
3. God will use you
Part of being on a BMS Insight Team is gaining understanding about what world mission is like. You get to grasp the challenges and opportunities that face our mission workers and partners. And wherever possible, we provide chances to use your talents to make an impact:
David Wise preached and also led a four day conference when his team from Greenford Baptist was in Beira, Mozambique. He spoke on topics recommended to him by the president of the Baptist confederation in Mozambique and it proved so popular that he will be returning to teach the material in two other cities this June.
Maggie Robertson’s 30 years’ experience of being a home economics teacher proved useful when she visited Nauta, Peru with the team from Perth Baptist Church. Local women were desperate to learn sewing, so the church was able to raise money to buy some sewing machines and lead some workshops. The training had a big impact on the women.
Teacher Alison Savine and teaching assistants Jackie Brett and Rebecca Lauder from Romford Baptist Church were able to get involved in local education when they visited our work in Uganda in 2014, even getting the opportunity to give a nursery teacher lesson ideas and materials to help her with her class.
“Seeing her actually using what we had taken and what I had taught her how to use, was a real privilege to see,” Alison says.
4. God will teach you
As well as the impact you will make, being in a different context will stretch your faith and understanding of who God is and what he is doing worldwide.
“I would encourage any church that are looking into sending a team to do so, to go with the expectation of receiving far more than you give,” says David Wise.
Alison Savine agrees. “I would advise that people go with a flexible attitude. Go prepared to be shocked and prepared to be amazed. Go with an open heart and an open mind to what God is going to show you while you are there.”
“I think the term Insight is really helpful because that is what it’s about,” believes Ken Russell. “It helps the team to have a common experience they can share back in church and it develops them as individuals, giving them a broader understanding of what the gospel is all about. I would certainly recommend it.”
BMS World Mission, 10/03/2017