Upcoming Missions Conference

It’s almost time to wave those palm branches!
By EFC Missions Committee

We have a few purposes here as your EFC Oroville Missions Committee. One purpose we bring to you every month is regular prayer and financial support of missionaries around the world. Did you know our missions policy also instructs us to develop career and short-term missionaries form the ranks of our congregation? Education regarding missions (also a specifically listed purpose) is one of the ways we are called to do that.

Now, you may be thinking, “Woah – I am not ready to go to Timbuktu.” But, unless God is specifically calling you to the foreign field, you have access to so many ways of honoring the calling that God has placed on each of us as followers. To quote Jesus, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19-20). That’s missions in a nutshell.

Wholistically, we have adopted the overall instructional theme of “Pray – Give – Send – Go”. Each of these actions assures that every believer can realize their role in what we know as The Great Commission. Each aspect builds on the other as a foundation in missions-oriented service.

Have you heard about our fall missions conference yet? Equipping our church family in these parts of the commission is exactly why it’s time for this conference. We have been able to send a few people out short term over the last few years. We certainly have significant and long-term relationships with our 12 regularly supported missionaries. But is there more we could do? Is there more you can do?

We are not talking about money specifically, but what about building a relationship with the missions field like you’ve never seen? How enriched would your prayer life be? How much more enriched would your Christian worldview be if you were emailing someone serving in Africa each month just to learn about their day-to-day life and how to better pray along with them?

This building up of your missions life is the purpose of our missions conferences. Our mini conference in Fall 2022 brought us time with Daniel Liberek and some amazing ways to support efforts with Ukrainian refugees in Belgium. For Fall 2023, we expand that reach to cover Spain, the Congo, India and the Japanese diaspora living in the USA. For good measure, we are also carving out time to learn about how crisis response efforts are really missions efforts both locally and globally. Our missionaries that work in these five areas will be joining us the entire weekend!

The theme of the conference is “Salvation… For EVERY Nation!” and the accompanying verse is Revelation 7:9-10:

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

One of our desired outcomes for you at this conference is to develop an answer to the following question: Who do you imagine standing next to you when we all gather in heaven to glorify the King of Kings as we stand in our white robes shouting praises and enthusiastically waving away with our palm branches? The plenary and breakout sessions over the weekend will help you clarify what this means in your life at this exact moment in time. You will walk away with better tools and a bigger vision of what God means for you to do specifically in His bigger and better plan of salvation for all those He calls to Himself.

We want everyone in our church family, whether you’ve been with us one Sunday or decades of Sundays, to be a part of this long weekend of learning and equipping. Please go ahead and block out your calendars from Thursday, September 7 through Sunday, September 10, 2023. A detailed information brochure will be released when conference registration opens on June 1st!

As committee chair, I did want to touch on a few things before I wrap up here. First, we received not one, but TWO thank you notes for our donation to Phase 1 of the One Million Bibles Initiative facilitated by Crossway. One church that the first round of Bibles has made it to is in Lusaka, Zambia, and they are already able to move into Phase 2 of the program.

Secondly, we will be hosting a free virtual event in the sanctuary on Friday, July 14th, called Hearts of Fire. This presentation from Voice of the Martyrs features stories from four courageous women whose faith in Christ caused them to experience imprisonment and the abduction and martyrdom of their husbands. Worship will be led by Michael W. Smith. Keep an eye out for more details.

We are excited for what God has planned for this fall and beyond!

Until all have heard,

Your EFC Oroville Missions Committee
Amy White (Chair)
Carol Hensel
Laura Angle