The Acts 1:8 Challenge
Grace Baptist's missions ministry, "The Acts 1:8 Challenge," is based upon Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (HCSB). As such, we believe our emphasis should include four areas: local, state, North American, and International missions.
LOCAL MISSIONS
We intentionally reach out to our community through servant evangelism projects to show the love of Jesus in order to build bridges to share the Good News of Christ. Our efforts include our Christmas Parade hot chocolate giveaway, Christmas Eve outreach to community servants, Sunday in the Park event, Multi-housing complex Back-yard Bible Clubs, Absolutely Free Car Washes, Halloween Trunk-or-Treat, and others.
STATE MISSIONS
Grace Baptist will work with other churches in North Carolina to reach their cities. In the summer of 2008, 40 people traveled to Greensboro to assist a church rebuilding to reach a changing community. We performed dramas, Back-yard Bible clubs, and other projects. We'll continue to respond to needs in our state in the future.
NORTH AMERICAN MISSIONS
We want to be active in serving churches and ministries outside of North Carolina. We're currently looking forward to sending a team to Charleston Christian Church. "C3" is a missional church attempting to reach its own community for Christ in similar ways as Grace Baptist is working in Laurinburg and Scotland County. Other future destinations may include Baltimore, MD or New York City!
INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS
Grace Baptist is in a partnership with International Mission Board missionaries in Salvador, Brazil. This summer marks the second year we'll send a team to reach into schools and other areas to share the Good News in a city of thousands in need of a relationship with Jesus. Attendees of Grace have also served in Germany and Uganda. We have a tradition of displaying flags in our meeting place of every country where we've served or supported others from our congregation! We actively pray God will call Grace people to serve vocationally on the mission field.
