What is a Movement Church?

We realize that reaching 100 Unreached People Groups by 2040 will require divine intervention.  We can’t do it without the Lord of the harvest!  We also can’t do it alone.  Can you imagine how pleased Christ is when His people work together?!  We want to invite any local church or ministry in the Tulsa area to join us in this adventure!  So, what does that look like?  Every church that joins the Movement will get involved in ways unique to how God has put together His people in that congregation, but we are asking every church to consider doing 5 things:

1. Actively recruit to the vision of Tulsa churches partnering to reach 100 Unreached People Groups by 2040.  Again, this is too much for just a few believers or congregations to do.  We believe that God wants to unite His people around His mission!  So, share the vision with other churches and within your church.  If your congregation is a part of a denomination, sit down and share the vision with pastors of other Tulsa area churches in the same denomination.
2. Assess your church’s current mission involvement/strategy in light of the vision of the Tulsa Mission Movement.  You decide what to do afterwards.  You may find things that completely fit with the TMM vision.  You may find some things that don’t fit, and maybe those things need to be tweaked or replaced.  You, your mission pastor, and/or mission committee will have to determine what changes if necessary YOU want to make.
3. Promote the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Course in your congregation and ministries.  People who take this course tend to share their faith more, give more to the local church, give more to Global Mission, and are passionate about helping the whole Body get involved in God’s Mission.  It can only help your church.  There is a class being offered in Tulsa in the Spring of 2015.
4. Participate in Movement events when appropriate.  For example, if Movement churches decide to host a Support Raising training and there are folks in your congregation who are raising support to go to the mission field, then it only makes sense that they attend that training.  The flagship meeting of the Movement is the monthly Tulsa Mission Movement luncheon where leaders in Global Mission equip Movement churches.  To be added to the e-list for announcements on the luncheons and other gatherings, email tulsamissionmovement @ gmail.com.
5. Ask for Help.  If you don’t know how to align your Short-Term Mission program with a Long-Term Mission strategy, just ask.  If you wonder what 1 year missionary training program might fit someone in your church best, just ask.  If you have no idea where to start to engage an Unreached People Group, just ask!  There are several decades worth of collected mission wisdom and experience within the Movement.  Again, for any questions, the best place to start is to email tulsamissionmovement @ gmail.com.

As you can see, these leave a lot of room for creativity as well as denominational or congregational expression.  Our goal is NOT to make every church do the same things, but to call every church to fulfilling their UNIQUE role in the Great Commission.  For some practical steps you can take, go to our Step Beyond page.