RTIM Lookbook

DEAR FRIEND,

At Reaching & Teaching, we love the Gospel and we love the local church – and we believe that the local church is both the means and the end of the Great Commission.

We desire to see healthy churches* in every place around the world that proclaim the Gospel in word and display the power of the Gospel as they gather weekly - healthy churches that are led by a plurality of elders who are qualified in character and competency as laid out in the NT.

As we look around the world, we recognize that the Gospel has gone forth in certain areas and not others. We recognize that there have been missionaries who have labored long and hard to see healthy churches established in some places and not others. And, in recent days, a well-intentioned but misplaced emphasis on speed over thoroughness has left many places with no church, an irregular church, or a lack of qualified pastors.

Reaching & Teaching exists to serve local churches as they send qualified missionaries around the world to make mature disciples, establish healthy churches, and train local leaders. We serve existing churches around the world in whatever ways that we can be helpful and facilitate church planting teams to establish churches where there is currently no church.

What does Reaching & Teaching do? At times we help strategize, at times we help send, and at times we help them support work that is already happening around the world. We also facilitate short-term teams to provide teaching to international pastors and women who have had no access to theological education. No matter what we are doing or where we are doing it, the goal is always the same: a healthy local church, an embassy of King Jesus full of his ambassadors who hold each other accountable as they represent him in their community.

We recognize that the Great Commission wasn’t given to missions agencies like Reaching & Teaching. It was given to local churches. Missions agencies don’t plant churches. Local churches plant churches. Missionaries don’t send themselves. Local churches send missionaries. As a missions sending organization, we view ourselves as a servant to local churches. The Great Commission has been given and one day it will be completed. Until Jesus returns or calls us home, we all have work to do. Will you join us?

*What is a Healthy Church? Mark Dever

RYAN ROBERTSON President of RTIM

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We are so thankful for Reaching and Teaching and for their unwavering commitment to the local church and their biblical care for missionaries. Their desire to be biblical in how they approach missions, and to keep God’s glory at the center of all, is very refreshing.

ERIC AND DANICA ABISRORS, RTIM GLOBAL WORKERS IN ARGENTINA

Three Core Tasks

Making Mature Disciples

Obeying the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations requires patience because teaching all that Christ commanded takes time. When our missionaries cross cultures, they seek to learn languages to effectively communicate the gospel. When someone turns from their sin and trusts in Jesus, they are encouraged to be baptized into membership in a local church. The church is the primary vehicle that God uses to disciple a new Christian toward maturity.

Establishing

Healthy Churches

Reaching & Teaching is committed to seeing healthy churches among all nations. We work to strengthen existing churches and establish a healthy local church where there isn’t one. The New Testament instructs churches to proclaim the Word, protect sound doctrine, raise up biblically qualified elders, and rightly administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper. All of our missionaries share a common commitment to these convictions about the church in every context.

Training Local Leaders

Reaching & Teaching longs to see healthy churches led by qualified pastors. We believe churches are best served by a plurality of elders who are able to teach and shepherd God’s flock. The qualifications of these leaders are clearly outlined in the New Testament and are indispensable for the health of the church and the spread of the gospel. Qualified leaders multiply themselves by training other leaders.

Missiological Distinctives

These distinctives present our core missiological convictions and address important questions about what it looks like to be faithful to the Great Commission in our day. This list isn’t intended to say everything that could be said about missions. Rather, it serves as a guide to keep us on mission and to help others understand what Reaching & Teaching believes and practices.

These 10 Distinctives, with scriptural support, are presented on the RTIM blog.

Mission:

We believe the mission of the church is to glorify God by going into all the world to preach the gospel and plant healthy churches where disciples worship God, obey Christ’s commands, and grow to maturity.

Gospel:

We believe the gospel is the power of God for salvation; our task is to represent Christ by faithfully and verbally proclaiming God’s Word to the world.

Scripture:

We believe the Bible is sufficient, authoritative, and relevant for this core missionary task, providing both the message and method for our mission.

Sovereignty:

We believe God is sovereign in salvation; we rely on the Holy Spirit to convict and regenerate all whom the Father has chosen, graciously bringing them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Contextualization:

We believe God’s Word and Christ’s Lordship connect with and confront all human cultures; we seek to communicate the gospel in contextually appropriate ways and in diverse languages without fundamentally altering its content.

Church:

We believe healthy local churches are needed in every community; therefore, we strive to reach new peoples and places with the gospel while also strengthening churches and leaders where health is lacking.

Sending:

We believe the church is the primary means of obeying the Great Commission among the nations as local churches identify, train, send, and support qualified missionaries.

Discipleship:

We believe making disciples is normally a slow process that requires patience as believers grow to maturity in Christ through the ordinary means of grace in the context of a local church.

Training:

We believe planting and strengthening churches necessarily includes the work of identifying and training qualified, well-taught, reproducing local leaders.

Partnership:

We believe our mission should be carried out through gospel partnerships by cooperating and collaborating with faithful Christians throughout the global church.

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Any humanly invented organizations that assist in missions must remember that they are the bridesmaids, not the bride.

Sending Churches

Our Philosophy: How do we assist the church?

Reaching & Teaching believes that the local church should drive the work of missions and act as the primary sender of workers (Acts 13:1-3). We come alongside like-minded churches to serve them as they send out long-term workers to make mature disciples, establish healthy churches, and train local leaders around the world.

ANDY JOHNSON

“Missions: How the Local Church Goes Global”

We believe a biblically faithful sending church does the following:

1 - Exhorts

Exhorts its members to consider the nations and those unreached with the Good News of Jesus Christ and calls people to go.

2 - Equips

Equips the saints for the work of ministry while training elder qualified men and qualified women to serve abroad.

3 - Evaluates

Evaluates members who have a desire and gifting to serve abroad for ministry effectiveness and qualification.

4 - Entrusts

Entrusts their worker to be an ambassador for the sending church while serving abroad and hold them accountable for that work.

5 - Encourages

Encourages their workers on the field by means of regular communication, prayer, and financial support.

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Reaching and Teaching has been a catalyst for stronger missions efforts in the Middle East. Their commitment to church-centered, theologically robust ministry is a throwback to the priorities of William Carey, Adoniram Judson, and Samuel Zwemer, pioneers of a previous era. We value our partnership with RTIM, and pray for more fruit still to come.

JOHN FOLMAR, SENIOR PASTOR EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF DUBAI

Long-Term Missions

Reaching & Teaching partners with local churches to send these missionaries to proclaim the gospel, make disciples, plant and strengthen local churches, and train local leaders. We work in a variety of contexts all over the world because we long to see healthy, thriving, reproducing churches led by qualified, well-taught leaders in every community.

Where We Go

Reaching & Teaching facilitates the sending of missionaries all over the world. While we are seeking to build teams in strategic locations, we are also open to serving local churches as they send missionaries to new locations. We facilitate the sending of missionaries and teams both to hard-to-reach unengaged peoples and places as well as to areas where the gospel is present, but believers and churches lack sufficient health and maturity.

At RTIM, we are committed to offering the following:

Like-Minded Theological DNA

RTIM is theologically confessional, ecclesiologically driven, and missiologically deliberate.

Partnership

Missionaries partner with one another or with like-minded churches on the ground.

Leadership

Experienced Regional Leaders offer coaching and supervision regarding ministry strategy.

Care

Member Care personnel minister alongside the sending church to provide encouragement & support.

Training

We provide missiological, cross-cultural, security, and support-raising training.

Resources

RTIM invests in our missionaries through resources, continued education, and discussions.

Global Training

Who We Serve

Many of the pastors serving in local churches around the world have little to no access to formal theological training. We seeks to equip local pastors and church leaders in their local setting.

Where We Go

We partner with churches to provide pastoral training around the world. Our Training Facilitators develop relationships with trusted partners and missionaries to coordinate training in various contexts which will support the ongoing mission/ministry of those serving on the field.

How We Help

We partner with churches and individuals in North America to provide teaching teams in international contexts to train local leaders with the goal of healthy churches in every community.

What We Teach

Old Testament

New Testament

Hermeneutics

Christian Doctrines

Church History

Ecclesiology

Expositional Preaching

Family Ministry & Counseling

Missions & Church Planting

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Our partnership with RTIM has awakened a heart for missions in our members. We have learned a great deal about teaching cross-culturally, and we look forward to contributing at another teaching site as God opens the opportunity.

DAVID RAINER, PASTOR CONCORD BAPTIST CHURCH - CHATTANOOGA, TN

Womens Institute

The Vision

Reaching & Teaching desires all of God’s people to be equipped to make mature disciples. In many of the contexts we serve, women have less access to biblical tools and theological education than the men in their church, and are hungry to learn more. We are working to meet the needs of these women by helping them grow in biblical literacy. Our desire is to see more women coming to faith in Jesus, and equipped with the tools necessary to read, understand, and instruct someone in God’s Word.

When the elders of a local church affirm that their women would be benefited by working through the Institute, we are happy to provide materials and teachers for the training. We also love to have women from the local church on the ground assist with the teaching when possible.

Where We Go

Reaching & Teaching partners with churches to provide training for women around the world. Our Training Facilitators develop relationships with trusted partners and missionaries to coordinate training in various contexts which will support the ongoing ministry of those serving on the field.

What We Teach

Overview of the Bible

Expository Bible Study

Christian Doctrine

Biblical Counseling & Womanhood

Healthy Church Membership

Women of the Word

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I thoroughly enjoyed my teaching trips to Brazil. One of the most significant blessings of working with Reaching and Teaching was my ability to be sent out by my local church to work with long term missionaries also sent out by my local church. It was encouraging to watch God grow and equip these women through the faithful teaching of His Word.

HANNAH CARTER

Women’s Institute Trainer

Global Training & Your Church

We believe that church partnerships are the most effective way to meet the need for deep discipleship and theological training around the world. We utilize our nine-course training program for all Short-term Trips. Generally, each course is taught during a one-week training session. These sessions typically occur at each site three times a year for three years in order to cover all nine courses. Partnering churches can engage with us at one of three partnership levels:

LEVEL 1

During a selected site’s training program, churches provide teachers for one short-term trip per year for three years.

LEVEL 2

During a selected sites training program, churches provide teachers for two short-term trips per year for three years.

LEVEL 3 *

During a selected sites training program, provide teachers for three short-term trips per year for three years.

*Men’s Training Only

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RTIM has been a model of what it means for an agency to partner with local churches to send out global workers. Rather than supplanting the local church, or reducing us to a bank account, they have supported and empowered our local church in every step of the process.

MICHAEL LAWRENCE, SENDING CHURCH PASTOR, HINSON BIBLE CHURCH - PORTLAND, OR

The Practicum

The Reaching & Teaching Practicum serves churches and students by providing a holistic cross-cultural ministry experience alongside RTIM global workers who are committed to church-centric missions. Working alongside and learning from experienced global partners, students can spend their summer experiencing what cross-cultural discipleship looks like in real life and develop skills that will serve them in future ministry.

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My experience with the Practicum gave me a clear picture of biblical missions. I saw the local church have chief rule in proclaiming the Gospel among the nations. I’m thankful this is the heart beat of RTIM and their workers!

CAMERON MULLINS

Former Practicum Student

Global Internship

The Global Ecclesiology and Missiology Internship is a one-year internship designed to train the next generation to understand and apply biblical convictions about the local church and the call to make disciples of all nations.

Term 1

The first six months will be spent as a member of a healthy local church in the United States. The internship involves reading, writing, and discussion with the elders and staff coupled with local evangelism and church-based discipleship.

Term 2

The second six months will be spent as a member of an English-speaking International church around the world, continuing to read and write on important topics, and learning to serve in a cross-cultural context.

Global Fund

Our Global Fund exists to ensure Reaching & Teaching is strategically positioned to deploy, support, and care well for our global workers and global training efforts. Your gift goes directly to strengthening the work of making mature disciples, establishing healthy churches, and training local leaders around the world.

Global Investors

This is our front-line supporters who make an annual commitment through one-time or monthly gifts of at least $1,000 to the Global Fund. This team of “partners in the gospel” commits to praying, giving, and telling others about the work of Reaching & Teaching around the world.

Trellis Project

A group of dedicated individuals and churches who partner with Reaching & Teaching to support the growth of the organization for the years ahead. This group helps to establish the right care, right personnel, right priorities, and right resources for our team of global workers.

Special Projects

At times strategic projects are available for funding opportunities. These may include the Global Retreat, translation projects, or curriculum development.

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Reaching & Teaching’s commitment to ecclesiology informing missiology fuels their service of congregations like mine as they train, send, and provide ongoing support for our missionaries in the field. It has also helped me as a pastor better communicate to our church their responsibility in missions.

RAYMOND JOHNSON, SENDING CHURCH PASTOR, CHRIST CHURCH WEST CHESTER

Discover Reaching & Teaching

Missions Talk Preview Day Blog RTIM Review

Missions Talk features podcast conversations that explain the toooften-overlooked connection between healthy churches & global missions.

Whether you are considering long-term missions or want to mobilize your church, this is a great place to start!

RTIM provides articles and podcast episodes automatically to your inbox. It’s a great way to stay on top of the latest news and resources for international missions and pastoral training.

Take a look into the Lord’s work at Reaching & Teaching in the RTIM Review. You’ll find quarterly updates on events, Long-Term Workers, Global Training, resources & more inside.

Our regional mobilizers are equipped to help answer any question you may have on how you or your church can partner with Reaching & Teaching. Learn more about partnering to make mature disciples, establish healthy churches, and train local leaders at RTIM.org with Reaching & Teaching.

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