For the first time in several years, the Northside church was not involved in a special Sunday in which we raised funds specifically for Global Missions. Although we’ve already reported to the congregation the reasons behind that decision, we know that some might wonder whether we as a church are still dedicated to mission efforts beyond the boundaries of our own city and country.

The Northside church has been committed to Global Missions for over forty years, and the level of that commitment has not diminished one bit.

Northside was a growing and thriving congregation when and Sharon and I first arrived in 1982.  But there was one element that was a little unusual. Though the congregation had already been around five years, there was still no participation in any kind of global mission effort. Both the leadership and the members soon realized that was not good, and so in June 1983, Ken and Liz Lewis and their family joined the Northside church, with the intention of becoming our first ambassadors in a foreign mission field.

When the Lewis family joined Northside, they began to investigate potential mission fields, particularly in Latin America. And Ken and Liz Lewis decided to join a team of American missionaries already working in Fortaleza Brazil. They arrived in Fortaleza in July 1985, and that decision and arrival would end up having a lasting impact upon God’s church on two different continents.

Ken and Liz and their family returned to the states in 1992.  Yet their seven-year presence in Fortaleza continued to have a rippling effect, and those ripples have impacted the Northside church and the churches of Brazil to this very day.  David and Babi Ingram joined the Fortaleza mission team in January 1988 and remained as our ambassadors in that city for twenty-five years. Even after David and Babi returned to the states in 2012, David Ingram continued to make periodic visits to Fortaleza.  On one of those visits, in 2015, David was accompanied by Mark Dye, Justin Hill, and Troy Gibbons. Those three brothers conducted a Survivor Retreat among the Fortaleza teens, and in the process, they fell in love with a people and a culture. And so a seed was planted, and today a thriving congregation exists in San Luis, Brazil, and our commitment as a church to that ministry remains firm, fixed, and undeniable.

A commitment to and involvement in global missions changes a church for the better: it enables us to see more accurately the true international nature of God’s kingdom.  Without that global awareness, our understanding of the church can become provincial and small.  We may end up incorrectly assuming that all cultural expressions of faith should be like our own.

But participation in foreign missions doesn’t just change our understanding of the church, it changes us.  Anyone who has participated in mission trips to Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala or Cozumel can personally attest to that fact. In my first trip to Fortaleza back in 1992, I went reluctantly, and only participated because of the unrelenting insistence of friend and former Northside member, Scott Royse.  Before that campaign, I was somewhat indifferent about the ministry in Brazil. I returned so committed that I made nine additional trips.

We are no longer raising funds for global missions in a special offering once a year. Now we do it every Sunday. Placing our Global Missions ministry under the larger Northside budget means that our mission effort is no longer constrained by the unpredictability of what might be contributed on a given Sunday. Now those ministries can operate with greater confidence, knowing that the support is certain and guaranteed.

Northside remains committed to Global Missions in general and specific ministries in particular.  We will continue to support and encourage mission trips to Guatemala, Honduras, and Cozumel.   And when it comes to our commitment to San Luis and to Mark, Melinda and Jude, we can say with assurance and conviction that the Northside church is all in. May God bless us as we serve together.

Bruce Utley
From the Shepherds