Crofton Baptist Church
Ambassadors for Christ
Contact Details:
100 Crofton Lane
Orpington
Kent BR5 1HD
01689 877010
Mission
Mission at Crofton Baptist Church
The essence of mission or missionary activity is that whatever is done by those participating has as its primary purpose the desire to bring people to meet Christ and to see them saved.
Crofton has always been a missionary church and supports a wide variety of different missions. Many members have left Crofton to serve the church and to be involved in spreading the gospel in Britain and around the world. If you worship with us at Crofton and are considering possible mission service, click here to see our policy on Mission Grants at Crofton.
At Crofton our primary focus is on five mission agencies or partners. These cover a wide variety of types of mission across the globe. In addition Crofton members support a number of other missions and individuals.
The focus on mission is co-ordinated by the Missionary Strategy Group, chaired by Andrew Bottomley, whose purpose is to challenge the congregation to involvement in mission work at home or overseas and to liaise with the church leadership on all matters associated with mission.
Baptist Missionary Society & Baptist Union Home Mission
http://www.bmsworldmission.org
http://www.baptist.org.uk/home_mission/index.html
The Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) World Mission is a Christian mission organisation, working in around 40 countries on four continents. BMS believes in holistic mission, an approach that stays true to the Christian call to evangelisation without neglecting the duty to take care of the physical needs of the poor. BMS works through long, medium and short term workers, teams and volunteers, as well as a large number of supported national workers around the world. It provides people, funding, training and expertise in Church Planting, Development, Disaster Relief, Education, Health, Media and Advocacy.
Home Mission is the Baptist Family sharing together to enable mission throughout Great Britain. Home Mission helps churches in strategic mission situations to have a minister when they could otherwise not afford one. It funds chaplains working in education and industry. It supports evangelists and missioners. Local Baptist Associations are financed by Home Mission as are materials, help and advice from the national resource centre in Didcot.
SAT -7 (Terry and Jackie Ascott)
SAT-7 is a Christian satellite television channel which provides Churches and Christians of the Middle East and North Africa an opportunity to witness to Jesus Christ through inspirational, informative and educational television programmes.
SAT-7 began broadcasting in 1996 after 25 different Christian agencies and churches from the Middle East, Europe and North America committed themselves to the vision of seeing a growing church in the Middle East and North Africa, confident in Christian faith and witness, serving the community and contributing to the good of society and culture.
The vision of the ministry is threefold:
- To encourage the scattered Christian communities of the Middle East in their faith, service and witness for Christ.
- To provide its viewers with an opportunity to understand what Christians believe, in their own language, devoid of unnecessary foreign cultural or political baggage.
- To complement all public education and information channels with a balanced Christian world-view reflecting Biblical perspectives in human life and society.
Now broadcasting a 24 hour-a-day, free-to-view digital service, SAT-7 has a regular audience of over 6 million people. They provide programmes in Arabic, Farsi and Turkish, with special regular features for children, youth and women. This dynamic television service is made possible by charitable giving from all over the world. Terry Ascott, a member of Crofton Baptist Church, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SAT-7.
TearFund
The purpose of Tearfund is to serve Jesus Christ by enabling those who share evangelical Christian beliefs to bring good news to the poor through:
Proclaiming and demonstrating the gospel for the whole person through support of Christian relief and development
Working through a worldwide network of evangelical Christian Partners
Encouraging partnership in prayer and support from Christians in Britain and Ireland
Seeking at all times to be obedient to biblical teaching.
Tear Fund works in areas affected by natural disasters such as famine, drought and earthquakes.
Educación Plus (Keith and Joy Holder)
Educación Plus was started by Keith and Joy Holder in Costa Rica in 1994. It is a Christian project dedicated to preventing young people from the shanty towns becoming street children.
Education is one of the most important tools for breaking out of the poverty cycle which too often leads to the street. Although basic schooling is free in Costa Rica, uniforms and equipment cost too much for families who do not have enough to eat. Educación Plus enables the 500 or so children in the Project to complete their junior education. Where possible, it continues to help them in secondary school or into available professional training.
Educación Plus also recognises the special spiritual, emotional and practical problems created by living in shanty town conditions. It seeks to do this by running weekly Bible clubs, youth groups and sports activities. By sharing God's love in such ways, they seek to follow Jesus' example and minister to the families in every aspect of their lives.
The Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship
UCCF is a fellowship of students, staff, supporters and churches working through Christian Unions in Colleges and Universities to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the student world. The Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship is for people who want to see today's students following Jesus.
Within a few years nearly 50% of 18-21 year olds will be in higher education. This represents around 5 million students in over 700 universities and colleges. Many are more open to hear the claims of Christ than they will ever be again. At the same time persecution of Christian students is rising rapidly as is hostility by authorities to Christian witness. UCCF helps Christian students reach their peers and stand for Christ in this challenging environment.