40-in-40 Global Mission - by Chris Jessee

As a people on mission,

Metro Life Church is locally focused,

regionally deployed, and globally engaged.

We’ve been rescued to be a people on mission. This happens for Metro Life Church locally in the 1-3 miles around our facility and the seven cities we can partner with as an extension of our mission. We live the commission regionally through our homes, workplaces, and campuses as we go about our lives, ambassadors of another kingdom, ministers of reconciliation in relationships, and sharing the good news we’ve so richly received. This happens globally as we engage in what is often called short-term missions trips. 

In 2025, we’re pursuing a bold ambition: 40 of our adult members will be on an international missions trip as we celebrate our 40th anniversary as a church. This makes claims on us as a congregation, not just those participating. Our planning, sending, prayers, and generosity make trips like this possible. The discipleship participants go through in preparation, going, and returning with testimonies, making these trips spiritually beneficial. 

As we’ve been planning these trips, the Lord has been stirring something in our hearts for the years to come in global missions, not just our 40th Anniversary. I believe that God is calling Metro Life Church to be planning or on a missions trip for the years to come. That means we’re always on global mission. This often happens through working with partner organizations with a shared heart to support local missionaries and pastors in their work. 

In 2025 we currently have plans for Haiti, Vietnam, Bolivia, and others coming online as planning comes together. There’s even a trip in Florida planned for late spring to a camp in Hawthorn for those who can’t go internationally.

The application process, training materials, specific equipping, and discipleship after each trip are key areas of attention for us as a church. This is so participants can grow spiritually in all the ways the Holy Spirit intends. 

Won’t you prayerfully consider joining us in being a church on mission? All of us can pray – what a great way to start! You may be called to be a financial supporter of someone being sent out, you may be able to help with the training process or some other administrative role. You may sense that God is calling you to enter the mission field. 

Whatever ways you participate, we all need one another to accomplish this vision. I’m so grateful that what God requires of us, he so richly provides for. Consider these words from Matthew 28:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:18–20