After all, you can choose from over a million nonprofit agencies to support with your money. If you have a call to serve as a missionary, there are about a bazillion organizations you could join. Here’s some information to help clarify what’s distinctive about InterAct Ministries.
Our Purpose … Why do we exist?Why do we exist? For one reason: To glorify God by fulfilling the Great Commission among unreached people groups.
All of life really is about the glory of God. As John Piper has reminded us, worship, not missions, is the ultimate aim of the Christian. And of the many ways to bring God glory, we are in the Great Commission business, seeking to fulfill Jesus’ command to make disciples.
The particular focus of how we do that lies in the phrase “unreached people groups.” Those who are more distant or isolated from the gospel are our special concern.
Our Vision … What do we want to see?What picture of the future best captures the goal of our ministry? We want to see a culturally relevant church transforming every community in the North Pacific Crescent.
Let’s unpack that a little. The North Pacific Crescent is our term for that part of the world over the top of the Pacific Ocean: Siberia, Alaska, western Canada. The North Pacific Crescent includes 12,000 communities that lack a visible expression of the church of Jesus Christ. We envision every single one of those places not only having a body of believers, but experiencing the transformation that Jesus brings through the church, which is His primary change agent for the world.
Our Values … What really makes us tick?We have identified four core values that, taken together, best define how we are different.
- The Bible Although we try to learn from every legitimate source, only one Book is absolutely trustworthy. We are people of that Book. When we gather, we want to hear from God’s Word. When we minister, it is the Word of God that we bring. Our policies are shaped by this devotion to the Bible as our ultimate authority.
- People Hang around us for a little while and you’ll pick up something: we care about people. Our team gatherings are highlights in our schedule. We follow each other’s stories and families, and pray for each other’s health needs. Listen to our conversations and you’ll hear us talking about the people among whom we serve.
- Commitment We’re here for the long haul. Maybe because our chosen ministry context requires long-term effort, we are characterized by long-term commitment. Twenty-five years of service is nothing unusual in this organization. Yes, short-term ministry is an important part of our picture, but just one part. The heroes are those who have demonstrated the long-term faithfulness necessary for the harvest.
- Overlooked Peoples Among the people of the North Pacific Crescent are nearly 1 million living in the less obvious communities, cultures or societies. Some are tribal or aboriginal, others are immigrants. Somehow we are wired to look under the surface. That’s where you’ll find us.
The following principles guide us as we pursue our vision. We ...
- Cooperate with other like-minded individuals, churches and organizations in reaching the people in our area.
- Research the unreached people groups on our fields, maintaining a comprehensive database and making our findings available to other groups.
- Mobilize prayer for each unreached people group in this area.
- Live and learn in the culture.
- Locate in strategic communities.
- Focus all our ministries toward planting culturally relevant, mission-active churches.
- Address the physical, emotional and societal needs of the communities as well as the spiritual.
- Build team-based ministries.
- Work to promote healthy local leadership for the emerging and existing churches.
- Mobilize North American evangelicals for cross-cultural ministry.
- Provide the training necessary to equip people for effective ministry.