The Heart of MTW
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Featured Work
Spain
“It’s very clear to me that God doesn’t exist. God is just an excuse that has been used throughout history to keep people in submission.” This quote from a young Spaniard represents the shift that has taken place in Spain as the culture has rejected the church and embraced materialism. Even so, lives are being transformed through the power of Christ.
For more information visit: www.mtwspain.org |
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Christ Is Our Mentor
Have you ever been envious of those who mentor others or are themselves mentored? Many seem to believe this is the most important ingredient in becoming a mature disciple in Christ. Perhaps the most important reality of discipleship is not in having a mentor, but instead finding oneself in Christ. Paul says in Galatians 2:20 that "the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God." In other words, by faith in Christ, He is both our Savior and our mentor. This is the seminal work of the Holy Spirit. He gives us a new heart to love Christ and He starts a new work in us (Philippians 1:6), causing us more and more to reflect Christ who is the source of our new life. What better mentor could we have than Christ as the Holy Spirit lives within us (Galatians 5:16-25)?
Paul also teaches us that a discipled life in Christ is a crucified life, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." A crucified life is a gift of Christ in which the Holy Spirit enables us to more and more let go of self love and love Christ and His kingdom work. We become increasingly dependent on the Triune God who loves us and saved us from our sins.
Discipleship is not simply getting the rules straight and disciplining oneself to follow them. It is a personal relationship with our "divine mentor" in which we grow in the understanding that confidence in our own strength is an insult to Christ's atoning work. Instead, by looking to Christ, we find strength to surrender our personal will to the perfect will of God. By exercising such faith, we are enabled to trust God, pray in the Spirit, resist temptation, put others first, and even bless those who persecute us.
Even the motivation for discipleship changes from one of responding to Christ's great love for us rather than out of duty or to look good. In Galatians 2:20, Paul says of Christ that He "…loved me and gave Himself for me." There is no greater truth about God, nor a greater surprise to us than the fact that the God of the Universe has come to lovingly bridge the gulf between us. And He did it through the atoning death of His Son. As Luther said, "By dying in our place Christ became the worst sinner who ever lived," and we in turn received His perfect righteousness.
No greater motivation is possible to live as a disciple of Christ!
Mission Sending Agency of the PCA
MTW advances the work of the body of Christ worldwide through a wide variety of word and deed ministries by identifying, selecting, training and sending men and women and integrating these into church-planting movements. We minister among unreached people groups in world-class cities as well as hinterland areas, partnering with national churches and indigenous leaders whenever possible. MTW also partners with local PCA churches to glorify God through the discovery and engagement of their unique potential, purpose and passion for cross-cultural ministry.
Reformed and Covenantal
MTW upholds the doctrines of sovereign grace and the truth that God saves His people as described in the Westminster Standards. The Holy Scriptures are inerrant and authoritative, relating the reliable history of God’s covenantal relationship with His children. In regard to that relationship, it is clear that missions is a divine enterprise in which God commands and graciously accepts the obedience of His children. Our foundation for missions is the dual truth that God chose in eternity those who will be saved and that He also uses us as instruments in the process of saving them.
Church Planting Movements
A church-planting movement is a Spirit-directed, vision-driven, sustained expansion of Christ's Kingdom among a particular geographic or ethnic people. This is accomplished through indigenously led churches resulting in ongoing church multiplication and renewal that significantly impacts all levels of society-spiritually, socially and culturally. We will advance church-planting movements by partnering with an existing group or denomination that is Reformed and covenantal. When there is no such group we may establish a new Reformed and covenantal denomination. As the Holy Spirit leads we will also take opportunities to impact others from our Reformed and covenantal perspective.
MTW believes that the Church is God's instrument to complete the missionary task. Our approach is to advance movements of the gospel through the planting of self-propagating, self-supporting, and self-governing churches, which live out a dynamic Reformed and covenantal faith through trained and empowered leadership.
Word And Deed
Word: the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in all of its fullness.
Deed: the demonstration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through meeting physical, emotional, social or cultural needs, in the context of church planting.
A Synopsis of the Beliefs of the Presbyterian Church in America
The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
There is one God, eternal and self-existing in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) who are to be equally loved, honored, and adored.
All mankind participated in Adam's fall from his original sinless state and is thus lost in sin and totally helpless.
The Sovereign God, for no other reason than His own unfathomable love and mercy, has chosen lost sinners from every nation to be redeemed by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit and through the atoning death and resurrection of His son, Jesus Christ.
Those sinners whom the Spirit quickens, come to believe in Christ as Savior by the Word of God, are born again, become sons of God, and will persevere to the end.
Justification is by faith and through it the undeserving sinner is clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
The goal of God's salvation in the life of the Christian is holiness, good works, and service for the glory of God.
At death the Christian's soul passes immediately into the presence of God and the unbeliever's soul is eternally separated from God unto condemnation.
Baptism is a sign of God's covenant and is properly administered to children of believers in their infancy as well as to those who come as adults to trust in Christ.
Jesus Christ will return to earth, visibly and bodily, at a time when He is not expected, to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.
The gospel of God's salvation in Jesus Christ must be published to all the world as a witness before Jesus Christ returns.
Our Core Values
God's Glory
We desire above all else to bring praise and worship to the triune God among all peoples, arising from the God-centered nature of our Reformed and covenantal theology.
God's Grace
We seek to live humbly and authentically before God and man, exemplifying integrity and accountability, because Christ is our only hope and help.
God's Church
We believe in the centrality of the local church as the primary instrument for advancing God’s Kingdom.
God's Family
We encourage the open communication and mutual trust that are to be found within God’s covenant community, and we seek to empower individuals for team-based ministry strategies.
God's Wisdom
We strive to establish a culture of continual Christ-centered learning throughout every part of the MTW community.