At Cole we have made a significant commitment to long-term missions, seeing this as the main thrust of our response as a church to Jesus' call to "make disciples of all nations". This commitment is expressed by sending and supporting our own Field Staff and Missionaries, and by contributing support to a number of mission agencies (Global Mission Agencies) that are active world-wide.

Jesus, the Head of the Church, calls each local congregation to respond to the Great Commission with a specific focus. That focus varies geographically (local or regional within the home culture or cross culturally), in the type of missions activities pursued (relief and development, church planting, support ministries, etc.), and in the organizational structure (church-direct, denominational agencies, faith-based Evangelical agencies, etc.) under which the missionaries serve.

Geographical Response:

Although some of our missionaries minister to our own culture, we believe God has called Cole to focus primarily on cross-cultural missions. At present, most but not all of our long-term workers serve in the Muslim world, with fields of service primarily in the Middle East and East Asia. In contrast to some churches, we have not been led to focus exclusively on one specific people group.

Missions Activities:

The main activities our long-term workers focus on are planting churches where none exist, and coming alongside existing national churches to support their spiritual growth. We have a strong commitment to the principle of partnership with national church and mission leadership in all of our cross-cultural ministries.

Organizational Structure:

In all cases, our Field Staff and missionaries serve under the field direction of independent, faith-based Evangelical mission agencies. However, we seek as a church to be in partnership with the field agencies, by staying in contact with our own field workers as well as the agencies under which they serve, by occasionally sending our own pastoral care team to minister to our workers, and where appropriate, by sending short-term mission teams to support the long-term ministry goals of those workers.

Two other core values we hold to in our long-term missions program at Cole are first, that we raise up and send out long-term workers exclusively from out of our own church body; and secondly, that we seek to maintain a strong and active support base for the Field Staff and missionaries we send to the field.