What does missions mean to us?

It is the fulfillment of the Great Commission to go into all the world preaching and sharing the Good news that God loves humanity and has provided a way for relationship through salvation for all mankind in a cross-cultural way.

We understand that in order to accomplish the Great Commission we need a three-fold emphasis towards reaching the lost.

1. Evangelism: Spreading God’s Word
   It is reaching the heart of every tribe and people group on the earth. This includes Bible translation and distribution, church planting and outreaches in all areas.
2. Training: Equipping and preparing Christians to reach others with the Gospel.
   Understanding the tasks before us, mentoring, discipling and training are vital components towards our goal of seeing that all may come to know Him.
3. Mercy Ministries: Demonstrating God’s Love through practical assistance.
   The Gospel must be accompanied by a loving, practical response to the needs of the poor and oppressed.

We further understand that missions, as being part of the greater commissioning of the church, carries the idea of a cross-cultural aspect. For where the church is called to the Great Commission at large; missions is that aspect that reaches across barriers. (Language, culture, social and geographical boundaries.) This is our response, reaching out to those around us (our Jerusalem), those near us (our Judea) and those far from us (the uttermost parts of the earth) with the love of Christ as a church family.

Honduras Missions: 2005 – present

Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, is a city of over 875,000 people that is plagued with economic hardship. Honduras is, by far, the poorest of the Central American countries with a high percentage of homeless and hungry children. Our teams work primarily with these children and leadership at local churches and two feeding centres which provide care, meals and clothing for local children on a regular basis. One of our first teams presented a day camp similar to the one we have here every summer. Teams have also focused on marriage and the specific needs of women by holding conferences and seminars.

Student Mission Trips: Ongoing

These trips have significant value in a student’s life and we have seen exponential spiritual growth in students who take part in these trips. We believe mission trips are important in their walk with Jesus and try to do one each year. Our trips have taken us to Newfoundland, northern Ontario, New Orleans, Kyrgyzstan, Mississippi, Trinidad and Honduras.

Kyrgyzstan: 2002 – 2006

In 2002 a team traveled to the country of Kyrgyzstan for the first time. They prepared as best as they could, but were really not sure where they were going or what they would find when they arrived.
When they arrived they met a humble young pastor who, with his wife and two small children, was pastoring a church of about thirty people, and were meeting in the drive shed in the his backyard. Not only did they lack a church building, they lacked respect in the eyes of other churches in the community. Still, a dedicated group met there at 6:00 every morning to pray for change!

During the next four years teams from Gateway Church (then known as GTA, Glad Tidings Assembly) helped this group of believers purchase and renovate a church building on the main street, held children’s day camps, a series of adult motivation seminars, youth rallies, concerts and Alpha training seminars.

The result of all of this is that the church there has grown in stature in the eyes of the community and are seen as a group that is trying to help their community. The church has also grown spiritually and numerically through various outreaches and continuing Alpha Training. They are now better prepared to continue the work that was begun by that young pastor several years earlier.

Five years ago we didn’t know where we were going . . . but God knew. He was sending us to answer the prayers of His people, half-way around the world.

Missions At Home

Visit the “Outreach Programs” section of our Programs page for details about our local missions endeavours.

Gateway Church & Compassion Canada: Partnering with Purpose

We are excited to partner with Compassion Canada through a focused approach to child sponsorship in Honduras and working with the pastors of four Compassion project churches. Gateway Church families sponsor more than 90 children from these four churches and look forward writing and receiving letters from them and watching them grow spiritually as well as physically. It is our privilege as a church family to pray for them and their families.

We have the privilege of sponsoring Rosa Vasquez, one of Compassion’s first students enrolled in the Leadership Development Program (LDP) in the country of Honduras. The Leadership Development Program has been designed to recognize qualities of excellence, invest in the students who possess them, and then filter those students back into the communities to help others. We believe this is a valuable asset to our missions endeavours and fulfills the core values of missions at Gateway Church.