About Us
Core Doctrine
The Word of God is our governing document and authority for all matters of faith and practice. Missions 3:16 missionaries, staff and Board members believe the following Core Doctrines:
Scripture [2 PET 1:16-21; 2 TIM. 3:16,17; JN 15:26,27, 16:12,13; IS 40:8]
The Bible is inerrant and infallible, the verbally, plenary-inspired Word of God. It has absolute authority as God’s settled and final Word.
God has totally preserved His Word in full authority and power.
The interpretation of the Bible is by reliance upon the Holy Spirit, who inspired it, and by using normal, literal, historical, cultural, exegetical and contextual methods of interpretation.
The Word of God is a divinely-ordered and accurate record, by which God directs mankind, according to His purposes.
Godhead [DT 6:4-6; EX 3:14; JN 8:58]
There is one God, eternally existent as a Trinity–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Trinity is co-eternal in Person; co-identical in nature; co-equal in power and glory; and have the same attributes, authority and perfection.
Known eternally by His multitude of names in Scripture, He is God above all other gods of this world.
God is sovereign, holy, immutable, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.
God is the creator, sustainer, and ultimate ruler of the universe.
Christ [JN 1:1-14; 1 COR 15:12-28; REV 19:11-16]
The eternal Son of God enfleshed Himself, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of a virgin, exactly as prophesied.
He is perfect in person, fully God and fully man, with no earthly father.
He lived a sinless life, and died as the payment for the sins of mankind.
His death was efficacious, vicarious, substitutionary, sacrificial and totally satisfying to Holy God.
His physical and literal resurrection from the dead secured believers’ justification by His appearance before the Father, where He is now interceding for all believers as their great High Priest.
His literal, physical, and pre-millenial second coming will occur in the last days and is imminent. He will come to set up His millennial kingdom.
Holy Spirit [JN 14:15-17; 15:21-27; 16:7-11; 1 COR 12:1-31]
The Spirit of God convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
He has an intercessory work in believers’ prayers, and an indwelling, sanctifying work in believers’ hearts, from salvation on and forever.
He is a teacher and perfect guide to eternal truth.
He spiritually baptizes new believers into the Body of Christ, sealing their salvation for eternity.
He comforts and spiritually strengthens believers, gifting them with what is necessary to accomplish His will. These spiritual gifts are given for the orderly edification of believers, especially within the local church.
Sin [GEN 3:1-6; PS 14:1-7; JN 6:44; ROM 3:9-20, 10:13-17; REV 21:8; 1 COR 15:21,22]
Though man is created in the image of God, mankind was rendered lost at the Fall of Adam and Eve.
Men and women are personally separated from God, from conception.
Due to mankind’s depravity, people are unable to save themselves, nor can they come to salvation, unless the Father draws them, the Spirit convicts them, and the Word of God shows them.
Unregenerate mankind is separated from God, condemned to eternal, conscious punishment, first in Hell, and then in the Lake of Fire.
Salvation [JN 3:1-21; EPH 2:1-10; JER 31:31-37]
Salvation is by grace through faith in the substitutionary atonement and finished work of Christ, which includes His bodily resurrection and ascension into Heaven.
Salvation is eternally secure, being sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus completely fulfilled the New Covenant, having shed His blood as the payment for sin, whereby God makes believers His own people, and becomes their God.
The Church [MT 28:19,20; Acts 1:8-2:47, 6:1-7 and 13:1,2]
The universal church is a spiritual body of all believers–purchased, founded, and blessed by Christ. In Scripture it is called Christ’s Body.
It is visibly represented by NT local churches, which are organized bodies of believers, practicing Biblical ordinances [Communion and Believer’s Baptism].
Local churches are to be places of spiritual gathering for worship, Bible teaching, evangelism, discipleship, and edification. They are to carry out the Great Commission locally and globally, by promoting church-planting and other missions outreaches in the world.
Eternity [JN 5:25-29; 1 TH 4:14-18; 2 TH 1:7-9; REV 20]
There will be a bodily resurrection of all mankind–the righteous to eternal life with the Lord, the unrighteous to eternal death/separation from the Lord–first in Hell and then in the Lake of Fire.
Existence in either place will be literal, eternal and conscious.
Believers who die are ushered immediately into the presence of the Lord, where in conscious blessedness they await the resurrection.
At the resurrection, believers’ bodies will be reunited with soul and spirit, forever to be with the Lord, existing in an everlasting body in the New Heaven and new Earth.
Unbelievers who die are confined to Hell, then resurrected to stand before the Lord at the Great White Throne Judgment. They will then be cast into the Lake of Fire, to be eternally separated from the presence of the Lord and suffering conscious torment and punishment.
Satan [GEN 3:1-15; IS 14:12-15; EZ 28:11-19; EPH 2:2; REV 20:7-10]
A created angelic being who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven, along with his host of fallen angels who also rebelled.
Being the author of sin, he is the evil one who introduced temptation and evil onto the Earth, which led to the fall of the human race.
He is the enemy of God and man, a wicked deceiver and prince of the powers of the air.
He will be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire, along with his host of fallen angels and all unbelievers.
Creation [GEN 1,2; JOB 38-41; ROM 1:19,20; EX 20:11]
The verbal, fiat, perfect, and literal action of God to bring into existence all that is material and spiritual.
His creation was instantaneous, being accomplished in six literal twenty-four hour days, as Scripture affirms in GEN 1,2.
The Creator has revealed His divine attributes through His creative activity.
Purpose/Function
- Missions 3:16 facilitates.
We walk applicants and interns through the missions application and approval process. Then, we assist them with pre-field ministry and in getting to their field of service. - Missions 3:16 liaisons.
We cultivate and aid in the development of regular lines of communication between missionaries and their individual or church donor-partners. - Missions 3:16 advocates.
We hold up our missionaries to supporters and potential supporters, representing their ministry and field of service in current supporting churches and in Bible Colleges, plus endeavoring to recruit new missionaries to join/help them. - Missions 3:16 encourages.
We affirm, bless and assist our missionaries by visiting them on their field, connecting others with their work, and communicating with them regularly by various forms of media. - Missions 3:16 stewards.
We research current field conditions to help our missionaries set reasonable financial goals for support-raising, as well as establishing guidelines that help them prepare for
their family’s future on the field and beyond.
Philosophy
- Fundamental Assumptions of a Biblical philosophy of missions [Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19-20]
- Missions is God’s will and plan.
- The responsibility to carry out missions is equally upon all believers, all local churches, in all places.
- Nationals are primary in reaching their own people-group.
- Empowering Nationals is God’s plan.
- Values and Disciplines required for holding and carrying out a Biblical philosophy of missions
- Accountability in all areas of personal life and ministry: to God, the local church, Missions 3:16, supporters, US and national co-workers, other brothers and sisters Christ.
- Humility toward God, family, national and American co-workers, and the lost.
- Obedience to God’s Word as the final authority in all areas of doctrine and practice. Periodic self-examination and cross-examination–both personally and professionally.
- Integrity in all spoken, financial and contractual matters.
- Submission to authority and to other believers, including nationals.
- Personal Perspective necessary to fulfill a Biblical philosophy of missions
- God’s primacy in life–both personal relationship and obedience.
- The importance of implicit obedience to His plan for evangelism, discipleship, teaching, facilitating, planting, empowering and nationalizing His work.
- The need to treat nationals as equals/co-workers in every way.
- Conviction of the importance of, and the explicit role of the missionary to empower nationals: Bible/leadership training, mentoring, facilitating, equipping, promoting, blessing and nationalizing their work.
Mission
At Missions 3:16, our mission can be summarized by three core statements:
1. Obeying the Great Commission is the responsibility of all believers.
The Great Commission is a Divine directive to all believers everywhere. In order for every person to hear the Gospel, every Christian needs to share it. Regardless of the cost, hardships, or obstacles, world evangelism has been entrusted to all believers by our Master. Our mission is to spread the Gospel to the nations. Our desire is that the worldwide audience would hear and believe, thus joining us as committed followers of Christ.
2. Implementing the Great Commission is the responsibility of all local churches.
It is the responsibility of all local churches everywhere to obey the Great Commission with local and worldwide outreach. Individual local churches are the primary organizations that God has chosen to use to impact the nations. Each local assembly is gifted by God with human leaders, and is entrusted with the training and sending of workers into the harvest fields. The sending and supervision of that missionary workforce rests primarily on the local church and its authority.
Scripture also places great emphasis upon the believer’s involvement in a local church. To that end, we work within the context of the local church. Everyone affiliated with Titus is active in and responsible to a local church. By choice, we all belong to churches that hold a conservative, fundamental approach to the Scriptures. We are servants in our local churches, and extensions of our supporting churches. Titus is fully committed to fulfilling the Great Commission through Great Commission local churches, and by establishing national churches that do the same.
3. Completing the Great Commission requires national Christian workers and indigenous national churches.
Since evangelism, discipleship and training comprise the Great Commission, our mission is not complete until every person on Earth has a witness for Christ among their own people, in their own culture and language, led by their own people. And that’s called nationalization of the work. Surely, this should be the goal of every Biblical, worldwide missionary endeavor. And it is the stated aim of Missions 3:16.
Because of this, Missions 3:16 is different from many missions agencies. Our strong emphasis on training and developing national teams, and investing in national workers, is a Biblical and largely cost-effective way to carry out the Great Commission in our generation. It is not our intent to minimize the need for non-national missionaries. To the contrary, we believe and support the need for more foreign missionaries. However, we believe that their time is used most productively in teaching, training, and developing nationals.
Our strategic decision to focus on the reproduction of national Christian workers keeps us clearly centered on our mission and ultimate goal. It is our passion and purpose to do all that we can to assist national local churches in training, equipping and sending forth national Christian workers to plant their own churches among their own people. A grassroots movement of the Gospel into every nation, led by nationals, is clearly what the Lord desires, and what our mission requires. We invite you to join us in our mission.