From the start, MSC has held four key beliefs about missions. First, we believe that God is the one who calls and sends workers. It’s more that God calls and enables people and much less that they choose the life of mission work. Also, this means that churches, God’s frontline for the Great Commission, send workers rather than a parachurch organization. Second, we believe that the Holy Spirit doesn’t require a large organizational missions structure to accomplish His work. A top-heavy organization is restrictive and inflexible and unable to quickly accommodate the moves of God’s Spirit. Consequently, we strive to keep MSC personal, nimble, efficient, Spirit-led, and flexible. Third, we believe in a partnership model that reflects the many different roles each member of the body has to play in missions. No local church on its own can fill all the necessary pieces of accomplishing cross-cultural missions in the 21st Century. Finally, we believe that God will supply all that is needed to accomplish the work He has called mission workers to do. Mission workers are called to ministry, not fundraising.
A Brief History
With the world at war in 1940, a collection of elders from Brethren assemblies in Toronto started the Missionary Service Committee as a means of efficiently transferring funds to overseas missionaries while complying with then-newly introduced Foreign Exchange Controls. For over 75 years now, MSC has served mission workers and their sending churches as they seek to fulfill the Great Commission. We still help move money to missions, but as the years have passed, we have expanded our services to help meet the evolving needs of mission workers and their sending churches.
Mission + Service Connections
These days, we like to think that the “MSC” in MSC Canada stands for Mission + Service Connections because so much of our work today revolves around connecting. We connect funds from God’s people to mission workers and projects, we connect workers and churches to mission and services, and we connect prayer items to prayer warriors… to name a few. So, although our legal name is MSC Canada, we’d love it if you remembered that we’re all about connecting workers and churches with God’s mission.
What We Do
More than just a way to safely and securely get funds overseas, MSC provides a host of services tailored to the needs of today’s mission worker and their sending local church. We call it missions expertise – the legal, logistical, and practical supports that make serving the Lord across oceans and cultures possible. Whether that’s specialized missions training, financial advice, sending short-term construction or evangelism teams to support work on the field, or providing field support and counselling. Our team of experts and former mission workers has been put together specifically to help mission workers focus on what God has called them to – the mission.
What Sending Churches Do
While MSC provides missions expertise, we look to a worker’s sending local church to provide their need for ministry direction and spiritual oversight. It’s not our job to direct the ministry of mission workers. Our expectation is that a worker’s elders and sending church will be invested in their mission worker, praying for them, being God’s supply for their financial needs, and even making a point to visit them on the field when possible. In our model, MSC is not the sending agency, local churches are.
Current Challenges
MSC’s missions model is more relevant than it has ever been and is resonating today with many new workers and sending churches. Having said that, the greatest opportunity in front of MSC is twofold. First, the challenge of reconnecting with assemblies across Canada, many of whom no longer think of MSC first when they think of missions. Second, the challenge of engaging new generations of missions-minded young adults and retirees who are considering the Lord’s calling on their lives. To these ends, we have doubled our efforts with social media, our online presence, our newsletter InsideMSC, and our involvement in missions breakfasts and conferences all across Canada.
Connecting with Us
If you have some questions about MSC, we’d encourage you to check out our website first (msccanada.org). To check out the latest news from MSC, please look us up on Facebook or Twitter. Finally, go msccanada.org/mpi to subscribe to our weekly Mission Prayer Items email list and stay current with what God is doing around the world through Local Church Driven Missions. We look forward to connecting with you!