
Church Planting Hubs
Our heart is that what we do as believers overseas on the mission field should emulate what we do here at home, and vice-versa. If we are preaching the Gospel, making disciples, and planting churches in Africa, then that is exactly what we aim to do here in Southern California. With that being said, here is what our strategy has been when it comes to overseas missions:
We refer to our church (Neighbors & Nations) as a "sending hub" or a "home hub". A hub is defined as the effective center of a region or network. We see this modeled in the New Testament with the Church of Jerusalem, and the Church of Antioch, as they would send out missionaries, semi-operate as central commands, and offer counsel to younger churches when it came to doctrinal issues.
As we plant autonomous house churches, we make sure that each church is obedient to the Great Commission and is also aware of the larger church network among us. As a sending hub, we want to operate in such a way where we can continue to offer guidance and tools to our people and church plants to make sure we are equipping the saints with what they need to continue making disciples who make disciples and to plant churches that plant churches amongst their neighbors.
Simultaneously, we partner with "field hubs overseas. A field hub is a sending hub on the mission field. We have established a field hub in Arba Minch, Ethiopia and Mexico City, Mexico. We are currently working on one in Rosarito, Mexico as well. These field hubs, just like our sending hub, are focused on guiding and equipping the followers of Jesus around them to be obedient to the Great Commission in order to make disciples who make disciples and plant churches that plant churches.
The key to healthy partnerships between all our hubs is mobilization. We mobilize and send teams to go on short-term mission trips periodically throughout the year to the field hubs to help sustain long-term work and work alongside our nationals. Our hope as we continue to send teams and win souls for the Gospel is that God will raise up future long-term missionaries in the process.