Our Commitment to Missions

The Bible reveals to us (in both the Old and New Testaments) God’s love for the whole world and His plan to gather for Himself a people from every nation, tribe and language to worship Him. Furthermore, Christ has specifically commissioned us (His church) to preach the gospel to all the world (Mark 16:15) and to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). He has called us to be the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) and the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). He has commissioned us (His redeemed people) to be His instruments in advancing His great global redemptive agenda in the world.

In response to this clear biblical mandate, the Session of Rivermont has adopted a Mission Statement that declares: “Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church exists to proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world, reflecting our Reformed convictions, and relating to contemporary culture.”

In addition to being committed to fulfilling Christ’s “Great Commission”, we are also committed to fulfilling His “Great Commandment” (Matthew 22:39) — to love God above all, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Christ told the story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate what this means. In short, it means we must be involved in working to alleviate human suffering in this world — thus, demonstrating God’s love for the world in practical ways. Our involvement in missions should not be an either-or proposition. Christ’s love compels us to do both – to both evangelize and alleviate human suffering.

As for the geographic scope of our missions vision, we believe it must include both local and global outreach --- that is, we are to be His witnesses “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Again, it is not a question of either-or; rather, Christ’s clear command is that we are to be involved in mission both locally and globally. Thus, we encourage our members to become actively involved in both local and global missions, and we financially support a good balance of missionaries and mission organizations both in Lynchburg and to the ends of the earth.

We are grateful to God for the many ways the church ministers to each of us personally, and to our families, through ministries of education, fellowship and nurture. We believe it is God’s intention to use these in-house ministries to strengthen all of us for the purpose that we might (individually and collectively) glorify God by shining more brightly and more effectively as a light in the midst of darkness --- to proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ (by word and deed) to all the world.

We invite all of our members to explore the many opportunities that are available to serve the cause of missions at home and abroad. We welcome your involvement as Rivermont church seeks to glorify God by responding to His call to be involved in ministering to a lost and needy world.

The Rivermont Missions Committee oversees the many missions activities with which we are involved.  There are five subcommittees.  Please  click on the name of a committee to learn more the work of its missionaries:

Here are a few documents that further explain the Biblical basis of our emphasis on missions:

Editorials from "Rivermont Missions Digest"

John Mabray's 1999 Missions Conference Sermon

A Comprehensive Definition of "Missions"