Do you see being part of a community as valuable to your life, or health, or success?

I didn’t used to think it was. I moved frequently growing up, then as an adult began a decades-long trek through Europe and South America. As a child, I coped with these frequent moves by breaking all ties with the community I was leaving and starting afresh. Promised letters were never written, phone calls were never placed, and reunions never happened.

Somewhere along the way (but way too late), I recognized this was detrimental to my mental health. I began to recognize the importance of my church home group. People I met in Europe and Brazil became lifelong friends. And hanging out with the expat gang at Iguana’s Mexican restaurant in Budapest became so frequent that my young boys thought Iguana was our kitchen!

Recently, Global Disciples launched THE REACH. We describe it as a “monthly giving community.” And while it aids our fundraising goals, it’s the community aspect of THE REACH that has really struck a chord with me.

However, belonging to a group of recurring donors doesn’t mean you’re in a “community”. Or does it?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines community in two ways:

1) “having a particular characteristic in common”;

2) “a feeling of fellowship with others”.

We did our due diligence to ensure that people joining our monthly giving community have things in common. We chose “Joining Together to Reach Further” as THE REACH tag line – further as in “to the ends of the world”, as the Great Commission directs us. Global Disciples also reaches further by focusing on the least-reached people of the world. That means bringing the life-changing news of Jesus to those people groups who haven’t had the opportunity to choose and follow Christ. So, of course, this would be the goal or characteristic shared in common by our supporters.

My goal for THE REACH, however, is for it to be a community in the second sense of the word – feeling in fellowship with one another. Joining together to reach further. It’s not only about giving – although these monthly commitments provide a stable and consistent financial base for us. It’s more about the passion behind giving; it’s why we give. The passion of THE REACH comes primarily from working together to fulfill the Great Commission to take the Good News of Christ to all nations!

Many Christians are passionate about how Global Disciples fulfills that command. Instead of sending missionaries, Global Disciples is a training organization focused on equipping local churches in how to make disciples who then go out and make other disciples, and so on it goes. The local church in Africa or Asia or wherever chooses someone from their group to go to a nearby village to share Christ. It’s called “near-culture missions” as those from one culture are sent out to people in a shared or similar culture.

It’s an effective, financially efficient, and sustainable model for missions. Global Disciples also provides training that equips these local “mission workers” in small business development so they can support their ministry and their family. As a former Peace Corps volunteer, that’s a model I can be passionate about. And it appeals to a generation dedicated to sustainability, as Global Disciples only provides seed funds for the first three years.

I love THE REACH because it’s creating “community” around some of my core values: following Christ, supporting projects that are sustainable, and preserving local languages and cultures. We all need to be in a community. Find yours—maybe it’s THE REACH!

–Sherry Lee, Marketing & Communications