Turning Ministry into Mission

At Saddleback, we believe that every member is a minister and that we are called to live our life on mission by sharing our story with the world. We achieve this through The PEACE Plan–– Saddleback’s strategy for missions and the next step for exploring how God is calling us to serve.

Through PEACE, our members work with and support local churches around the world to bring lasting change to their communities. This is the impetus for meeting our Daring Faith “H” goal, to help take the Good News to the last 3,000 unreached tribes on earth.

Helping to achieve this goal, four members from our Southern California church family joined together for a PEACE trip to Moscow and Berlin. Traveling in early July, the group consisted of members from three different campuses: Team Leader Dave McKee and his wife Peggy from Saddleback Corona, Jill Gunter from Saddleback South Bay, and Sharon Farley from Saddleback Lake Forest.

Dave, Peggy, Jill, and Sharon started out as ordinary members who attended church regularly and participated in ministry at each of their campuses. As each learned more about what God was doing globally, they took a step of faith to tell God, “use me”. Now they help guide other members with an interest in serving globally—Dave and Peggy as the Moscow PEACE community leaders, Jill as a PEACE Church trainer, and Sharon as a SHAPE Guide.

“Their trip was a perfect example of how members from three different campuses can come together for PEACE,” says Lauren Keck, PEACE Team Associate. “It’s the act of using local PEACE and serving in ministry at home, as a catalyst for global PEACE to equip other churches to effectively mobilize unreached communities.”

The demand for global PEACE has never been greater in Moscow, with a population of 20 million of whom less than .5% are Evangelical believers. In an effort to reach Unengaged Unreached People Groups (UUPGs) in the former Soviet Union, Dave, Peggy, Jill, and Sharon worked directly with a local church in Moscow by encouraging and training them to reach out.

As our GPC (Global PEACE Church) partner connected with a person of PEACE from the Southern part of Russia, they in turn were able to contact six unique UUPGs. Located in a remote region of Russia, these groups had never heard a clear presentation of the Gospel.

Today, the relationship-building process is gaining momentum between the person of PEACE and PEACE volunteers from the local church. This can only be done when a local church is mobilized to reach the final frontier. Opportunities to reach the 50 UUPGs in this region have increased as members from Russian churches become more mission-focused.

“Right now we need to be praying for the relationship between the person of PEACE and our local church partners,” explains Dave. “––There still can be significant cultural barriers.”

Over the past two years, our partner church in Moscow has been taking steps to become a GPC .  During this time, they have implemented CLASS 101, 201, 301, and are currently developing a Small Group Ministry. As they continue efforts to become a healthy church, they are experiencing dramatic growth in their weekend attendance.

 In the midst of these milestones, our Moscow PEACE team partnered with the GPC to offer three-day ministry sessions including SHAPE Guide training, Church Growth Dynamics, and Small Group Health.

According to Team Leader Dave McKee, “The most effective part of our ministry was the application of PDC through sharing of personal experiences, demonstrations, and Q & A sessions. The growth of PDC is amazing and is the result of God blessing the relationships established by past PEACE Team Trips.”

Among those who made an impact are Saddleback Pastor of Missions, Andrew Lossau and his wife Alyssa. Several years ago, they lived in Moscow, and today we are witnessing the ripple effect of their sacrifice.

As a SHAPE Guide at our Lake Forest campus, Sharon used her talents to meet new people, learn their stories, and connect them to ministries based on their SHAPE profiles.

According to Sharon, “Going to Moscow and training SHAPE Guides was easy because it’s what I do every week here. There was not a moment of hesitation. I was not reading from a slide deck or a training manual, nor was I teaching theory. I simply said, ‘Look, this is what I do and this is how I do it. I am passionate about SHAPE and I can show you how to do it too!’ It is reproducible and sustainable.”

 The PEACE team considered it a joy and blessing to work with leaders in Moscow––all open to new ideas and positioned for success. Following their time in Moscow, the four travelers headed to Germany where they met up with Saddleback team member Sherri Lamunuzzi and commissioned members from our Saddleback Berlin campus that will head to Rwanda next month. This historic trip will mark the first PEACE trip by one of our international campuses.

By allowing God to use their natural abilities and experiences, Dave, Peggy, Jill, and Sharon were able to equip members just like themselves to serve their communities and bring the hope of Jesus to Unengaged, Unreached People Groups. Find out how you can help accomplish our Daring Faith goal of taking the Good News to the last unreached tribes by attending PEACE Practical on July 31. Learn more at www.saddleback.com/missions.