Introduction & Orientation Material What is S.O.S.
It is a Church Planting Strategy.
The aim of every team sent to a target place
is to start a local body of believers using
the "Tri-C" formula of field work: Contact, Convert and
Congregate. A trained Pioneering Pastor
receives the results of the saturation evangelistic campaign.
It is a Short-Term Missions Trip
Every volunteer trains for one week and placed in a Team to work for three
weeks on field. This makes each volunteer a `One Month Missionary'.
For many, the S.O.S. experience
was the beginning of a lifetime decision to
serve the Lord full-time.
It is Membership Mobilization
Local churches send their members and leaders as volunteers.
Ordinary members are activated for fruitful ministry: a practical application
of Plant A Church Together (PACT).
It a Ministry-Oriented program
Members of the participating churches, from age 17 to 71
years old
go out and serve Jesus in missions. They are taught to witness, knock on
doors, distribute tracts, give their testimonies, conduct Bible Study, heal the
sick, cast out demons, disciple young believers and assemble them for church
service.
It is a Self-supporting operation
Each volunteer raises his own budget for the mission trip. Some work, solicit
or save their own money. Employed believers
apply for a month leave. The sponsoring churches are just facilitators in the
fund raising.
It is a Training-on-the-job concept
The training and activities are
goal-oriented. Nothing is included that will not help reach the goals. The
practical side is the most exciting part. The exposure of members to the actual
evangelistic environment motivates many to
full-time service to God. Members after SOS become effective members in the
church.
It is a Summer Camp with a PLUS
Traditional summer camps, retreats,
seminars, and the like are good but do not
produce the same results that SOS do.
The Decade of Harvest demands
that church, sectional or district activities be examined if they align with
the Decade of Harvest purposes of planting churches.
SOS utilizes members' desire to camp-out by bringing them
into a town in a camping situation. They have daily schedules
of spiritual refreshing, ministry training, leadership opportunities,
prayer and fasting, worship and warfare, skits, fun, food, and many more, in a
camp meeting, family-camp style. However, at the end of all the
activities, a church is planted – this is the GREAT PLUS!
It is Power Encounter Evangelism
The concept of evangelism by the witness of signs, wonders and miracles is practiced
at every opportunity. Pentecostal missions are at its best when these are
employed. We do spiritual warfare and
confrontation with the forces of darkness within the context of the Filipino
spirit world.
