Missions Philosophy

Goal

Our goal is to see God’s name exalted among the nations through the establishment of healthy, biblical churches. We believe that all missions work should include the explicit verbal proclamation of the gospel and should be conducted under the oversight of local churches with the end goal of establishing or supporting other local churches.

Areas of Focus

Unreached Peoples. Regardless of the resources and risk required, we believe that we must intentionally cross geographic, cultural, and language barriers in order to reach those who have no access to the gospel.
Strategic Church Planting and Leadership Development. Sound doctrine and healthy churches are essential for the perpetuation of a faithful gospel witness in any area, so we’re committed to strategically planting churches and equipping pastors in reached areas as well.

Mercy Ministry

Especially in view of the abundance God has given us, we believe that meeting physical needs should often accompany missions work (Gal. 6:10, 2 Cor. 8:14). However, we must be careful not to become distracted from the priority of making disciples (Matt. 28:18-20), create unhealthy dependencies, or incentivize spurious professions of faith. We ultimately want to establish fully indigenous, self-multiplying churches that can fully carry on the work without us.

Missions Involvement

We’re currently supporting missions work in the following areas. For security, please note that details about our work in some areas must be limited. However, if you’re a member, additional information is accessible via the links provided using your Google account.

Zambia

Conrad Mbewe has served as the pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church (KBC) in Lusaka, Zambia since 1987. By God’s grace, KBC has had the privilege of planting more than 20 other churches in Lusaka, elsewhere in Zambia, and in surrounding African countries.

One of these is Grace Baptist Church, pastored by Manasseh Kaonga, in Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia. JPBC has had the privilege of supporting this particular work since its inception in 2011, during which time Manasseh and his wife Longa moved to the area, began the work of evangelism, and have now seen a number of conversions and a new church born. Grace Baptist Church constituted membership in November of 2016 with its first five baptisms and thirteen members. Since that time, the church has continued to grow and is now close to finishing a permanent building.

Additionally, we now have the privilege of supporting Silverest Central Baptist Church. Beginning in 2021, Million Kambuli was sent to plant Silverest Central Baptist Church, in another part of Lusaka. This church has grown rapidly, and just elected its first elders recently. Million faithfully preaches the gospel and sound doctrine, and we are excited to partner with him. The church is nearby a university, so this is a major evangelistic opportunity.

Please pray for other leaders to raised up to serve alongside Million and Manasseh and for the ongoing fruitfulness of the missions work of KBC.

Kabwata Baptist Church Website

Conrad Mbewe’s Blog

2016 - With Nate and Ben Bullard (1).jpg

Shanghai

We support a couple of families engaged in church planting and college ministry in Shanghai. Through this initiative, the Shanghai Baptist Association has formed, with the goal of establishing and uniting healthy churches in each of the 17 districts in the city, allowing for joint efforts in pastor training, missions, and evangelism.

Sweden

Daniel and Soumya Hiler are members of JPBC who formerly served in Sweden as part of “The Every Initiative” with Cru. Their ministry focused on evangelism and humanitarian aid among the many refugees flooding in from primarily hard-to-reach Islamic places, and included evangelism of highly-secular Swedish university students who are often drawn to participate in humanitarian efforts. They committed to working closely with existing churches to mobilize other believers and to ensure that those who became believers were able to be discipled in a local church context. While in Sweden, Daniel also served as an elder of a local Baptist church.

In 2024, due to changing political issues within Sweden, the Hilers were not able to renew their visas and were required to leave the country. They traveled back to Charlottesville, VA, where they currently serve JPBC faithfully as they look for direction on their next steps in Great Commission work.

Missions Organizations

These are organizations we’ve personally interacted with and which we’d encourage you to learn about, pray for, and consider financially supporting. We’re grateful for the way that they support and enable churches to take the gospel to the world and establish healthy churches among all peoples.

HeartCry Missionary Society

HeartCry was established in 1988 through the efforts of Paul Washer, who served as a missionary in Peru where he witnessed other faithful men devoted to gospel ministry amidst great poverty. HeartCry provides financial support, theological training, Bibles, resources, and other tools to assist indigenous missionaries in fulfilling the Great Commission. HeartCry currently supports over 200 missionaries in over 40 countries.

Mission statement:

“The goal of our ministry is to glorify God and bring the greatest possible good to humankind through the preaching of the gospel and the establishment of biblical churches throughout the world by means of equipping and mobilizing indigenous churches and missionaries.”

9Marks

9Marks exists to equip church leaders with a biblical vision and practical resources for building healthy churches. Birthed in 1998 through the leadership of Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, 9Marks serves pastors both locally and abroad through various events, books, and translated resources pertaining to the local church and its ministry. Learn more about the nine marks of a healthy church here.

International Mission Board

The IMB is the international missions agency for the Southern Baptist Convention. Established in 1845, it focuses on sending missionaries from Southern Baptist churches overseas in order to make disciples and establish churches among all nations. Currently, over 3,500 missionaries are supported by the IMB.