Purpose and Vision

"... as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord ..." (Joshua 24:17)

International Family Missions is a fellowship of Christians working together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ to reach out to the world of people that God so loved... and for whom He gave Himself.

IFM is a trans-denominational ministry composed of ordinary people endeavoring to pool their time, energies, and resources to facilitate a loving and faithful response to God's Great Commission.

Our mission is to bring the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to those who do not know Him, discipling and engaging the whole spectrum of the body of Christ, irrespective of age or ability.

IFM seeks to accomplish this by enabling people to experience and express the heart of God in transforming lives through His love through various forms of relationship-centered ministry.

Our primary vehicle for this ministry is short-term outreaches to Juarez, Mexico. God has graciously allowed IFM to be involved with many of the same ministries, orphanages, churches, and neighborhoods in the Juarez area for over 18 years. Our short-term outreach model enables family units and individuals to participate meaningfully in long-term ministry. In addition to short-term outreaches, IFM provides missions training, discipleship, and internship programs.

We take James 1:27 "to visit the orphan and widow" as a literal exhortation. In biblical Greek "visit" translates to Episkeptomai (ep - ee - skep - tom - ahee) which is defined as:

To look upon or after; to inspect; examine with the eyes in order to see how the person is; to look after in order to help or to benefit; to look after; have care for; provide for, of God.

We believe that in the care of others the family is a dynamic unit that God uses to illustrate His kingdom and that no-one, not even a toddler, is redundant in the practice of the Kingdom of God. We fully believe that each person has worth and has a part to play in "visiting" and reaching out with the love of Jesus Christ. Indeed, we have found that God uses the family unit to open the doors of in unique and powerful ways.

Traditionally, a short-term outreach is thought to be confined mainly to work projects that may include some evangelism. But a visit can take a number of expressions: visiting with people in their homes and praying with them, taking orphans out for a Sunday picnic, feeding the poor, etc.

Since a visit is a meaningful communication of the love of the Lord Jesus and can encompass such a variety of possibilities, any believer can be involved in the ministry of the Lord.

In Luke 10 Jesus of Nazareth sent His disciples out to "visit" people and he encouraged them:

• to speak peace to people
• fellowship with people
• meet their needs
• tell them about the Kingdom of God

Therefore IFM seeks to partner with the whole body of Christ to:

• Support and assist families and community groups to visit and reach other families and communities with the love, peace and grace of God.
• Meet the needs of people in a manner that will not make them reliant on man but on Jehovah Jireh
• Bring the words and love of the gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth so that the Kingdom of God develops, unites and transforms communities. We will train and disciple people into the reality of the Kingdom of God as we pray, hope, trust and persevere and see His Kingdom increase on earth giving peace, joy and love to all who will receive it.