What is Mission Discovery?
A few years ago the mission field was only accessible by a few select people. However, within the last 15 years, there has been an explosion of interest in short-term missions. As the world becomes a "Global Village," thousands of people are responding to the world's needs.
Mission Discovery began in 1991 as an effort to serve Jesus Christ by combining and coordinating mission resources and US churches to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the world's poor. Since Mission Discovery's beginning, over 20,000 students and adults have built homes and churches and have shared the gospel with hundreds of people in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Africa, and the United States.
What We Do
Mission Discovery projects are organized around 5-10 day outreaches. Each team will be involved in a vital construction project along with an outreach led by team members that communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ. Hundreds have decided to follow Christ each year through Mission Discovery outreaches such as Children’s Bible School and door to door evangelism.
Mission Discovery teams serve as:
LEARNERS - Our teams come to discover what God is doing in the world and get involved. We come by invitation, not invasion. We come not to teach but to learn.
SERVANTS - Our teams come not to be served but to serve in the same way the Lord Jesus Christ came as a servant and friend.
STORY TELLERS – Our teams have the opportunity to tell the story of what Jesus has done and is doing in their lives.
Our goal at Mission Discovery is to provide an atmosphere where teams are able to focus on serving the poor of the world. This means that we take care of the details, such as lodging, food, worship, building materials, etc. In this way, we believe that we provide an environment for growth and servanthood that is like no other.
Mission Statement
To serve Jesus Christ by mobilizing the church to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the world’s poor.
About the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
The ECFA Mission Statement
ECFA is committed to helping Christ-centered organizations earn the public's trust through developing and maintaining standards of accountability that convey God-honoring ethical practices.
ECFA Statement of Faith
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity and humanity of Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in
His present rule as Head of the Church and in His personal return in power and glory.
We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful men, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost, they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, with equality across racial, gender and class differences.
General Information
The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) was founded in 1979. It is comprised of almost 1,000 charitable, religious, missionary, social, and educational tax exempt nonprofit [501(c)(3)] organizations.
In the 1970s, there was growing public and political concern over an increase of questionable fund raising practices in the nonprofit sector. In addition, donors and governmental agencies expressed concern over the management of their donations to achieve publicly stated objectives as presented in fund raising appeals. Donors had nowhere to turn to obtain an objective assessment of the financial integrity of Christian organizations desiring their support.
In the late 1970s, Senator Mark Hatfield addressed a group of key Christian leaders and challenged them to police their own mission agencies as a "Christian Better Business Bureau" or face the potential of government intervention. Consequently, ECFA was formed, standards were established, and a chartering process was initiated for applicant ministries.
ECFA's purpose is to help Christ-centered evangelical nonprofit organizations earn the public's trust through their ethical practices and financial accountability.
In 1989, ECFA began an on-site field review program to further enhance its accreditation certification of member organizations. Member organizations are randomly selected for on-site visits by an ECFA representative to verify the information submitted on the annual membership review form; to confirm compliance with the ECFA membership standards; to identify areas of possible noncompliance; and to give support to the member organizations in moving toward full compliance with the ECFA standards.
Through its publications and services, ECFA informs its members of current administrative, financial, fund raising, legislative, postal, and promotional matters of common concern.
The reaction of the public to the establishment of ECFA has been gratifying. The fact that ECFA requires full financial disclosure satisfies many donors because they know that financial information is available when and if they want it. It also causes the member organizations to take more care in the expenditure of its funds, and the records which it keeps. The ECFA seal is tangible evidence to donors that ECFA member organizations adhere to the highest standards of financial integrity and Christian ethics.
What We Believe - Our Statement of Faith
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, infallible, and authoritative word of God.
We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
We believe that for salvation of lost and sinful man, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.