Outreach Partners
Isaiah 11:9 says, “The knowledge of the Lord will fill the whole earth as the waters cover the seas.” This is the horizon that God has called The Gathering to pursue. We will not stop guiding everyone everywhere to the made for more life in Christ until every man, woman and child has had an opportunity to see and hear the good news of Jesus. Yet, the reality is, we cannot do this on our own. We have to work in partnership with other organizations that share the same heart and vision. That is why 10% of every dollar given to The Gathering will go to partner with other organizations who are advancing God’s mission throughout the entire world.
We do this in four focus areas listed below:
Our four focus areas are:
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Church Planting
We believe that the local church carries the hope of the world, and that is the good news of Jesus. It is the church that Jesus gave the mandate to share the gospel, both in word and deed. That is why The Gathering gives more to church planting than any other outreach partnership.
You can learn more about our church planting partnerships listed here.
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Unreached People Groups
Jesus gave a mandate in Matthew 28:18-20 to take the good news of Jesus to every man, woman and child throughout the whole world. This is what drives us, and we will not stop making disciples and planting churches until this is accomplished. Yet the reality is, we have a large task ahead of us.
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Justice Ministry
In Luke 4, Jesus stood up in front of his hometown synagogue, his family’s church if you will, and read these words from the scroll of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This is Jesus’ inaugural address of his ministry and kingdom, painting a picture of what the end goal of his ministry would be: heaven on earth.
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Trips
The heartbeat of The Gathering is to see kingdom workers sent to every harvest field of the world (Matthew 9:35-38). We are a sending church, and our hope and constant prayer is to raise up and send out Jesus followers, workers, to every harvest field of the world. Part of the comprehensive strategy in raising up and sending out workers are our short term trips.
Church Planting
Our primary church plant partner is an organization called Florida Church Planters. Florida Church Planters (FCP) exists to plant gospel-centered churches throughout the state of Florida. Florida is the third most populous state in America and the fastest-growing. Yet the rate of church planting cannot keep up with the population growth. That is why we are pouring our church planting resources into a great organization whose sole mission is to start new, healthy, growing churches throughout our state. Click on the link below to learn more about Florida Church Planters.
Unreached People Groups
You can divide the entire world population into people groups that share common language, worldview, and culture. (Learn more about unreached people groups at Joshua Project).
There are around 17,000 people groups in the world today. Currently around 7,300 are defined as “Unreached” meaning that less than 2% of the people in that people group are Christians. At The Gathering, one of our focus areas is to help ensure every person in every house on every street has repeated opportunities to hear and see the good news of Jesus. That is we are partnering in the regions below to do our part in planting the gospel in these unreached people groups:
Pashtun People Group in Central Asia
There are 40 million Pashtun living scattered throughout the world. The heaviest concentration of Pashtun are in central asia, with 0.01% identifying as Chrsitian. The problem is, the countries where the majority of the Pashtun live do not allow missionaries to work openly and freely to share the good news of Jesus with Pashtun people. Because of this we have to be very careful what we share online about our Global Partners working amongst the Pashtun people.
Our Global Partners have been serving with the Pashtun people for over ten years. They have mastered the art of being faithful witnesses of Jesus in places that do not allow that. We refer to them as the “B” Team. If you would like more information about the “B” team, feel free to email Sy Huffer at Sy@gathernaples.com to set up a time to talk and learn more.
Uncharted International
Uncharted International is an organization that multiplies disciples in overlooked and unreached places by connecting the local church with pioneering Christian movements.
These pioneering movements consist of everything from outreach and discipleship, humanitarian care and leadership development.
The areas of the world Uncharted currency as Field Partners in at this point are Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and North Africa, all areas and regions that have a high concentration of unreached people groups.
Learn more about Uncharted International by clicking this link here: Uncharted International
Justice Ministry
At The Gathering, we believe that part of our mission as a church is not solely to proclaim good news to the world, but to embody it through acts of love, compassion and justice. Yet we cannot right all of the wrongs of society through our one church. We cannot do everything, but we can do something. We have decided to contribute to heaven on earth by partnering with these two organizations to attack to areas of justice in our community and around the world.
Rapha international seeks to end the trafficking and sexual abuse of children - one child, one family, and one community at a time. Rapha has Survivor Care Campuses in Cambodia, Thailand, and Haiti, whose focus is the care and comprehensive restoration of children rescued from trafficking. They also have started prevention work in these communities, trying to get out ahead of trafficking and the sexual abuse of children to end it. Lastly they have opened a Hope and Healing Center whose focus is to help any child who has experienced trauma of any kind, including domestic abuse, trauma from trafficking or sexual exploitation, trauma from foster care, etc.
You can learn more about Rapha International by visiting their website here: Rapha International
Rapha International
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable that demands we as Jesus followers are expected to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison or who are sick, to give housing to those without a home, to care for the least of these in our society by caring for their physical needs. The way we as a church do this is through our partnership with St. Matthew’s House.
St. Matthew’s House began in 1987 when a Bible study group followed a calling to bring food to a homeless population living in a nearby wooded area. This ministry has now grown into multi-faceted organization focused on spiritual change throughout Collier County.
Their services include everything from Housing and Feeding Ministry; Substance Abuse and Recovery; Immokalee Friendship House; Empowerment Hub for Professional Growth; Food Pantry; and much more.
You can learn more and get involved by going to their website here: St. Matthew's House
St. Matthew’s House
Trips
While short term trips can be do in a way that is harmful to the place, country, and field we are visiting, we believe there is a way to do them that no only supports the ongoing work being done in that place, but also grows, edifies, and develops a heart for the nations in every follower of Jesus. Here is a great article about Short Term Trips and how to avoid some of these potential downfalls: What to do about short term missions?
As a church, we have two types of trips we will take each year. They are described here:
Short-Term Trips
Several times in the gospels, Jesus takes his disciples outside of their home culture and forces them to go to places they have never been to before in order to interact with people they do not usually interact with. These were short term trips that did not have any expectation of long-term impact in the cultures they visited, but were more focused on the spiritual development of the people joining him on that trip. This is one of the primary reasons we also will host short term trips every year. Stay tuned for upcoming trips through regular church communication.
Leadership Trips
Throughout the book of Acts, the apostle Paul sends some of his church planting/missionary team to go and visit previous towns and churches they had planted in order to accomplish two objectives: 1. Encourage the workers and 2. Get a report on how things are going in that place. These trips were for support and accountability. The same is true for our Leadership Trips.
Each year, we as a leadership team will visit our outreach partners in order to encourage and support them in their work as well as to ensure that the resources we are giving to these partners are being stewarded well for the sake of the Gospel and Kingdom advancement.