Global Missions
Our Commission
Jesus has commanded His church to: "...Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations..." (Matthew 28:19-20). Our Lord did not stutter when He commissioned the church to go into all of the world, so we joyfully follow His command at Del Rey Church in our Global Missions ministry. We understand that we have a mission that is beyond our local context in West Los Angeles, which Christ has called us to. In faithfulness to this global commission of Christ, Del Rey Church is an eager supporter and sender of missionaries into the world.
Our Commitment
Our greatest and ultimate goal in missions is the same as in everything we do: That the glory of God would be exalted and His name would be praised (Rom 9:17; Isa 66:19; 12:4; Rom 1:5; 3 John 7; Acts 15:14; Matt 19:29; Rom 15:9). We share God's desire to see Christ worshipped, honored, and praised among all nations. We believe that the most loving thing we can do for others is to help them to see that their primary reason for existence is to worship God. When people trust Jesus, God is glorified and they are saved, and God's intention for his creation is fulfilled. We also believe that God is most glorified and life is most meaningful, abundant, and fulfilling when we are obeying God in reaching out to others and laying down our lives for them (Ps 63:3; Mark 8:34-35; Rom 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17). It is as Christ promised, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt 16:18).
Our Confidence
Our confidence in missions comes from God's promises that our missionary efforts are empowered and assured by His power, authority, presence, and sovereignty (Job 42:2; Isa 48:9-11; Matt 16:18; 24:14, 35; 28:19; Rev 5:9). People from every nation will one day bow the knee to Jesus (Rev 5:9). Therefore, our mission will be finished one day. Because of this, we believe that church planting among un-reached people is the greatest need of missions (Rom 15:19-23). Frontier missions that reach people groups that do not yet have access to the gospel are our priority. We believe that the primary battle of missions is spiritual, and therefore prayer is the foundational discipline of our missionary efforts (Matt 6:9-10; Luke 14:33; John 15:16; 2 Thess 3:1; James 4:2-4). Because our mission is a spiritual battle, our lifestyles should reflect a willingness to sacrifice and suffer for the cause of Christ (Mark 10:28-30; Phil 2:29-30, 3:7-11; Col 1:24). Christians must either be missionaries, senders of missionaries, or disobedient. Let us strive to obey.
Our Crew
Our local church is very proud to aide the global church through the following missionaries and mission groups, which we support in our prayers and our financial offerings.
MANO CON MANO (Guatemala)
Mano con Mano is a nonprofit organization founded in the 1990's by two members from our church (Bill and Susan Jones) whose primary focus is centered on nutritional, health, and education ministry in Guatemala. Our church is regular donor to this ministry and in years past has sent short term missionaries there to aid in this incredible ministry.
SAM AND JILL TABIENDO (Spain)
Sam and Jill Tabiendo are missionaries in Zaragoza, Spain. Del Rey Church has proudly supported there missionary efforts for over a decade. We have seen God do amazing things through their lives and ministry in the country and we anticipate great things to come for God's glory.
WATER WELLS FOR AFRICA (Malawi)
Del Rey Church is happy to partner with Water Wells for Africa (WWFA), a non-profit organization dedicated to drilling and maintaining safe water sources in the rural communities of Malawi, Central Africa. The WWFA central offices are on our campus at Del Rey Church, free of charge as our way of partnering in this vital ministry. Members from our church actively volunteer and have served on trips to Africa to aide in this vital work founded by the adventurous and legendary philanthropist Kurt Dahlin.
DR. CRAIG OTT (REACH GLOBAL)
Several decades ago a young hippie named Craig Ott came to Christ in this church and became radically on fire for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Craig went on to seminary and then served in Germany as a church planter for 21 years. He now serves as a missions professor at our denomination’s seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity Seminary, teaching future missionaries.
DR. HOWARD AND MRS. AILEEN OSTENDORF (FIC MINISTRIES)
Aileen attended Del Rey Church before marrying Howard and moving together into the mission field. The Ostendorff's have devoted 37 years in fulfilling the Great Commission. With nearly 20 years as missionaries in Africa throughout 28 countries, they have some great stories to share. Howard taught at the Nairobi International School of Theology in Africa and was the Director of Global Outreach for Family Life. He is now on staff with Freedom in Christ Ministries, educating missionary leaders for gospel outreach.
DR. WENDALL HOLLIS (ENTRUST INTERNATIONAL)
Del Rey Church has happily supported Wendall Hollis’ missionary efforts for many decades. After graduating from Trinity University with his doctorate, which DRC helped support, Dr. Hollis put his academic training to work with the missionary training organization, Entrust (formerly BEE International), teaching, developing and publishing seminary-level curriculum in Eastern Europe and former Soviet territories. Dr. Hollis is a great scholar, putting his mind to work for training indigenous scholar-missionaries in the field.
RIC AND MELANIE FLOYD (WYCLIFFE BIBLE TRANSLATORS)
Rick and Melanie Floyd serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Del Rey Church has supported their work for over two decades as they served in field blessing the people of Peru. They recently returned from the Quechua people group in Peru after having finished translating the entire New Testament into the Quechua language. Now they are back in the states, but they are committed to several projects in Peru.
CORY AND NAJI HENDRIX (CAMPUS CRUSADE)
A few years ago God brought this amazing couple to our church, Cory and Naji Hendrix. In the time that they were in Los Angeles we partnered together to become a supporter of their work with Campus Crusade. After a brief stay in LA, God called them to the East Coast to do some powerful work at reaching some needed audiences with the gospel. Naji works in Bible Translation for the Jesus Film that reaches into hostile lands with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Cory works in gospel outreach to athletes, focusing specifically on soccer as a chaplain to players, sharing the gospel in a vital ministry.
