Our Distinctives:
Regions In Need is committed to the following distinctives:
A Biblical “God-centered” Understanding of The Gospel
A biblical "God-centered" understanding of the Gospel means that the gospel is primarily about God’s glory, purposes, and work rather than being centered on human needs, desires, or efforts. It emphasizes that salvation is initiated, accomplished, and applied by God alone for the ultimate purpose of revealing His glory. A biblical God-centered gospel stands in contrast to a non-biblical man-centered gospel, which often emphasizes self-improvement, personal experiences, or human choice as the basis of salvation. In contrast, a biblical gospel affirms that salvation is entirely the work of God’s sovereign grace, accomplished through Christ’s atoning sacrifice and applied by the Holy Spirit’s transforming power, all for God’s glory rather than human merit. The key aspects of a biblical God-Centered Gospel are:
God’s Glory as the Ultimate Purpose of Salvation – Salvation is ultimately about displaying God’s holiness, justice, mercy, and love (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).
God’s Sovereign Grace in Salvation – God chose, calls, justifies, and sanctifies His people according to His will, not human merit (Ephesians 1:4; Romans 9:16; Ephesians 2:8-9).
Christ’s Work at the Center of Salvation – The gospel is about Christ’s perfect life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection as the only means of reconciling sinners to God (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Human Helplessness and Dependence on God – Humans are spiritually dead in sin and unable to save themselves therefore, salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace (Ephesians 2:1-5).
The Spirit’s Role in Applying Salvation – The Holy Spirit regenerates, convicts, and sanctifies believers, ensuring that salvation is a work of God from start to finish (John 3:5-8; Titus 3:5).
A Call to Repentance and Faith for Salvation – Though salvation is God’s work, He commands all people to repent and believe the gospel, holding them accountable for the same (Acts 17:30-31).
This understanding of God’s sovereign grace in our salvation humbles us, fills us with gratitude, and moves us to worship Him while proclaiming the message of His grace to all people everywhere. We understand and teach that salvation is by God’s sovereign grace alone through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for God’s glory alone in accordance with the Scriptures alone.
Biblical Theology
We are committed to Biblical Theology, which is the study of how the one unified story of the Bible unfolds and fits together in all its parts. Biblical Theology looks at how God reveals Himself and His plan of redemption over time, from Genesis to Revelation. It also focuses on understanding the covenants, themes, promises, and events in Scripture as part of one big story, centered on Jesus Christ. It helps us see how different parts of the Bible connect and how they all point to God’s plan to save and restore His people through Christ.
Christ-Centered Expository Preaching
We are committed to Christo-centric expository preaching which understands that all the Scriptures, correctly understood and taught, reveal Christ and His work of effecting the Gospel (Lk. 24:44-47). Because Christ and His gospel are Who and what the Bible is all about we understand Christ and the gospel to be the ground, center, and focal point of our faith and practice. In other words, the story of the Bible is the story of Christ and the redemption of His people through His perfect life, death on the cross, and resurrection.
Christ-centered preaching is a biblical approach to preaching and teaching the Scriptures that places Jesus Christ and His gospel at the center of the Bible’s message. It recognizes that all of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, ultimately points to Christ—His person, work, and mission. This kind of preaching and teaching fully explains each particular passage verse-by-verse and emphasizes Jesus as the fulfillment of the biblical covenants, the realization of God’s promises, the mediator between God and humanity, and the source and sustainer of salvation. It seeks to glorify Christ in all aspects of faith and practice, encouraging believers to view their lives, worship, and ministry through the lens of His life, death, resurrection, and reign.
Gospel-Centered Church Life
We understand that the gospel is the vehicle or means by which Christ comes to us. It is also the means by which God conveys His salvitic benefits to his people with the chief benefit being Christ Himself and with Christ—the whole Godhead possessed and savored through him. A gospel-centered view of salvation, sanctification, and the church is completely Christo-centric and therefore rejects man-centered worship, methods, and practices. Christ must have the pre-eminence (Col. 1:15-20). We are devoted to expository preaching that proclaims the gospel, singing that celebrates the gospel, prayers shaped by the gospel, and estabishing churches firmly on the gospel (2 Timothy 4:2; Colossians 3:16; Matthew 16:18). In all we do, our ultimate hope rests not in our efforts, but in the perfect life, sacrificial death, triumphant resurrection, and glorious ascension of Jesus Christ.
Local Church Focus
Our intention is to assist local national churches in their missionary responsibilities, not replace or usurp them. Wherever possible Regions In Need will work with, encourage, and support national local churches in gospel, ministry, and training endeavors.
Training And Utilizing National Trainers
From the beginning our desire was not to become dependent upon Bible teachers from the West. With this in mind we followed (and still do) the 2 Timothy 2:2 principle of investing prayer, time and energy in identifying and training a few good, godly, and faithful men who would be able to train others. Now, after several years under our belt, Mark’s teams of teachers are all national believers whom he has trained, mentored, and invested in heavily. From time-to-time, Mark is accompanied by teachers from the U.S. but with more and more of the teaching load being carried by the nationals this is becoming less common.
Church Planting
Our training is specifically designed for national pastors and pastors-in-training who desire to be prepared for church planting among unengaged and unreached people groups. Most of our national trainers work among unreached people groups. In addition, we support a cadre of men and women, who having been trained by Regions In Need, have been sent out by their local churches to strategic locations to evangelize, disciple, and plant churches among unreached peoples.
Sacrificial, Costly, & Risk-Taking Ministry
Many of the people we train will be sent by their churches into hard-to-reach and hard-to-minister places for the Gospel. We do not believe the Great Commission to go into all the world to make disciples applies only to the relatively safe places in the world. We understand and recognize that in order to make much of Christ and His Gospel in places and among people who despise Him—suffering, hardship, loss, and even persecution must be expected and embrace