After three years of personally investing in the disciples, Jesus transfers the responsibility for proclaiming the Gospel to the world onto His followers; that’s us!  The completed work of Christ through His sacrifice and resurrection was the final stamp of authority establishing His dominion over heaven and earth for all eternity.  

At The River, we embrace our part in the responsibility to go to our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria, and ultimately to the ends of the earth to be His witnesses.  This vision is impossible without the Holy Spirit working in and through our church body.  We cannot pray for a local harvest of souls without engaging the global harvest.  We cannot pray for servants to be raised up in our local congregation if we are not willing to pray for laborers to be sent into the harvest around the world.

For The River to be a healthy congregation we must embrace the call to missions.  We must train our members for short term mission trips.  We must partner with long term mission partners around the world.  We must gather resources to facilitate and finance missions endeavors.  Most importantly, we must pray!
          If God is to be glorified at The River, missions work must be a fundamental and defining part of our culture.

Barnabas faithfully partnered with Paul throughout his missions, encouraging and supporting him along the way.  We understand that not everyone is in a position to go on a mission trip, but you can support and encourage those going. The Barnabas Program provides church members with the opportunity to participate in missions by financially contributing to a trip. 

We currently have short term mission opportunities in the following states and countries:

We are partnering, for the second year, with Youth For Christ - Greater Missoula, for the 2024 Fort Belknap project.  We will be taking a group of high school students and chaperones to serve at a youth camp on the Ft. Belknap Reservation on the Highline of Montana.  The vast majority of the kids that will be attending this camp have never heard about the Gospel or of Jesus' love for them.  They will be coming from backgrounds of abuse and broken homes.  The mission team will be camping in tents and have limited access to plumbing. 

Nakalanda is a village in Uganda.  We have two full time missionaries there, Doug and Debbie Banks.  The work there is bringing the Good News of Christ's love and healing to people of Nakalanda and the surrounding area.  They minister to the whole person.  To the spirit with the gospel of salvation in Christ.  To the body with medicine and health education.  To the mind by raising leaders in the school.

We would like to take a team to Uganda in the summer of  2026 to help with construction. 

“God touched my heart in a few ways on this mission trip. 1st being this was an amazing opportunity to serve for a camp that is all volunteer based and been dedicating there time since 1958 and operating for the children! 2nd being able to take a step back and do some self-reflecting as a parent. As a parent, not knowing all the answers to every situation is scary when raising kids, but as a Christian believer in Jesus knowing where to find the answers is comforting. Knowing that when I put God 1st and foremost, my child will be taken care of. ”

- John Connell
Alaska Mission Trip, 2022