For the past few years the WMA Board of Directors has been thinking and praying about finding a way to broaden the foundation on which this ministry has been built.  On the initiative of the Board of Directors, it was agreed to open a missions resource center in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area so that what we do, even in the international arena, would have a stronger base from which to work.

For the first twenty-one years of this ministry the primary mode of operation was for team members to provide ministry wherever they lived and worked or for those from the Lancaster office to itinerate thereby taking the message to where people are.  While it is anticipated that this travel will continue, part of the current transition includes providing a place where people can come to learn about issues of sustainability in the Christian movement.

This new base will include rooms for individual or group consultation.  It will also include a significant number of books, videos and other materials which will help missionaries and other church leaders to grapple with important missiological issues.  The center will not only provide books and videos for sale, but the library will include resources that can be borrowed or used on location.

This center adds a local focus with international implications.  This means that the center will become a place known for its concentration on the wider world but with a view to serving those who may or may not ever travel to the world far away.

The center will seek to serve the Christian movement in many ways.  Most importantly, the primary purpose will be to raise awareness about the privilege and responsibility of all believers to make Jesus Christ known among the nations.  This means a serious and continual emphasis on cross-cultural evangelism.

Three emphases surfaced when we began to think about the constituencies that the center will serve. 

• Missionaries and mission executives;
• Church leaders and mission committee members;
• Business people who are or should be interested in the worldwide mission of the church.