Alan Morris knows and loves missions — and for good reason.
A former Southern Baptist missionary to Indonesia, Morris knows firsthand what it’s like to be an international living overseas. In his current role as area missionary for North Central Missions Center in Woodstock, Georgia, he has helped lead the center’s three associations to start 22 churches over the past 12 years, including 16 ethnic congregations.
“I think the reason that I’m passionate about the internationals that live among us is because I once was an international living in a foreign land,” Morris explained. “Having someone who cared and who showed concern and who was in some ways friendly to our being there made all the difference in the world.
“I feel like this is a great way to minister to those who are in our country.”
As a result, North Central has planted language congregations serving Brazilians, Hispanics, Chinese, Koreans, Russians, Ukrainians and more.
“We have an unusual group that most people would not think of as a language group,” Morris noted, “but it’s a cowboy church. And believe me, it’s another language.”
The three Baptist associations — Etowah, Lanier and Roswell — include about 80 local congregations in north central Georgia. As the churches welcome and serve alongside ethnic groups in their midst, Morris cited the description of the Kingdom of Heaven in Revelation 7:9 that encompasses “all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues.” That has become his ministry vision and focus.
“I usually find out what their needs are and I do all I can to meet them,” he said. “Somehow my name got out there because I was sensitive to the needs of internationals. And so the next thing I knew, I was opening up our building to allow international churches to start their church here.”
International theological training
Along with a focus on internationals living in Georgia, Morris has helped create and lead mobile theological training for pastors in such countries as Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and Peru. Noting that a small percentage of pastors outside the U.S. have formal seminary training, Morris said the Global Network of Theological Training and related Pastor to Pastor Training Networks are designed to help address that need on a practical level.
Drawing on his experience with the International Mission Board, Morris partnered with Gary Bulley, a friend who had served with the North American Mission Board, to produce curriculum for such courses as Old Testament and New Testament survey that could be taught overseas in intense, two-day seminars.
They also recruited pastors from across Georgia “who have a heart for a certain aspect of ministry and a certain discipline in the Scripture” to write curriculum and then go teach it, Morris said. As a result, students in the networks “would get the teacher who wrote the curriculum and had the passion for the subject.”
The training networks have reached eight countries in the past six years, with a goal of doubling that number in 2022. Once participants complete a series of 12 classes, they are awarded a diploma in recognition of their work.
Graduates “had their families all come to watch them receive their diplomas,” Morris said. “It was like a high school graduation in our country. That’s how they saw it.”
Recalling “the tears of joy that they would shed” when receiving their diplomas, Morris added, “I would go to their homes later and there in the most prominent location in their home would be that plaque.
“I was so surprised that was such a huge thing for them,” he acknowledged. “I realized when my friend and I sat at that little coffee shop and thought this thing over, I had no idea that we would be doing so much for so many in such a dramatic way.”
Bringing Christ to the nations
Affirming the call to serve internationals both at home and abroad, Morris declared, “What an opportunity for us to bring Christ to the nations. The fact that God has allowed the nations to come to our country — we don’t have an excuse not to do missions without ever getting in an airplane.”
Urging fellow Christians “to minister to the internationals who literally live in your own neighborhood,” Morris said, “For us to be able to embrace them, to welcome them into our home, to go watch a soccer game with them to watch their child play soccer, you have no idea of the impact you will make in that home. … They’re right here and they are so hungry for someone to care about them.”
