In This Issue: Arabian Peninsula, Kids at Risk, Turkey’s Martyrs and More
- CURRICULUM – Equip Your Church to Help Kids at Risk
- VIDEOS – Free Short Videos Stir Prayer for the Arab World
- WEBSITE – New from the Student Volunteer Movement
- DOCUMENTARY FILM – Malatya, Martyrs of the Turkish Church
- DVD SET – Steve Saint’s “Missions Dilemma”
- EVENTS – Recent Additions to the Missions Catalyst Calendar
Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!
Resource Reviews, edited by Marti Smith, are published once a month.
This month 40 new subscribers from Perspectives classes around Louisville, Kentucky, join us. Welcome!
CURRICULUM – Equip Your Church to Help Kids at Risk
Source: Caleb Resources
More than 1.2 billion children grow up fighting problems like poverty, hunger, war, AIDS, living on the streets and growing up without parents. How can we talk to our own children about these issues in an appropriate and sensitive way?
Red Card: Standing against Oppression, Providing Hope is a new curriculum about at-risk children. It includes material from a variety of sources, including Compassion International, Faces of Children, Association of Christian Schools International, Kidzana Ministries, God’s Garden, and many others.
“Red Card is a powerful Scripture-based educational tool that takes seriously God’s commands to care for orphans, the marginalized, the exploited, and the powerless. Lessons inform, inspire, and equip families to make an authentic biblical response to the global suffering of children.” (Dr. Phyllis Kilbourn, Founder and Director of Crisis Care Training International.)
The eight one-hour sessions are designed for mixed-age Sunday-school groups so children (fourth grade and up) can experience them with their parents. Lessons include videos, simulation activities, teaching, discussion, and prayer, as well as materials which participating families can take home with them.
Interested in using Red Card at your church? The Red Card website includes excerpts, samples, and more information. See also the two-minute promotional video.
You can purchase all the materials you will need for a class from the Caleb Resources store. Red Card will be released June 1. The list price is US$249.99, but the pre-order price of $149.99 plus shipping and handling is good until June 30.
See also: Start> Becoming a Good Samaritan, a video-based program from Zondervan, also designed for local churches and dealing with justice issues. It comes out in August.
VIDEOS – Free Short Videos Stir up Prayer for the Arab World
Source: Praying through the Arabian Peninsula, April 14, 2009
A five-minute overview and a collection of short videos show how the workers in the Arabian Peninsula (AP) are requesting prayer for their region. The clips are only a minute or so each and would be suitable for a missions focus during a service, at a small group, or for a prayer meeting.
(I especially like Nabeel’s Testimony.)
“The Arabian Peninsula is one of the least of the least-reached areas of the planet and will require much prayer if the good news is to make a breakthrough,” writes of a member of the network. “[Yet] the Lord is at work, people are praying, and the name of Jesus the Messiah is gaining honor.”
To learn more and for other resources, see the PTAP site.
WEBSITE – New from the Student Volunteer Movement
Source: Ryan Shaw, SVM2
Student Volunteer Movement 2 (SVM2) has launched a completely redesigned website to serve the ongoing development of today’s global student mission movement.
SVM2 is an international network serving the student world of believers by developing passionate and thriving mission vision to prepare a new generation of “Message Bearers” for long-term, cross-cultural ministry among the forgotten.
SVM2 provides a connecting point for students, leaders, churches, and organizations to develop unity, cooperation, and focus for relevant mission vision among the emerging generation in a given ministry, across a city, nation and around the world.
DOCUMENTARY FILM – Malatya, Martyrs of the Turkish Church
Source: Malatya Film
On April 18, 2007, Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel, and Tillmann Geske were brutally killed in Malatya, Turkey for proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Necati and Ugur are the first known modern Turkish converts from Islam to Christianity to be killed for their faith.
Malatya tells their story and premiered on the two-year anniversary of the event. The film was made in partnership with The Austin Stone Community Church and The Voice of the Martyrs.
“We spent the summer of 2008 in Turkey filming this documentary because this story must be told. In the process of making this film, we traveled thousands of miles by overnight bus, interviewed dozens of people across the country, gathered over 30 hours of footage, drank about 50 gallons of Turkish tea, and fell in love with the Turkish people. We believe, now more than ever, that this is a story to cherish.”
See also: Justin Long’s podcast interviewing Jason Knox from the International Turkey Network about the Malatya martyrs.
DVD SET – Steve Saint’s “Missions Dilemma”
Source: Brigada Today, March 1, 2009
Is there a better way to do missions? In this DVD series, church leaders from around the world are asked, “If you had one piece of advice you could give the church in North America, what would it be?”
Hosted by Steve Saint who intertwines stories from his experience in the Ecuadorian jungle, the (2008) series Missions Dilemma is designed to stimulate discussion among church leaders, missions committees, and those involved in missions. Check out the trailer, view a brochure, or order the series (for US$49.95) here.
See also: Several of Steve Saint’s articles online.
EVENTS – Recent Additions to the Missions Catalyst Event Calendar
Source: Marti Smith, editor
May 8-9 – Pacific Northwest Microfinance Conference (Seattle, WA, USA). “Microfinance and Your Role in Solving Global Poverty.”
May 13-15 – India Missions Association (Bangalore, India). National Leadership and Annual General Meeting 2009.
June 2-5 – Reaching Shamanistic Peoples of Asia partnership forum (Siberia, Russia). For more info contact the partnership facilitator in care of this address.
June 3-6 – The Challenge of AIDS and a Prescription for Hope (Kiev, Ukraine). International regional conference sponsored by the Association for Spiritual Renewal/Russian Ministries and Samaritan’s Purse. For info in English write to Rachel.
July 21-24 – Christian Leadership Formation in an Age of Crisis: Our Christian Response to Globalization and Religious Pluralism in Asia (Malang, Indonesia). Asia Theological Association.
September 8-12 – International Prayer Initiative for the United Nations and Global Cities (New York City/New Jersey, USA). Note: We found more info here. Request an invitation and register by May 1!
September 9-13 – International Orality Network Annual Conference (Minneapolis/St Paul, MN, USA)
September 14-17 – Intermission Missionary Kids Education Consultation (Colorado Springs, CO, USA).
October 8-9 – Global Forum on Human Trafficking (Carlsbad, CA, USA). Sponsored by the Not for Sale campaign.
November 1-5 – Ethne to Ethne Movement conference (Cartegena, Colombia). Celebrate what God has done, assess progress, and accelerate movements to Christ among the least reached.
November 10-13 – South-East Asia Prayer Consultation (Bangkok, Thailand).
More events are listed on our Missions Events Calendar. Please contact us if you’d like to submit an event to be added!