In This Issue: Fresh Ideas for Raising Support, Connecting a Congregation, and More
- RESOURCE PACKAGE: Sending New Missionaries
- BOOK: Fresh Perspectives on Raising Personal Support
- BOOKS & BOOKLETS: Prayer Journeys Manual, Rookie TL’s Handbook, and Others
- EVENTS: Conferences and Training
- What Do You Think?
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.
RESOURCE PACKAGE: Sending New Missionaries
Source: Ellen Livingood, Catalyst Services
“Two couples, the Bells and the Chavezes, attended their missions agency’s orientation together and were appointed as new missionaries to the same team. They had much in common, including the fact that both couples were recommended by strong, biblically sound sending churches of similar size.
“Nine months later, the Chavezes arrived on the field with full support and an overwhelming sense that they were closely connected to their dedicated sending church back home. Getting them there had involved almost everyone in the congregation, and now those people were passionately committed to sharing the missions task in a host of ways.
“The Chavezes completed a whole year of language study before the day came when they welcomed the Bells as they arrived at the airport. When the two couples sat down to compare their pre-field experiences, their stories and their emotions could not have been more different…”
Sending New Missionaries is a downloadable package of practical tools to involve the whole church in getting new appointees ready and resourced for effective field service. It includes “25 Ways to Connect New Missionaries to Your Congregation,” guidelines for developing an “advocate” team for each new missionary, and lots more.
>> Learn more about or purchase these resources for US$7.99 from Catalyst Services, or with additional tools to use in mentoring for US$12.99.
Editor’s Note: Readers might be interested in Ellen’s August 26 webinar for the Missions Exchange and her article “Building a Church’s Missionary Sending Skills” in the July 2010 edition of Evangelical Missions Quarterly. If you don’t already have a TME membership or EMQ subscription, though, this is the least expensive way to get the material, and includes more.
>> See also (Re)member Care (The Upstream Collective), part of a recent series on “The Sending Church.”
BOOK: Fresh Perspectives on Raising Personal Support
Is “raise more financial support” something you (or someone you care about) hopes to do – or needs to do – this year? Support Raising Solutions offers us a new book on the topic:
Viewpoints: Fresh Perspectives on Personal Support Raising, by Steve Shadrach. Fayetteville, AR: The BodyBuilders. 2010. 174 pages.
“Steve Shadrach’s insights and challenges run against the quick-fix, mass-mailing, email-appeal, shallow-relationship approaches that characterize much of the support raising that takes place today. Such methods often leave people disappointed and frustrated and produce little or no support. But if you are eager to work hard to develop a solid, faithful support team to undergird your ministry, then this book is for you.” (Dave Flynn, National [US] Director of the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Study Program)
>> Learn more or purchase the book from the publisher for US$17.99. Bulk discounts are available. The website also includes articles, links, and information about other books and upcoming training events.
BOOKS & BOOKLETS: Prayer Journeys Manual, Rookie TL’s Handbook, and Others
A number of resources previously published by Caleb Project are now available for electronic download from Pioneers.
Visit the download section of the online store for information about Prayer Journeys: A Leader’s How-to Manual, Keys to the Nations: Unlocking Doors to the Unreached, (a collection of articles about people-group advocacy) Pioneer Church Planting: A Rookie Team Leader’s Handbook, and God’s Heart for Muslims (a booklet for study) as well as 17 prayer guides, each focusing on a different unreached people group.
>> Purchase any of these from Pioneers for US$0.99 apiece.
>> In addition, 20+ Mission Issues Articles that Caleb Project used to use in mobilizing students have been cleaned up a bit and are again available for free to use as you wish. They cover topics like how to choose a mission agency, persevering through distractions, and more.
EVENTS: Conferences and Training
Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar
The following events have recently been added:
August 26 – Webinar: Building Churches’ Missionary Sending Skills (online). Featuring Ellen Livingood of Catalyst Services, provided by and free to members of The Mission Exchange.
September 02 – Webinar: The State of the Gospel 2010 (online). Featuring Jason Mandryk of Operation World, provided by and free to members of The Mission Exchange.
September 09 – Webinar: Church Missions Coaching (online). Featuring Matthew Ellison of 16:15, provided by and free to members of The Mission Exchange.
October 01 to 03 – The Journey Deepens (Tulsa, OK, USA). Retreat for prospective missionaries; similar events held regularly across the US.
October 02 – Bridges One-Day Seminar (Wheaton, IL, USA). Hear about reaching Muslims from Fouad Masri of Crescent Project.
October 08 to 09 – MissionsFest Seattle (Bellevue, WA, USA). Free, annual, cooperative church-sponsored missions conference.
October 13 to 16 – FSTML Forum (Green Lake, WI, USA). An annual conversation on the role of short-term mission leadership in global mission. Convened by the Fellowship of Short-term Mission Leaders.
October 20 to 24 – GO Equipped TENTmaking Business as Mission Course (Los Angeles, CA, USA). Courses also planned for November (Korntal, Germany) February (Fort Myers, FL, USA) and June (Bergen, Norway). Provided by Global Opportunities.
October 21 to 23 – Oasis Conference (Brentwood, TN, USA). Annual conference for Christians reaching Muslims in North America, organized by Crescent Project.
February 04 to 06 – Weekend Tentmaking Seminar (Kauniainen, Finland). Provided by Global Opportunities.
February 27 to March 02, March 03 to 05 – Women of Compassion Retreats (Sharjah, UAE). A getaway for North American women serving in ministry. Register by the end of December 2010.
>> See our full calendar or submit items.
What Do You Think?
We’d be glad to get your feedback on this edition or other aspects of Missions Catalyst. Please feel free to leave a comment on our website or write to us directly. Perhaps you’d like to join the conversations about recent popular articles Radical Hospitality and Sex and Dating on the Mission Field.
I’m fresh off a six-month sabbatical and ready to give Missions Catalyst some extra attention. Now would be a great time to let me know what you think we could do to help make this ministry the best it can be!
Much thanks,
Marti Smith | publisher and managing editor
A reader in Australia writes to remind us of another support raising resource, one not listed on the SRS website. It’s “Funding the Family Business” by Myles Wilson.
“[In] our experience has the most comprehensive and biblical approach to raising the support team – ESPECIALLY with the biblical basis for money, work, gifts and service (apostolically) being the most applicational we’ve seen. We would recommend this above all the other types, which have too many gimmicks and not enough practical application. It’s a workbook. It’s the Kingdom teaching that we’ve seen is basically lacking in this area.”
So there you have it! Read more here: http://www.fundingthefamilybusiness.org/
BTW, this book is British and may be a bit tricky to find in the States.