In This Issue: Finding Unreached People
- Finding Unreached People in Your City – Follow-up
- Great Church-based Ministry Training Programs
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!
Practical Mobilization by Shane Bennett is published once a month.
Finding Unreached People in Your City – Follow-up
By Shane Bennett
Last month I posed the question, “If you wanted to take a carload of pals from your church to an urban area where they might have a chance for several engaging conversations with people from other cultures, how would you know where to go? How would you know where neighborhoods are?”
I listed my ideas and received some interesting insights from several readers. Here’s what they had to say:
Suzanne Johnson of WorldVenture says, “Another helpful on-line tool is www.peoplegroups.info, which is powered by the Southern Baptists’ North American and International Mission Boards. Created to help local churches discover and reach the nations in their own communities, the site uses census data and information gathered by volunteer researchers to report on the nationalities, languages, and people groups present in a given area.” I tried the site on a couple of places near and dear to my heart. If nothing else, it give you an idea who you might look for in a given place.
Neal Pirolo passed on information about a series of articles he’s written called, “Internationals Who Live Among Us”: “They are an introduction to eight different types of internationals who are living here: students, illegals, business, visitors, military, legal ethnic communities, refugees, and missionary kids.” You can find out more and order the essays by visiting Emmaus Road International. Click on Publications and look under Critical Issues Bulletins.
Author and mobilizer Diana Scimone reminds us of the importance of the opportunity we find in international students. “Check out isionline.org. The world is sending us their brightest and best … yet many spend four years in the U.S. and never, ever set foot inside an American home. What a lost opportunity to fulfill Scriptures such as Deuteronomy 31:12: ‘Assemble … the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God …'”
Mert relayed an interesting idea he picked up recently: “Open up your local, small town, community paper. Read the jail listings, the birth and death announcements, and the marriage and engagement announcements. Contact those of foreign or ethnic descent. Those in jail will usually welcome help and may need a personal friend/advocate to help them. Those with new children welcome blessing. Those losing loved ones may have few locals who will grieve with them. Marriage is a time for celebration. Enjoy!”
Donna Thomas of Christian Vision Ministries mentioned her soon-to-be-released book on this very topic. It’s called “First Look, Then Start Talking.” Check her web site for updates on its debut.
And finally, Shirley Wilbers passed on a Top Ten List of her own. It is by turns challenging, insightful, and hilarious. I’ll close with Shirley’s list and a hearty thank you to her and the others who shared their thoughts with us all.
1. Check with the local literacy council. They are always looking for people to tutor those who don’t speak English.
2. Stop by the food bank and volunteer.
3. Check with the local disabilities resource center and find out what their needs are.
4. Find the late night laundromats. Ten at night is a great time to meet people.
5. Send someone to apply at the local factory, specifically for the lowest paid or most dangerous job in town. Have them actually take any position. Why have people support you to do ministry when you can get paid with benefits?!?!
6. Listen to people complain on talk radio about the parts of town they would never go to and go there.
7. Take the local bus for a couple of days.
8. Go to any well traveled area of town and read a book that is connected with the country you are interested in, making sure that the cover is visible. Strike up conversations with anyone who looks interested in it.
9. Tell the neighborhood “gossip” who you are looking for. They may have connections you never dreamed of!
10. Tell God! He has methods of connecting people you would never think of.
Great Church-based Ministry Training Programs
I’ve recently become intrigued by the idea of local church-based training programs that emphasize practical biblical and ministry training, intense discipleship, and cross-cultural application. I’m in conversation with a seasoned pastor of a fairly large church in a college town who’d like to do the best he can for the hundreds of students who cycle through his fellowship every four years. He dreams of a one- to two- year training program which would result in participants prepared to go start churches in a full- or part-time capacity in their home cultures or the ends of the earth.
So here are some questions for you, my esteemed colleagues:
1. What are some examples of something like I’ve described that you would recommend me looking into?
2. What issues or problems are most likely to torpedo an effort like this?
3. What are other ways to think about maximizing discipleship and training for college students during their four-year sojourn at a local church?
Please send your thoughts, links, concerns, recommendations, and wild-eyed dreams to me. I’ll compile our corporate wisdom and report on it in next month’s Practical Mobilization article.
Questions? Problems? Submissions? Contact publisher/managing editor Marti Smith.