In This Issue: Tools to Help with Your Tech Troubles, International Partnerships, and More
- CURRICULUM: Partnering across Cultures
- PODCASTS: Interviews
- TOOLS: Short-term Mission Starter Kit
- ACCOMMODATIONS: Missionary Guest Houses and Hospitality Networks
- MAGAZINES: Christian Computing and Women of the Harvest
- EVENTS: Training and Conferences
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.
CURRICULUM: Partnering across Cultures
The Beauty of Partnership Study Guide, edited by Werner Mischke. Scottsdale, AZ: Mission ONE, 2010. 212 pages.
Want to learn how to build healthy partnerships with Christians from other cultures? Mission ONE – a ministry that has taken a leading role in the Coalition on the Support of Indigenous Ministries – has now produced a study program to help you succeed.
Six lessons explore the role of godly character (lesson 1: servanthood, lesson 2: listening), cultural intelligence (lesson 3: trust, lesson 4: both/and thinking) and organizational competence (lesson 5: accountability, lesson 6: appreciation). Video introductions and extras are available online. The guide also includes three helpful articles and excerpts from four key books. The result is a practical, well-designed tool – not too much and not too little. About 18-24 hours of study.
>> Purchase from Mission ONE for US$29.95. Bulk discounts available. While you’re there, check out the free resources.
PODCASTS: Interviews
Source: Justin Long
The Long View recently launched a series of podcast interviews with people whose passions relate to missions and unreached peoples. Each podcast is about 20 minutes long and can be streamed via your web browser or iTunes. In the first week’s collection, Justin introduces us to:
Tony Sheng, who mentors potential new missionaries via The Ember Cast. Tony’s got a great model for how someone in a church can mobilize people.
Bruce Anderson, with Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries, who provides food, shelter, recovery ministries and discipleship for over 7,000 people yearly in a model that could be used in any culture.
Robyn C., a mother passionate about street evangelism. She has taken her two daughters to Guatemala and Russia and uses magic tricks to illustrate timeless Biblical truths.
Greg Livingstone, who has worked with Muslims for years and is passionate about reaching them. Here he gives us a funny yet very insightful interview about his life and some powerful thoughts about reaching the Muslim world.
>> Find The Long View Podcast and lots of missions-related news, ideas, and links at The Long View.
TOOLS: Short-term Mission Starter Kit
Source: Chris McDaniel, DELTA Ministries
The Short-Term Mission Starter Kit, developed by DELTA Ministries International, gives churches nearly 40 resources for prayer, encouragement, training, follow-through, and a comprehensive referral list of more than 60 short-term mission resources. The kit was designed to help churches that are just getting started with a STM program, as well as fine-tune established programs. Resources include printable materials, DVDs, and links that provide resources for all phases of a short-term mission (pre-field, on-field, post-field) and adhere to the U.S. Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission.
This came out in January and we promoted it then, but now would be a good time to pick up a copy if you didn’t get one previously. They’re free!
>> Read more or request a copy.
>> Readers might also be interested in the resources from Round Trip Missions and STEM International. Looking for a short-term mission trip to join? See shorttermmissions.com.
ACCOMMODATIONS: Missionary Guest Houses and Hospitality Networks
Source: Mike Frith, OSCAR
There are hundreds of Christian and mission guest houses all over the world but how do you find them? OSCAR the UK information service for world mission, maintains a growing list of guest houses and hospitality networks. Just the thing for those working cross-culturally and in need of a getaway but wondering how to manage it on a tight budget.
>> See the logistics page. Thanks, OSCAR for this service! Readers, do you know places that should be added?
MAGAZINES: Christian Computing and Women of the Harvest
Two online magazines, trying to increase circulation, are offering (besides great content) some appealing incentives for new subscribers. Even if you don’t win the prizes you might learn something you can use and help them get the word out to others.
Christian Computing Magazine, first published in 1989, claims to be the first Christian magazine published on the web. CCMag covers the latest software and technical services and provides how-to articles to help readers apply new techniques. Recent issues include articles about some of the tech tools furthering Bible translation and the “missions computing” program at Taylor University, as well as a comparison of church-management software packages and an article about how to set up a WordPress blog. Right now, new subscribers will be entering in a drawing to win a US$500 Apple gift card.
Women of the Harvest, a five-year-old online magazine written by and for North American women serving cross-culturally, is reaching 10,000 subscribers and looking for 10,000 more. The current edition includes an article on finding beauty in unlikely places and another on helping local believers apply the lessons of 2 Kings 4 to trust God with their financial and practical needs. Know any missionary women who would be interested? Subscribe a friend (with her permission) and you could win a Kindle DX. Nice. WOTH also puts out several other publications, hosts blogs, and ministers to missionary women through retreats. Take a look.
EVENTS: Training and Conferences
Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar
The following events have recently been added:
October 11 to 16 – Community Health Evangelism Training (Colorado Springs, CO, USA). Train-the-trainer event from the Alliance for Transformational Ministries. A similar event is planned for June in Los Angeles.
October 25 to 29 – Bible Storying Training (Orlando, FL, USA). Unleash the power of storytelling in your ministry. Sponsored by StoryRunners, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.
October 28 to 30 – Hands That Heal Seminar (Holland, MI, USA). Training for caregivers serving victims of human trafficking. Presented by World Hope International and the Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAAST).
December 01 to 02 – Interchange Conference (Wilmington, DE, USA). This year’s theme: Mobilizing Next-Generation Churches. Sponsored by Catalyst Services.
Also, three more webinars from The Missions Exchange, open to the public but free to TME members:
October 14 – Student Loan Debt: Overcoming the Great Barrier (online). Featuring Terrill Nelson.
October 28 – Design and Fit: Nurturing the Call of God in our Mobilization of Candidates (online). Featuring Mark Stebbins of the Navigators.
November 18 – Raising the Bar in Short-Term Missions: Applying the Standards of Excellence (online). Featuring Jenny Collins of Taylor University.
>> See our full calendar or submit items.
