In This Issue: Where There Is No Doctor (But You Have Your Laptop)
- Serve the Persecuted Church with The Voice of the Martyrs
- HANDBOOK – CD of Resources from ACMC
- EVENTS CALENDAR
- BOOK: Crossing Into America: The New Literature of Immigration
- e-BOOKS: Where There Is No Doctor (and others)
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.
Serve the Persecuted Church with The Voice of the Martyrs
TAKE ACTION: Brothers and Sisters in Chains (B.A.S.I.C.) Fellowship is for those who want to take action and share their burden for our persecuted family with Christians in their region; includes many ideas for local involvement [designed for Americans].
INVOLVE YOUR KIDS: The new Kids of Courage site helps kids, parents, and teachers link up through prayer and projects with today’s heroes of the Christian faith. The Kids of Courage (formerly LINK International) 8-page quarterly newsletter is free and informs children about Christians who stand firm in their faith even when it is not easy or convenient. It can also add value to geography and social studies curricula for Christian schools and home-schooling families. Videos, activity books, and other low-cost resources for students are available on-line and through the newsletter.
BEFRIEND BELIEVERS IN PRISON: PrisonerAlert is The Voice of the Martyrs’ on-line ministry program to prisoners. Each month subscribers to PrisonerAlert receive an e-mail highlighting a Christian who is currently imprisoned for his or her faith. In 2004, the first year of PrisonerAlert, nearly 20,000 letters (translated into the appropriate language) were written to imprisoned Christians in China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Vietnam from Christians around the world.
STUDY: Ministry for the Persecuted Church. The Voice of the Martyrs and Oklahoma Wesleyan University have entered a partnership to combine academic study and research with service to the persecuted church in restricted nations. This is the only undergraduate degree program in North America focused on the experience of the persecuted church. B.A., B.S., or Certificate programs available.
Student internships, volunteer opportunities, and guest speakers are also available from The Voice of the Martyrs through their U.S. office in Oklahoma. For more information and additional resources, visit The Voice of the Martyrs on-line, or send them an e-mail. Their toll-free number in the U.S. is 877.337.0302.
HANDBOOK – CD of Resources from ACMC
From: David Mays, ACMC – December 7, 2005
Stuff IV – Yet More Stuff you need to know about Doing Missions in Your Church
Compiled by David Mays. Published 2005 by ACMC, 87 pages.
This is the fourth volume of an encyclopedia of all the things you wanted to know about doing missions but didn’t know where to find them. It is a compilation of one-page concepts, lists, outlines, forms, samples, and resources covering everything from becoming a world Christian to missions web sites.
Missions leaders and missions pastors have called it the best resource available to missions committees. More than 6000 copies of earlier volumes have been distributed.
For a list of the contents of these four volumes, click here.“Stuff” is available only on CD in Microsoft Word format. You can purchase all four volumes with cumulative index ($26) or just the fourth volume ($12). Send a check (in U.S. funds) to ACMC, Box 221, Brownsburg, IN 46112, U.S.A. Request the Stuff CD and include your postal address.
EVENTS CALENDAR
Want to meet others who share your passion, get further training, or just find encouragement as you continue to find your part in God’s global plans? The Missions Catalyst Events Calendar may help. Check it out! To submit items for the calendar, go to Submit an Article or e-mail our staff.
EDITOR’S NOTE: While perusing the Caleb Project web site, please note our upcoming Advocacy Training and the Connection Conference. We’re also actively recruiting participants for in-depth summer Research Expeditions in Germany, Britain, East Asia, and possibly Central Asia. Contact us for more information.
BOOK: Crossing Into America: The New Literature of Immigration
From: Paul Grant, Urbana.org
Crossing Into America: The New Literature of Immigration
Edited by Louis Mendoza and S. Shankar
One of the outstanding qualities of North American life is immigration. With 2 or 3% of us claiming exclusively indigenous heritage, the vast majority of us came from somewhere else. Throughout the recent few centuries, immigration has come in enormous waves, each of which permanently changed the face of the land.
Two themes have confronted every single immigrant to North America in the last 500 years – every single one: assimilation and preservation. On the one hand, “How do I change without losing my soul?” And on the other, “How can I communicate with my children about what matters most?”
Literature – poetry, short stories, memoirs, essays, and dramas – take immigration from the realm of policy to the heart. Instead of 10 million Indians, we meet just one, and meet him intimately, hearing his thoughts and fears. Crossing into America is a highly recommended anthology to give you a richer understanding of an issue far more significant for our future than the next elections.
New Press, 2003, 336 pages. Available from Amazon.
Full review here.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the sort of thing that can really help you develop an ability to see your world through another’s eyes. Other secular books on topics related to immigration which I’ve found helpful and fascinating include Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Farah Ahmedi’s The Story of My Life, and Mary Pipher’s The Middle of Everywhere. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, either; check your local library. See many other resources described on Urbana’s web site by clicking here.
e-BOOKS: Where There Is No Doctor (and others)
Download the helpful medical guide, Where There Is No Doctor, from the Internet – for free, in English or Spanish (Donde No Hay Doctor). You can download PDF files chapter-by-chapter and bring them with you as you travel, to use as reference or in an emergency.
The paper editions are also available from HealthWrights and elsewhere. And did you know that Where There Is No Doctor has been translated into 50 languages now? If you work in one of these languages, you might find a local edition a good gift or resource for your friends and colleagues. A list of translations and their publishers is available from the Hesperian Foundation.
There are also other books on health care topics available for free download from HealthWrights – most of them in English and Spanish:
Questioning the Solution: The Politics of Primary Health Care and Child Survival
Nothing About Us Without Us: Developing Innovative Technologies for, by and with Disabled Persons
Disabled Village Children: A Guide for Community Health Workers, Rehabilitation Workers, and Families
Helping Health Workers Learn: A Book of Methods, Aids, and Ideas for Instructors at the Village Level
Where There Is No Dentist
EDITOR’S NOTE: By the way, we first learned about this in Brigada Today. Thanks, Brigada!
Questions? Problems? Submissions? Contact publisher/managing editor Marti Smith.