In This Edition: Behind the Veils of Yemen, Radical Churches, and More
- BOOK: Behind the Veils of Yemen
- ARTICLE: I Will Be Waiting for You
- BOOK: Radical Together
- EVENTS: Two Especially for Church Mission Leaders
- MORE EVENTS: Conferences and Training
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!
BOOK: Behind the Veils of Yemen
Source: Chosen Books
Behind the Veils of Yemen: How an American Woman Risked Her Life, Family, and Faith to Bring Jesus to Muslim Women, by Audra Grace Shelby. Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books, 2011. 240 pages.
The author of Behind the Veils of Yemen is an American woman who, with her husband and children, served in Yemen and Egypt through the International Mission Board. Here she describes the lessons and challenges they learned along the way, highlighting how God provided strength, perspective, and guidance.
The book includes cultural insights and describes the lives of the author’s closest friends but focuses on what the experience is like for Audra and the lessons God teaches her. The result is a story that holds together well and provides points of connection for readers who might never see themselves going to the Middle East.
>> Learn more or purchase for US$11.99 from the publisher (or elsewhere) or visit the author’s website. If you like this one, you might also like Sue Eenigenburg’s Screams in the Desert.
>> Fans of missionary biographies will be pleased to hear of two classics now available electronically. Get Mountain Rain or the refreshed version of Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret for your Kindle. Also in iTunes (search books by title).
ARTICLE: I Will Be Waiting for You
Source: Women of the Harvest onlineMagazine, September/October 2011
“Basma took me under her wing like a mother hen. She became my biggest fan, introducing me proudly to her other friends, describing who I was while warmly holding on to my arm. Teaching me to cook savory dishes, confiding in me about her miscarriage, sharing my deep concern for my son when he was sick – in all these things she was the picture of a faithful friend. When my mother and sister visited, she was the first to organize a party for them, later insisting on giving them farewell gifts.
“Last summer, though, a single event set in motion a wind of change that blew into the friendship I had with Basma. When a mutual friend rejected my heartfelt gift of a New Testament, word spread quickly that I could be dangerous…”
>> Editor’s note: Women of the Harvest onlineMagazine is written by and for the 75,000 or so North American Christian women serving cross-culturally. Recent changes to their website mean readers no longer have to register and log in to view content, though subscribing is still the easiest way to keep up with new material. Check it out.
BOOK: Radical Together
Source: Multnomah Books
Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God, by David Platt. Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2011.
In his popular book Radical, David Platt challenged readers to “take back their faith from the American Dream.” Radical Together provides more pictures of how the core concepts of the first book have played out in Platt’s church and other churches. Primarily addressing ministry leaders, it asks, “How can we in the church best unleash the people of God in the Spirit of God with the Word of God for the glory of God in the world?” Readers will appreciate his call to reconsider how we “do church,” allocate resources, set priorities, and respond to our communities and our world.
Although, like Radical, Radical Together is designed to challenge, it sidesteps being strident or offensive to come across instead as humble and engaging. A six-session study guide included in the book is helpful for working through this material with a group.
An excerpt is included on the publisher’s website. Another, The Genius of Wrong, was published in the July/August issue of Mission Frontiers.
>> Learn more or purchase this book from the publisher (or elsewhere) for US$14.99.
>> See also a list of resources recommended for church mission leaders posted by Pioneers, as well as one from World Team.
EVENTS: Two Especially for Church Mission Leaders
Source: Catalyst Services and ACMC
1. Connect Conference
The Interchange 2011 CONNECT! Conference will take place December 06 to 07 in Philadelphia, PA. This is an annual event for church mobilizers from Catalyst Services. This year’s theme is, “Improve Your Skills for Church Mobilization Impact.”
Your task of motivating and engaging people in the church for global missions requires well-honed skills in multiple kinds of communication. This year’s conference will help you improve three skill sets: coaching, training, and conflict resolution. Join us as we explore coaching in the context of partnership development, training in the context of nurturing mentors of future missionaries, and conflict resolution in addressing missionary/church/agency tensions. Each will include presentations from both church and agency specialists. For the final extended session, participants will Choose one, more in-depth, skill-building option.
2. ACMC Conference
In addition, ACMC (Advancing Churches in Missions Commitment) is putting on its very last conference. The event will take place November 11-12 at Fairhaven Church in Dayton, Ohio.
If you have received help from ACMC and want to see many of your colleagues in ministry, or if your church can benefit by rubbing shoulders with missions leaders from other churches, you’ll want to attend (and bring a few people with you). Why not forward this email to your mission team and leaders of other churches?
They’re bringing in Paul Borthwick to speak and have a good lineup of workshops, including:
Missions Priorities in Tomorrow’s World (David Mays)
Reaching Muslims in Our Cities (Brett W)
Global Report (Paul Borthwick)
Top Missions Challenges in Today’s Church (David Mays)
Islam: Worldview and Spirituality (Brett W)
The Missions Passionate Church – How Do We Measure Up? (Lee Christenson)
Partnerships (Paul Borthwick)
Educating Your Congregation in Missions (David Mays)
Ministry Partnerships – Multiplying Results in Missions (Kirk Lithander)
Mission Strategy in Practice (Bob Schneider)
Missionary Care – A Large Church Model (Bob Schneider)
Missionary Care – A Mid-Sized Church Model (Lee Christenson)
Magnetic Missions: The Blueprint to Growing a Missions Ministry (Craig Maxwell)
Raising the Missions Temperature in Your Church (Kirk Lithander)
Servant Evangelism (Steve Bowen)
Reaching the Nations among Us (Steve Eisner)
How Can a Predominantly Middle-Class Church Make a Difference in the “Inner City”? (Norm Perkins)
Short-Term Mission Trips to Your Monday through Saturday World (Doug Pollock)
Raising the Bar in Short-Term Missions (Jenny Collins)
MORE EVENTS: Conferences and Training
Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar
Six more events recently added to our calendar:
October 04 to 07 – Pastor to Missionaries Conference (Glorieta, NM, USA). A service of Barnabas International.
October 08 – Training Event: Bridges One-Day (Tampa, FL, USA). Designed to expand participants’ knowledge of Islam and equip them to bridge the gospel to the Muslim heart and mind. Featuring Fouad Fasri and provided by Crescent Project.
October 12 to 16 – Training Event: GO Equipped TENTmaking Course (Fort Myers, FL, USA). Provided by Global Opportunities.
October 31 to November 03 – Training Event: GO Equipped TENTmaking Course (Korntal, Germany). Provided by Global Opportunities.
November 03 to 05 – Conference: Oasis 2011 (Washington, DC, USA). Crescent Project’s annual gathering to explore the world of Muslim ministry, encourage each other, and gain insight from ministry leaders. This year’s theme is “Love Conquers Fear.”
November 29 to December 03 – Call2All Global Congress (Long Beach, CA, USA). Bringing together top Christian leaders from across the world to focus and strategize together on completing the Great Commission in our lifetime.
Marti Smith is a writer, speaker, and project manager for the Church Partnerships Team at Pioneers. Since the mid-90s she has helped prepare cultural research teams to explore unreached communities and mobilize efforts to serve these groups. Marti manages and publishes Missions Catalyst and is the author of Through Her Eyes, a book about the lives of missionary women in the Muslim world.
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