Missions Catalyst 12.12.12 – Practical Mobilization

In This Issue: A mobilizer’s Christmas list, 2012

• List #1: Gifts to Mobilize
• List #2: Gifts for the Mobilizer

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 share it freely!

Greetings!

The Christmas season is upon us and two things are thrilling my soul: the advent of the baby-king and an apparent decrease in chuffiness among us Christians, this year, toward clerks saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”

Oh wait, and a third: that it’s time for the annual Practical Mobilization Christmas Lists issue – wherein, with the help of kind readers, I advise you regarding what gifts to buy for friends and loved ones to help them better love the whole wide world, as well as what gifts to get your fellow mobilizers. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Shane

List #1: Gifts to Mobilize

Coffee

Coffee is the currency of cool in today’s church. Happily, more and more of us are even using coffee to press God’s blessing into unreached areas. Nudge your friends toward the nations and score major points with them by making this a Cozy Coffee Christmas (trademark pending).

Three options for you:

1. Check out the Himalayan ties of Underground Coffee. Then buy a bag or two for your buds at US$10 each.

2. If you have some Southern Baptists on your Christmas list (and who doesn’t?), Coffee 4 Missions could be your go-to java stop.

3. Finally, check out 963 Coffee for a “coffee of the month club” that will keep your friends thinking warm thoughts about you the whole year long.

Water

While I contend that the best water is that which has been warmed and poured over ground coffee beans, perhaps when offered coffee echo the late Dr. Ralph Winter’s response and say, “No thanks. I don’t do drugs.”

If your friends prefer pre-caff water too, your options for beverage gifts are more limited. You sure don’t want to buy them bottled water and contribute to the roughly $16 billion spent on that craziness, by Americans alone, in 2012!

So here’s what you do: Buy them a refillable water bottle, then check out Water for Thirty Thousand, a new effort to sell clean water to urban poor in Karachi, Pakistan. Distribution begins this week. Take a look, then make a contribution in your water-loving friend’s name. Dysentery-free Karachi-wallahs will be grateful.

The Gift of Freedom

1. Freedom from fear: Maybe you know friends who have some trepidation regarding people not like them. Specifically Muslims. Regardless of merit, fear is an evil hindering us from expressing the joy and welcome of Jesus to all people with whom we cross paths. Can we help?

Ambassadors to Muslims by Fouad Masri and Muslims, Christians and Jesus by Carl Medearis will dispel fear by shining a hopeful light on the possibility of Muslims and Christians connecting in loving, God-honoring ways.

2. Freedom from despair: On a related note, maybe you have friends who think you’re loopy for caring about the nations. They wonder how heaven will ever gain a foothold in a world so wholly gone to hell. Give them a copy of Miraculous Movements, a book Dudley Woodberry describes like this:

“Illustrated with a wealth of stories, [showing] how thousands … have come to faith in Christ … These accounts both encourage and guide those who wish to have a part in the great in-gathering of Muslims we are seeing in many regions today.”

Gifting Global Kids

Point your little munchkins toward the masses with these gifts that highlight other cultures, people, and places:

1. Little Passports: “Every month, globetrotting characters Sam and Sofia visit a new country and send your child an exciting package in the mail including a letter, fun and unique souvenirs, stickers, photos, and access to online games/activities.”

2. Coin of the month club: “Remind a young person of you while promoting an interest in coins of the world and a better appreciation of the importance and value of geography, history, and adventure.”

3. Bangle of the month club: Delight your niece (or maybe her mother) with these lovely reminders of India.

List #2: Gifts for the Mobilizer

Do you know people with a bent toward the nations? Here are some gifts that will help them execute their peculiar passions. Gifts for soul, body, brain, and productivity.

Soul

How about a prayer coupon? Tell them that twelve times in the coming year you will respond to a plea for prayer. Or go Neiman Marcus crazy and commit to praying weekly or daily for them!

Mind

Two practitioner books offer a chance to participate in the goodness detailed in Miraculous Movements: Both T4T: A Discipleship Re-Revolution and Any-3: Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime are available at Church Planting Movements. Become a CPM Insider for special pricing on the Any3 book.

Body

I want to see mobilizers grow. In number. In quality. Not in size! I also don’t want to miss the last, best 20 years of my mobilizing life because my heart gives up on my big, flabby body. Here are gifts that might help the health of your mobilizer buds, but let’s be clear: you didn’t get the idea from me!

1. Super pedometer: The postage-stamp-size Fitbit Zip allows you to track, sync, and analyze your fitness metrics.

2. Walking desk: If you can’t get away from the computer to run, walk, or mosey, bring the movement to the computer.

3. Shoes: Unless your friend is a hobbit, he or she will probably want something on the feet when walking or running.

4. Finally, this gift could help your mobilizer friend score that huge foundation grant by looking nice, even while running from the trail to the boardroom!

Productivity

1. Communication capacity: Give your mobilizer friend a copy of Anne Lamott’s wondrous book Bird by Bird to encourage and equip them to write things that matter. Scout free writing courses you could take together.

2. Interactive proficiency: More and more of our lives and work are moving online. Maybe a globally-minded pal could use a smart phone. Don’t give them an iPhone unless you’re sure their character can handle the level of coolness that comes with it. Get a good phone, and also a good value on a mobile plan – like this one in which 25-40 percent of the revenue goes to fund mission efforts! (Note: If you get your referral to Solavei from us, my friend Robby and I will be among the missionaries who benefit from you giving this gift!)

3. Transportation efficiency: If you have capacity, buy your mobilizer bud a reliable car. She’ll thank you as she worries less about getting from place to place.

May your Advent and Christmas season be filled with peace, joy, great presents, and the great presence of Jesus as you look forward to, and work to hasten, his second advent.

Shane Bennett writes and speaks for a great organization called Frontiers. Lately he’s wondering about how Muslim immigrants in Europe might fully experience God’s blessing.

He’s also working with some buds to leverage a $49 a month smart phone plan to raise a ton of money for cross-cultural workers. Email him for info on the plan or the vision.