You know Urbana, right? The super-colossal, triennial missions conference that brings together a gazillion college kids to spend four days and nights between Christmas and New Years under the loving guidance of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, imbibing global-God-info like they were trying to drink from Old Faithful!
Imagine you were invited to do a workshop at Urbana 15. It’ll be here before you know it! What would you want to talk about? Why? What would you title your workshop?
Full disclosure: I know a guy who knows a guy who’s working on U15. The guy-who-knows-a-guy was on IV staff at my college campus and also knows i love to talk about the world. He invited me to float some workshop ideas to him to pass up the chain.
So I thought I’d crowd-source it with the brilliant minds of the Missions Catalyst tribe. To be sure, I won’t swipe your idea without permission. But I would love to hear what you think those fresh-faced kingdom-shakers should hear.
» Leave your comments below so others can see them, too. Thanks.
Urbana Workshop Ideas (actually workshops that I have done elsewhere)…
1. “Living on Mission” – a missions mobilization piece that looks at the global component of the missional lifestyle
2. “Coca-Cola Jesus” – inspiring missional action by examining what Jesus asks of us in the Great Commission
3. “A Pastor’s Perspective on the Persecuted Church” – addresses how we can respond to the persecution of Christians in the world
4. “God’s Word, Our Foundation” – looking at the Bible as being foundational to life, ministry and missions
Here are three ideas:
1. Crossing Cultures with Ruth — the book of Ruth offers a great look at how a newbie cross-cultural servant brought short- and long-term help to someone who didn’t want help — a lot like the resistant peoples of today. Biblical, easy-to-remember lessons that also tie closely with current research on effective service. Source: http://store.gmi.org/crossing-cultures-with-ruth-p-1659.html?zenid=a80df248e78f2d4a043ac4675d4638a6
2. How to Become an Ex-Missionary…or Not — Interviews with 40+ former and 40+ current cross-cultural workers reveal 5 factors that help workers remain healthy and productive on the field — and 6 that contribute to an early ticket home. Source: http://www.gmi.org/index.php/download_file/view/1754/
3. Hard Questions to Ask Mission Agencies Before Signing On — They all look great in the Exhibit Hall, but some organizations do a better job of equipping and retaining cross-cultural workers than others. Learn how to move the discussion beyond the brochures and discover facts to support Spirit-led decision-making. Based on employee surveys with 1,800 cross-cultural workers.
Rich: Thanks for reading Missions Catalyst and weighing in with seminar ideas. I love the Coca Cola Jesus title. Very intriguing. I’d love to see an outline, if you don’t mind.
James: Thank you for sharing your thoughts on great seminars. I can really see these helping students get a solid foundation. I think the third one, Hard Questions to Ask Mission Agencies Before Signing On, could be particularly important.
Urbana workshop ideas:
Be a disciple as you disciple – how to allow ourselves to be discipled by Jesus as we seek to disciple others to Him.
CPM’s – what you need to know before you go: Planting churches there hopefully won’t look like church planting here. Talk about movements happening in the U.S/Canada that aren’t your typical “church.” Look at T4T and Discovery Bible applications.
Affair Proof Your Life (more for women) – Don’t become a statistic by going too far on the mission field. This would deal with marriage topics and what makes a good marriage and keeping appropriate boundaries. It would also deal with how to handle advances by men of the culture if you are single or married, being on guard in the new culture and how to walk through a physical attack. Use the book “The Snare” by Rabey and “Every Women’s Battle” by Ethridge.
Staying home when you have a frontier heart but not a frontier body – walking through coming to terms with reality verses passion, finding your call in your home country. It would also deal with the common “double standard” of how the church views such a person and support/financial backing. I’d use “Don’t Waste your Life” by Piper, and David Platt’s talks on staying missional as you send.
Lorena: Thanks for reading Missions Catalyst and sharing some great ideas for Urbana workshops. I think your last one might really strike a nerve for people. Thank you.
I think many young people feeling the tug to cross-cultural ministry need some practical steps to get from spiritual high at the URBANA missions conference to arriving on the field…this would include growing spiritually during the intervening time, getting ministry experience (e.g. church planting experience, leadership, discipleship, etc.), how to not be distracted from the calling, etc. It might also be good to help such young people get connected to churches who have a desire to work (or are currently working) among UUPGs, locally and globally.
Paul: Thank you. I couldn’t agree more with your comment.
Many young people today have an intense longing for community. I would suggest a seminar that helps them look beyond community for it’s own sake to joining others in a mission that fosters community. Somthing like what Michael Frost describes in his discussions/writings on the idea of communitas vs. community: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXKSsUq3MZw
I really agree with Paul’s “intervening” idea post, too. Here are some other ideas:
· Cultivating intimacy with Jesus while reaching unreached peoples – testimonies of practical disciplines, tips, strategies, etc.
· Practicing rest – going from busy America to a place with a different pace of life, how do you “rest”? How do you rest here!?
· Hunger leads to Revolution- practical tips for fasting individually and on teams.
· Introverted and extroverted evangelism – speaking as He speaks your personality
· Hearing the Holy Spirit
· Cultivating a relationship with your sending church and other supporting churches – sustainably
· Honoring your father and mother while obeying God’s call – and your whole extended family too
· Individual versus collective cultural values
· Conflict! Experiences of cross-cultural conflict
Lena: Thank you for reading and responding. I think your community for a purpose idea has some merit. I sure don’t have the background or experience to do it, but I can a lot of people really benefitting from that. Thanks for the cool idea.
Christine: Great ideas. Thanks for reading and posting your thoughts. I particularly like, “Introverted and extroverted evangelism — speaking as He speaks your personality.” Have you ever done such a seminar? I can imagine that being freeing for a lot of people.
“Sex and Missions”
An open and honest look at sexuality issues facing missionaries. Things like Internet porn, same-sex-attraction, affairs with team members and with nationals, etc. AND, some practical tools for dealing with these issues that can be used whether you’re in another culture or back on your campus.
“Trauma of Transparency in Missions”
The college generation places a high value on openness and transparency — until they start answering very personal questions about their family or origin, past involvements sexually, etc. Then they will likely face more trauma when challenged to be transparent about their failures, struggles, etc. once they are engaged in cross-cultural ministry. A workshop that would help them be prepared for these challenges to transparency would be helpful.
“Diaspora Missions and the Millennial Missionary”
Many Millennials are engaging in what is typically called “mid-term missions” — trips of 2 to 3 years overseas in a cross-cultural setting. During that time many new skills are gained, including learning a new language (to a certain level of proficiency), learning how to function in a new culture, and learning how to do ministry in that culture. Most of those mid-termers will come back to the US and engage with their planned career track and not continue to use those new skills. A workshop that challenges them to look beyond their 2-3 year commitment to see how they can use that new language and cultural skill in reaching Diaspora pockets of that same people group living their home country.
“Go With an Agency or Go it Alone”
There are good reasons for each approach in taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth, but often emotional reasons prevail in how the decision between the two is reached. Some practical steps to follow in how to make an informed decision would make a valuable workshop.
Don: Thanks for reading and for sending in such great ideas. I think the “Sex and Missions” idea could be great in the right hands. There’s also some really good stuff in the “Diaspora Missions and the Millennial Missionary” idea. Would you mind if I borrowed some of that and submitted it? Thanks again.