Category: Resource Reviews

Source: Moving Works

After graduating high school, Robin rejects his Christian upbringing to live life to its fullest. It isn’t until his parents reveal a long-held family secret that Robin discovers the life he has been missing all along.

This film is in German with English subtitles. It’s part of a series of five short, gospel-centered stories to equip the church and engage millions of Germans who don’t know Jesus.

Watch films and explore the website for films in several other languages and created in partnership with ministries in various contexts.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

All those listed below are online events. The shortest ones are often free or low-cost. A few training organizations are offering small, face-to-face events, some of which are listed on our web calendar. Looks like most large conferences are still online or postponed.

May 3 to August 1, Encountering the World of Islam. New online classes start several times a year; also available in other formats/languages.

May 3 to September 5, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. New online classes begin regularly.

May 6, National Day of Prayer (USA). An annual event.

May 6, You Are Not Alone in This. Nugget training about coaching for disciple-making ministry; offered by Beyond.

May 12, Diaspora Ministry in the Local Church. Webinar from Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen.

May 13, Planning: Global Missions Vision & Unreached People Groups. Greenhouse workshop from Pioneers USA.

May 12-26, Sustainable Resilience. Online training course for cross-cultural workers from the Center for Intercultural Training; expect to put in 12 hours over two weeks. The course will be taught in Spanish in June.

May 13, Lawsuits and Rumors of Lawsuits. Webinar from Missio Nexus.

May 13, Mobilizing People of Color: Part 3, the Latino American Church. Webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen and Avant Ministries.

May 13 to June 10, Foundations of Media to Movements. Develop a social media outreach strategy; from Media Missions U.

May 18-20, Standards Introductory Workshop. Training in the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission; offered regularly.

May 19, Marketplace Ministry Strategies, a Leader’s Perspective. CEO briefing from Missio Nexus.

May 19-21, Support Raising Bootcamp. Provided by Support Raising Solutions on a regular basis in various locations.

May 23, International Day for the Unreached. An annual event from Alliance for the Unreached; see also their mobilization campaign, A Third of Us (referencing a third of the global population denied gospel access).

May 27, Mobilizing People of Color: Part 4, the African American Church. Webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen and NAAMC.

May 27, Principles for Building and Leading a Culturally Diverse Team. Webinar from Missio Nexus. View the complete calendar. Corrections and submissions are welcome.

Dear readers,

Easter is almost here, and I want to take this chance to let you know about a few Easter-related resources you may want to check out.

1. Wycliffe Bible Translators published a fun article describing unique ways this holiday is celebrated in different parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Maybe you want to try a few!

2. In Discovering Jesus’ Identity on Easter, Christianity Explored suggest that instead of hoping someone grasps the fullness of the gospel in a single church service, who not use your Easter service to invite spiritual seekers into something deeper: a place where they can explore Scriptures and understand for themselves who Jesus is? It may be too late to rewrite that Easter message now, but keep this in mind as a way to follow up with a friend who joins your celebration.

3. Who is Jesus? What did he do? And why do those things matter? George Murray’s booklet Remembering Jesus is simple, straightforward, and cuts to the heart of every person’s most desperate need—Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life-giving hope that we all need. Now until Sunday, William Carey Publishing is offering a buy-one, get-one-half-off deal on packages of these booklets.

Happy Easter!
Marti Wade

Sources: Various

Last month we featured materials from the 30 Days of Prayer campaign. Note that there are two different sets of material being distributed under that banner this year (with somewhat different topics) and designed for use April 13 to May 12.

You may also have seen that Global Gates is offering those who join their mailing list a free downloadable version of the booklet they created in partnership with World Christian. That’s the one about the Muslim diaspora in North American cities.

A few more ideas:

1. Open Doors would love to email you a guide to praying for Muslims during this time. They have also created some memes you can share on social media.
2. Frontiers USA is distributing an email series to help you pray for Muslims during this time: Open the City Gates.
3. Prefer visual communication? You may like the email series from Prayercast best. Their emails will include a new prayer video for each day of Ramadan.

Readers may also be interested in a new book coming out this month, Pillars: How Muslim Friends Led Me Closer to Jesus, by Rachel Pieh Jones. We learned about it through an item from A Life Overseas.

Source: Lausanne Sikhism Working Group

Just 500 years ago, Sikhism began in the land of five rivers—Punjab—and its members carry five symbols and pursue five stages of spiritual development.

Can you take five days (April 11-15) to join others in praying for Sikhs, the followers of the world’s fifth largest religion?

Learn more or purchase a 12-page full-color booklet for US$2 from World Prayer Guides.

See also Leading Sikhs to the “Ultimate Guru” (Lausanne Global Analysis) or watch the short video Sowing Among Sikhs (Pioneers).

Source: Catalyst Services

While many churches are expanding their care for missionaries, they may remain unaware of the care needs of their national partners and other national Christian leaders working alongside them. It’s easy to falsely assume that nationals either don’t need care or have caring support systems within their own community.

This issue of Postings highlights the very real care needs of our national brothers and sisters and presents seven ways your church can help them flourish.

Read Caring for National Partners: How Western Churches Can Help Them Flourish and see also Missionary Care: Where Does a Church Began?

Source: Visual Capitalist

Wonder what it might take to see the gospel message proclaimed among the nations? This data illustrates the challenges. If we want to communicate in the language of people’s hearts, trade languages will only get us so far.

Also see the Top 10 Most Spoken Languages.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

All those listed below are online events. The shortest ones are often free or low cost. A few training organizations are offering small, face-to-face events, some of which are listed on our website.

April 1 to May 1, Strategic Storytelling for Movements. Mentored course by Mission Media U on applying elements of story to your outreach.

April 5 to August 8, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. New online classes begin regularly.

April 6, How to Tell Dangerous Stories. Virtual gathering for mission marketing/communication staff, provided by Missio Nexus.

April 6-8, Support Raising Bootcamp. Similar events held throughout the year in various locations by Support Raising Solutions, but provided virtually as needed.

April 7, Short-term Missions and the Local Church. Virtual gathering for church mission leaders from Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen.

April 11-15, Five Days of Prayer for Sikhs.

April 12-13, People Raising Conference. Be equipped for raising personal support.

April 13, Optimize the Effectiveness of Your Board. Webinar from Missio Nexus.

April 13 to May 12, 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World. An annual prayer campaign. This is the 30th year.

April 22, Essentials for Fundraising and Development for Missions Agencies. Webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen.

April 22, The Blessed Alliance: Men and Women Serving God Together. Webinar from Missio Nexus.

April 22, Setting A Good Example: Training Other Disciples. Nugget training from Beyond.

April 22-23, Spiritual Care Symposium. Provide by the Christian Community Health Foundation.

April 28-30, BAM Global Congress. Rescheduled from 2020, now moved online for greater global access. A series of related webinars will precede the event. Prefer a face-to-face conference? One is planned for Chicago in late 2021.

View complete calendar. Corrections and submissions are welcome.