Category: Resource Reviews

1. VIDEO: International Students in the US
2. VIDEO: One Life
3. VIDEO: All Praise to God Alone
4. ARTICLE: Reframing our View of Poverty for Local and Global Impact
5. EVENT: Billy Graham’s Funeral on Friday, March 2
6. EVENTS: Upcoming Courses and Conferences

Hi, readers!

You told us you wanted to hear more about opportunities to reach “the nations in our midst” such as refugees, immigrants, and international students. This edition includes a short video you may be able to use to help mobilize people in your church for that kind of work.

We also came across several other new videos you might be able to use in something you’re doing, and a couple of articles on reshaping your local outreach efforts. Plus, there are upcoming conferences and events. Have a look. And may the Lord guide you and provide for you as you pursue his purposes

Blessings,
Marti Wade

Source: International Mission Board

You may find this simple, one-minute video helpful for casting a vision for ministering to international students in the US. It’s “branded” to the IMB but looks like the sort of thing that could be used in many contexts.

» International student ministry might also be a link between your local and international ministry efforts. See Four Ways to Unite Your Local and Global Missions Strategy (TEAM International).

Source: AsiaLink

Here’s another new video some of you might be able to use in your own context. It challenges us to live purposeful lives, using the days and resources that God has given us for his glory. “In a world where so much time is spent watching TV and scrolling through social media, how can we use our time to make Jesus known to those around us and to the ends of the earth?”

This one is a bit guilt-driven and includes a lot of statistics (sadly without attribution), both of which might limit its use and usefulness. Maybe not, though: Tears of the Saints, a similar video from almost a decade ago, has been quite popular.

» See more from AsiaLink.

Source: SIM International

SIM has now been serving in mission around the world for 125 years, and they are celebrating with a hymn specially written for their 125th anniversary. The hymn has been translated into multiple languages to express gratitude to God for His mighty work through SIM around the globe. But again, it’s the sort of thing any of us can use to celebrate what God is doing through his church among the nations.

Below is the sing-along version in English. Nice job, SIM.

Source: Catalyst Services Postings, February 2018

Fairhaven Church in suburban Dayton, OH was a model missions church in many ways. The economically comfortable congregation supported local ministries, global missionaries, and a host of short-term teams. But people didn’t often cross the river…the Little Miami River, that is. They were the “haves” on one side of the river. The economic “have nots” lived on the other side. The mission field was overseas, and the church’s role was to pray, send missionaries, and give.

Kirk Lithander, outreach pastor at Fairhaven, knew that the congregation needed to change the way they saw others, especially the poor, but how?

» Full article explains the process and resources which helped transform Fairhaven and reshape their outreach efforts. Take a look.

» Subscribe to Postings, a free, monthly newsletter with practical articles for church mobilization and consider attending the Interchange Conference May 16-17 in Philadelphia, which will explore this topic and others.

Source: Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College

Many are mourning the loss of Rev. Billy Graham and celebrating all that God did through him. You may want to tune in to the live radio coverage of Rev. Billy Graham’s funeral, beginning at 12PM EST this Friday, March 2nd, available on Moody Radio and other networks as well as by livestream at billygraham.org.

» Read more.

» Many articles about Billy Graham were published in the last week. Missions Catalyst readers may especially appreciate these three:

• Graham Made an Incredible Impact on World Missions (IMB)
• Lausanne Movement Pays Tribute to Billy Graham
• How Billy Graham Brokered World Peace between Evangelism and Social Justice (Christianity Today).

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

March 1, So What? Answering a Donor’s Toughest Question (online). Webinar from MissioNexus.

March 4-10, Perspectives Intensive (Orlando, FL, USA). Provided by Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.

March 7-10, Field Security Seminar (Lake George, CO, USA). Prepare to live, work, and travel in high-risk environments.

March 8, The Crucible of the First Term (online). Webinar from MissioNexus.

March 9-13, GO Equipped Tentmaking Course (Bergen, Norway). Hosted by Tent Norway.

March 15, Partnering with Oral Learners (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

March 15-17, GO Equipped Tentmaking Course (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic). Hosted by Tent Dominica.

March 16-17, Crescent ConneXion (Portland, OR, USA). Loving your neighbor from the 10/40 Window; a Mission ConneXion event.

March 18 to April 13, Equipping for Cross-Cultural Life and Ministry (Union Mills, NC, USA). Provided by the Center for Intercultural Training.

March 23-25, Jesus to the Nations (Halifax, NS, Canada). Free, annual, community-based mission festival for all ages.

March 23-24, Check-IT-Out Spring 2018 Conference (Charlotte, NC, USA). For IT and software professionals and students on using technology in missions, particularly Bible translation.

March 26-27, Support Raising Bootcamp (Clyde, NC, USA). From Support Raising Solutions.

April 5, Honor, Shame, and the Gospel course (online). Six sessions from Mission ONE’s Werner Mischke.

April 6-7, The Journey Deepens (Portland, OR, USA). A weekend retreat for prospective missionaries.

April 8-13, ABIDE (Joplin, MO, USA). Debriefing and reentry help for returning missionaries.

April 10, OnMission 2018 (online). Free, virtual conference from Missio Nexus. Theme: partnership.

April 23-26, Thrive Retreat (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico). For North American women serving cross-culturally.

April 23 to May 6, ORIENT (Joplin, MO, USA). Missionary training.

April 26-27, Support Raising Bootcamp (Rogers, AR, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions.

April 30 to May 1, Standards Introductory Workshop (Phoenix, AZ, USA). Presented by Standards of Excellence in Short-term Missions (followed by International Wholistic Missions Conference in the same location).

» View the complete calendar. Please let us know about mistakes or omissions. For more about a specific event, though, contact the event organizers.

Sunrise over an Australian beach. Wherever you are today, we hope you find something you can use in today’s edition of Missions Catalyst.
Photo by Igor Kasalovic on Unsplash.

1. ARTICLE: Experiencing the Olympics with God in Mind
2. BOOK: Window on the World
3. PODCASTS: Voices from Europe
4. BOOK: African Christian Leadership
5. EVENT: US-Based Mission Exposure Tours
6. EVENTS: Upcoming Courses and Conferences

Source: Weave Family

Do you watch the Olympics with your kids? A new article from Weave Family suggests specific ways to not only spark your children’s interest in athletics and friendly competition, but also give your family a bigger picture of God’s world.

» Read the article. For daily devotions, activities, or crafts to do with your children during the Winter Olympics, join the author’s Missional Olympics Facebook group.

Window to the World: The Numbers Behind the Need, by Andrew Knight. Independently published, 2018, 45 pages.

“Numbers can change lives and destinies,” claims Andrew Knight, “A statistic can communicate more in an instant than rationale in an hour-long speech or hundreds of pages in a book. I have been told multiple times how stats and numbers have caused people to reflect and then ultimately redirect.”

Window to the World compiles 100 world mission statistics into ten categories (global economics, missionary force, money, urbanization, poverty, refugees, religion, reachedness, etc.) to illustrate needs and opportunities in our world. Each chapter is just two pages: a page of commentary and then a page of 10 striking statistics on that global topic.

This book is self-published and I can’t tell you anything about the author. But everything is footnoted, and many of the numbers are drawn from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity’s status of global Christianity, a document revised annually. That and the author’s commentary could be helpful if you want to use this book as a resource for quick numbers to easily fold into your teaching and mobilization efforts.

» Preview or purchase on Amazon. The Kindle edition is just US$.99, but you can also get it in paperback for US$3.99.