Category: Resource Reviews

Source: Moody Publishers and Pioneers

Is the Commission Still Great? 8 Myths about Missions and What They Mean for the Church, by Steve Richardson. Moody Publishers, 2022. 208 pages.

In our day, skeptics raise a lot of questions about international missions—and so do many Christians who might have previously accepted these efforts without much thought. Rather than fearing or rejecting such questions, Pioneers-USA President Steve Richardson presses in for a closer look at the some of the most common issues and concerns. Is the day for Western missionaries past? Can local evangelists and short-term helpers complete the job without long-term missionaries? Is missions just for a select few? Are mission efforts harmful or ineffective?

The author draws on research data, helpful metaphors and illustrations, and his own experience to analyze and address eight perceptions that keep people from participating in global mission. This book is a good resource for mission advocates and skeptics alike.

Visit the book website to watch the book trailer, learn more, or buy the book for US$10 (or US$9.99 for the Kindle edition). Bulk pricing is also available. The website includes a free, ten-session curriculum for using the book with a small group.

See also A Conversation with Steve Richardson (Outreach Magazine) or watch/listen to an interview on Mission Minded Podcast (ITEC).

Sources: Various

Know a healthcare provider asking questions about serving in global missions? The healthcare missions community is quite active and ready to engage with those interested. MedicalMissions.com is a good place to start.

• Read Five Questions about Being a Missionary Doctor or download the ebook Discerning God’s Call to Healthcare Missions.
• Set up an account to explore opportunities and resources.
• Sign up for the annual Global Missions Health Conference held each November (both in-person and online).

Check out Christian Global Health in Perspective, an online training course inspired by Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, and other initiatives and resources from Health for All Nations (a project of Frontier Ventures). They even have an academic journal.

The September/October issue of Mission Frontiers is focused on “healers and preachers” and has several good articles dealing with healthcare and holistic missions. To go deeper, pick up a few books about medical missions from William Carey Publishing.

Many sending organizations welcome medical workers, but there are also specialized groups like the Christian Health Service Corps.

Source: Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship

Reflections from God’s Story of Hope unfolds the storyline of the Bible through 50 Old Testament and 50 New Testament events—from Genesis through Revelation, in a hardback book suitable for display. It’s a Bible storybook that can be used with children or adults, Christians and non-Christians alike, and it includes:

• 100 key Bible events organized by 25 major Bible eras
• 100 full-page Bible event images
• More than 200 pages
• An index of Scriptures used in the narratives

Learn more or buy the book for US$40. Bulk discounts are available. Related resources include a free downloadable study guide and an audio version with professional dramatized recordings of all 100 narratives, available either as a collection of MP3 files or a mobile app (with images included). Plus the pictures are available as museum-quality prints.

Good Soil, a ministry of ABWE, has lots of great resources, including chronological Bible storying workbooks available in languages from Bengali to Zulu and sets of colorful, pocket-sized chronological Bible storytelling cards. They also provide Bible courses and training seminars to help you use tools like these to share your faith with anyone.

Source: Marti Wade

Ever heard of MissionWorks? Maybe not. It’s a U.S. ministry based near Portland, Oregon, born of several mergers to form a family of five mission-related and recently renamed ministries. I serve on their board of directors.

One of these ministries, MissionConnexion, has been around in some form for about 20 years and provides free, regional, community-based weekend mission conferences as well as more focused events.

Here’s what they have coming up:

November 4-5, MissionConnexion Southwest (Chandler, AZ, USA). This conference will include four plenary sessions, more than 50 workshops and 40+ exhibitors. This year’s theme is “Together Here, Serving There.”

November 4-5, StudentConnexion (Beaverton, OR, USA). A mission conference just for middle school and high school students. “Our purpose is to challenge students, ages 10-20, to give their life for a cause that is greater than anything they may have previously thought of or imagined.”

January 20-21, MissionConnexion Northwest (Portland, OR, USA). This weekend mission conference will include 100 workshops, four plenary speakers, and many exhibitors, plus a day-long pre-conference event, LeadershipConnexion. That event will feature Steve Richardson, author of Is the Commission Still Great? (see review above).

February 24-25, Short-Term Mission Connexion (Seattle, WA, USA). This event is designed to help equip (or help you equip) short-term team members and leaders for greater effectiveness. Consider coming early for a pre-conference workshop on the seven standards of excellence in short-term missions from MissionExcellence (another part of MissionWorks). Those workshops are offered multiple times and places each year.

MissionWorks includes several more ministries related to short-term missions: a mission-trip finder, a travel-insurance service created specifically for short-term mission teams, and a nifty new relationship-based fundraising platform.

Learn more about MissionWorks.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

November 1-2, Support Raising Bootcamp (Houston, TX, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions. Note they will also be offering a bootcamp in Egypt November 10-13 and a virtual bootcamp December 5-7.

November 2-5, Christian Community Development Association National Conference (Charlotte, NC, USA). Learn about CCD and network with others to help people and communities experience God’s shalom.

November 3, Are These Countries Really Closed? (online). Free webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen.

November 3, So You Wanna Have a Podcast? (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

November 3-5, International Conference on Missions (Columbus, OH, USA). An annual conference in the Christian/Disciples of Christ tradition.

November 4-5, MissionConnexion Southwest (Phoenix, AZ, USA). Free, community-based mission conference. A ministry of MissionWorks.

November 4-5, StudentConnexion (Beaverton, OR, USA). A mission conference just for middle school and high school students. A ministry of MissionWorks.

November 4-5, Missions Fest Seattle (Edmonds, WA, USA). Free, community-based mission conference.

November 6, International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (global). Observed annually.

November 6-12, Perspectives Intensive for Pastors & Leaders (Monroe, WA, USA). Prefer online? The next class is November 6 to March 19.

November 7 to December 2, Mission Mobilization Equipping School (Chiang Mai, Thailand). From the Global Mission Mobilization Initiative.

November 9-10, People Raising Conference (online). Be equipped for raising personal support.

November 10, Organization Initiatives for Sexual Wholeness (online). A virtual event from Missio Nexus and introducing a new working group with the same name.

November 2-14, Field Security Seminar (Union Mills, NC, USA). Provided by Crisis Consulting International and regularly offered in different times and places.

November 10-12, Global Missions Health Conference (Louisville, KY, USA and online). World’s largest healthcare missions conference; annual.

November 13, Call to Prayer Virtual Prayer Gathering (online). Engage the Muslim world through prayer on the second Sunday of each month.

November 14-16, Building and Leading Diverse and Effective Mobilization Teams (Dallas, TX, USA). Training event from Missio Nexus.

November 14-18, Abide Debriefing for Global Workers (Joplin, MO, USA). Provided by TRAIN International for missionaries in re-entry.

November 15, Contend: Monthly Day of Prayer For Mission Mobilization (global). Coordinated by GMMI for the third Tuesday of each month.

November 17, Crowdsourcing Missions via Remote Work (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

November 30 to December 1, Denominational Roundtable for Mission Leaders (Antioch, TN, USA). Provided by Missio Nexus.

View the complete calendar, updated regularly. We welcome submissions.

1. Video Series: Five Habits of a Global Christian
2. Website: The Unreached in North America
3. Online Course: Preparing for Sexual Integrity in Missions
4. Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe
5. Book: Life-Changing Cross-Cultural Friendships
6. October Events: Helpful Training, Inspiring Conferences & More

Read or share the email edition.

Source: Pure Life Academy

If you help train and send young adults on mission trips, you know the sort of challenges they will face. They may not know what they are getting into and how what they see and experience may affect them. So what can you do to equip them in advance? Preparing for Integrity in Missions is a short course individuals can complete online. It’s just five 15-minute sessions, designed to be completed over five weeks.

The course is meant to equip students and single missionaries to better cope with unexpected pressures and emotional/sexual temptations that can otherwise lead to moral failure on the field.

Learn more or register to review the course. The cost is low: US$9.95.

Pure Life Academy is a project of Be Broken Ministries. Their Director of Training is interested in developing online courses on related topics for other audiences (long-term missionaries, parents or families, etc.). He’d love to connect with missionary training directors and member care providers to assess felt needs. Can you pass this along?

See other resources from Be Broken or contact them with your comments, questions, or suggestions.

Source: Global Frontier Missions

Sometimes participation in the Great Commission gets relegated to taking a short-term missions trip one week out of the year. How can we make it a lifestyle cultivated day in and day out, all year round?

Whether you’re new to the whole missions thing or you’ve been intentionally pursuing the lifestyle of a global Christian for a while now, we invite you to consider five foundational habits for this journey: Pray, welcome, go, send, and mobilize.These videos are short, just two to three minutes long, so they are easy to share. Learn more or watch the videos. Also available as a playlist on the GFM YouTube channel.

You may also remember a series of longer videos that cover similar ground in a different style and with more examples. 6 Ways to Reach God’s World was created by OMF International and the Perspectives Study Program. Watch both to see which better suits your purpose.

Source: UPGNorthAmerica.com

Over recent months, a team of mission-minded folks has been working on a collaborative “organization neutral” website to identify the least-reached diaspora (immigrant) communities in North America, mobilize prayer for them, and encourage an increase in ministry efforts.

The site includes interactive point-of-interest maps with mosques, temples, markets, etc. as well as virtual prayerwalks for specific cities. See pages about Afghans in the San Francisco Bay area and Moroccan Arabs in Chicagoland, for example.

Visit UPGNorthAmerica.com. They are still building this site and looking for content and feedback. What would you add or change? Let them know.

Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, by Gina A. Zurlo, Zondervan Academic, 2022. 352 pages.

Global Christianity succinctly describes how Christianity has changed since the year 1900 and continues to change today. It includes information on Christianity in six continents, in six religious traditions and major movements, and in 234 countries and provides helpful maps, charts, and bullet points.

The book is based on research conducted for the 2019 World Christian Encyclopedia, now condensed and updated in this much less extensive and less expensive volume for a broader (but primarily American) audience.

I grabbed a highlighter and went through the 30 or so summary pages that precede the “Afghanistan” entry, marking pithy statements and figures I might be able to use in PowerPoint presentations and social media posts. For example:

• In 1900, nine of the ten countries with the most Christians were in the global North. This completely reversed by 2020, when there were only two global North countries in the top ten. (p. 4)
• Africa’s population continues to grow more than 2.5% per year. By 2050 there will likely be 2.5 billion people on the continent. (p. 7)
• In 1900, seven of the ten countries with the most Catholics were in Europe. By 2020, only three European countries were in the top ten. (p. 21; those countries and their Catholic population figures included)
• Of the roughly 5 million pastors and priests across World Christianity, only an estimated 5% have formal theological training. (p. 23)
• Country with the largest population of Protestants: Nigeria. Fastest growth: Albania. Largest decline: United States. (p. 27)

Author and religious demographer Gina Zurlo is the Co-director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

You may be wondering, as I did, if this book should replace that 2010 edition of Operation World on your bookshelf. Global Christianity is more up-to-date and includes topics you won’t find much in OW. But keep them both, because this one isn’t designed for prayer, specifically, and is very much focused on Christianity in its various contexts rather than the whole world. Each of the 67 countries with more than 5 million people who identify as Christian gets a two-page spread and 108 countries with fewer Christians get a full page. But for the 59 countries with fewer than 100,000 people who identify as Christian, the entries are only half a page and do not include some of the most interesting data points covered in the other entries (such as the number of Bible translations, churches, and missionaries sent from and to that country).

It may also be helpful to acknowledge that the book includes a brief but clear explanation of its methodology and sources but does not footnote specific statements.

Learn more. The book retails for US$29.99 but it looks like you can currently get a paperback copy from the publisher for US$20.99, with Amazon selling the Kindle edition for US$19.99.

See also Quick Facts about Global Christianity and Status of Global Christianity 2022 (Center for the Study of Global Christianity).