Month: December 2015

Happy New Year!

Independence Day Fireworks

As a service to our readers, Missions Catalyst compiles and maintains an online calendar of mission-related events across North America and around the world. See below for a list of 2016 conferences, seminars, classes, retreats, and more, and please share it with others!

Events are sponsored by a wide variety of organizations and are listed here for no charge but at the discretion of the editor.

If you know about an event that would interest our readers and should be added, let us know. We will update the calendar and remind you of upcoming events as the year goes on.

Take a look at the calendar.

 

PODCAST: Truth about Muslims

Source: Zwemer Center for Muslim Studies

Since 9/11, people are asking “What is really going on in the Muslim world?” “Is the media giving us the whole picture?” “Do we have reason to fear?” And as Christians, “How should we respond?”

A little over a year ago the Zwemer Center for Muslim Studies launched a weekly podcast designed to equip listeners to think critically about media, Muslims, and the mission of God.

The podcast is engaging, conversational, and offers great food for thought. While many episodes deal with current events, I also loved the story of Cash and Ann Godbold and their work among Tuareg nomads which began decades ago.

» Learn more, listen, or subscribe to Truth about Muslims. Other mission-oriented podcasts which we’ve mentioned previously include Engaging Missions and the Global Missions Podcast. What would you add to the list?

ARTICLE: Best Missions Books of 2015

Source: Catalyst Services, December 2015 Postings

Check out these 14 books and the reasons why they were nominated as “must reads” for church missions mobilizers.

Discipling

  • One Thing: a Gospel-Centered Life on Mission, Ben Harrell
  • Jesus Continued, by J.D. Greear

Missionary Sending and Care

  • Well Sent, by Steve Beirn
  • Senders: How Your Church Can Identify, Train, and Deploy Missionaries, by Paul Seger
  • The Sending Church Defined, by Jack Bradley
  • Mind the Gaps, by David Wilson

Generosity

  • Christ-Centered Generosity: Global Perspectives on the Biblical Call to a Generous Life, by R. Scott Rodin
  • Helping Without Hurting in Short-Term Missions, by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert
  • Helping Without Hurting In Church Benevolence: A Practical Guide to Walking with Low-Income People, by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

Trends

  • Millennials in Ministry, by Jolene Cassellius Erlacher
  • Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History Is Shaping Our World, by Doug Saunders

Other books

  • Great Commission, Great Compassion, by Paul Borthwick
  • Expect Great Things, by Marvin Newell
  • Farewell, Four Waters: One Aid Worker’s Sudden Escape from Afghanistan, by Kate McCord

» Read more about these books and why they were nominated as “must reads” for church missions mobilizers. Most but not all came out in 2015. A big thanks to editor Ellen Livingood and the mission leaders who contributed to this helpful list. We had read and reviewed several and wondered about others, but missed some of them all together.

» Learn more or subscribe to Postings, a free, monthly newsletter of practical articles in church missions mobilization.

ARTICLES: A Year of Practical Mobilization

Source: Missions Catalyst

Did you miss any of our 2015 Practical Mobilization articles? Check them out through the links below or browse all the Missions Catalyst archives.

  • January: The Power of Slacktivism: Inviting Thousands to Take Their Next Step
  • February: Sowing among the Seedless: Learning to Love Jesus among the Unengaged
  • March: Safe, Significant, and Cheap: Middle School Missions Experiences that Work
  • April: Become a Smaller Target: Seven Ways Short-termers Can Lower Their Profile, Not Get Robbed, and Return Home Alive
  • May: Too Many Needs. Too Little Time (and) Don’t Let Media Wreck Your Mission Trip
  • June: Engaged, Unengaged: What Can You Do for Those Waiting for Their Day to Come?
  • July: Beware the Florida of the Mind: Your Story Is Still Being Written
  • August: What’s Your Status, Gladys? Setting a Course for Global Engagement
  • September: Saying “Yes” to the Pope: Could You or Your Church Host a Refugee Family? (and) Family Mission Trips
  • October: Through The Eyes of Spies: Five Lessons for When You’re Overwhelmed by the World
  • November: Your Service Has Mattered: Honoring the Faithful, Retiring Heroes of the International Mission Board
  • December: “We Though We were Going to Die”: The Story of One Refugee (and) Starting Spiritual Conversations

World News Briefs

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Missions Catalyst News Briefs 12.16.15

  1. SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Women and Video Games
  2. CHINA: Eric Liddell Honored with Statue and Film
  3. SWEDEN: Somali Woman Speaking Out about the Qur’an
  4. INDIA: “Casteism” Destroyed through Communion

Pat Arabic Uncropped Image

Glory to God in the Highest, peace on earth, and goodwill toward men!

Greetings!

God’s Word is loaded with stories of people on the move. Have you ever thought about it? Even before he was born, Jesus was what we’d call an “internally displaced person” (forced to travel to Bethlehem). Then he was a refugee (crossing a border) when the family fled to Egypt. In more ways than one, he lived in what was and some would say still is occupied territory.

I took the photo above in Bethlehem and was told that the Arabic script represents what the angels said when Christ was born: “Glory to God in the Highest, peace on earth, goodwill toward men.”

“Bethlehem, in the center of the West Bank and Jesus’ birthplace and area of public ministry, has transformed from more than 70% being Christian in the mid-20th century to less than 15%,” says Prayercast. “Throughout the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, military occupation and violent Islamist persecution have practically forced out the dwindling Christian minority, now down to less than 2%. Christians who remain feel largely abandoned and ignored by the global Church.”

Got five minutes? Watch the short video and pray for the people who live in Bethlehem (and the surrounding region) today.

I’d also recommend the recent Compassion Radio interview with Robin Wainwright, who traced the (possible) steps of the Magi from Iraq and Syria to Bethlehem, going through cities much in the news today. (Jump to 13:50 to catch the last 11 minutes of part one, then listen to part two, which is 26 minutes long).

Did you know that Friday, December 18th is International Migrants Day? Take some time on that day to pray for churches settling refugees against governors’ wishes and others ministering to migrants.

COME, Let Us Adore Him!
Pat

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Women and Video Games

Source: Missiologically Thinking, December 9, 2015

Any young women in your church? Yes?

Any serious video gamers? Don’t know?

What if gaming was a way for them to connect with other women in Saudi Arabia? Maybe this is more likely than we think.

You need to read [an] NPR article and listen to the four-minute story about a gaming convention. It gives you a side of Saudi Arabia that few know about.

» Read full story. Also noteworthy, of course, is the news that Saudi Arabia has elected its first female politicians (Al Jazeera).

» You might also be interested in read about a Christian gaming company that has seen more than 16,000 people come to Christ through a partnership with the Billy Graham Association (Charisma Magazine).

CHINA: Eric Liddell Honored with Statue and Film

Source: Global Chinese Ministries Newsletter, December 2015

Eric Liddell, the British Olympic champion who later became a London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary, has been honored for his commitment to the Chinese people. In a rare gesture of respect and admiration, a statue of the Christian athlete has been erected in the northern city of Tianjin. It was unveiled in a ceremony attended by his daughters, as well as survivors of the Japanese internment camp where he was held during the Second World War.

The actor Joseph Fiennes has been cast as Liddell in an upcoming film. The film, called The Last Race, will focus on the latter half of Liddell’s life when he had left sports and moved to China as a missionary. It serves as a sequel to the well-known earlier film Chariots of Fire which depicted his gold medal race at the 1924 Paris Olympics.

Fiennes said: “It is one thing to preach the Bible, but it is another to actually live out your beliefs in an internment camp.”

» Read full story and its source. See also another story about the film, The Last Race (The Independent).