In This Issue:
Month: April 2016
BOOK: Help Your Missionaries Thrive
Source: GMI Books
Help Your Missionaries Thrive: Leadership Practices that Make a Difference, by Ken Harder and Carla Foote (GMI Books, 2016). 96 pages.
Here’s a book for mission agency leaders, though others might be interested as well. Help Your Missionaries Thrive: Leadership Practices that Make a Difference, by Dr. Ken Harder and Carla Foote, shows leaders how they can improve retention and engagement of field workers by focusing on a handful of simple but powerful leadership practices. The resource tackles challenges such as trust, feedback, listening, decision making, dealing with a crisis, life stages, and more.
This book is based on research conducted by GMI and Best Christian Workplaces, which surveyed 1,771 North American, cross-cultural field workers from seven agencies. It reveals top concerns field workers have about their agencies in the areas of personnel practices, worker involvement in decision making, and servant leadership at all levels. I found it engaging, enlightening, and practical.
» Learn more or purchase from the publisher for US$9.99 (ebook) or US$14.99 (paperback). A Kindle edition is also available on Amazon. See also a GMI infographic about helping missionaries thrive which reflects some of this research.
» Readers might also be interested in watching Knowing Who to Send: Predicting Missionary Fruitfulness and Failure, a recent webinar for church leaders from Sixteen:Fifteen.
ARTICLE: The Role of Persecution in Movements
Source: The Long View
“Recently, in South Asia, I was interviewing leaders of a major movement. One of the questions I asked was: over your years of ministry, what habits, disciplines, or mindsets have helped you to endure in ministry and eventually become fruitful? The question was being translated and was eventually shortened to, ‘over the years, what has helped you grow in ministry?’ (which is similar but not quite the same thing and led to some interesting answers). One of the leaders, without pausing a second, answered: ‘Persecution.’ ”
» Read about six effects of persecution and four ways we can respond. See also other articles and resources from Justin Long.
ONLINE COURSE: Travel Safety
Source: Sarus Global
Looking for security training for yourself of a short-term team you may be sending out? Check out Sarus Global, which offers reasonably priced online courses designed to prepare students, mission teams, and professionals for traveling overseas. There’s even a course just for solo female travelers. We read about this in Brigada Today, and they added this endorsement:
“They are a faith-based company focusing mainly on mission groups traveling abroad. They are partnered with Good Neighbor Insurance and Standards of Excellence. The CEO spent ten years working for the U.S. Department of State working at embassies training and evaluating threats in foreign countries. The owner’s husband is still involved in law enforcement at a very high level. They’re the real deal.”
» Learn more or sign up for courses.
» See also Crisis Consulting International and Morton Security Solutions (and their seminars on this month’s events calendar). Looking for resources to help you think biblically about risk? See the blog of Anna Hampton, author of the upcoming book, Facing Danger: A Guide through Risk.
EVENT: Support Raising Leaders Conference
Source: Support Raising Solutions
Involved in equipping new ministry workers, particularly in the area of raising support? Check out Climb, a training event for those who train or coach others in support raising. It will be held October 11-14 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The conference will feature an exciting lineup of keynote speakers, informative break-out sessions, interactive panels, and time for for networking.
» Learn more or register for the event. Sign up this week (by April 30) for an early-bird discount and check out other resources from SRS (like Steve Shadrach’s book, The God Ask).
» Also see this free course on relationship-based fundraising from YWAM.
BOOK: Well Sent
Source: CLC Publications
Well Sent: Reimagining the Church’s Missionary-Sending Process, by Steve Beirn with George Murray. CLC Publications, 2015.
I’ll let this book speak for itself:
“Sending out missionaries has fallen on hard times. Traditionally strong sending countries are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the need for cross-cultural workers. Some postcolonial theology has valued indigenous culture and leaders to the point of becoming anti-missionary. With the emergence of partnerships, the international justice movement, compassion ministries and supporting nationals, sending is more frequently perceived as an outdated ministry paradigm. The perception of sending and the urgency to send has changed over the last twenty to thirty years. This has impacted the ability of churches to accelerate the completion of the Great Commission.
“This book seeks to elevate the role of the local church in the sending effort. The trend in missions today is to place the individual at the center of the sending process. Sometimes the agency is placed at the center. This book places the local church at the center of the sending process. Positioning the church at the center is not only biblically sound, it accomplishes what the individual or agency cannot easily do. It increases the flow of the workers and resources needed to accomplish the task.”
My Pioneers teammates and I appreciated this brief, practical book and hope to share it with many of our church partners. Read it; you might want to do the same.
» Learn more or get a copy. It’s US$12.99 in paperback or $US9.99 for the Kindle edition.
» See also Reimagine Your Missions Team (article from Catalyst Postings).
EVENTS: Conference, Training, and More
Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar
May 2 to September 4, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Course (online). Provided by the Perspectives Study Program.
May 4-7, International Wholistic Missions Conference (Phoenix, AZ, USA). From the Global CHE Network.
May 5, Planning for Safety on Short-Term Mission Trips (online). Webinar from Mission Nexus.
May 10, Are Compassion Ministries Truly Compassionate? (online). Free, web-based, interactive conversation from The Mission Table.
May 11-12, Interchange (Philadelphia, PA, USA). Bringing church and agency personnel together. Topic: Missions and money. Provided by Catalyst Services.
May 12, CFO: Comprehensive Financial Orchestrator (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.
May 12-14, Christian Community Health Conference (Oklahoma City, OK, USA). Provided by the Christian Community Health Fellowship.
May 13-14, People Raising Conference (Oak Brook, IL, USA). Be equipped for raising personal support.
May 13-14, Prayer and Spiritual Warfare ConneXion (Portland, OR, USA). Training event provided by Mission ConneXion.
May 15, International Day for the Unreached (international).
May 15, Global Day of Prayer (global). An annual event.
May 17-18, Support Raising Bootcamp (Pasadena, CA, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions.
May 18, Short Term Missions Trips | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (online). Free webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen.
May 18-20, Crisis Management Seminar (Orlando, FL, USA). Provided by Crisis Consulting International.
May 19-21, Target Hardening and Resiliency Seminar (Tucson, AZ, USA). Provided by Morton Security Solutions.
May 19-21, Global Children’s Ministry Equip Conference (Chiang Mai, Thailand). An annual event.
May 23 to June 4, Darshan (Chicago, IL, USA). Hindu evangelism training from Christar.
May 26, Women in Leadership: The Lay of the Land and Best Practices (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.
May 26-29, Serving Internationals (Estes Park, CO, USA). Annual conference by the Association of Christians Ministering among Internationals (ACMI).
May 27 to June 4, Single Vision Retreat (Lisbon, Portugal). A member care program for singles in the mission community.
June 1-3, Crisis Management Seminar (Columbus, OH, USA). Provided by Crisis Consulting International.
June 3-4, The Justice Conference (Chicago, IL, USA). Annual event to promote dialogue around justice related issues such as human trafficking, slavery, poverty, HIV/AIDS, and human rights.
June 3-13, Refresh! (Thailand). Retreat for cross-cultural workers. Provided by Heartstream Resources.
June 6-17, ACQUIRE (Joplin, MO, USA). Language and culture acquisition training for cross-cultural workers provided by TRAIN International.
June 6 to July 5, 30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus (global).
June 6 to August 14, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Course (online). Provided by the Perspectives Study Program.
June 7-11, Sahara Challenge (St. Paul, MN, USA). Intensive training for ministry to Muslims, from Crescent Project.
June 7-28, Mobile Ministry Course (online). Provided by the Mobile Ministry Forum several times a year.
June 14, How Should Followers of Christ Respond to Radical Islam? (online). Free, web-based, interactive conversation from The Mission Table.
June 15, Business As Mission (online). Free webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen.
June 19, World Refugee Sunday (international). Churches praying for refugees and displaced people. Some also observing this event June 26.
June 20 to September 11, Encountering the World of Islam (online). Course on embracing Muslims with the love of Christ.
June 22 to July 2, Breathe Conference (Wilderswil, Switzerland). Ten-day retreat for renewal and encouragement for cross-cultural workers.
June 23-24, Legacy Conference (Grand Rapids, MI, USA). A conference about Muslims, missions, and the heart of God; provided by Horizons International.
June 23-25, National African-American Missions Conference (Vienna, VA, USA).
June 28-29, Support Raising Bootcamp (Plano, TX, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions.
June 28-30, Amplify Conference: Multiplying Evangelism in the Local Church (Wheaton, IL, USA). Sponsored by the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.
World News Briefs
In This Issue: Extreme and Surprising News
- RUSSIA: Gospel Enters the Unknown
- BHUTAN: A “Happy” Place, But Not for All
- JORDAN: Most Hospitable Nation
- ERITREA: World’s Harshest Conditions
- BURMA: Rescuing Hunted Children
- MALAYSIA: Court Upholds Right to Convert from Islam
Yakutsk is the coldest region on earth, with temperatures frequently well below zero. Yet the believers are warm, friendly, and faithful, say sources at Slavic Gospel Association. See related story below.
Greetings,
This week’s news is full of “extremes.” Read about the coldest city on earth, the place with the most child soldiers, the “happiest” country, the most hospitable nation, and the place with the harshest conditions. Also read what I find most surprising of all, a story about a Malaysian court upholding the right to convert from Islam!
Extremely happy,
Pat
RUSSIA: Gospel Enters the Unknown
Source: Mission Network News, April 6, 2016
Through Slavic Gospel Association, God is revealing himself to those who’ve never heard his name. Eric Mock recently traveled to Yakutsk, Russia, as part of a new program taking root.
“Yakutsk is a city that is known as the coldest city on the planet. Temperatures, I have heard: as low as 70 below zero. But very often 40-50 degrees below zero in the winter,” Mock exclaims.
“In fact, in this area, people are still herding reindeer. The area is very rugged and remote. It’s not hard to see why with those temperatures.”
Missionary work in this area is hard. Not simply because of the cold, but also because the only way to get into the area is by passing over snowy roads and frozen rivers during its harshest season. Why not travel in the spring or summer, you ask? Simple. Mud. It’s more difficult passing through the mud than it is over snow and ice.
But what isn’t so well known about this Russian land is its growing church population. While growing churches [may not] seem like a big deal in the West, it is when the first church in the area was planted in 1994.
» Read full story, which describes efforts to provide Bible training for church leaders.
» Readers might also be interested to hear about ministry to unreached Siberian Tatars (Operation Mobilization).
BHUTAN: A “Happy Place,” But Not for All
Source: World Watch Monitor, April 14, 2016
The visit of the young UK Royals, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, to Bhutan is shining a spotlight on a small Himalayan nation perhaps best known for its own King assessing his country’s performance by factors which contribute to “Gross National Happiness.”
But despite this apparent endeavor from the Buddhist nation to ensure its citizens’ felicity, Bhutan’s minorities—including around 20,000 Christians (2.8 percent of the population)—complain that happiness does not filter down to all parts of society.
Bhutan’s state religion is Buddhism and other religions are barely tolerated, so life as a Christian is difficult. Church buildings are illegal and non-Buddhists are not privy to the same benefits, such as free education. Proselytism and incitement to convert are illegal. Bhutanese who convert to Christianity can lose their citizenship.
Converts to Christianity endure threats and pressures from village heads and clerics to return to Buddhism. They can pray and worship privately in their homes, but they struggle to meet in congregations and to obtain official permission to do so. Some Christians have reported losing their jobs after their employers found out they were Christian.
» Pray for Bhutan using a three-minute video from Prayercast.