Day: November 26, 2019

Source: New Eyes Productions

Peacemakers: Crossing the Divide is a 60-minute documentary film with a message of hope in the midst of the seemingly intractable conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs. It features the personal stories of Jewish and Arab followers of Jesus who are pursuing peace and unity.

The film and an in-depth study guide speak to issues of deep division in the church worldwide. To get a taste, meet and hear from some of the peacemakers (click on their photos). Quite moving.

» Learn more or purchase and download the film for US$12.99.

Several other sources I follow have new films:

• Free Burma Rangers is a feature-length documentary from Deidox about an American missionary family offering help and hope to internally displaced people. It will be in theaters in February.
• The Traveler is not a documentary, but an hour-long drama from Gemstone Media about a Central Asian family. It’s filmed in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan. Watch the trailer.
• Moving Works is producing six gospel-centered short stories about the Czech Republic. The did a similar project about Japan and are work on some videos about Germany.

Source: Radical

God’s Heart for the Nations, by Jeff Lewis, takes you from Genesis to Revelation exploring the connection between two critically important themes woven together throughout Scripture—God’s blessing and God’s global purpose.

This eight-week, 73-page study will take you and your team or small group to more than 100 Bible passages and also includes memory verses, mission quotes, ways to pray for the nations, suggestions for reflection, and resources for further study.

This isn’t a new resource, but it has new graphics, new prayer highlights, and a new price: free. Download it as a PDF in exchange for your email address. Since it’s more of a study guide than a book to read, you’ll probably need to print it out to put it to its best use.

» Download God’s Heart for the Nations. You can also still get paper copies of the 2015 edition from Pioneers if you prefer.

» Looking for ways to help oral learners discover these themes and more? Check out God’s Mission in the World, designed to help you facilitate a three-day training event (Ephesiology).

Source: Peregrini Press

Always Love: The Timeless Story of God’s Heart for the World & What It Means for You, by Sara Lubbers. Peregrini Press, 2019. 329 pages.

This creative retelling of scripture in the form of stories is designed to help readers connect more deeply with the God of the Bible, and find their place in his ongoing story. Each short chapter includes scripture references.

It’s sort of a Bible story book for teens and adults, but one not limited to the narrative portions of scripture. That requires some imaginative dialogue and interpretive leaps, but I found the result pretty solid.

This is not a missions book, but an account of the story of salvation. And it might make a good Christmas gift for like-minded friends or supporters or serve as a resource for your family.

» Learn more or purchase the book from Amazon for US$9.99 (Kindle) or US$16.99 (paperback).

» Every book of the Bible has a major theme that emphasizes an aspect of God’s character or a way he is working to carry out his perfect plan, says pastor Garrett Kell. How would you sum those up? See Every Book of the Bible in One Word (The Gospel Coalition).

Source: Everywhere2Everywhere

So, you are going on a short-term missions trip and you’re beginning to ask the question, “Should I work at learning the language before I go?

It is a question everyone seems to ask for which there is but one answer…

YES! Yes, you should!

Will you be proficient enough to have meaningful conversations? Probably not. Will you be fluent enough to share the gospel? Not yet. Will anyone, anywhere mistake you for a native speaker? Never!

But… Will your efforts teach you humility? Yes. Will your efforts honor your host culture? Absolutely. Will your efforts help you avoid embarrassing mishaps? They sure might. Will your efforts demonstrate the love of Christ? Yes they will.

* * *

The missionary anthropologist Charles H. Kraft was [once] asked, “How much time should one who goes to serve as a two month short-term missionary spend in language learning?”

Kraft responded: “Two months.”

The questioner continued, “What about one who stays six months?”

“Then spend six months in language learning.”

“And if he stays two years?”

“There is nothing he could do that would communicate more effectively than spending those two years in language learning.” Kraft continued, “Indeed, if we do no more than engage in the process of language learning we will have communicated more of the essentials of the gospel than if we devote ourselves to any other task I can think of.”

» Full article includes tips and links, including one to the classic Brewster & Brewster article with the story about Charles Kraft. It’s called Language Learning Is Communication—Is Ministry!

» See also Word Climber, a great new tool for capturing and learning new words, and especially helpful for those learning languages for which other language learning tools are scarce or non-existent.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

December 1-6, Debriefing Retreat (Union Mills, NC, USA). Provided regularly by the Center for Intercultural Training.

December 3-5, Finishing the Task Conference (Lake Forest, CA, USA). An annual event.

December 5, Holy Spirit Power (online). “Nugget” training from Beyond exploring the importance of praying strategic, God-sized prayers.

December 10-11, Support Raising Bootcamp (Jacksonville, FL, USA). Provided in various locations on a regular basis by Support Raising Solutions.

December 12, Designing Mission Opportunities for Every Life Stage (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

December 27-31, Chinese Christian Mission Convention (Baltimore, MD, USA).

December 28-31, Chicago Chinese Christian Conference (Chicago, IL, USA).

» Complete calendar includes events for the first half of 2020; I’m still working on it. Suggestions and submissions welcome.