Day: July 24, 2024

In this edition:

1. New Podcast: Following the Journey of Eric Liddell
2. Book: The Faith Road, a True Story of Peril and Mission in Southeast Asia
3. Booklet: The Great Progress of the Gospel
4. Video Series: All-Terrain Missionary Marriages
5. Events: Conferences, Classes, and More Coming up in August

Read or share the email edition.

7/25/24 Note: Found two typos in this edition — one just a repeated the word, but the other more substantial: in item #3, yes, we know William Carey published his “Enquiry” in 1792, not 1892. Sorry! Fixed both on the website but won’t resend the email. If you see mistakes like that, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

If you take issue with the claim that the gospel has taken root in people groups that include 75% of the world’s population (in item #3), read the rest of the article and take it up with the authors. They assert that more than half of the unreached are in “Frontier People Groups,” no more than .1% Christian and with no known and sustained disciple-making movements. That’s a stricter definition than the “less than 5% Christian, less than 2% evangelical” standard used to measure UPGs, which is what me see more often. That’s how the source can say the segment constitutes 25% of the world population instead of 42.5%.

Source: Radical

This summer’s Paris Olympics mark the 100th anniversary of a Christian athlete’s unexpected triumph at the 1924 games—a victory immortalized in the iconic film Chariots of Fire. But Eric Liddell’s greatest glory wasn’t winning a gold medal in Paris. It was losing his life for God’s glory in China.

Follow Liddell’s remarkable journey from victory on the racetrack to death on the mission field and find out what’s happening today with the gospel he loved in the countries he knew best.

Learn more and listen to the podcast, Glory Road. It’s well produced and insightful.

Also, in case you missed it, take a look at mission mobilizer Alicia Bennett’s Olympic Family Devotional.

The Faith Road: A True Story of Peril and Mission in Southeast Asia, by Eliot Branch. College Press, 2021. 210 pages.

Hear how an ordinary man from rural Missouri came to follow Jesus and introduce others to him in a tiny landlocked country in Southeast Asia. Eliot partners with expatriates and national missionaries to launch an effort to reach the (initially estimated) “Final 58” unreached people groups of Laos.

Follow Eliot, Nick, and a team of first-generation believers as they launch out in five-day faith journeys following the practices described in Luke 10 and attempt to stay one step ahead of the police to reach the remaining lost peoples at the ends of the earth.

Missionary biographies are many, though I’ve never read one about Laos. This one winsomely explains and illustrates key principles for walking with God and reaching the unreached in any context.

Nik Ripken, author of The Insanity of God, says in the foreword: “I beg you to hear my heart: this is not a book about missions for missionaries. This is a book for the church. This is a message for all Christians. This is a story for you.”

Learn more or get the Kindle edition for just US$2.99. Also available in paperback.

Also worth a read, Aila Tasse’s Cabbages in the Desert: How God Transformed a Devout Muslim and Catalyzed Disciple Making Movements Among Unreached Peoples. We highlighted that one when it came out in May.

Four thousand years ago, God made a covenant with Abraham, saying, “through your offspring all nations (families) on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 22:18). God was promising that all people groups would be made right with him by faith (Galatians 3:8).

Jesus commanded his followers to disciple all people groups (Matthew 28:19). Thus, movements to Jesus spread into a growing number of non-Jewish people groups through witnesses like Paul, who said, “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, not building on another’s foundation” (Romans 15:20). In each generation, God calls some, like Paul, to such pioneer work.

• In 1792, William Carey worked out that the gospel had spread through cross-cultural witnesses to places containing 25% of the world’s population.
• In 1974, Ralph Winter figured that 40% of the world lived in people groups with their own movements to Jesus. 
• In 2024, just 50 years later, the gospel has taken root in people groups containing 75% of the world’s population.

Where would Paul go today?

Read more or download The Great Progress of the Gospel as a PDF (also available in print). It’s packed with charts and data about the 5,000 Frontier People Groups who represent 25% of the world’s population. Much of the material is open source (with attribution) and also available from JoshuapProject.net/GreatProgress.

Source: Modern Day Missions

Being in any marriage has its challenges, but being in a missionary marriage takes those challenges to a whole new level. All-Terrain Marriages is a free, eight-week video resource that leads missionary couples through four main topics of conversation that prepare them to thrive in any terrain God may call them to live and serve in. It’s led by Danny and Stephanie Gutierrez who served in Peru.

New sessions will be released every Monday for eight weeks (through August 5). Check the YouTube captions for links to download discussion guides.

Watch the video playlist or learn more about Modern Day Missions. Thanks to Brigada Today for the heads-up.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

August through October, Missionary Care Cohort (online). Help your “sent ones” stay connected. Provided for local churches by The Upstream Collective.

August 3, Turning Triggers into Glimmers (online). Training event from AllNations.

August 3-10, Classic ReBoot (Calgary, AB, Canada). Eight-day re-entry retreat for MKs/TCKs (aged 17-20) re-entering Canadian society. They also have also a wilderness edition for older MKs.

August 5-9, Engage Retreat (Union Mills, NC, USA). A spiritual retreat provided regularly by the Center for Intercultural Training. The next one will be in October.

August 5 to December 8, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (online). A second August cohort begins August 12. New online classes begin regularly. In-person fall classes will be launching soon as well; check the website for details.

August 11 to September 6, Equipping for Cross-Cultural Life and Ministry (Union Mills, NC, USA). Followed by a Language Learning Accelerator course, both from the Center for Intercultural Training.

August 13, How to Be an Effective Church Missions Leader (online). Peer2Peer event for church missions leaders. Provided by Missio Nexus.

August 20-23, Field Security Seminar (Lake George, CO, USA). Provided by Crisis Consulting International. The next one in the USA will be in November in North Carolina.

August 24, Missions Expo (Pretoria, South Africa). Free, community-based mission conference, an offshoot of a similar event in Cape Town (September 13-14).

August 28-29, Field Leaders Contingency Planning Workshop (Cape Town, South Africa). Provided by Crisis Consulting International, and followed by an August 30 Women’s Personal Security Workshop.

View the complete calendar. Submissions welcome. Looks like much is planned for September, including a few big conferences: Missio Nexus, GACX, and the fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.