In This Issue: Readers Write, Missions Events, and a Word from Doug Lucas
- FOLLOW-UP – Readers Write about Raising Global Kids
- GUEST EDITORIAL – What’s Your Cause Worth Living for?
- EVENTS – Additions to the Missions Catalyst Calendar
Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!
Practical Mobilization by Shane Bennett is published once a month.
FOLLOW-UP – Readers Write about Raising Global Kids
In last month’s Practical Mobilization column I talked about the “whats” and the “hows” of raising global kids. Given that my oldest will turn 15 next month, I’m not voicing these thoughts from great experience, but rather from a little experience and a lot of hope. So I was encouraged that many readers sent in their stories and suggestions to add value to the conversation. Let me pass several along to you:
Reader-Recommended Resources
1. Great Commission Kids: Elinor mentioned this quarterly publication which will be sent free to children who request it.
2. Great stuff from the IMB: Bob, of the Great Commission Network Center, directed us to a great collection of International Mission Board resources for children!
3. Read Donna Thomas: Donna recommends two books that she actually wrote!
- Faces in the Crowd, just released, gives practical, easy, productive ways to be a 21st-century disciple to all the world from the US.
- Becoming a World Changing Family is packed with fun and practical ideas for even the busiest of families. Connect to people of other cultures by eating ethnic cuisine, writing letters, taking trips, enjoying festivals and parties, playing games, and more.
Reader Experiences
Several readers passed on ideas that they used or are using to build global awareness in their own kids.
1. Short-terms: Vicki relates, “My husband and I raised five children. One of the most globally impacting things they each did was to participate in mission trips during their high-school summer breaks. We hope to spend our retirement years visiting and helping our children and grandchildren overseas.” (Summer mission trip opportunities abound, but if you have trouble finding them check out this site).
2. Hosting: Sharon in California said, “Opening our home to missionaries every chance we had allowed our boys to feel they had friends living in many places of the world. As young children, they were often touched and impacted by the artifacts missionaries left behind. One son treasured his Thai soccer ball for decades and today it sits on a bookshelf in his home in China.”
3. Multi-cultural immersion: Mary Kay writes from Ghana, “We moved overseas two years ago when our children were 15 and 12. It has been amazing to watch their transformation. We had always lived in a fairly multi-cultural environment in metro Atlanta with many languages and nationalities represented in our local schools. However, in looking back on it now, that was still an environment where all these children from all over the world were trying to become American.
“The difference in being in a (no more diverse) international school here in Ghana is that everyone brings their own culture to the table. If I were looking at schools back in Atlanta now, I would definitely explore sending the children to an international/expatriate school there as a way of growing global kids.
“Another thing that has really impacted our family is listening to, watching, and reading [a variety of] news media sources. Our local Ghana news TV station shows 30 minutes each of CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera each morning. It is eye-opening to watch the same news stories covered from three different angles. With older children such as ours, this has given us a real opportunity to discuss media bias and discernment.”
4. Reaching parents: Winning this month’s subversive mobilization prize, Marcie writes, “I am also trusting God to help me as I teach a women’s Sunday School class to “Grow Your Heart for the World.” Maybe as God works in these women, it will transfer to their kids and those around them.”
5. Eventually, perhaps… If you wonder if any of this actually works, if it actually pays off at some point down the road, here’s Doug’s testimony:
“When I was just a young boy, my mother recognized that I loved to read stories about adventure, especially if they were in an exotic, far-away land. She began to use my interest in adventure to shape me for the future by buying me books about missionaries.
“I’m now 53 years old and will be taking an early retirement. My wife and I are moving to Portugal to work with a church-planting team already there. I’m convinced that my mother’s desire for me to expand my world view and to recognize that God values people who are different than me has played a part in this exciting journey.” (To find opportunities like Doug’s, check out Finishers Project).
It’s hard for me to imagine any of my five kids in their fifties. Doug’s example encourages me to make wise investments in them now, though, trusting God to bring to fruit their passion for the world, resulting in great Kingdom harvest.
GUEST EDITORIAL – What’s Your Cause Worth Living for?
Source: Doug Lucas, Brigada Today, December 2, 2007 edition
Mobilization hall of famer and great pal of mine, Doug Lucas, wrote an article asking what might crank up the passion level for mobilizers. In case you missed it, here you go. If you didn’t miss it, it’s worth another read!
What’s Your Cause Worth Living for?
Whenever I meet someone new, I try to size them up and find out what jazzes them. For example, the young man beside me here on the plane is a ‘surfer dude.’ He lives to surf. In fact, he’s traveling 4500 miles from his home just to find “tubular waves” (or whatever one calls them). Much of this flight, he’s been watching DVD footage of various surfing competitions around the world, including the surfing “world cup.” (I didn’t even know there was one!) Anyone can clearly see that surfing is what jazzes him. So my question is…
What jazzes you? What do you wake up thinking about – and what engages your mind all the day long?
My hunch is to truly finish the job of world evangelism, we’re going to need a mighty throng of world-changers who are jazzed about Jesus… and passionate about unreached peoples.
Did you ever attend a concert given by your favorite singer or band? Can you think back to the way you felt during that one special song, when all of your emotions and all of your mind swirled around that song’s message and music? Perhaps you were worshipping the Lord, or maybe it was just an awesome combination of musical talent that really connected with you. Did it practically bring you to tears? Did you find yourself crying by the time it was over?
It’s that kind of passion we have to stir if we’re going to finish this task. It’s humongous. And it’s complicated. And it’s difficult. We need that passion. And we need that mobilization again. We need to recover that first love. How can we do that in every congregation, every small group, ever heart in every gathering… How?
Got any ideas? Because … when we answer that question, we’ll be able to expand the Lord’s kingdom like never before.
Got an opinion of how to raise up that kind of concern again? It’s happened before. The Haystack prayer meetings, William Carey, even the apostles themselves. How do we create that kind of passion again? Who knows. Your idea might spark the imagination of a person perfectly positioned to tackle your concept. Thanks for taking time to respond.
Source here. For a free subscription to Brigada’s weekly missions publication, write to this address and/or visit Brigada on the web.
Note: Pass your ideas on to me and I’ll make sure Doug gets them!
EVENTS – Additions to the Missions Catalyst Calendar
Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar
Interchange Workshop: Developing and Presenting Partnership Opportunities. A hands-on workshop for agency mobilizers and missionaries who want to improve their skills in launching high-impact collaborative efforts with local churches. Ellen Livingood, who leads these events, will share from her research for a manual on global partnerships for the local church. Dates and locations:
- November 24, 2008 – Philadelphia, PA
- December 3, 2008 – Denver, CO
- December 10, 2008 – Orlando, FL
- December 17, 2008 – Philadelphia, PA
- January 5, 2009 – Chicago, IL
- January 8, 2009 – Dallas, TX
- January 13, 2009 – Charlotte, NC
- January 28, 2009 – Grand Rapids, MI
Register by October 10 (for 2008) or November 20 (for 2009) for a significant discount in cost.
A few more global events have also been added to our calendar recently:
- November 9, 2008 – International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church – Join Christians worldwide to focus on supporting those suffering for their faith.
- May 31, 2009 – Global Day of Prayer – for the glory of Christ, and the blessing of the nations.
- October 16 to 25, 2010 – Capetown 2010 – Global Congress on World Evangelization (Capetown, South Africa). The third “Lausanne” Congress is expected to draw 4000 delegates from ministries worldwide are expected to attend, but there’s room for many more participants online. Intercessors, volunteers, and donors are also needed.
Questions? Problems? Submissions? Contact publisher/managing editor Marti Smith.