Category: Resource Reviews

TRAINING: Trends and Issues in Mobilization

Source: Center for Missionary Mobilization and Retention, Trinity Bible College and Graduate School

Could you or someone you know use additional training as a mission advocate and missionary mobilizer? This school in North Dakota now offers a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies with an optional track in missions mobilization.

To help with missionary retention, Trinity Bible College and Graduate School is offering free continuing education for missionaries. Any current missionary can take (audit) one of Trinity’s graduate school classes free of charge. These classes take place at various times all over the world.

This fall, they’re also offering one of their courses in an intensive format free of charge to anyone who would like to try it out. Join via Zoom.

Course: Trends and Issues in Mobilization
Dates: November 17-19, 2020

Description: Students will critically engage and analyze issues that both contribute to the decline of missionaries sent from the US and influence one’s decision to serve as a long-term missionary. Special consideration will be given to the factors that often influence the missionary call, as well as current barriers that prohibit an aspiring missionary from getting to the field. Other topics presented in this course such as short-term mission trips and missionary influence may adjust as mobilization trends and issues develop.

» Register for this course or explore other training offerings.

» Looking for something less formal? Check out the Online Missionary Training School from Global Frontier Missions or various offerings from Global Mission Mobilization Initiative.

EVENTS: Happening Online in October

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

October 1, MultiplyUs. First in what is meant to be a series of online events featuring early examples of disciple-making movements in the USA. Sponsored by 24:14 in partnership with MoreDisciples.com.

October 5 to February 14, 2020, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Next class starts November 2.

October 6, Accountability with a Small Staff and a Small Budget. Webinar from Missio Nexus, with Capin Crouse. This is part of a finance series which also includes a webinar about PPP loan forgiveness on October 27.

October 7, The Future of Missions. Webinar from Missio Nexus in partnership with Sixteen:Fifteen; guest presentation from Barna.

October 8, How Digital Media Is Accelerating Disciple Making Among the Unreached. Webinar from Missio Nexus.

October 8, Discerning Your Calling. Webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen.

October 9-10, Evangelical Missiological Society National Conference. Includes tracks on arts, history, orality, short-term mission, and more. Cost goes up after September 30.

October 9-11, Ask2020. Weekend of prayer for the Middle East coordinated by Arab World Ministries. Download materials to help you and your church pray for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon.

October 13, Circumventing the Mission Agency; Navigating the System. Webinar from the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission. A November 10 webinar will focus on preparing youth for missions.

October 20-21, Support Raising Bootcamp, provided by Support Raising Solutions. A similar virtual event is planned for November 11-13.

October 20-28, Standards Introductory Workshop. Ten-hour interactive seminar on making mission trips better from Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission. A similar event will be held November 16-18.

October 22 to November 19, Strategic Storytelling for Movements (new online course). For field workers and content creators to find and create media stories for ministry, from Missions Media U.

October 24, Northwest Regional Refugee Roundtable. Provided by the Refugee Highway Partnership.

October 29, Transformation of the Church. Webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen.

» View complete calendar. Submissions and corrections welcome. We will continue to make updates about canceled and postponed events.

VIDEO: How Your Prayers Help

Source: Wycliffe Bible Translators

Maybe you—or people who support your work—struggle to pray and know prayer makes a difference. Some Pioneers colleagues introduced me to this short video from Wycliffe. We’re going to try to do something like it to honor our own prayer partners. Maybe it will inspire you, too.

» See also Wycliffe.org/prayer.

BOOKS: Good Stories

WCP booksSource: William Carey Publishing

Every now and then we just need some inspiration from brothers and sisters who have gone before us to do something awesome with the Lord. This is a collection of some of those great stories (about a dozen books in all). The prices are good, too. We’ve reviewed many of these in Missions Catalyst.

» Learn more.

» Know George Verwer of OM? He says a dream of his has come true: all but one of his books are now available for free download from georgeverwer.com and royhessionbooktrust.org.

ARTICLE: Five Ways to Share Your Faith Online

World Venture, August 10, 2020

Paul followed God’s calling to Antioch, Syria, Turkey, and Greece. And he wrote letters from prison. If Paul had the same access to the internet we have, what would he have done with it? Here are some ways to share your faith online:

  1. Rethink how you can use social media tools.
  2. Consider your motivation in online ministry.
  3. Use watch parties and “rooms.”
  4. Watch for gift opportunities.
  5. Choose your photos more intentionally.

» Complete article includes tips in each of these areas.

» See also Maintain Your Momentum (“25 ways to move church missions forward during COVID…and eight types of people who might do it”). Great ideas from our friends at Catalyst Services.

BLOG/BOOK: Disability in Mission

Source: Joni and Friends, Hendrickson Publishers, The Lausanne Movement

“I’m sorry, sir, that the only person who responded to your invitation to give themselves to serve the Lord in mission was the little crippled girl who could never do it.”

The apology came after a service in my little rural church. It was about me. When I was five years old, polio had profoundly weakened me. Now 12 years old, using my crutches and braces, I had walked down the aisle to say, “Yes, I believe the Lord wants me to be a missionary someday.” Logically, it looked like an impossible dream, but the speaker looked the other gentleman in the eye and said, “Whom the Lord calls, He will use.” Those words could not be a truer description of my experience of disability in mission.”

» That’s the story of Elinor Young, and one of several recently shared in a new blog series on disability in mission from Joni and Friends. To learn more about Elinor, watch World Team’s 2015 video, Bad Legs: A Story of God Using One Woman’s Weakness for His Glory (YouTube).

» Check out the Disability Concerns network at Lausanne, and/or pick up the 2019 book Disability in Mission: The Church’s Hidden Treasure, edited by David C. Deuel and Nathan G. John. Looks like these blog posts are excerpts from the book.

EVENTS: Happening Online in September

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

First, a couple of August items you might still want to catch, both on Thursday, August 27:

September 3, Spiritual Formation Integration for Ministry Leaders. Webinar from Missio Nexus.

September 3, Mobilizing People of Color, Part 2. Webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen (watch Part 1).

September 7 to December 6, Encountering the World of Islam. Embracing Muslims with the love of Christ. Note: The first-ever Spanish-language EWI online course starts September 14.

September 8, It’s Bigger Than Short-Term Missions: Nurturing a Missions Ministry in a Disinterested Church. Webinar from the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission.

September 8-12, Engaging Islam Institute. Training from Horizons International. Usually offered in Dearborn, MI, but this year you can catch it online.

September 10, Hope Conference. Explore God’s work in the Muslim world through this Crescent International event. Timed and designed for an American audience. A similar event will happen September 17 for those from Africa, Asia, and Europe. Material in English, Arabic, Spanish, French, and German.

September 10, Multiplying Prayer: Fuel for Movements. Training session from Beyond. Part of a series offered regularly.

September 16-17, People Raising Conference. Be equipped for raising personal support. Usually held in Oak Brook, IL; this year on Zoom.

September 17 to October 15, Foundations of Media to Movements. Learn to leverage media to start disciple-making movements. Course from Mission Media U.

September 22-24, Support Raising Virtual Bootcamp. Provided by Support Raising Solutions multiple times a year, usually in different parts of the US.

September 24, Focus2020 Spotlight. Online event from Missio Nexus in place of the network’s annual conference.

» View complete calendar. Submissions and corrections welcome. We will continue to make updates about canceled and postponed events.