Category: Resource Reviews

Source: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)

Serving Well: Help for the Wannabe, Newbie, or Weary Cross-cultural Christian Worker, by Elizabeth and Jonathan Trotter (Resource Publications, 2019). 378 pages.

Serving cross-culturally or planning to? You’ve got to read this book!

With more than 100 chapters, it covers everything from how prepare well to how to return well, with reflections and insight on moving overseas; taking care of your heart, marriage, and children; relationships, communication, pitfalls, and what to do when things don’t go as planned.

An emphasis on cultivating self-knowledge and emotional awareness comes through strong.

The book is comprehensive, funny, deep, and well written. I think it would be a good one to read or even read aloud with a spouse, friend, or teammate. You could use chapters to stimulate team discussion. Pastors and member-care types might want to read it, too, and use it as a resource to share with others.

The Trotters serve in Cambodia. Both write for the great collaborative missions blog A Life Overseas. Elizabeth is the editor-in-chief. Jonathan spends his days as a pastoral counselor.

» Learn more or purchase this book from Amazon. The Kindle edition is going for US$9.99. Want the paperback? Wipf and Stock is selling it for US$20, a 20% discount on the cover price.

» Another new missions book is making a strong debut. The title suggests a quite different tone. See A Company of Heroes: Portraits from the Gospel’s Global Advance, by Tim Keesee.

Sources: various

God Network News, now up to 100 episodes, shares news and stories of what God is doing around the world. They are running a series of testimonies and stories from the Middle East.

Global Missions Podcast features interviews to help Christians participate more effectively in local and global ministry, also reached 100 episodes not long ago. The producers shared a list of their favorite episodes.

Engaging Missions recently put out two episodes on loving Muslims and several more about depending on God.

Missions Pulse is an interesting new missions podcast from prolific author and mobilizer David Joannes.

Moving a bit out of the “missions” world, you might check out Bob Goff’s Dream Big podcast, or Five Minutes in Church History.

» What have you been listening to? Let us know through comments on our website, Facebook, or Twitter (or of course by responding to this email).

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

Note: USA-based mission mobilizers may also be interested in Mobilization Ideation events planned across the country during the month of May. I’ll be joining the one next week in Atlanta. Any of you planning to be there?

May 2, National Day of Prayer (USA).

May 2, Mapping Church Missions: A Compass for Ministry Strategy (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

May 2-5, Christian Medical and Dental Association (Ridgecrest, NC, USA). National Convention; an annual event.

May 2-30, Foundations of New Media Strategy (online). Mentored course on using social media for deeper conversations and disciple-making. Offered by Mission Media U.

May 3-5, BAM Conference Europe (Bucharest, Romania). Business as Mission.

May 6-7, Support Raising Bootcamp (Winter Park, FL, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions.

May 6 to June 4, 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World (global). An annual prayer campaign.

May 6 to September 8, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (online).

May 7 to June 4, Using Mobile Phones in Missions (online). Mentored course to leverage ministry outreach using mobile phones. Offered by Mission Media U.

May 9-12, GO Equipped Tentmaking Course (Atlanta, GA, USA).

May 19 to June 14, Equipping for Cross-Cultural Life and Ministry (Union Mills, NC, USA). Provided by the Center for Intercultural Training.

May 20 to August 18, Encountering the World of Islam (online).

May 24-25, Engaging Islam Weekend (Dearborn, MI, USA). Provided by Horizons International.

May 27-31, Engaging Islam Institute (Dearborn, MI, USA). Provided by Horizons International.

May 31 to June 2, Everywhere to Everywhere (Sioux Falls, SD, USA). Missional training and outreach event.

May 31 to June 2, Invitation Prayer Retreat (Choctaw, OK, USA). Introduction to contemplative prayer from Beautiful Feet Boot Camp.

» View the complete calendar. Contact us to suggest additions. Want to know more about a specific event? Contact the event organizers.

Source: Brigada Today, February 17, 2019

Our friends at Beyond have boiled down a five-step strategy for reaching an unreached people group. They see it as prayer, prayerwalking, first contact, miracles and healing, then discipleship. They’ve created a quick intro video for each of those five prongs. See them at:

Step 1: Prayer
Step 2: Prayer Walking
Step 3: First Contact
Step 4: Miracles and Healing
Step 5: Discipleship

» Visit the video landing page, and while you’re there, check out their Nugget Trainings (to attend online) on topics like how to lead a discovery Bible study or how to become a strategic missionary.

» More videos! Missio Nexus recently put on a virtual conference featuring short presentations from a wide variety of mission leaders and subject-area specialists. The OnMission videos are still available to watch at your own pace, with transcripts, discussion questions, and other resources. Check them out not only for what you can learn but to find stories, data, and illustrations to use in helping others.

Source: WIGTake Resources

More Disciples: A Guide to Becoming and Multiplying Followers of Jesus, by Doug Lucas. WIGTake Resources, 2019, 248 pages.

As a follower of Jesus, what’s the one thing you can take with you from this life to the next? The answer: more disciples.

More Disciples is a practical, how-to guidebook that lays out a clear path for learning and implementing church-planting movement and disciple-making movement strategies and life principles. In particular, it describes the key concepts used in the web-based Zume Project course.

Quite a few other CPM and DMM books have been written at this point. Each has a somewhat different emphasis or audience. This one is definitely for practitioners; you will probably feel uncomfortable if your intention is just to read about making disciples and not do it! The author is passionate and practical but not dogmatic, calling instead for unity around the more timeless and universal of disciple-making principles.

Read all the other DMM books? I think you’ll want to pick this one up, too. You will find something fresh and new. But it is also thorough enough to make a good starting place if you are just getting started.

Lucas, a mission agency leader, is both well versed and well connected. The book includes a foreword by David Garrison and an introduction and epilogue from Curtis Sergeant along with endorsements from other leaders and references to other resources.

» Purchase from Amazon (or elsewhere). The Kindle edition is US$9.99 and a paperback can be yours for a few dollars more. See also the companion website, MoreDisciples.com. The creators are in the process of updating it.

Source: Asia Harvest

Guizhou: The Precious Province, by Paul Hattaway. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2019. 320 pages.

Most of us have heard about the phenomenal growth of the Church in China over the last century, and we may know that this growth came in the furnace of intense persecution. But how did it all happen?

The China Chronicles series is an ambitious project to document the advance of Christianity in each province of China, decade by decade, from the time the gospel was introduced there to the present day.

Author and friend of the Chinese church Paul Hattaway has spent hundreds of hours interviewing Chinese believers so their stories can be shared and remembered.

Volume one took us to Shandong Province, home to almost 100 million people. It includes narratives about foreign missionaries (e.g., Lottie Moon) and Chinese movements (the Evangelistic Bands, the Jesus Family), as well as never-before-published testimonies from Chinese church leaders.

Volume two details ministry, challenges, and church growth in Guizhou, today home to 35 million people, including some 2.7 million who identify as Christians. Particularly helpful are the author’s explanations of the province’s minority groups, including the Miao and Nosu, and how success on some fronts helped or hindered the spread of the gospel among others. I found it both instructive and inspiring.

» Learn more or purchase from Amazon (or elsewhere). The Kindle edition is US$7.99 and you can get the paperback for US$15.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

April 1 to August 4, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (online).

April 5-6, People Raising Conference (Oak Brook, IL, USA). Be equipped for raising personal support.

April 9, Nugget Training: Discovery Bible Study (online). How to help others hear from God. Provided by Beyond.

April 12-13, The Journey Deepens (Portland, OR, USA). A weekend retreat for prospective missionaries.

April 14-26, Second Language Acquisition Course (Union Mills, NC, USA). Provided by the Center for Intercultural Training.

April 15 to May 22, COMPASS (Palmer Lake, CO, USA). Language and culture acquisition provided by Mission Training International.

April 16-17, Support Raising Bootcamp (Fayetteville, AR, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions.

April 18, Jesus in the Secular World #1: Understanding Global Secularization (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

April 22 to May 5, ORIENT pre-field training for global workers (Eminence, MO, USA).

April 23, Nugget Training: Here I Am… Send Me (online). 13 steps to becoming a strategic missionary. Provided by Beyond.

April 18, Jesus in the Secular World #2: Responding to Global Secularization (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

April 25-27, B4T Expo (Houston, TX, USA). Business for Transformation Exposition from OPEN USA.

April 26-28, Everywhere to Everywhere (Sioux Falls, SD, USA). Missional training and outreach event.

April 29-30, Standards Introductory Workshop (Lenexa, KS, USA). Training in the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission.

April 29 to May 2, Thrive Retreat (Elmina, Ghana). For North American women serving cross-culturally.

April 30 to May 2, International Wholistic Missions Conference (Lenexa, KS, USA). An annual event.

April 30 to June 5, Using Mobile Phones in Mission (online). Mentored course for field workers on leveraging outreach opportunities.

» View the complete calendar. Contact us to suggest additions. Want to know more about a specific event? Contact the event organizers.

In this edition: Resources to help you raise up and equip tomorrow’s mission force. Image from At Any Cost by Faith Based Musicals.

1. FILM: The Least of These
2. WEBINAR: Nurturing the Missions Call
3. DRAMA: At Any Cost, a Story of Obedience and Sacrifice
4. SERVICE: Short-term Mission Solutions
5. EVENTS: Coming Up in February