Category: Resource Reviews

1. MUSIC: Urbana 2018 Master Song List
2. DEVOTIONS: YouVersion Reading Plans
3. TRAINING: What US Colleges Teach Missions?
4. DOCUMENTARY: Our Man in Tehran
5. EVENTS: Coming up in September

Source: Urbana Student Missions Conference

If you’re an American reader of Missions Catalyst, chances are good you have happy memories of something God did through an Urbana Student Missions Conference. The tagline for this year’s event, to be held in Saint Louis, MO, December 27-31, is “discern your place in God’s global mission.”

Worship leaders put together a playlist of music for this year’s event. Want to listen? Warning: You may have to get up and dance…

» Listen to the music on Spotify or learn more about Urbana. See also Songs That Sustain Mission and click on the links throughout the article (International Mission Board).

» Another student missions event is coming up January 2-5 in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s more focused and is meant for 18-25-year-olds and their leaders. Learn about the CROSS Conference.

Source: YouVersion

Looking for devotional material or Bible studies for your mission team? Here’s a free and easy alternative to creating or purchasing them. The YouVersion Bible app offers hundreds of daily reading plans for your phone or mobile device, some with daily devotionals from a variety of ministries and organizations. You should be able to find one that is the right length and focus for you or your group. A few caught my eye:

• Discover Your Role in God’s Mission (7 days, Southeast Christian Church). Discover God’s heart for the nations and your role in helping finish the task of global evangelism.
• God Use Me—Devotions for Your Mission Trip (10 days, Compassion International). Use this plan as your pre-trip planning and post-trip debrief. You’ll find helpful Scripture, insightful commentary from experienced trip leaders, and thought-provoking prayers. Use journaling and discussion questions to dig deeper.
• Helping without Hurting: The Bible and the Poor (10 days, The Chalmers Center). Explore the depth of God’s concern for the poor and what it might look like for you to answer that call in your own life.

You’ll have to download the app, set up an account, and be logged in to browse the plans. Readers, what other plans would you suggest?

» Comment on this article on our website or Facebook page.

Source: Cappex, via Brigada Today

Cappex.com did a study of 137 schools [colleges and universities] in the US offering missions classes and a missiology major. You can filter results by tuition costs, college type, and state (location). You can see stats about the number of students, campus life, and even your chances of getting admitted. In many cases, there are personal reviews and even tweets and pictures. You can also see if the college is affiliated with a certain denomination and, in most cases, start your application directly from the listings. And in some cases, Cappex has negotiated scholarships with the college if you apply through the Cappex site.

» Learn more. Thanks, Cappex and Brigada! The August 12 edition of Brigada Today highlighted a number of resources worth knowing about.

» Editor’s note: Mission training may take many forms. Don’t dismiss the value of more secular degrees and/or experiential training.

Source: PBS Frontline

Iran watchers might be interested in this: Thomas Erdbrink is one of the last Western journalists living in Iran. In this two-part series, he takes viewers on a rare journey into a private Iran often at odds with its conservative clerics and leaders. Iranians share their stories, hopes, and fears with him over the course of four years of filming.

I haven’t watched this yet, but a like-minded friend raves, “This was SO good! You will laugh and you will cry, but most of all, it will make you fall in love with the wonderful people of Iran!”

You may be able to watch the documentary online or on your local PBS station/app if you’re in the US. Available on DVD in October.

» Learn more.

» Readers, what other cultural films and documentaries (from a Christian perspective or otherwise) do you recommend? Comment on this article on our website or Facebook page.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

September 3-14, Great Commission Leadership Institute (Chiang Mai, Thailand). Provided by SVM2.

September 3-16, ORIENT (Joplin, MO, USA). Missionary training.

September 3 to January 6, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (online). New classes start nearly every month.

September 6, A Missionary Pipeline for your Church (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

September 6-8, Multiply: Disciple-making Movements Summit (Wheaton, IL, USA). Organized by the Ephesus Partnership.

September 10-14, Global Member Care Network Conference (Quito, Ecuador). Bilingual in English and Spanish.

September 10 to October 6, COMPASS Prefield Training (Palmer Lake, CO, USA). Provided by Missionary Training International multiple times a year.

September 10 to December 9, Encountering the World of Islam (online).

September 13, Spirituality in Cross-Cultural Mission (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

September 13-14, Support Raising Bootcamp (Vancouver, WA, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions.

September 13 to October 11, Foundations of Media Strategy (online). Mentored course on using social media for deeper conversations and disciple-making, from Mission Media U.

September 17-18, International Orality Network Annual Conference (Orlando, FL, USA). Followed by Simply the Story Orality Training.

September 19-20, Standards Introductory Workshop (Orlando, FL, USA). Presented by Standards of Excellence in Short-term Missions.

September 19-25, Traction (Wilderswil, Switzerland). Renewal conference for men serving cross-culturally.

September 19 to October 17, Introduction to Story in Ministry (online). Mentored course to better communicate the message of Christ (oral, written, or filmed), from Mission Media U.

September 20-22, Missio Nexus Annual Conference (Orlando, FL, USA). Includes lots of side meetings this time; check it out.

September 21-23, Business as Mission Conference (Philadelphia, PA, USA).

September 28-29, People Raising Conference (Oak Brook, IL, USA). Be equipped for raising personal support.

» View the complete calendar. Please let us know about mistakes or omissions. For more details, contact the event organizers.

1. ACTIVITY: Global Scavenger Hunt for Kids
2. MAGAZINE: EMQ, The Mobilization Issue
3. BOOK: Voices from the Field
4. BOOKS: On Movements and Missionaries
5. EVENTS: What’s Coming up in August and September

Source: Wycliffe Bible Translators

Kids are home from school, the weather is warm, the outdoors are green, and everything is filled with promise for adventure and fun. But it can also feel a bit overwhelming when you consider the weeks (they might even feel endless) that your kids are out of school, needing to be entertained, engaged, involved, or kept busy with something.

This scavenger hunt should keep your kids busy for a portion of the day while also giving you a chance to teach them something fun and interesting about the world in which we live. So go ahead, send them on a worldwide scavenger hunt—right in your own home!

» Learn about other activities for children from Wycliffe.

» See also Worldviews: A Children’s Introduction to Missions, from Pioneers (which is also the ministry behind Missions Catalyst). Discover any great new resources for children’s missions education? Let us know.

Source: Missio Nexus

The Evangelical Missions Quarterly, which recently became part of Missio Nexus, is in its fifty-fifth year as a professional journal serving the worldwide missions community. If you don’t currently subscribe to EMQ, now may be a good time to sign up.

The latest issue will give you plenty to chew on related to raising up and equipping global missionaries (and global mobilizers). It includes the nine articles listed below and nine book reviews as well as several other features. The magazine is only published electronically now.

1. Mobilization: The Fourth (and Final?) Era of the Modern Mission Movement, by Steve Shadrach
2. The Mobilization Index: Connecting the Global Church to the Unreached, by Jason G.
3. Mobilizing God’s People for God’s Mission, by Steve C. Hawthorne
4. Mobilizing Movements, by Randy G. Mitchell
5. Rites of Passage: Building a Mobilization Team in Your Church, by David J. Wilson
6. ONLY vs. Primary and Secondary: The Key to the Missionary Motivation Problem, by Bob Sjogren
7. Prayer: Our Greatest Task in Mobilization, by Steve Coffee
8. Innovations in Mobilization Collaboration, by Mark Stebbins
9. A Re-Focus on the Local Church: Media Collaboration in the Middle East, by Phill Butler

» Learn more about EMQ and check out the Global Mobilization Network.

» Also see the Launch Survey website, with research for mobilizers on the most significant motivations and obstacles facing aspiring missionaries. Additional material has been added to the site in recent months.

Source: Peregrini Press

Voices from the Field: Conversations with Our Global Family, ed. T.J. MacLeslie. Volume 2 in Field Notes series. Peregrini Press, 143 pages. 2018.

What do “they” say about “us”? Are you sure want to hear? Can we afford not to?

Author T.J. MacLeslie asked dozens of missionaries to interview local friends in their host cultures, asking about their lives and stories of faith as well as their answers to questions like, “If missionaries were going to come to your town, what would you want them to know before arriving?” and “What are some areas of conflict you observe in the foreign community?” Some missionaries were reluctant to ask. Some of their friends were hesitant to speak. But these are conversations we need to have, and the answers were gracious as well as enlightening.

The volume includes the voices of more than 30 respondents from Mexico to Mongolia. You’ll have to read carefully: in order to preserve authenticity, submissions were only lightly edited and cultural differences were not smoothed out or explained away. As you read, be thinking about how local people in your context might answer these questions. Better yet, ask them.

» Purchase the Kindle edition for US$3.99 (introductory pricing). Also available as a paperback from Amazon or with free international shipping from Book Depository.

» Readers might also be interested in Global Humility: Attitudes for Mission by Andy McCullough. We learned about it in a review from OSCAR.