Category: Resource Reviews

Source: Inherit the Nations

A quarter of the world’s people are part of what this booklet calls frontier people groups, those with virtually no believers and no evident movement to Jesus bringing God’s promised blessings to families. Half of that population belongs to these 31 groups… some of which many of us may know nothing about.

Will you pray for them? How about adopting a group to pray for this year? Looks like most of the information in this resource is drawn from the Joshua Project website, but it’s framed with additional commentary.

» Download the booklet for free from Inherit the Nations (or from partner ministries) and watch a short video about their vision for unreached peoples and places and how you can be part of it.

» See also the International Day for the Unreached website where you can watch the IDU 2018 broadcast (90 minutes), download a Great Commission Action Guide, and more.

Source: Missions Catalyst readers

Recently Brad in Michigan asked, “What book do you recommend to a church when they need a short general intro to missions? Who writes this stuff in a really good way?”

Much depends on what you hope to accomplish and the interests and attention span of your audience, but consider these 15 suggestions. I’ll just list them alphabetically by author.

1. Steve Beirn’s Well Sent: Reimagining the Church’s Missionary Sending Process (read our review)

2. Paul Borthwick’s A Mind for Missions: Ten Ways to Build Your World Vision

3. Paul Borthwick’s How to Be a World-Class Christian: Becoming Part of God’s Global Kingdom

4. Mike Breen’s Building a Discipleship Culture

5. Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert’s When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor… and Yourself

6. Kevin DeYoung’s What Is the Mission of the Church? Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission

7. J.D. Greear’s Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches that Send

8. David Horner’s When Missions Shapes the Mission: You and Your Church Can Reach the World (read our review)

9. Jason Mandryk’s Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation (read our review)

10. Paul McGuiness’ Walk This Way: A Better Path to Global Engagement (read our review)

11. Richard Noble’s On Mission Together: Integrating Missions into the Local Church (due out this fall; we’ll try to review it for you then)

12. John Piper’s Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions

13. Denny Spitters and Matthew Ellison’s When Everything Is Missions (read our review)

14. Richard Stearns’s The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us?

15. Storyline: Discovering Your Story in God’s Global Mission (read our review)

» See our Google doc for links and comments. What would you add?

Source: William Carey Library

Pipeline: Engaging the Church in Missionary Mobilization, by David and Lorene Wilson. William Carey Library, 2018. 368 pages.

This one just came out May 1. Unlike the volumes mentioned above, it’s built around contributions from some 40 cross-cultural workers and church and agency leaders, many sharing firsthand accounts from their ministry experiences.

This book addresses a wide variety of topics for sending churches, including the call to missions, obstacles to overcome, mobilizing and equipping the church to send missionaries, and partnering with organizations. One disclaimer: I haven’t read it yet. Have you? Let me know what you think.

» Purchase from William Carey for US$15.99 or get the Kindle edition from Amazon for US$9.99. See also the author’s website which includes links to resources mentioned in the book.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

June 1-2, People Raising Conference (Oak Brook, IL, USA). Be equipped for raising personal support.

June 2-3, World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk (international). Coordinated by the Viva Network.

June 4-15, Engaging Islam Institute (Beirut, Lebanon). Training event from Horizons International.

June 4 to September 2, Encountering the World of Islam (online).

June 5-6, Support Raising Bootcamp (Orlando, FL, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions.

June 7-9, Emerge Business Summit (Colorado Springs, CO, USA). Be affirmed, confirmed, and empowered to do missional business in nations.

June 18-22, Christian Community Development Conference (Stuttgart, Germany).

June 20, World Refugee Day (international). Many churches observe this with prayer the Sunday before or after.

June 20-23, Field Security Seminar (Lake George, CO, USA). Prepare to live, work, and travel in high-risk environments.

June 20-30, Breath Conference (Wilderswil, Switzerland). Rest and renewal retreat for cross-cultural workers.

June 21-23, National African-American Missions Conference (McLean, VA, USA).

June 26-28, Amplify Conference (Naperville, IL, USA). Evangelism conference from the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.

June 27-30, Illuminate Missions Conference (Greenwood, IN, USA). Sponsored by One Mission Society.

June 27-30, International Conference on Computing and Missions (Hannibal, MO, USA).

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

1. CURRICULUM: WorldViews, A Children’s Introduction to Missions
2. MUSIC: Songs of Kingdom Hope
3. FILM: The Breadwinner
4. BOOKS: A Good Missions Intro?
5. EVENTS: What’s Coming up in May

This short, educational video is designed to help kids understand how Muslims see and explain the world. It’s part of a package described below.

Source: Pioneers

On the lookout for winsome ways to explain world religions to kids or introduce them to missions? Last year Pioneers and Sonlight joined forces to create an intro-to-missions resource for homeschool families. Now Pioneers has revised and relaunched it for broader use. Worldviews is designed to help the whole family enjoy learning and includes several elements:

• Brief videos about five of the world’s religious communities and God’s heart for the people in those communities are free online for anyone to use. Includes videos about tribal animists, Hindus, the unreligious, Muslims, and Buddhists (often remembered by the acronym THUMB).
• A free family devotional (downloadable PDF) goes with the videos and a 30-day email guide can help you pray for unreached peoples. A single signup will give you access to both.
• A high-quality curriculum includes crafts, games, recipes, activities, etc. Purchase one workbook for kids aged 4-9 and/or another one for kids 10-14. Each is about 100 pages long and costs US$16.99.

» Learn more and view, download, or purchase what interests you.

» Not quite what you’re looking for? Check out the many missions resources for kids from Weave.

 

Source: Caroline Cobb

Looking for music that tells the big story of redemption? In 2011, singer-songwriter Caroline Cobb gave herself a goal to write a song for every book of the Bible in a year. That year of writing set in motion a new passion to tell the stories of scripture through music.

Her latest work is a theologically rich, lyrical album called A Home and a Hunger: Songs of Kingdom Hope. It “traces the biblical themes of Eden and exile, restlessness and rest, and God’s upside-down kingdom.”

I found this artist through a music video of her song All the Stars, which is about God’s promise to bless the nations through Abraham (see Genesis 22:17-18). The video, below, marks the 25th anniversary of Frontline Mission and includes clips from their documentary series, Dispatches from the Front. You might check that out as well.

» Buy a physical CD for US$10 from the artist’s website or listen wherever you get your music.

Source: Universal Pictures

Enjoy watching and discussing films about people in other cultures? Check out The Breadwinner, an animated film adapted from a best-selling young-adult novel/series by Deborah Ellis. It tells the story of Parvana, a young girl in Afghanistan who disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family. We discovered it through a review of the film from the International Mission Board. This is an animated feature but not for young children.

» Purchase or rent the film in several formats through Amazon. Download a study guide from the film’s website.

Source: Missions Catalyst

Brad in Michigan asks, “What book do you recommend to a church when they need a short general intro to missions? Who writes this stuff in a really good way?”

I’m not sure how to answer, though I have some ideas. What are your thoughts? Let’s make a list together.

1. What timeless classics or gems of today would you commend to Brad?
2. If you bought one book by the caseload to give out wide and far, what would it be?
3. What would you give to your elders, pastors, or mission team?
4. Is there one that would make a good gift for your church’s graduating high school or college seniors this spring?

It’s probably best if these books are not too long, academic, or narrow in focus. Books can’t accomplish their mission if people don’t read them.

» Suggest a book (or second someone else’s suggestion) and tell us why you appreciate it. I’ll compile a short list to share in a future issue.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

May 1-3, International Wholistic Missions Conference (Phoenix, AZ, USA). An annual event.

May 3, How Do I Get My Pastor Engaged in Missions? (online). Webinar provided by Missio Nexus.

May 4-5, Without Borders Women’s Conference (Sioux Falls, SD, USA). Training for ministering among Muslim women. Provided by Crescent Project.

May 7 to September 9, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (online). Also offered June 4 to August 12 and with regular start dates throughout the year.

May 8 to June 6, Mobiles in Mission: Using the Tool in Everyone’s Pocket (online). Mentored course for field workers on leveraging outreach opportunities.

May 12, GOfest Global (Ware, Hertfordshire, UK). An annual missions conference.

May 15 to June 14, 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World (global). An annual prayer campaign.

May 16-17, Interchange Conference (Wayne, PA, USA). From Catalyst Services, bringing together church and agency mission leaders.

May 20, Global Day of Prayer (global). An annual event.

May 20, International Day for the Unreached (global). An annual event.

May 21-22, Personal Support Raising Boot Camp (Brea, CA, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions.

May 24, Partnership and the Strategic Role of Networks (online). Webinar provided by Missio Nexus.

May 31 to June 2, ACMI Annual Conference (Philadelphia, PA, USA). An annual event from the Association of Christians Ministering to Internationals.