Missions Blog for Churches

I guess that’s kind of a strange title. But those are some of the topics that are covered in the most recent edition of InVision, MTW’s Newsletter. Steve Collins, MTW’s Director of Spiritual Life, outlines a new part of this department’s ministry. In this article, Steve explains our responsibility as Christians and as a mission agency to prevent child sexual abuse, how to protect and how to respond.

Bill Yarbrough, MTW’s International Director of Latin America and Africa, and Will Traub, MTW’s coordinator for theological training in Europe, write two helpful book reviews. Bill reviews Dick Keyes’ timely book Seeing Through Cynicism. I think this book could help any Christian, but could be especially helpful to church missions leaders who want to care for their missionaries well. Will delves into Richard Bauckham’s Bible and Mission, an investigation into how the Great Commision is a legitimate metanarrative to postmodern hearers. This book will serve churches in understanding better how to impact other cultures, in their neighborhoods and around the world.

In the News Brief, you can read more about the childrens home that has been named for Jan Kooistra and is being built in her memory in India. Jan had a special place in her heart for kids, and especially the fatherless. Although I only met her a few times, I felt like I knew her from Dr. Kooistra’s stories about her during devotions. I grew to have deep admiration for her, and I think this continuance of her heartbeat for the suffering is truly a God-glorifying memorial of His grace in her life.

Finally, you can read a field report about Latvia. Carl & Becky Chaplin are there now, as frontier missionaries in the Baltic Region (at least they’re MTW’s first). They have a great deal of experience and wisdom from their previous missions work, and are gathering a team of others to work with them there. It’s been exciting to watch the process. If you’d like an even closer look at their lives and ministry in Latvia, check out their blog. It is truly one of my favorite missionary blogs. Becky keeps the updates frequent but brief, and uses plenty of photos to help you “see” their lives in Latvia.

Brett Carl, Missions Pastor at Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church in Suffolk, VA, recently shared their missions manual for other churches to look to as a good example. WRPC has an active missions ministry that desires to do things with excellence. Brett is a leader in missions in the PCA and you can find his contact information by visiting the church’s website at www.wrpca.org.  View the SENTeam Notebook from WRPC by clicking here.

“So, whether you eat or drink, or(A) whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

One way to drink to the glory of God could be drinking better coffee. No, really! A friend of mine who is a church planter in the Atlanta-area, mentioned that they switched coffee they use for their fellowship time. He told me that not only is it good coffee, it’s for a good cause. The coffee is grown and harvested in Rwanda, by Rwandans. And there’s a missional connection. I’ll let you read their website to find out more about that: http://www.landof1000hills.com/

I’d love to see a PCA church begin something like this with an MTW work. A couple of years ago, MTW gave away coffee cups with small bags of coffee from our work in Ethiopia. The coffee was roasted and bagged by ladies who this ministry was reaching out to, who had been widowed by AIDS. The work allowed them to provide for themselves and their children. It’d be great to see some connection like that expanded. It would certainly create a meaninful partnership between US churches and the ministry in the country where the coffee is purchased from. Imagine each Sunday, a tasty reminder of missions for your people to sip on!