Missions Blog for Churches

“I don’t need much. I simply want to be someplace where I can serve. If I am working with the poor then I might want to live in their neighborhood, or if I’m working with students, could I have a national for a roommate?” This perspective expresses the heart of many who are looking at missions today. They want to live in the home of a national, or with a national roommate. They might see themselves living in a village, embracing the same lifestyle and facing the same challenges as the people living there. They are at a unique crossroads of personal freedom and have a strong desire to minister in challenging situations, such as living among the poor. They are ready to embrace life on the edge.

MTW’s new EDGE program will allow participants who desire a stripped-down missions experience to live more closely with those to whom them minister. Featuring lower support costs and hands-on ministry experience, EDGE is a two-year missions experience that will be offered in addition to current intern, short-term, and career missionary tracks.

However, EDGE will not be for everyone. We believe this ministry path will be most attractive to those in their 20s, just graduated from college, or singles who are free to travel and take risks. It may also fit for newly-married couples without kids, or even couples whose kids have moved out (provided the circumstances are right and they have a tolerance for risk). If someone is looking for hands-on experience and a service-oriented ministry, then this could be for them. A caution is that more than any of our other programs, EDGE will take participants to the extreme in terms of personal sacrifice. This is not to say that the opportunity to sacrifice is not present in other programs; in fact, on the surface it doesn’t look much different from our intern level of support. The difference is that this is a two-year endeavor, a lifestyle. It is embracing subsistence living over a long period of time as a means to connect. Click here to continue reading this article…

If you want to discover how you can serve God with the business experience He’s given you, the Missions in Business Weekend is just for you.

Who Should Attend:

• Business owners
• Business executives
• Retired businesspeople
• Entrepreneurs
• Spouses (special program)
• Young businesspeople who desire to be mentored

Missions in Business Weekend
August 19-22
The Cove
Billy Graham Conference Center
Asheville, NC

Click here for more information and to download a registration form.

From MTW’s bi-monthly e-newsletter InVision:

“Reaching the nations and the next generation.” That’s the mission of Global Youth and Family Ministry (GYFM), led by MTW missionaries Eric and Rebecca Larsen. GYFM provides support and care for MTW missionaries and their children—often referred to as Third Culture Kids—and ongoing training for those seeking to influence global youth culture. Following is an interview with GYFM director Eric Larsen.

Your path to youth ministry is personal. Can you talk about your own experience as a Third Culture Kid (TCK)?

I was a military brat, missionary kid, and PCA pastor’s kid. And by eighth grade, I was on my 12th move, eighth school, and third continent.

I had a really difficult transition from Australia to the U.S. after graduating from high school and moving to Covenant College. I remember sealing up my Australian belongings in a box and shoving it in the back of my closet; I stopped reading letters from my Australian friends; I changed my accent. I remember thinking, “I can’t continue to straddle multiple worlds when others can’t do that with me.” Click here to continue reading this article…

GO GLOBAL!

Missionaries know that in order to reach people with the gospel, we must be willing and able to speak their language.

The upcoming generation in our culture speaks a different “language” too, a language shaped by media sound bites, dynamic video, action-oriented extreme sports, and fast-moving technology like social networking, mobile web surfing, or texting.

We believe it is our responsibility to speak to this generation, to help them catch a vision for the world around them and begin to focus outside themselves.

In an effort to connect with them by speaking their language, MTW has created a new micro website, “Go Global,” showcasing young people who are engaging in missions. Read their comments about what God has taught them. Hear and see their stories in videos about missions and missionaries. You’ll even find a little humor if you look for it.

But, we need your help to spread the word: share it with leaders in your church’s youth ministry, post a link on Facebook, and mention it to your friends. Feel free to use your imagination.

http://GoGlobal.MTW.org

Thanks for your support. And Go Global!

There are a couple of deadlines I want to remind/inform you of. The first is for the PCA Global Missions Conference, November 5-7, 2010, in Chattanooga, TN. The early-bird registration deadline is July 30th. So if you haven’t registered yet, visit www.mtw.org to do so or to find out more.

Also, MTW’s Disaster Response Training fills up quickly. There are a limited number of slots, so if this is something you’ve been interested in pursuing, now is the time to register. Click here to find out more.

I met Dr. Tennent while attending a world missions conference at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (when he taught there). This was the first time I was exposed to much of the academic assessment of these missiological trends and much of the history surrounding them. I have used a map he shared with us with many churches, as it visually represents what is happening. We live in an exciting time!

The Translatability of the Christian Gospel
by Timothy Tennent

The following is excerpted from remarks made by Dr. Timothy Tennent, president of Asbury Theological Seminary, at the school’s Fall 2009 Convocation.

In April of 1739 John Wesley was preaching in an upstairs room in London. About halfway into his sermon the supporting post that held up the floor of the room collapsed under the sheer weight of the number of people who had gathered to hear Wesley. Wesley remarked in his journal that the supporting post fell with a great noise. The floor sank, but it didn’t cave in and, to Wesley’s own amazement, everyone settled back down and he was able to finish preaching.

What do we do when it seems like the very floor under our feet is giving way? Many of the traditional props and supports which have long given stability to the world of theological education have fallen away with a great crash—what are we to do? How do we live in a time of disequilibrium, uncertainty, and change? Never in history has the Church undergone such dramatic growth and change so quickly. When William Carey went to India in 1793, 99 percent of all Christians in the world were white and lived in the Western world. Today, the vast majority of Christians live outside the Western world. We are witnessing multiple centers of Christian vibrancy, even as we see the Western world re-emerging as the world’s fastest growing mission field and the home of the most gospel-resistant people groups in the world. In contrast, all of the most gospel-receptive people groups in the world are found in either India or China. We live in an upside down world.

The support post upon which was written: “you are the center of the ecclesiastical universe,” has collapsed and we have to regain our footing in this new world we inhabit and think afresh about what this means for theological education in North America. None of these developments were predicted 50 years ago. Today, as I survey the landscape of ecclesiology and theological education in the Western world it is clear that we are living in a time of unprecedented crisis. This is not to be overly negative or alarmist, for I am reminded of the great Dutch missiologist, Hendrick Kraemer (1888-1965), who famously commented that “the church is always in a state of crisis; its greatest shortcoming is that it is only occasionally aware of it.”

The floor is creaking beneath our feet. What does this mean for Western Christians in the 21st century?
Click here to continue reading this article…

The 2010 PCA Global Missions Conference is scheduled for November 5-7, 2010 in Chattanooga, TN. Join fellow believers from across the PCA in Chattanooga this November in a joyous celebration of hope hosted together by Mission to the World and Covenant College. Hear about the work of Christ in church planting, mercy ministry, medical outreach, student internships, arts in missions, and much more. Personally connect with others in the PCA as well as in the global church. Learn more about partnerships. Be challenged by ministry updates. Prayerfully explore your role and that of your church. Encourage others. Most of all, join in the worship of Christ—The Hope of Nations!

Plenary speakers include Paul Kooistra and Joe Novenson. Dozens of workshops on various subjects pertaining to missions will be held. This is a highly encouraging and practical three days. Plan on being there! If you can’t be sure your church’s missions committee is sending representation. Click here to find out more and sign up.

Here is an email from Chalmers Center about a helpful, FREE, web seminar that is coming up to equip people to help in Haiti without hurting:

As you know, a massive wave of aid has already been directed at survivors of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 10, 2010. But the aid given must be the right kind of aid to make a difference.

A Webinar Series to Help You Help Haiti
To help churches, relief agencies, and individuals respond appropriately to the crisis in Haiti—helping the Haitian people to take ownership of the rebuilding process—the Chalmers Center will host a three-part, webinar lecture series.

The webinars are scheduled for February 17th, February 24th, and March 3rd, from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (US).  They will be presented by Steve Corbett and Dr. Brian Fikkert, authors of “When Helping Hurts:  How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself,” a paradigm-shifting book about the causes and solutions to the problem of poverty. The book is in its fifth printing since it was published in July 2009 (www.whenhelpinghurts.org).

Help Without Hurting
This webinar series is intended for all those responding to the needs of the Haitian people, including churches, missions boards, missionaries, ministries, Christian relief and development organizations, NGOs, individuals, volunteers, donors, and short-term missions teams. The webinars will help participants:

1. Gain an understanding of the harm that can come from an improper understanding of the nature of poverty and its alleviation.
2. Identify the basic principles and tools needed to develop relationships with low income individuals.
3. Be able to implement biblically-based economic development ministry programs.

The principles taught in the webinars are not a magic formula for success. However, they are powerful, and they have been used by God in even extremely difficult settings (including in the tsunami of 2004 as described in the book).

Registration
There is no charge for the webinars. However, to join a live webinar session, you must register. Register Now »

If you cannot join a live webinar, a download link of the recorded webinar will be posted on the webinar registration page within two business days following the date of the live webinar session.

Share This Information With Others
Please share information about these webinars with your ministry team and with those in your larger ministry network who might benefit from this training.

In Christ,
Bernie Alimonti

---

About the Chalmers Center
The Chalmers Center has equipped agencies, churches and individuals across the U.S. and in more than 100 countries around the world to use economic development strategies to minister to poor people—including microfinance and microenterprise development, and programs centered around savings and asset accumulation, financial literacy and job training.

Following the tsunami of 2004, a Christian relief and development organization working in Indonesia asked the Chalmers Center for help in designing a small-business recovery program. Hundreds of businesses received assistance, local institutions were strengthened, and the midterm project evaluations indicated improvements in people’s relationships with God, self and others. A major international humanitarian organization even requested a grant proposal for funding to scale up the program. To learn more about the Chalmers Center, its training opportunities and resources, visit www.chalmers.org and SUBSCRIBE to our mailing list.

Chalmers Center has an E-zine that was recently sent my way with some provoking articles, including this one: Don’t Just Study, Do Something. The newsletter is called Mandate, and I’m sure will prove helpful to many churches to add to their regular reading list. These are the same folks behind When Helping Hurts.

Some recent conversations with leaders in churches has me thinking about getting started in missions. I’ve expressed in other articles how I don’t believe missions should be just like other ministries of the church (and Richard Pratt did it much better at the 2007 Global Missions Conference). Rather, every ministry in the church should embrace our God-given mission. But missions often functions as a ministry (a committee, meetings, events, etc…), and rightly so for practical purposes. So how does a church get the ball rolling when it comes to engaging in what God is doing around the world? Here are some ideas, in no particular order, of things you could do to get started. (Of course, I would highly recommend you contact your church resourcing representative at MTW for suggestions to develop a more developed strategy!)

Have a missions emphasis Sunday. Invite a missionary. Have a guest speaker. Show a video clip. Focus for one day of worship on what God is doing around the world and how are to be a part of that. MTW’s Church Resourcing department can help you with this.

No other step will make the impact on your congregation as that of sending a short term team on a missions trip. Specifically, the participants’ lives will be changed and the ripple effect throughout your congregation will be significant. Consider visiting a missionary you support or would like to support. Or consider a Vision Trip to get to know other ministries. Contact MTW’s 2-week department for help with this process at 2wk@mtw.org.

Give the partnership share for each member of your church. It is currently around $25 per person, annually. It is probably the least exciting way to connect to missions. There’s no face on a prayer card, no thank you note from a missionary, and no push pin to stick in the map on the missions bulletin board. But this support makes a big impact, and so few churches in the PCA participate in this way. For MTW, the partnership share (also known as “the askings”) represents the amount of money missionaries raise to cover their home office support. Participating in the partnership share enables missionaries to raise less support and get to the field faster. It’s a great place for churches to start.

Begin supporting a missionary. Start in your own church or presbytery. Find people that are like-minded and have a similar philosophy of ministry. This will allow you to develop a deeper, more mutually-meaningful relationship, in the future.

Send a group to the PCA’s Global Missions Conference (Nov 5-7, 2010). This event is held every three years. Join fellow believers from across the PCA in a joyous celebration of hope. Hear about the work of Christ in church planting, mercy ministry, medical outreach, student internships, arts in missions, and much more. Personally connect with others in the PCA as well as in the global church. Learn more about partnerships. Be challenged by ministry updates. Prayerfully explore your role and that of your church.

Send your pastor (and if he’s married, his wife) to visit and encourage your missionaries. Missions is often hard, lonely work. Your church can be a huge blessing in this way. And the impact of your pastor’s time there will be felt when he returns.

Have a missions movie night. Pop some corn. Grab the Milk Duds. Whether it’s a modern movie like Beyond the Gates of Splendor or a classic like Hawaii (which demonstrates many things not to do!), movies can stir peoples’ hearts and generate meaningful discussion.

Have your Sunday School class go through a study like The Gracious Commission or read through a book like Let the Nations Be Glad, When Helping Hurts, or God: The Real Superpower.

Communicate with missionaries. Often, communication is one-way between missionaries and churches. The church expects the missionary to communicate their ministry to them, but rarely think about sharing their news and ministry updates with their missionaries.