The Greek verb “apoluo” (to send away) is used in a positive sense in Acts 13:3 when the church at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. This blog is designed to help churches select, train, and send missionaries to the harvest fields of souls.
If we are to believe the sounds of alarm, missions from the U.S. is on the decline. Unfortunately, few studies have been done to affirm or deny this perception. In preparation for this article, my research revealed many opinions and few numbers; when numbers were provided, usually they were skewed by a general definition of…
“Out of sight, out of mind.” We all know that the proverb is often too true. Maintaining long-distance relationships usually takes time and effort. Yet, perhaps even more than financial support, what many missionaries most desperately need are meaningful relationships—particularly with sending and partner churches on whose behalf the missionary is supposed to be serving….
Matthew 16:26 is sometimes obscured by the epic texts that surround it. Matthew 16 contains Peter’s proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God (v. 16). It contains Jesus’ promise to build His church and lay siege to hell (v. 18). It contains Jesus’ first prediction of His approaching passion (v….
I’ve often wondered what would motivate missionaries to transplant their families to dangerous and depressing places in order to establish a gospel beachhead. I marvel at their missionary moxie. They’re my heroes. Why do they do it? Doxology. In plain English, doxological ministry means that our primary goal in evangelism is the glory of God….
Dear Missionary, pastors are not obstacles to ministry, they are your enablers. I know that the form of ministry has created a false dichotomy between both. Somehow the created perspective is that purposes of both are different enough that they must ‘compete’ for the same resources in order to complete God’s will. The mindset has…
I don’t celebrate Christmas any more. I decided to stop when I walked into the home of some Muslim friends and discovered the Christmas tree in their living room. “If Muslims can celebrate Christmas,” I said to myself, “I can’t.” TAKE CHRIST OUT OF CHRISTMAS I reject the secular and capitalist trappings of Christmas, and…
There is a trend in USA missions that suggests we should stop sending missionaries and support national workers instead. Here are a number of thoughts about this topic: 1. One argument is that you can get more bang for the buck by supporting locals. The assumption of course is that you can “hire” a…
Most churches have never sent a missionary from their own congregation. This is in spite of their high level of interest in missions that is evidenced by budgets, missions conferences and missionaries supported. What if a church wanted to send one of their own to the mission field? That would raise a lot of questions,…
We have tended to define a missionary by their source of income. In other words, a person is a missionary who gathers support from churches and individuals and goes to some other country. However, this is a financial model of doing missions that has been used over the past couple hundred years. For 1800 years…
On a warm Georgia October day in 2007, an 11 -year-old boy rolled down his car window, and for the first time heard the shrill of countless bagpipes echoing through the trees. He had no experience with Scottish culture, but one must think God was at work that day – warming a young heart to…