I was recently in a gathering of missions leaders and missiologists. One of the seminars was about Short Term Missions (STM) trips. The presenter was arguing the benefits of sending church members on 7-10 day trips to the mission field. His primary argument was that it was an effective discipleship tool. In other words, putting…
It was Nova Scotia, and it was February. The cold was as inescapable as gravity. My friend and I were visiting a young Christian family who had arrived the previous year from England. The father was currently unemployed, and they were just scraping by on what he was able to earn doing odd jobs. They…
The Antioch church sent (apoluo: to loose or unbind; to set free) Paul and Barnabas. They sent them away, set them free, released them from their responsibilities to go elsewhere. Jesus in His priestly prayer said that He had sent (apostello: to send forth; to send away) His disciples into the world. He sent them…
The missionary life is one of constant expectations. Missionaries are sent to the field with not only the weight of their baggage, but also the burden of spoken and unspoken expectations. Often they are grounded in unknowns and anticipation. Having been here six months, I started meditating upon the changes and challenges that missionaries face…
The ability to set goals is a distinguishing mark of the successful, or so the culture teaches. A person’s success is defined by their ability to meet those goals and deadlines. This concept is so important that it is now an exercise incorporated into the teaching of grade school curriculums. While God’s definitions of success…
Pizza Hut originally had a business model that meant you had to go to their restaurant and sit down at a table to order a pizza. Dominos came along with a different approach. They said, “We deliver.” It doesn’t matter where you are; we will bring your pizza to you. A church will have either the…
One of the great difficulties of a missionary’s work is that it is never done. One of the greatest laments of a missionary is the insufficient number of workers. In mission fields around the world, more workers are always desired and appreciated. To send out missionaries to those fields presupposes though, that we understand what…
Not the type of “divorce” you may be thinking as you read this! There are two key words that related to sending missionaries from your church. The first is “apoluo” and the second is “propempo.” Every church should know the meaning of both words and the actions related to them. The next blog entry will…
A call to ministry is a unique call. Its uniqueness is identified in a singular person, for a singular role, from a singular God. It is made more special by the fact that not only is God the caller, but also the enabler and equipper. Therefore, when God calls you respond. In Acts 9, Luke…
Most churches have them. It is normally a group of people in the church who have an extravagant love for missionaries. They are fantastic people who have a big heart for the Great Commission. They work diligently to serve missionaries and put on the annual missions conference. This is a great team of fabulous people….